Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the supermarket industry on tackling food waste in supermarkets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra funds the groundbreaking UK Food and Drink Pact, a voluntary agreement with industry to tackle food waste in supply chains. The Pact has developed the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, which helps businesses to identify and measure their surplus and waste and take steps to reduce it. Through the Pact, we have regular engagement with food businesses, including supermarkets, to better understand and overcome the barriers to tackling food waste.
Defra also supports retailers and food businesses to play a key role in making sure their products help consumers to waste less food at home. This includes through appropriate storage advice, packaging design, and how food is labelled.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether transitional arrangements outlined in the 2025 UK Immigration White Paper include those close to settlement on existing long residence routes.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following that consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help ensure that trainees on the HMRC Tax Specialist Programme are able to be awarded a Skilled Worker Visa to maintain the Right To Work in the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC values the contribution of all trainees on the Tax Specialist Programme (TSP) and recognises the importance of maintaining the Right to Work in the UK.
At present, the Tax Specialist Programme (TSP) is not designated as a role eligible for sponsorship because it does not meet HMRCs internal criteria for sponsorship, which prioritise roles that are demonstrably hard to fill.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with international partners on coordinated efforts to promote human rights in Iran.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer my Hon Friend to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in the subsequent debate. I can also reassure my Hon Friend that staff from the British embassy in Tehran are continuing to discharge their duties remotely while the embassy is temporarily closed.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to assist British Iranians to access information about the welfare of family members in Iran.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer my Hon Friend to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in the subsequent debate. I can also reassure my Hon Friend that staff from the British embassy in Tehran are continuing to discharge their duties remotely while the embassy is temporarily closed.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase community funding for employment and skills support for people living in supported accommodation to prevent future homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through our National Plan to End Homelessness the government is putting prevention at the heart of public services, including action to help prevent homelessness. Through our Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector grant, Homeless Link have produced resources to support homelessness services increase access to employment and volunteering opportunities for people with lived experience of homelessness.
The government is investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years. This includes almost £2 billion to prevent and address homelessness and rough sleeping through the Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant, which local authorities will be able to use flexibly to meet local need, including by commissioning community organisations to deliver employment and skills support, if appropriate.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking to help improve pay and conditions in the further education sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Further education (FE) colleges, rather than the government, are responsible for setting and negotiating staff pay and terms and conditions within colleges.
In May 2025, the department announced a further £190 million investment for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers in addition to the £400 million of extra funding we already planned to spend on 16 to 19 education in financial year 2025/26.
Across the Spending Review period, we will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/2029.
This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16 to19 providers to enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent
Targeted recruitment incentives of up to £6,000 (after tax) are available for eligible early career FE teachers working in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects, in disadvantaged schools and colleges (including in Sixth Form Colleges). This payment is separate to teachers’ usual pay.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that Schengen Area Passport Validity requirements are clearly and effectively communicated by (a) airlines and (b) travel operators.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The EU will be liaising with airlines flying to the Schengen zone on the publication/notification of any requirements.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to take steps to implement the recommendations of the Leveson inquiry.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Leveson Inquiry led to changes in the regulatory system of the press, which included the creation of the Press Recognition Panel, by Royal Charter and two new press regulators, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) and the Independent Monitor of the Press (Impress). This is a self-regulatory system, which was established to be independent from Government and protect press freedom. We are also clear, however, that with this freedom comes responsibility. Publishers must operate within the bounds of the law and set and uphold high professional and ethical standards.
The news landscape has changed substantially over the past decade, and looking ahead, we want to maintain press freedom, whilst being clear the public must be protected from the harm caused by clear instances of intrusion and harassment. The Government is carefully considering next steps to determine the best route forward to ensure public trust and accountability in our evolving news media.
Ministers and officials working in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport regularly engage with stakeholders on a range of press-related issues. Details of ministerial meetings are published on a quarterly basis on Gov.uk. The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has previously met with families who have experienced press intrusion. She remains committed to considering the issues they have raised.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to assist home-owners whose property is not suitable for the installation of heat pumps.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Evidence gathered from the Government funded Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project showed that heat pumps will work well in the vast majority of homes. Moreover, modern heat pumps can increasingly be used in homes previously considered unsuitable for electrification.
The Heat Pump Ready Innovation Programme previously funded a variety of projects, including those seeking to improve the ease of heat pump deployment in homes that are ‘complex to decarbonise’.
The department has also commissioned research to collect data on the costs of different approaches to decarbonising the most complex housing archetypes, including the use of alternative low carbon heating solutions where they are required, and we expect to receive results from that research in early 2026.