Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the average length of time required for chemical (a) production and (b) processing sites to be permitted by the Environment Agency varies by region.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency’s (EA) target assessment time to process chemical production or processing permit applications is 250 days. These permits are among the most complex the EA handles, involving thorough assessments to protect the environment and public, and to ensure operators are supported and can comply with necessary permit conditions. Over the last 12 months the EA has issued within an average of 260 days.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (i) mean, (ii) median, (iii) fastest and (iv) slowest timelines were for the permitting of chemical (a) production and (b) processing sites by the Environment Agency over the last ten years.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency’s (EA) target assessment time to process chemical production or processing permit applications is 250 days. These permits are among the most complex the EA handles, involving thorough assessments to protect the environment and public, and to ensure operators are supported and can comply with necessary permit conditions.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to support the future roll-out of Young Futures hubs in a) Oxford East constituency, b) Oxfordshire, and c) England.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

On Tuesday 15th July, the Prime Minister set out plans to open 50 hubs over the next four years in England.

The local authorities for the first eight early adopter Young Futures Hubs were selected using knife crime and anti-social behaviour metrics to place them where they will benefit the most at-risk young people. They were published on gov.uk in December. Local Authorities will select the precise location of their Young Futures Hub based on local needs

The locations for the remaining 42 Hubs will be determined in due course, using appropriate data and learning from the eight early adopter hubs. Further details will be provided in due course

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of not resolving the immigration status of children in care before they turn 18.

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

The Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle where appropriate. This will also include a clear pathway for those children in care and care leavers.

As part of this, separate targeted engagement will take place with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system. Children who have claimed asylum are dealt with under separate provisions.

A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a clear pathway to settlement for children in care and care leavers must be considered alongside these changes.

Further detail on this will be set out in due course.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Immigration White Paper S.221, what specific measures are in place or being developed to tackle sponsors who fall short of their responsibilities.

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

The current measures to tackle sponsors who fall short of their sponsorship duties can be found on Gov.uk in Part 3 of the guidance for sponsors:

Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3: sponsor duties and compliance (accessible) - GOV.UK

These range from reducing a sponsor’s allocation of certificates of sponsorship to revoking their licence and, if necessary, reporting them to the relevant authorities for further investigation.

The sponsor guidance is kept under close ongoing review, with enhancements to the relevant criteria made on an iterative basis.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Immigration White Paper S.221, if he will set out the timeframe for the implementation of measures against sponsors who fall short of their duties.

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

The current measures to tackle sponsors who fall short of their sponsorship duties can be found on Gov.uk in Part 3 of the guidance for sponsors:

Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 3: sponsor duties and compliance (accessible) - GOV.UK

These range from reducing a sponsor’s allocation of certificates of sponsorship to revoking their licence and, if necessary, reporting them to the relevant authorities for further investigation.

The sponsor guidance is kept under close ongoing review, with enhancements to the relevant criteria made on an iterative basis.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people into employment, education or training in a) Oxford East constituency, b) Oxfordshire, and c) England.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to reducing the number of young people who are not in Education, Training or Employment.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering the Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. This includes launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and commissioning an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years. This will reach almost 900,000 young people, including through the expansion of Youth Hubs to every area in Great Britain and the introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 additional opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

Young people in Oxford East are already supported through the Rose Hill Youth Hub, which offers job clubs, employability advice, mental health links, and employer-led events in partnership with Oxford City Council and Jobcentre Plus.

Across Oxfordshire, Jobcentre Plus works with partners such as Abingdon and Witney College, Activate Learning, The Ethnic Minority Business Service, and Ruskin College to deliver tailored employability and sector-specific skills programmes aligned to local employer needs. This work is supported by the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership through initiatives like employer engagement days.

As per our ambition to expand Youth Hubs to every area of Great Britain over the next three years, we will work with partners in West and South Oxfordshire to explore new opportunities.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that every child in care has their immigration status resolved before turning 18.

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

The Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle where appropriate. This will also include a clear pathway for those children in care and care leavers.

As part of this, separate targeted engagement will take place with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system. Children who have claimed asylum are dealt with under separate provisions.

A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a clear pathway to settlement for children in care and care leavers must be considered alongside these changes.

Further detail on this will be set out in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support the roll-out of youth hubs in a) Oxford East constituency, b) Oxfordshire, and c) England.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to reducing the number of young people who are not in Education, Training or Employment.

We have already taken the first steps towards delivering the Youth Guarantee, to ensure that all 16–24-year-olds in Great Britain can access support to find work, training, or an apprenticeship. This includes launching Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in England, announcing funding to almost double our Youth Hubs across Great Britain, and commissioning an Independent Report into Young People and Work, to identify potential areas for reform to better support young people with health conditions and disabilities.

We are now going further through an expansion of the Youth Guarantee, backed by a £820 million investment over the next three years. This will reach almost 900,000 young people, including through the expansion of Youth Hubs to every area in Great Britain and the introduction of a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, offering a dedicated session and follow-up support to 16-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. This investment will also create around 300,000 additional opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21.

Young people in Oxford East are already supported through the Rose Hill Youth Hub, which offers job clubs, employability advice, mental health links, and employer-led events in partnership with Oxford City Council and Jobcentre Plus.

Across Oxfordshire, Jobcentre Plus works with partners such as Abingdon and Witney College, Activate Learning, The Ethnic Minority Business Service, and Ruskin College to deliver tailored employability and sector-specific skills programmes aligned to local employer needs. This work is supported by the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership through initiatives like employer engagement days.

As per our ambition to expand Youth Hubs to every area of Great Britain over the next three years, we will work with partners in West and South Oxfordshire to explore new opportunities.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for the permitting of chemical (a) production and (b) processing sites by the Environment Agency on the economy.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency continues to review and enhance its permitting processes through its improvement programme to improve timescales and the process for applicants.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will list the companies that will receive 90 per cent discounted network charging costs under the proposed Network Charging Compensation scheme from 1 April 2026.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Network Charging Compensation (NCC) Scheme is one of the three components making up the British Industry Supercharger (the Supercharger). The other two components are the GB Capacity Market Exemption and Energy Intensive Industries Exemption Scheme. The most current list of recipients of Supercharger support, and therefore NCC Scheme support, can be found at the following link: Contracts for Difference (CfD) and renewables obligation (RO): list of companies awarded an exemption - GOV.UK. These recipients, and future Supercharger recipients, will benefit from 90% compensation from network charges from 1 April 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, what comparative analysis she has undertaken on the impact of the uptake of EVs of the introduction of pay-per-mile schemes in other jurisdictions including Iceland and New Zealand.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that electric vehicles (EVs) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.

The Government considered the wider EV take-up landscape from examples in other countries. The impact of the introduction of similar taxes in other countries is not directly comparable, as in most international examples, the announcement coincided with the reduction or removal of government support for consumers to buy EVs. In contrast, the UK government has taken action to ensure that driving an electric vehicle is an attractive choice for consumers, and rather than reducing up-front incentives for EVs, 80% of eVED revenue from the first three years is being reinvested to extend support for EVs and the auto manufacturing industry.

In addition, the eVED rate for electric cars (3 pence per mile) will be set at half the fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel car driver, which is substantially lower than the rates set for schemes in New Zealand and Iceland (equivalent of more than 5 pence per mile).

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what data her Department holds on the breakdown by age of the impact of changes in levels of overseas development aid.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are an essential part of how we make decisions on Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations. The 2025/26 EIA, as published on gov.uk captures the impacts on children where these were reported at programme level. We will continue to track spend on equalities and plan to improve the availability and use of data. As part of this, we will consider how we measure impacts on relevant age groups, as this is not something we have done previously.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which Police Forces in England are meeting service levels on processing times for DBS checks, and which are not.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

For certain ‘Enhanced’ level applications (‘Basic’ and ‘Standard’ level checks are not sent to local police forces), the DBS will check with local police forces whether they hold any information that is considered relevant to the individual’s application.

There is a 60-day Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place between the DBS and police forces to complete this work. Out of the 52 independent Police Disclosure Units carrying out these checks (across local police forces and other law enforcement agencies) 8 are currently unable to meet the 60-day SLA: Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Sussex, Thames Valley, Dyfed Powys, Durham, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the Corporate Power Purchase Agreements system as it applies to automotive manufacturing.

Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) allow businesses to enhance competitiveness by securing stable, competitively priced electricity.

The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy committed to issue a call for evidence on how the British CPPA market can be improved for industry. The call for evidence, run by DBT and DESNZ, was launched on 9 January and closes 6 March. Ideas generated will be carefully reviewed to inform future policy development.

Future policy will complement existing support for the automotive sector including the DRIVE35 initiative, an additional 1.3bn in the Electric Car Grant and increased funding for charging infrastructure.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that goods produced through forced labour are not purchased within the framework of government contracts.

Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Abhorrent practices such as forced labour and modern slavery have no place in government contracts or in wider society. This Government is determined to stamp this out.

The Procurement Act 2023 provides contracting authorities with stronger powers to exclude suppliers from public procurements where there is compelling evidence of modern slavery within their supply chains.

In February 2025, the Government updated Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 009 ‘Tackling Modern Slavery in Government Supply Chains’, advocating a risk based approach to identifying and managing modern slavery risks, and encourages departments to conduct due diligence using a range of tools, such as the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT), and approaches to support decision making.

The MSAT is a modern slavery risk identification and management tool. This tool has been designed to help public sector organisations work in partnership with suppliers to improve protections and reduce the risk of exploitation of workers in their supply chains.

This government has also made the Anti-Slavery Risk Tiering Tool (ARTT) available for public sector buyers in October 2025. This tool enables faster risk assessments and clear next steps to mitigate modern slavery risks across the commercial lifecycle.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps to ensure that bilateral and multilateral mineral-security initiatives signed by the United Kingdom include binding anti-forced-labour standards.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As set out in the UK's Critical Minerals Strategy, we are working through bilateral and multilateral initiatives to promote transparent, sustainable, and responsible supply chains that uphold robust labour standards.

Last year the UK worked with multilateral partners to agree the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan, and G20 Critical Minerals Framework. We support global standards such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains which helps businesses operate responsibly in high-risk areas.

In addition, the Modern Slavery Act requires large businesses operating in the UK to report annually on steps taken to combat forced labour in their supply chains, and the Government is reviewing its approach to responsible business conduct as part of the Trade Strategy. This includes assessing the effectiveness of current measures and exploring alternative ways to prevent human rights abuses in supply chains.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of childcare costs on the ability of parents to undertake postgraduate study.

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

It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.

Student parents are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education which is available to all 3 and 4-year-olds regardless of family circumstances.

Students who work in addition to studying may be eligible for 30 hours free childcare if they meet the income requirements.

The government recognises the value of parents continuing in education and provides a range of support for students in higher education to support them with childcare.

Support available to full-time students with dependent children includes the Childcare Grant and Parents’ Learning Allowance. Entitlement to these grants is based on a student’s household income.

Further information on the childcare offers available to parents can be found at: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps are being undertaken to promote UK investment in critical minerals and other resources outside of regions where forced labour is a significant risk, such as Xinjiang.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As set out in the UK's Critical Minerals Strategy, we are working through bilateral and multilateral initiatives to promote transparent, sustainable, and responsible supply chains that uphold robust labour standards.

Last year the UK worked with multilateral partners to agree the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan, and G20 Critical Minerals Framework. We support global standards such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains which helps businesses operate responsibly in high-risk areas.

In addition, the Modern Slavery Act requires large businesses operating in the UK to report annually on steps taken to combat forced labour in their supply chains, and the Government is reviewing its approach to responsible business conduct as part of the Trade Strategy. This includes assessing the effectiveness of current measures and exploring alternative ways to prevent human rights abuses in supply chains.

Found: messages about whether media freedom is part of Lord Collins’ remit, or was assigned to the Rt Hon Anneliese Dodds