Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of introducing a requirement for refugees to repay asylum support costs.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Immigration and Asylum Bill introduced the principle that, where a person has received taxpayer-funded asylum support and later becomes financially able to contribute towards those costs, it is right and fair that they should do so.
The Government considers the impacts of different policy options as part of policy development. The Government published an Impact Assessment and an Equality Impact Assessment alongside the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which include the assessments of introducing a requirement for individuals who have received asylum support to contribute towards its cost when financially able to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Defence Investment Plan announced on 30 June, by what date they intend to confirm the source of the remaining £4.7 billion of funding not yet identified; and what assessment they have made of the impact on other departments' capital budgets of reallocating £10.3 billion to fund the measures set out in the plan.
Answered by Lord Pitt-Watson - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Defence Investment Plan confirmed that of the £15 billion uplift to defence spending over the next four years, £10.3 billion is funded by reprioritising public spending from other departments.
The remaining £4.7 billion of funding will be confirmed at Autumn Budget 2026 in a fair and balanced way.
To fund the £10.3 billion already committed, departments have been asked to contribute 1p in every £1 of their capital budgets from this year. As departments with larger capital budgets, the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have been asked to make further contributions.
DfT will provide savings of up to £700m from its roads funding, and will explore limited reductions to as-yet uncommitted roads funding.
DESNZ will find an additional £2 billion in savings - including £400m Financial Transactions – while maintaining the fastest-growing capital budget out of any department across this spending review period. They will reshape their capital budget in a way which continues to protect the clean power mission, drive renewable and nuclear build-out and insulate us from future gas price spikes on the path to energy independence.
Further detail will be set out at the Autumn Budget.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential positive and negative impact of the Immigration and Asylum Bill.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
An Impact Assessment (IA) was produced and included an assessment of both monetised and non-monetised costs and benefits that might be associated with the Immigration and Asylum Bill. The IA is available at:
Impact Assessment: Immigration and Asylum Bill
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to table amendments to the Immigration and Asylum Bill; and if so, to which clauses and to what effect.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has announced the Government’s intention to amend the Immigration and Asylum Bill to introduce a new provision which would disapply the exemption from deportation for Commonwealth and Irish citizens in section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971.
The Government is considering whether further amendments are necessary to support the overall intentions of the Bill, including if further provisions are needed. These will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the Home Secretary intends to bring forward the changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain announced in Restoring Order and Control in November 2025.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The consultation for the earned settlement model, as proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was open to the public between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026.
We received over 200,000 responses from the public and organisations are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model which will be decided by the Home Secretary.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic and equality impact assessments.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Northern Ireland Executive’s plans for graduated driving licence reforms; and what consideration they have given to introducing similar reforms in Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Whilst we are not considering further restrictions on newly qualified drivers, such as carrying passengers or driving at night, we are consulting on a Minimum Learning Period before learner drivers can take their practical driving test in England, Scotland and Wales. This would allow learners more time to gain essential experience, for example in different weather conditions, before driving independently and reduce the risk to themselves and other drivers.
We are also consulting on a lower drink drive limit for newly qualified drivers with the intention of reducing collisions amongst this group.
My officials meet regularly with their counterparts in the Devolved Authorities, including those in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The government does not have any current plans to amend the Road Traffic (New Drivers) Act 1995.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to enable magistrates to imprison offenders for up to 12 months.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government has no immediate plans to increase the custodial sentencing powers of magistrates but will continue to monitor the position to ensure we provide magistrates with appropriate and proportionate powers to deal with the cases that come before them.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made or are aware of any assessment of the average cost of taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights; who bears those costs; and in what proportion of cases costs are incurred by (1) private concerns, and (2) the United Kingdom public purse.
Answered by Lord Faulks
The applicant has to pay the costs of making the application. However if the Court finds a violation against a state, it can then make an award of costs against the state as part of its judgment. The costs to the Government vary significantly depending on the complexity of the case.
Legal aid is not available from the UK for an application to the European Court of Human Rights. However, the European Court has its own legal aid scheme, to which the UK contributes via its national contribution to the costs of Court.
Asked by: Baroness Seccombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 9 March (HL5216), whether they will place in the Library of the House a breakdown of the 220 individual transactions in 2006–07 in the Economic Secretary to HM Treasury's departmental private office, in the light of the previous Government's response to the House of Commons Procedure Committee Report on Written Parliamentary Questions on 7 December 2009 which stated "The Ministerial Code makes it clear that Ministers should refuse to provide information which they hold only when disclosure would not be in the public interest, which should be decided in accordance with the relevant statutes and the Freedom of Information Act 2000".
Answered by Lord Deighton
I refer the noble Lady to my answer of 9 March (HL5216) on the same topic.