Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of making changes to Ukraine visa schemes to facilitate routes to settlement.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We are committed to standing with Ukraine and providing stability for those we have welcomed to the UK and who still need our sanctuary.
The Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme, which opened to applications on 4 February 2025, provides up to an additional 18 months’ permission to stay in the UK for those with existing Ukraine Scheme permission.
We keep the Ukraine schemes under continuous review in line with the ongoing conflict and the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine. This is why the Ukraine Schemes are temporary and do not lead to settlement in the UK. Similarly, time spent in the UK with permission granted under the Ukraine Schemes cannot be relied upon towards the continuous qualifying period for the purposes of a Long Residence application.
There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements, such as work routes and family routes. These routes are published on GOV.UK at: Work in the UK - GOV.UK (opens in a new tab) and Family in the UK - GOV.UK (opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of HMRC phone line performance.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publish monthly performance data, including information on their telephony service, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports.
A key part of this plan is expanding HMRC’s digital services. Improving day-to-day performance is one of the Government’s key priorities for HMRC.
A key part of this plan is expanding HMRC’s digital services. More than 6 million customers now use the HMRC app, which allows people to manage their tax affairs quickly and easily.
This summer, HMRC will publish a transformation roadmap. Setting out further steps to improve the customer experience for taxpayers, agents, and businesses.
This will reduce pressure on phone lines, freeing up HMRC advisors to help those who are digitally excluded, have complex tax affairs, or find themselves in vulnerable circumstances.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK ODA spending supports women and girls internationally.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is committed to supporting women and girls around the world. We are strengthening the integration of gender equality across the full breadth of FCDO work and will use our convening power and diplomacy to maximise our impact, including through encouraging multilateral organisations to deliver on their commitments to women and girls.
Following the Spending Review, detailed decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through as part of ongoing resource allocation processes. We will publish the FCDO final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the Annual Report & Accounts in July.
Asked by: Catherine Fookes (Labour - Monmouthshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the availability of (a) HGV driving test slots and (b) HGV driving test examiners.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of 30 June 2025, there were 15,918 vocational practical driving tests booked and 1,216 tests available in the 10-week booking window
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is seeing some of the highest demand for car practical driving tests it has ever seen.
Whilst DVSA are continuing to deploy examiner resource to vocational testing, it needs to ensure this is done in a way which balances all of the demands on DVSA’s examiner resource.