Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her planned timetable is for introducing a ban on the provision of UK based maritime services that enable the transport and export of Russian liquefied natural gas; and when she expects such a ban to enter into force.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 5 February 2026 to Question 109565.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps Student Loans Company is taking to ensure that borrowers repaying through PAYE are not issued incorrect repayment demands.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

UK-based student loan repayments are collected by HMRC through the tax system. Employers deduct repayments for employees with a student loan when their earnings are above the relevant student loan repayment threshold. Employers will pass the collected repayments to HMRC, and HMRC pass details of the repayments to the Student Loans Company (SLC).

SLC may write to a customer directly if they have been paid more student loan or grant than they are entitled to. Overpayments are due to be repaid separately from the customer’s main student loan balance, and it is right that the SLC seek repayment of such sums.

If a borrower thinks they have received a letter in error, we encourage them to engage with SLC. Customer satisfaction is important to SLC, and they continue to invest in systems to provide customers with a more intuitive and comprehensively digital service. SLC welcomes feedback from customers to further improve their service.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether alternative reporting frequencies were considered under Making Tax Digital for self-employed workers whose income is irregular or seasonal.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government has worked extensively with taxpayers, representative bodies and software developers to ensure Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax works well for businesses of all types and sizes.

For most users, MTD for Income Tax will involve keeping digital records and submitting four light-touch quarterly updates during the tax year.

MTD quarterly updates are not tax returns. They are simple summaries of business income and expenses and are populated automatically through software that draws the relevant data from digital records.

Quarterly updates allow taxpayers with irregular or seasonal income to see an emerging view of their likely tax position as the year progresses, supporting better business planning. The updates can also enable HMRC to deliver targeted digital prompts to users throughout the tax year, ensuring reporting is accurate and timely by pointing out errors or missing entries.

With accurate records captured digitally in software, preparing the end-of-year return should be simpler, as the information needed is already available.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the impact of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on workers in the creative industries and gig economy.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government has worked extensively with taxpayers, representative bodies and software developers to ensure Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax works well for businesses of all types and sizes.

For most users, MTD for Income Tax will involve keeping digital records and submitting four light-touch quarterly updates during the tax year.

MTD quarterly updates are not tax returns. They are simple summaries of business income and expenses and are populated automatically through software that draws the relevant data from digital records.

Quarterly updates allow taxpayers with irregular or seasonal income to see an emerging view of their likely tax position as the year progresses, supporting better business planning. The updates can also enable HMRC to deliver targeted digital prompts to users throughout the tax year, ensuring reporting is accurate and timely by pointing out errors or missing entries.

With accurate records captured digitally in software, preparing the end-of-year return should be simpler, as the information needed is already available.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the immigration health surcharge refund policy to allow for partial refunds to be made for periods of overlapping payments in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.

Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.

The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing partial refunds for overlapping immigration health surcharges in cases where the applicant has applied to (a) extend and (b) switch their visa from outside the UK and are able to demonstrate evidence of financial harm as a result.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The new guidance being produced by the Home Office is designed to assist local authorities in supporting families with NRPF, as set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. The guidance will provide clarity around statutory duties and key safeguards for local authorities, ensuring a clear and consistent approach. The guidance does not alter the eligibility criteria for any current schemes or benefits.

Children whose families are subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition (NRPF) can currently access schemes and benefits such as free school meals, 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and15 hours free childcare for three- to four-year-old.

The Home Office will continue to work across government where relevant to ensure that migrant children with NRPF are specifically considered when reviewing or deciding on eligibility for schemes and benefits.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to classify misogyny as a hate crime.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to ensuring that all victims of hate crime receive equal protection under the law.

That is why we tabled an amendment at Lords Report Stage to the Crime and Policing Bill, extending the aggravated offences in sections 28 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This will level up protections by adding transgender identity, sexual orientation, disability and sex to the existing framework, ensuring that hostility based on any of these characteristics is treated with the same seriousness as racially or religiously aggravated offending.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps the Government is taking to support the development of UK-based fusion supply chains.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is making a record investment of over £2.5 billion over five years in fusion energy, including funding for STEP, the UK’s world-leading programme to design and build a prototype power plant in Nottinghamshire.

As set out in the Industrial Strategy, this will support thousands of jobs and is key to growing UK fusion supply chains and building commercial partnerships with industry. The Government is also creating a pro-innovation policy environment, providing ongoing support for fusion R&D, skills development and supply chain growth.

Further detail on Government support for fusion will be set out in the forthcoming UK Fusion Strategy.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much funding he has allocated to fusion energy research and development.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is making a record investment of over £2.5 billion over five years in fusion energy, including funding for STEP, the UK’s world-leading programme to design and build a prototype power plant in Nottinghamshire.

As set out in the Industrial Strategy, this will support thousands of jobs and is key to growing UK fusion supply chains and building commercial partnerships with industry. The Government is also creating a pro-innovation policy environment, providing ongoing support for fusion R&D, skills development and supply chain growth.

Further detail on Government support for fusion will be set out in the forthcoming UK Fusion Strategy.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the funding commitments are for the STEP programme.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is making a record investment of over £2.5 billion over five years in fusion energy, including funding for STEP, the UK’s world-leading programme to design and build a prototype power plant in Nottinghamshire.

As set out in the Industrial Strategy, this will support thousands of jobs and is key to growing UK fusion supply chains and building commercial partnerships with industry. The Government is also creating a pro-innovation policy environment, providing ongoing support for fusion R&D, skills development and supply chain growth.

Further detail on Government support for fusion will be set out in the forthcoming UK Fusion Strategy.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information his Department holds on the (a) renewable subsidies received, (b) wood pellets burnt and (c) carbon dioxide emitted by the Drax power station since 2012.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Drax has received almost £6.5bn in subsidy from to 2024 inclusive. Under the new contract from 2027, Drax will play a much more limited role in the power system, operating only when cheaper renewable power is not available. This new deal halves the subsidies for Drax – equivalent to saving billpayers around £6 per household per year.

Material for the wood pellets used in UK biomass electricity generation is sourced from forests which are sustainably managed to supply timber for housebuilding and furniture. Material removed that is unsuitable for other uses, together with sawmill residues, are a low-value by-product of sustainable forest management practices.

Stack emissions from biomass electricity generation should be considered as part of a wider picture, taking into account carbon sequestration in the short carbon cycle. This makes biomass significantly cleaner than fossil fuel alternatives, as emissions are netted off by the carbon absorbed from growing sustainable biomass.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many visas were issued to Russian citizens in each of the last three years.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of December 2025.

Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

Found: Gordon (Liberal Democrat; Harrogate and Knaresborough) Afzal Khan (Labour; Manchester Rusholme) Alex Sobel

Found: present: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Chair); Juliet Campbell; Tom Gordon; Lord Murray of Blidworth; Alex Sobel

Found: Liverpool (Chair); Juliet Campbell; Baroness Chakrabarti; Tom Gordon; Lord Murray of Blidworth; Alex Sobel