Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish regular impact assessments for the International Student Levy.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Impact analysis on the International Students Levy was published in November 2025. Any further analysis will be published in the usual way.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Freedom of Information Request 2025/07437 and her department’s response to it on 29th July 2025, if she will provide details of the a) cybersecurity and b) misuse concerns referred to.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Information is released into the public domain where it is appropriate to do so. The Home Office would not provide an insight into the design of our technology systems in order to maintain security and protect the border
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's document entitled Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy, published on 18 December 2025, if she will set out a timeline for introducing mandatory relationships and sex education for 16-18 year olds.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is exploring the most viable and effective route to deliver this policy, working with the sector to ensure any approach is practical, deliverable and fit for purpose. This work is ongoing and we are not yet able to provide a timeframe for introducing mandatory relationships and sex education for 16 to 18‑year‑olds. However, we remain committed to taking this forward carefully and responsibly.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of (a) benchmarking, (b) validation methods and (c) error rates of AI tools used in asylum casework.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are two AI tools in use in asylum casework currently; Asylum Case Summarisation (ACS) and Asylum Policy Search (APS).
Bench Marking & Validation - Both evaluations used a mixed-methods approach to collect primary data during and after the pilots. All participants in the test and comparison groups were asked to log information for each case undertaken. For the Asylum Case Summarisation pilot, the logging exercise captured data on 334 cases in the test group and 95 cases in the comparison group. For the Asylum Policy Search pilot, the logging exercise captured data on 270 cases in the test group and 214 cases in the comparison group.
The following published research note provides more detail on both pilots and the findings we documented - Evaluation of AI trials in the asylum decision making process - GOV.UK.
Error Rates - Technical specialists reviewed all summaries created by the Asylum Case Summarisation tool for accuracy prior to use in the pilot. A small proportion of summaries produced (9%) were deemed to be inaccurate or had missing information and were therefore removed from the pilot and these cases progressed in the business-as-usual way. Of the summaries that progressed in the pilot, 23% of users reported they were not fully confident in the summary information and would warrant further exploration in a full roll out. The Asylum Case Summarisation Tool has not yet been rolled out operationally.
The methodologies used in the evaluation of our Asylum AI tools were reviewed by and agreed with the Cabinet Office Evaluation Taskforce, and apply to both ACS and APS.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the guidance entitled AI Playbook for UK Government, published on 10 February 2025, whether this guidance was used in the context of AI tools for asylum casework.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We follow and abide by Government and Home Office guidance for all AI development, however the development and delivery of the Asylum project pilots predated the AI Playbook.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the indexation of feed in tariffs to align with CPI rather than RPI from financial year 2026-27 on community energy schemes.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Changing indexation of the Feed‑in Tariffs scheme from RPI to CPI is estimated to reduce average revenue for a generator remaining on the scheme until 2036/37 by around 4.2%, compared with a scenario where indexation is unchanged. Generators that exit the scheme earlier would experience a smaller average impact. The available data does not allow for analysis on specific groups of generators such as community energy schemes. An analytical annex, including an assessment of the potential impacts of this policy, was published alongside the government response.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he has taken to assess the risk of asbestos contamination in imported products from (a) China and (b) elsewhere.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK product safety regime places responsibilities on manufacturers and importers to assess any risks their products may pose and ensure consumer products, including imports, are safe before being placed on the market. No level of asbestos is permitted in consumer products in the UK and where non-compliant products have been identified the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and Local Authority Trading Standards, have acted quickly to ensure recalls are undertaken.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how will the Freedom from Violence and Abuse strategy action plan's commitment to launch mandatory training for staff in the bus industry on how to recognise and respond to VAWG incidents be informed by the experience of women and girls.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government wants everyone to feel and be safe when travelling. The Department is working across government and with partners, including the British Transport Police, the transport industry and local authorities to help tackle violence against women in girls (VAWG) on transport.
We are actively engaging with a broad range of relevant stakeholders in preparation for the launch of the mandatory training including, charities, transport user representative bodies, academics, other government departments, and bus operators, to ensure that women and girls’ experiences are at the centre of its development.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of 30 month reviews of refugee status.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The change to reduce refugee permission to stay to 30 months is the first step towards implementing the “core protection” model, announced as part of the reforms last autumn.
We are committed to ensuring our policies are sustainable and do not place unnecessary burdens on the taxpayer, and this policy is no different. We do not want people to remain on Core Protection for the long term, and only those who do remain on Core Protection will have their protection needs regularly reviewed. We will encourage refugees to switch out of the Core Protection route wherever possible into a new, bespoke work and study route to access family reunion and settlement rights with new fees and conditions in accordance with the rules of that route.
Reviews will be targeted based on objective country information, and any other new information that comes to light, allowing us to make the most efficient use of resources. We will continue to monitor staffing levels and will deploy our workforce flexibly subject to business needs as we have done in the past.
The approach to reviewing status will be efficient and targeted; we will reassess where country conditions or personal circumstances have changed significantly.
To do this we will build on the efficiencies that have already seen record levels of initial decisions being made, including use of AI, such as our policy search tool or case summarisation which are already assisting asylum decision makers.
The Home Office continues to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives to speed up decision making and reduce the time people spend in the asylum system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision. This will enable us to maximise our capacity and progress cases in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
Asked by: Carla Denyer (Green Party - Bristol Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of 30 month reviews of refugee status on the Home Office asylum claims backlog.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The change to reduce refugee permission to stay to 30 months is the first step towards implementing the “core protection” model, announced as part of the reforms last autumn.
We are committed to ensuring our policies are sustainable and do not place unnecessary burdens on the taxpayer, and this policy is no different. We do not want people to remain on Core Protection for the long term, and only those who do remain on Core Protection will have their protection needs regularly reviewed. We will encourage refugees to switch out of the Core Protection route wherever possible into a new, bespoke work and study route to access family reunion and settlement rights with new fees and conditions in accordance with the rules of that route.
Reviews will be targeted based on objective country information, and any other new information that comes to light, allowing us to make the most efficient use of resources. We will continue to monitor staffing levels and will deploy our workforce flexibly subject to business needs as we have done in the past.
The approach to reviewing status will be efficient and targeted; we will reassess where country conditions or personal circumstances have changed significantly.
To do this we will build on the efficiencies that have already seen record levels of initial decisions being made, including use of AI, such as our policy search tool or case summarisation which are already assisting asylum decision makers.
The Home Office continues to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives to speed up decision making and reduce the time people spend in the asylum system and decrease the number of people who are awaiting an interview or decision. This will enable us to maximise our capacity and progress cases in a more efficient and cost-effective way.