Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for the consideration of Administrative Reviews of immigration casework.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The allocation of resources across competing demands within the immigration system requires that prioritisation decisions are made, but the Home Office continues to work hard to meet the timescales set out in public guidance for the processing of AR applications.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce waiting times for administrative reviews relating to immigration casework.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The allocation of resources across competing demands within the immigration system requires that prioritisation decisions are made, but the Home Office continues to work hard to meet the timescales set out in public guidance for the processing of AR applications.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of enabling community energy schemes to sell energy to local households and businesses on the transition to Net Zero.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is considering a range of reforms to unlock renewable investment and pass through the benefits of cheaper renewables to consumers. This includes potential changes to support local and community energy.
All policies within my department and Government undergo appropriate analytical appraisals, which includes an assessment of the impacts on Net Zero.
The Secretary of State previously commissioned Ofgem to explore policy and regulatory barriers to local supply, including route to market challenges.
The Department continues to work with Ofgem and key stakeholders to enhance our community energy offer. We will set out further detail in due course.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Departments plans to implement transitional arrangements for people impacted by the proposals outlined in her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues.
We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year. Further details will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of regulating the level of charges levied by online image rights holders in cases of copyright infringement.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The unauthorised use of copyright material is an infringement. The terms on which permission is granted, including any payments that may be made, is a private commercial matter.
The Government would encourage parties involved in potential litigation proceedings to seek a negotiated settlement and the IPO offers a mediation service which employs accredited mediators who are qualified to mediate across a range of IP rights.
There are also many other individuals and organisations who mediate IP disputes, and the IPO has published a list of providers on its website. Further information regarding mediation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/intellectual-property-mediation
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that home delivery drivers are protected from abuse within the Crime and Policing Bill.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime.
We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.
The Government is carefully considering how best to strengthen the response to hate crime going forward so we can continue to tackle this offending head on.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 42191 on University of Sussex: Disciplinary Proceedings and with reference to her oral statement of 15 January 2025 on Higher Education Regulatory Approach, Official Report, column 379-382, when the parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 not being amended will come into force; and when she plans to introduce legislation to amend that Act.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On Monday 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education signed commencement regulations for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. These regulations commence the following provisions in the Act from 1 August 2025:
We are seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal the remaining elements of the Act in due course.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has instructed Official Development Assistance programme teams to pause new (a) business cases, (b) contracts, and (c) funding for programmes supporting women, peace, and security; whether any reductions or cancellations have been made to existing programmes in these areas; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of such actions.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The transition to spending 0.3 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance (ODA) demands significant shifts in the scale and shape of our ODA spending. To enable us to deliver this change effectively, we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, and planned humanitarian spend. Further detail is set out in Baroness Chapman's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee [https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47275/documents/245059/default/].
The UK is committed to empowering women and girls around the world through our international work.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many School Attendance Order (a) prosecutions and (b) fines there were under section 443 of the Education Act 1996 in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The volume of defendants prosecuted and fined for offences under 443 of the Education Act 1996 from 2015 - 2024 (January to September) is provided in the attached table 1.
Note that that this is an additional breakdown of statistics published by the Ministry of Justice on volumes of criminal proceedings.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he has made on the Development Review; and how he plans to use that review to inform the planned reduction in UK aid spending.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Development Review considered how to maximise the UK's combined diplomatic and development expertise in its international development work. Reducing the overall size of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will necessarily have an impact on the scale and shape of the work we do. The recommendations of the Development Review, alongside the Global Impact and Economic Diplomacy reviews, are now being considered as part of the Foreign Secretary's wider work to reform the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and will also inform decisions on the ODA budget.