Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will support the most vulnerable asylum seekers, who are granted core protection, to access work and study routes to settlement.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to keeping all aspects of the asylum system under regular review, including the impact of introducing 30‑month temporary permission to stay under the core protection model.
Equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, Home Office officials consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, and the impact that asylum reforms will have on those with protected characteristics, is no exception.
Where possible, individuals granted core protection will be encouraged to move onto the protection work and study route, which provides a pathway towards longer‑term residence and settlement.
At the same time, in line with the UK’s international obligations, no one will be removed to their country of origin, or any other country, where they have a well‑founded fear of persecution or are at risk of serious harm.
The Home Office is carefully considering the appropriate pathways for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, asylum-seeking families with children, and other vulnerable asylum seekers.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they are monitoring the impact of the introduction of 30 month temporary protection for asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to keeping all aspects of the asylum system under regular review, including the impact of introducing 30‑month temporary permission to stay under the core protection model.
Equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, Home Office officials consider equality impacts throughout the policy development process, and the impact that asylum reforms will have on those with protected characteristics, is no exception.
Where possible, individuals granted core protection will be encouraged to move onto the protection work and study route, which provides a pathway towards longer‑term residence and settlement.
At the same time, in line with the UK’s international obligations, no one will be removed to their country of origin, or any other country, where they have a well‑founded fear of persecution or are at risk of serious harm.
The Home Office is carefully considering the appropriate pathways for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, asylum-seeking families with children, and other vulnerable asylum seekers.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 24 March (HL15469), whether the Home Office has commissioned a second external peer review of the National Centre for Social Research evaluation of the pilot move on period for newly recognised refugees; and if so, when they expect that peer review to be completed.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The independent evaluation led by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) has undergone external peer review as part of the publication process, including the requirement for two satisfactory external peer reviews.
Publication is expected in Spring 2026, subject to Ministerial clearance.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the provision of sufficient affordable housing in rural areas to enable young people to remain in the villages where they live and work, ensuring the long-term viability of those communities.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government recently consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework, that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making.
That consultation includes proposals to strengthen support for rural exception sites, which deliver affordable housing to meet local needs in rural areas, and to make it easier for authorities to require affordable housing on smaller sites in rural areas.
We have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to kickstart social and affordable housebuilding at scale across the country.
I otherwise refer the noble Lord to the Written Ministerial Statements made on 2 July 2025 (HLWS770 attached) and 28 January (HLWS1283 attached).
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to resettle refugees through community sponsorship and humanitarian programmes.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, published in November 2025, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme and capped routes for refugee and displaced students to come to the UK to study or for work.
The delivery of the new routes will support the Government’s overall objective of providing an orderly and controlled system of safe and legal routes that is aligned with community capacity to welcome refugees.
Work is underway to deliver the new routes. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support SME builders in order to diversify the housebuilding sector.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Small and medium sized housebuilders are essential to meeting the government’s housing ambitions and supporting local economies. The government is acting to support SME housebuilders by increasing their access to land, providing further financial assistance and easing the burden of regulation.
To that end, the new £16 billion National Housing Bank, which launched on 1 April, is designed to unlock £53 billion of private investment and support the building of over 500,000 new homes including through loans and financial support for SMEs. We have also doubled the ENABLE Build Guarantee scheme to boost SME access to finance.
We are making more Homes England land available to the sector through SME-only land sales with less bureaucratic sales process.
We have also committed to simplifying the planning system with proposals for a new medium site size definition with corresponding policy and regulatory easements to help SME housebuilders thrive and grow.
The government continues to engage closely with SME developers and representative bodies to better understand the barriers they face and ensure the sector can play a greater role in delivering new homes.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to speed up housing delivery on stalled sites where planning has been granted but development has not started.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In May 2025, the government published a Planning Reform Working Paper: Speeding Up Build Out inviting views on further action the government should take to speed up homes being built. It can be found on gov.uk here.
On the same day, we launched a technical consultation on implementing measures to improve the transparency of build rates from new residential developments, which includes proposals to implement provisions in Section 113 of the LURA on the power to decline to determine applications. That consultation can be found on gov.uk here.
We are now analysing the responses to both consultations, and we will set out our next steps in due course.
Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, we consulted on a new NPPF. The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included proposals designed to ensure major development proposals are capable of being implemented within a reasonable period – taking into account tenure mix, local market conditions and development history of the site.
We are currently analysing the feedback received and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of the United States about risks to Iran's territorial integrity of arming separatist groups in Iran.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the right reverend Prelate to the public and parliamentary statements made by the Prime Minister on 28 February, 1 March, 2 March (repeated in the House of Lords, Official Report, Volume 853, Column. 1076) and 5 March, where he set out in depth the UK's position on this conflict.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the National Centre for Social Research evaluation of the pilot move on period for newly recognised refugees to leave asylum accommodation.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The evaluation report cannot be shared externally until we have two satisfactory external peer reviews. Once approved, the report will be published on GOV.UK as part of the Home Office Research Series.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Chelmsford (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a refugee with newly granted refugee status requires (1) an e-visa, or (2) an asylum decision letter, to apply for Universal Credit.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
A newly granted refugee will have digital status (e-visa) at the point a positive decision is made; the Home Office will create the eVisa account on behalf of the newly granted refugee, and the individual can commence the move on process and access some key services prior to their eVisa account being created. Individuals can use their Application Registration Card (ARC) along with the asylum decision letter to access benefits.