Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HMRC has made of the potential impact of quarterly reporting on smaller businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Quarterly updates required under Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax are not the same as full tax returns. They are simple summaries of income and expenses. Software will automatically draw data from a taxpayer’s digital records so where these records are up to date, updates will be quick and easy to submit.
Quarterly updates help to reduce the risk of error by moving record-keeping closer to real time. With this data already captured in software, preparing the end-of-year return should also be easier, as the information needed is already available. Quarterly updates can also provide estimates of tax liability and nudging and prompts to support users to get their tax right.
HMRC has an established model for estimating the impacts that result from MTD. The latest published assessment is available at:
MTD for VAT is already helping businesses to increase their productivity, with most users surveyed reporting benefits including time savings and greater accuracy.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work, published on 18 May 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants currently in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance who would transfer to the proposed unemployment insurance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is currently consulting on a proposed Unemployment Insurance. The consultation closes on 30 June 2025. No decisions have yet been made about transitioning existing claimants of NS ESA and NS JSA to the proposed Unemployment Insurance and therefore an estimate cannot be provided at this stage. However, a further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab). Latest data as of November 2025 shows that there are 750,000 claimants for contributory ESA.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Health Minister on establishing a public inquiry into issues around cervical screening in the Southern Health Trust.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I recognise the serious concerns regarding cervical screening services in Northern Ireland. However, this is a devolved matter and responsibility rests with the Northern Ireland Department of Health.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I liaise regularly with the NI Minister of Health and have raised cervical screening issues following a meeting with victims and relatives of cervical screening errors. We will take the next opportunity to ask what steps are being taken to ensure that women in Northern Ireland are receiving the care they need.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time for a decision for any asylum seeker is once they have received confirmation that their application is receiving prioritisation due to compassionate circumstances.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The requested information is not currently available from published data and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum detailed datasets’, as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within 6 months is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time is for any asylum seeker to receive a decision from the date they claimed asylum.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The average time taken to process a substantive decision is not currently available from published data and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum detailed datasets’, as part of the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within 6 months is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the redevelopment of Casement Park.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I am continuing to engage with all partners involved in the Executive-led Casement Park redevelopment, including the Northern Ireland Executive and the GAA, to assess the options available regarding the project.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will have discussions with his EU counterparts to improve the functioning of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As co-Chair of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee I regularly discuss the functioning of the Windsor Framework with my European Commission counterpart Maroš Šefčovič. At the recent UK-EU summit we announced a new SPS agreement that will facilitate the smooth flow of agrifood and plants from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, whilst protecting the facilitations available to businesses under the Windsor Framework. This achievement is a product of a closer partnership with the EU, which will unlock real improvements for businesses and consumers - alongside the recent switch on of new customs facilitations for freight and parcels so that goods can flow smoothly within the UK internal market.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to ensure that the findings of the Independent Review of the Windsor Framework are considered during UK-EU negotiations.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Review reflects the Government’s commitment to securing the broadest possible confidence of communities in Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements. The Government looks forward to considering Lord Murphy’s recommendations when the Review reports. In doing so, we will follow the duties contained within Schedule 6A Northern Ireland Act 1998 including in respect of engagement with the European Union.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what his Department's definition of genocide is.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As a State Party to the Genocide Convention, we adopt the definition of genocide as set out in Article II of the Genocide Convention.