Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what impact the changes to student visa routes introduced in January, which prevent international students studying on undergraduate courses bringing family members to the UK, have had on visa application numbers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes information on monthly Sponsored Study visa applications in the ‘Monthly entry clearance visa applications release’.
[Monthly entry clearance visa applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)]
Data on Sponsored Study visa applications from main applicants and dependants can be found in the accompanying dataset.
[Monthly monitoring of entry clearance visa applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)].
The Home Office also publishes quarterly data on Sponsored Study visas in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’ [Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)]. Data on visa applications, by applicant type and nationality, are published in table Vis_D01 of ‘Entry clearance visas granted outside the UK’ [Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)]. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to Q2 (April to July) 2024.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’ [immigration - Research and statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)].
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many National Insurance numbers were issued to citizens of (1) the European Union, and (2) all other countries, within the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes quarterly statistics on National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK with the latest statistics to June 2024 available by world area and country on Stat-Xplore. The number issued in the 12 months to June 2024 by world areas is shown in the table below.
NINO Registrations To Adult Overseas Nationals Entering The UK
Nationality | Rolling year end June 2023/24 |
European Union | 69,927 |
Non-European Union (Other Europe) | 49,302 |
Asia | 544,241 |
Rest of the World | 261,711 |
Other / unknown | 14,857 |
Total | 940,039 |
Source: Stat-Xplore
Note: Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the announcement on 4 March of the establishment of an inquiry into third party litigation funding, when they expect to announce the terms of reference, the members of the inquiry panel and the timing of the review.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Lord Chancellor has invited the Civil Justice Council, the body responsible for overseeing and co-ordinating the modernisation of the civil justice system, to undertake a review of third-party litigation funding in England and Wales. The CJC has agreed to undertake the review and will be announcing terms of reference and other information shortly.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of full time equivalent personnel employed by DEFRA to administer farming and horticultural grants and subsidies in England on the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Defra’s Grants Hub data does not hold a ‘Farming & Horticulture’ flag so it would not be possible to quickly pull together a list of schemes in scope of this question.
Manually reviewing the schemes and deciding if they fit or not, without a standard definition of what counts as ‘Farming & Horticulture’, would require a degree of personal judgement and therefore yield some inaccuracy. It would then be necessary to validate the list with teams to ensure they are ‘Farming & Horticulture’ grants.
From experience of similar requests, this would push the cost to disproportionate (ie greater than the HMT-set limit of £850 for a PQ answer).
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of (1) farmers, and (2) their direct employees, for the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller
Farmers are defined here as full time and part time principal farmers, business partners, directors and spouses. All other agricultural workers are defined here as regular employees, salaried managers and casual workers who were working on the holding on 1 June 2023.
Agricultural workforce in England in 2023
| 2023 |
|
Farmers | 178,696 |
|
All other agricultural workers | 113,705 |
|
Total agricultural workforce | 292,401 |
|
Notes
(a) Commercial holdings are those registered with the Rural Payments Agency for payments or livestock purposes and with significant levels of farming activity (as recorded in responses to the Defra June Survey of Agriculture or the Cattle Tracing System). Holdings are only included if they have more than five hectares of agricultural land, one hectare of orchards, 0.5 hectares of vegetables or 0.1 hectares of protected crops, or more than 10 cows, 50 pigs, 20 sheep, 20 goats or 1,000 poultry.
Full data series for agricultural workforce are published here for England. A copy is attached to this answer.
Similar figures for the UK are available at gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker when the list of fees charged to promoters of private bills was last reviewed.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The current level of Private Bill fees was agreed to by the House on 27 March 2000, and the consequent amendments to Private Business Standing Orders agreed to on 24 July 2000, following a recommendation of the Select Committee of House of Lords’ Offices (4th Report, Session 1999-2000, HL Paper 45). A review of private legislation fees charged to promoters and applicants, as set out in the Table of fees in Private Business Standing Orders, is planned to take place this year.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the letter from Baroness Penn to Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts on 22 August 2023, when they expect to publish the interim report on the review of treatment of Politically Exposed Persons by financial institutions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 committed the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct, and publish the conclusions of, a review into how financial institutions are following its guidance on politically exposed persons (PEPs) by the end of June 2024. As set out in the Written Statement on the treatment of PEPs published on 14 December 2023, given the strength of concern on this issue, the Government expects that the FCA will prioritise this review over the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to permit fractionated shares to be held in ISAs.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HMRC’s long standing view on interpretation of the current law is that a fraction of a share is not a share for the purposes of the ISA legislation.
The government is committed to ensuring the ISA the market works for both industry and consumers. We are aware of representations from the industry to allow fractional shares to be included in ISAs going forward, and are considering the issue.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the value of VAT relief given under the Listed Places of Worship Scheme in each of the past two financial years.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme (LPWGS) was established in 2001 to provide grants towards VAT paid on repairs and maintenance to the nation's listed churches and cathedrals. The scheme, which presently handles around 7000 claims per annum, applies to all faiths and denominations and is delivered UK wide. It is currently funded through a combination of £17 million from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s core baseline, together with £25 million available from HMT reserves (so a total of up to £42m total each financial year).
Historically, the scheme has operated with an underspend each year. However, efforts are underway to reduce underspend, including via a new LPWGS website and comms outreach campaign. Initial data since the launch of the website in July 2023 suggests a gradual increase in uptake and grants being made.
The LPWGS website provides details of the annual spend of the scheme, but does not provide details of previous years’ allocations. See here: https://listed-places-of-worship-grant.dcms.gov.uk/about-us/.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to amend the present ability to reclaim VAT under the Listed Places of Worship Scheme.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Listed places of worship represent some of the nation's finest heritage, and HM Government recognises the need to preserve and maintain such hallowed buildings. The Listed Place of Worship Grant Scheme aims to mitigate the cost of doing so and to support listed and protected buildings for the benefit of present and future generations.
There are presently no plans to amend the eligibility criteria for the scheme, but we keep them under review. We have also been working to ensure that the accessibility and uptake of the scheme is improved, particularly through the development of a new website and application process. Officials maintain regular contact with key people and organisations representing listed places of worship, and continue to welcome feedback on the operation and effectiveness of the scheme. I was pleased to visit St Peter and St Paul's church in Albury, Surrey, earlier this year to hear how the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme helped them to carry out repairs to the church roof.