Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Baroness Lister of Burtersett, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
A Bill to introduce a minimum period of 56 days after an asylum claim is determined before an asylum claim is considered to be determined for the purposes of ending asylum support; to make provision about the serving of documentation relevant to the ending of asylum support following an asylum determination; and connected purposes.
A bill to introduce a minimum period of 56 days before an asylum claim is considered to be determined for the purpose of ending asylum support
Baroness Lister of Burtersett has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
We will commence the socio-economic duty in section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 through a commencement order in due course. The duty will require public bodies, when making strategic decisions, to actively consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. To ensure effective implementation, we will develop guidance to help relevant authorities comply with the duty once commenced. We will be updating Parliament on this in due course.
The Child Poverty Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
The publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.
Beyond the Child Poverty Taskforce, the Department for Work and Pensions has recently concluded a public consultation on Child Maintenance Service (CMS) reform, with a government response to be published in due course and is reviewing the child maintenance calculation.
The Government provides the majority of funding for grassroots sport through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding in areas of greatest need to tackle inactivity levels through community-led solutions.
Between 2022 and 2024, Sport England and delivery partners in other parts of the UK, invested £161 million into grassroots football facilities, providing new and upgraded pitches and facilities.
In 2024/25, the Government and our partners are investing £123 million UK-wide. This funding will provide clubs and sites with new and resurfaced pitches, changing rooms and pavilions, maintenance machinery, floodlights, goalposts, and more.
Sir Andy Murray has contributed a huge amount to British sport throughout his long career, both on and off the court. We know how important access to facilities is as part of the legacy of our sporting heroes, so people can try the sports they see on screen. The Government has committed to continue to support grassroots facilities across the UK.
As part of the Park Tennis Court Programme, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Lawn Tennis Association are investing over £30 million between 2022-2024 to deliver improvements to over 3,000 park tennis courts across Great Britain. The renovation works include the installation of digital access gates, court nets, fencing, re-surfacing, and re-painting - all of which aim to improve access and increase participation in tennis, whilst prioritising the courts in the most deprived communities.
The department does not collect information on the number of Child’s Rights Impact Assessments that have been prepared or published.
The department co-produced, with civil society, a Child’s Rights Impact Assessment template with guidance that has been shared with other departments.
We encourage the completion of assessments to ensure policy and legislation does not adversely affect children’s rights and wellbeing. Departments individually determine the use and publication of any assessment.
The department has conducted Child’s Rights Impact Assessments for all measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, analysing the impact on children of the policies and where particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others. These documents are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.
The Child’s Rights Impact Assessment was published on 17 March 2025. This is attached and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d7dd3ded6ca9014ba2a28e/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_child_s_rights_impact_assessment.pdf.
This assessment examines where children are directly impacted by the policies, and/or where there are particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive.
We are taking action to break the unfair link between background and success by rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school which will offer all children, regardless of their background, a settled start to the day, improving their attendance, behaviour and attainment. It will also help with the costs of living and mean many more pupils are fed and ready to learn at the start to the school day. This will be of particular benefit to the most disadvantaged families.
By providing parents with a free half hour breakfast club each morning, the department estimates this will save parents up to £450 a year in paid for before-school childcare. Being able to drop children off at school earlier may also offer parents greater opportunities in terms of the timing, nature, and location of employed roles open to them.
School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. The national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There are a number of strong links between reading for pleasure and attainment. For example, the 2021 progress in reading literacy study report found a 34 point difference in reading performance between pupils in England who ‘very much’ liked reading and pupils who ‘do not’ like reading. Additionally, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study found that enjoyment of reading links to pupils’ reading engagement, that reading engagement was strongly positively correlated with reading performance and that reading engagement mediated effects of gender or socio-economic status on performance. There is also a strong evidence base linking reading for pleasure to other positive effects, such as improved text comprehension and grammar, increased general knowledge and character development.
It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.
Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries or school librarians.
The government’s reading framework offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers.
The department’s budget for 2025/26 will be confirmed in due course, including the exact funding available for this type of support for children, young people and families during the holidays. The current spending review is for one year, and a multi-year spending review will take place later this year.
All children of compulsory school age in England, including migrant children, must receive a suitable full-time education. Any parent, including parents of migrant children, can, at any time, apply for a place for their child at any school through the relevant admission authority. Where a parent is struggling to secure a school place in-year, they can contact their local authority for support.
Paragraph 3.14 of the Schools Admissions Code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol in place. This ensures that vulnerable children, including refugees and asylum seekers, and those who are having difficulty securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.
Guidance on school applications for foreign national children is available to schools, local authorities and parents. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children.
As set out in the Kings Speech, in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department is planning to legislate on requiring all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions and place planning matters, and to ensure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities.
Local authorities also have legal duties to ensure sufficient school places. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities in providing additional school places. We carefully target funding at areas with need, based upon data supplied by local authorities themselves, reflecting their local knowledge of all the drivers of pupil numbers in their areas, such as birth rates, housing developments and inward andoutward migration both from within the UK and overseas.
Nearly £1.5 billion of Basic Need capital allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and following two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026. Local authorities’ allocations are in the attachment and published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.
The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisor team also engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible. Where local authorities are failing in their duty, the government will intervene.
Every child, regardless of their background or family circumstances, deserves the opportunity to progress and succeed in school and beyond. There is no place for hate or prejudice in our education system.
Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must not discriminate against a pupil in a number of respects because of a characteristic protected by the Act.
The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, including maintained schools and academies, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Act; advance equality of opportunity for people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and foster good relations across all characteristics.
The department has published guidance for schools on how to comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010, which is attached and can also be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools.
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Curriculum and Assessment Review will seek to deliver a curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people benefit from a curriculum that represents them and their families. When the reforms coming out of the review are implemented, the department intends that all schools will be required to teach the core National Curriculum.
The review group has recently launched a call for evidence, setting out a number of key questions and themes where it would particularly welcome evidence and input.
The department respects the autonomy of schools and teachers in terms of what resources they choose to use or recommend to their individual pupils, based on individual need in their own educational context and circumstances.
School Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards at the end of their course.
Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards covers personal and professional conduct and specifically includes "not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs".
The Equality Act 2010 requires accredited ITT providers to ensure that they are not discriminating against applicants on the basis of any protected characteristics.
The government is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for the economy, for universities and for students and will look carefully at all options and come forward with proposals.
Funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the relevant fiscal event, in line with the approach to public spending commitments across government.
All HE providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS), that intend to charge higher fees, must have an Access and Participation Plan (APP) approved by the OfS. These need to set out the underrepresented groups they will support and the ways that they will do so. Interventions can include tutoring disadvantaged students in the local area, but also activities such as academy sponsorship, outreach, summer schools and student bursaries. HE providers are expected to evaluate their interventions to demonstrate effectiveness.
There are an estimated 2.0 million disabled people of working age who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit but not receipt of personal independence payment or an equivalent disability benefit, and an estimated 0.7 million of pension age.
Source: These figures are modelled estimates from DWP’s Policy Simulation Model (PSM), and therefore should not be treated as official statistics.
The PSM is tax/benefit static microsimulation model used widely throughout DWP and across Government to assess the impact of welfare policy. The PSM is based on a three-year pooled sample of the Family Resources Survey (FRS 19-20, 21-22 and 22-23). It is therefore subject to potential sampling error and respondent error. This is projected forwards to 2025/26 based on multiple assumptions about incomes for all households. The PSM corrects benefit under-reporting in the FRS by aligning the sample weights to benefit forecasts. The PSM is also calibrated to population data from the ONS and incorporates the OBRs economic forecast. The model does not yet take account of Spring Statement 2025 policy measures.
Notes:
1. Disability is defined as the Equality Act 2010 core definition, self-reported by survey respondents who report that they have a long-term physical or mental health condition, lasting or expected to last at least 12 months, that limits their daily activities either ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’.
2. Means-tested benefits includes any of the following: Universal Credit (UC), Income Support (IS), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Working Tax Credit (WTC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Housing Benefit (HB, or Northern Ireland equivalent), Council Tax Rebate (CTR, or Northern Ireland equivalent), or Pension Credit (PC).
3. Receipt of Personal Independence Payment includes other broadly equivalent disability benefits: Disability Living allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA). Eligibility for these benefits is based on different criteria from the legal definition of disability (see Note 1). The PSM does not estimate eligibility for disability benefits, relying on those who have reported it in the FRS.
4. Estimates relate to 2025/26 and are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million people.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
The announced increase in the standard allowance will see an above inflation increase in every year from 2026/27 to the end of Parliament.
The proposed increases are inflation (measured by CPI), plus: 2.3% in 2026/27, 3.1% in 2027/28, 4.0% in 2028/29 and 4.8% in 2029/30.
As such, in each year, the rates will be what they would have been under CPI uprating and then increased by the relevant percentage figure.
Table below provides the breakdown of the number of lead carers in couples with children receiving Universal Credit by gender of the lead carer and whether the couple has no earners, one earner or two earners.
| Gender of lead carer | Volumes (October 2024) |
No earners | Female | 108,000 |
Male | 23,000 | |
One earner | Female | 320,000 |
Male | 47,000 | |
Two earners | Female | 190,000 |
Male | 21,000 | |
| Total | 709,000 |
Note: the data above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount. 2-3% of households did not have a match between Universal Credit data and the Lead Carer data - those with missing values have been excluded from the figures above.
The table below provides the breakdown of the number of couples receiving Universal Credit where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance by whether the couple has one earner or two earners.
| Volumes (October 2024) |
One earner | 460,000 |
Two earners | 230,000 |
Total | 690,000 |
The table below provides the breakdown of the number of couples receiving Universal Credit where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance by the gender of the lead carer where the couple has children.
Gender of lead carer | Volumes (October 2024) |
Female | 510,000 |
Male | 68,000 |
Total | 580,000 |
Note: the data above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with a positive earnings record. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount. 2-3% of households did not have a match between Universal Credit data and the Lead Carer data - those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above.
In October 2024, 720,000 couples were in payment for Universal Credit and had earnings reported in that month.
Note: The figure above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with a positive earnings record. The figure has been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.
There have been no further publications since 2019 on the gender of the bank account holder for UC.
A flag was developed to identify lead carers in our administrative data in July 2023, to enable us to monitor the rollout of the 2023 changes to lead carer conditionality. Based on data from October 2024, there were around 825,000 lead carers in receipt of UC with a couple claim: 87% are female, 13% are male. The tables below provide a breakdown of some further characteristics:
Characteristics of lead carers who are part of a couple claim on Universal Credit, October 2024
Age group | Under 25 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-49 | 50-54 | 55+ |
Female | 4% | 33% | 46% | 11% | 4% | 1% |
Male | 1% | 16% | 40% | 19% | 13% | 11% |
Employed | No | Yes |
Female | 57% | 43% |
Male | 44% | 56% |
Age of youngest child | 0-4 | 5-10 | 11-15 | 16-19 |
Female | 45% | 35% | 19% | 0% |
Male | 33% | 39% | 27% | 1% |
Number of children | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5+ |
Female | 33% | 39% | 19% | 7% | 2% | 3% |
Male | 37% | 37% | 17% | 6% | 2% | 2% |
Note: totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding. These figures are from DWP administrative data.
The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants who receive the lower rate of standard allowance due to being below the age of 25. The data is for October 2024 and broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not
Single or joint claim | Gender | Children | Volumes |
Single and under 25 | Female | Yes | 110,000 |
No | 180,000 | ||
Male | Yes | 4,200 | |
No | 270,000 | ||
Joint claim and both under 25 | Female | Yes | 12,000 |
No | 5,400 | ||
Male | Yes | 11,000 | |
No | 4,600 |
Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.
The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants in October 2024 where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance, broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not.
Single or joint claim | Gender | Children | Volumes |
Single | Female | Yes | 1,004,000 |
No | 57,000 | ||
Male | Yes | 107,000 | |
No | 39,000 | ||
Couple | Female | Yes | 620,000 |
No | 57,000 | ||
Male | Yes | 610,000 | |
No | 56,000 |
Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with positive earnings recorded in their award calculation. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figures above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We have begun this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and we will continue to work with stakeholders closely as the review progresses. We will regularly update Parliament on progress.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year. The Secretary of State announced her decisions to Parliament on 30 October.
The basic and new state pensions, and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit, will be increased by 4.1%, in line with the increase in average weekly earnings in the year to May-July 2024. Other state pension and benefit rates covered by the statutory review will be increased by 1.7%, in line with the increase in the consumer prices index in the year to September 2024. The full list of proposed State Pension and benefit rates for 2025/26 will be published in November.
This increases expenditure on state pensions and benefits by £6.9 billion in 2025/26 compared with not uprating in 25/26, of which, £4.7 billion will be from state pensions and pensioner benefits, £0.9 billion from disability and carers benefits, and £1.2 billion from working-age benefits.
Statistics on the number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits, were also made available on 30 October. Further detail can be found here Benefit uprating: estimated number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in financial year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
No estimate has been made of what the total cost for all types of benefits available to working age adults and children would be for each 0.1 per cent increment increase in April 2025.
In the latest year [2022-23] of the Family Resources Survey approximately 11% of adults were black or minority ethnic individuals. This sample is large enough to provide income and poverty data breakdowns by ethnicity.
The Family Resources Survey sample is drawn by address with stratification of postcode areas by economic standing, such that the achieved sample is representative by economic status. The FRS sample is not drawn by any family characteristic, protected or otherwise, because only the address is known at the point of draw; the address’ occupants are unknown until the later stage of interview. Thus, there is no direct mechanism to alter the issued sample to increase the number of black or minority ethnic families.
We already publish accredited official statistics, including poverty data broken down by ethnicity, in the annual Family Resources Survey-based Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
In addition, we use the Family Resources Survey data to publish additional low income data by ethnicity in the Ethnicity Facts and Figures portal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk_ (opens in new tab).
Statistics on the ethnic group of those who have received a Universal Credit (UC) adverse sanction decision from April 2023 to April 2024, are available in section 4.2 of the latest release of the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication and in table 7.1 on the latest data tables on the GOV.UK website.
However, these statistics are descriptive and as such do not facilitate consideration of disparities. To measure any disparities would require analysis of the sanction rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of claimants undergoing a sanction by the number of UC claimants who are in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time.
The level of ethnicity declarations for those claimants included within the sanction rate measure, which would be needed to assess any disparities, has not reached the minimum level of 70% in any month. The Department will continue to monitor the level of ethnicity declarations in relation to the sanction rate with the goal of publishing statistics on sanction rate and ethnicity once the 70% threshold is reached.
The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.
An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.
As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need.
The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.
DWP is conducting an evaluation of the fourth iteration of the Household Support Fund. This includes research with a selection of representative Local Authority case study areas, consisting of interviews with Local Authority officials and their delivery partners, and surveys and interviews with recipients of the HSF. This evaluation will provide key evidence on how Local Authorities are delivering the scheme, and their experiences of doing so, as well as the effectiveness of the funding for recipients.
No assessment has been made.
Our Back to Work Plan will provide further support and help to improve the lives of working people. People who are working and earning money are much less likely to be affected by the benefit cap.
Customers can apply to their local authority to be considered for additional financial support through Discretionary Housing Payments or the Household Support Fund.
No estimates have been published.
While we cannot commit to changing the two child policy at this time, tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. This is why the child poverty taskforce will look at all available levers to reduce child poverty, including social security reforms, before publishing a strategy in Spring 2025.
The taskforce will engage external experts throughout the strategy development process including through a rolling programme of meetings, with sessions built thematically to bring together a broad range of experts on specific topics.
The Government also recognises the importance of capturing the experiences of those living in poverty which is why the taskforce will also draw on findings from wider external engagement events in all regions and nations of the UK. These events will convene a broader range of voices, including bringing in the perspectives of families and children themselves.
The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.
We will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, campaigners and parents to shape and inform these plans. After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin, and the Taskforce terms of reference will be published in the coming weeks. Recognising the wide-ranging causes of child poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.
No recent estimates have been published but external estimates are available. Tacking child poverty is at the heart of this Government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Our new Ministerial Taskforce will oversee the development of an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle its root causes, and give every child the best start to life.
The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.
We will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, campaigners and parents to shape and inform these plans. After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin, and the Taskforce terms of reference will be published in the coming weeks. Recognising the wide-ranging causes of child poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.
The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.
We will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, campaigners and parents to shape and inform these plans. After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin, and the Taskforce terms of reference will be published in the coming weeks. Recognising the wide-ranging causes of child poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.
Where local authorities decide to charge for the provision of care and support, they must follow the Care Act 2014 and the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, and they must act under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance. The responsibility for interpreting and applying the law and the guidance rests with local authorities. The information requested is not held by the Government.
Where local authorities decide to charge for the provision of care and support, they must follow the Care Act 2014 and the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, and they must act under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance. The responsibility for interpreting and applying the law and the guidance rests with local authorities. The information requested is not held by the Government.
Where local authorities decide to charge for the provision of care and support, they must follow the Care Act 2014 and the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, and they must act under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance. The responsibility for interpreting and applying the law and the guidance rests with local authorities. The information requested is not held by the Government.
Under the terms of the agreement between the UK and Mauritius, Mauritius will be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands, other than Diego Garcia. The terms of resettlement will be for Mauritius to determine. We will also work with Mauritius to start a new programme of visits for Chagossians to the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. The UK provided compensation to the Chagossian community in the 1980s that courts have ruled was paid in full and final settlement. As part of the agreement between the UK and Mauritius, we will finance a new trust fund for Mauritius to support Chagossians. We will also increase our support to Chagossians living in the UK and around the world, through new and existing projects.
Ministers and officials will continue to regularly engage with members of the Chagossian community in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles on a range of issues, including on the implementation of the agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius. We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this state-to-state agreement reflects their interests.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mauritius will be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands other than Diego Garcia. The terms of resettlement will be for Mauritius to determine. We will also work with Mauritius to restart visits to the islands, including Diego Garcia, for Chagossians.
The Government recognises the importance of individuals receiving accurate and reliable information when they are considering an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). When administered well, IVAs provide a debt solution to people who are not eligible for a Debt Relief Order, or who want an alternative to bankruptcy. However, if an IVA is unsuitable, it can leave people in debt for longer and result in further financial difficulty. Oversight of Insolvency Practitioners, who administer IVAs, is provided through standards applied by one of three Recognised Professional Bodies and overseen by the Insolvency Service.
The Insolvency Service is taking action to address concerns about the debt solutions market and expects to see swift action from volume IVA firms to eliminate poor practice. To support this, the Insolvency Service are also working with the sector to publish a new simplified IVA Protocol and key facts document to help consumers understand what they are signing up for. New guidance is also being published for Insolvency Practitioners on their control of cases. This is further to the 2023 publication of a new Standard for Insolvency Practitioners (SIP 3.1), making clear their responsibility to ensure consumers have received an explanation of all potential debt relief solutions so that they can make an informed judgement. The Insolvency Service continues to work to address poor practices through its ongoing review of the personal insolvency framework and continued collaboration with other regulators.
Debt advice providers, and debt packager firms which may refer individuals to IVA providers and other debt solutions, are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In 2023, the FCA banned referral fees for debt packager firms to remove incentives to recommend debt solutions which may not be in the consumer’s best interest.
The ongoing collaboration between the FCA, the Insolvency Service, and other stakeholders reflects a concerted effort to enhance consumer protection in the debt advice and insolvency sectors. The Government will continue to monitor the effectiveness of existing regulatory frameworks.
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office. This evaluation will cover the extension of the move on period to 56 days, the provision of liaison officers to support those granted asylum, and the provision of £2.8m recognition payment for select local authorities. It will assess the implementation, early outcomes and value for money of these initiatives. It will also assess the early impact of the rollout of eVisas and how this interacts with the above initiatives.
The following outcomes are of interest, and the evaluation will assess how/whether the changes to the move on period have:
Evaluation methods include interviews with newly granted refugees to capture insights from those with lived experience of the move on process.
Interim evaluation findings are due to be delivered shortly, with final evaluation findings delivered this summer.
No such data is available, and no such estimates have been made.
There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.
On 10 February 2025, the Home Office strengthened measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally or who arrives without a required valid entry clearance or electronic valid authorisation having made a dangerous journey, including small boat arrivals, now faces having a British citizenship application refused on the basis that they will not normally be considered to be of good character. This change means that:
However, each citizenship application will continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Secretary of State may choose to apply discretion to grant citizenship on an exceptional basis where there are particularly exceptional, compelling, or mitigating circumstances.
When assessing good character, it is normally appropriate to disregard immigration breaches if it is accepted this was outside of the applicant’s control. Given illegal entry is normally considered outside a child's control, most children would not be held accountable for their immigration breach. The 10 February 2025 amendments to the good character policy did not alter this position.
The ICIBI inspection on the Home Office’s use of age assessments began on 10 September 2024 and is still ongoing.
We do not have any such plans. Existing rules for family reunion and details on how to apply:
If you were separated from your partner or child when you were forced to leave your country, they can apply to join you in the UK.
Your family members can apply if you have been given asylum or 5 years’ humanitarian protection, and not have British citizenship.
The Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously and we prioritise asylum applications from children and young people. We do not run the Scottish Guardianship Service and the evaluation is therefore for the Scottish government, but we welcome the support offered to unaccompanied asylum seeking children by the service.
Currently, a newly recognised refugee gets 28 days to move on from asylum accommodation following the issue of their Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). The introduction of eVisas means that changes will need to be made to the move on process. We will provide further information on the initiation of the move on period before we stop issuing BRPs.
When the Home Office stops issuing Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) to newly recognised refugees without a previous BRP or valid passport, we will create a UKVI account and eVisa for them within 14 days of a positive decision on their Asylum claim being served. This action will be referenced in their decision letter.
We will inform the person that their UKVI account has been created and provide the necessary information for them to sign in. This communication will also include details on how to get support for accessing or reporting any issues with their eVisa.
Currently, people sign in to their UKVI account using a Document Number and Date of Birth. For those without a document, we will issue a new reference number, known as a UKVI Customer Number, which can be used alongside their Date of Birth to sign in and view their eVisa.
We acknowledge the existing challenges in delivering correspondence and BRP cards to newly recognised refugees. We are exploring the best ways to provide this information, including making increased efforts to capture contact details during the asylum process.