Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest processing times for a decision on an EU Settlement Scheme application.

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

The information requested is not centrally held but the current EUSS processing times are published on GOV.UK - EU Settlement Scheme: current estimated processing times for applications - GOV.UK.

EUSS applications are considered on the specific facts of each case.

The most recent data on EUSS applications is published in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

The latest data relates up to June 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of EU Settlement Scheme applications submitted before December 2022 have yet to be processed.

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

The information requested is not centrally held but the current EUSS processing times are published on GOV.UK - EU Settlement Scheme: current estimated processing times for applications - GOV.UK.

EUSS applications are considered on the specific facts of each case.

The most recent data on EUSS applications is published in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.

The latest data relates up to June 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2025 to Question 77147 on Personal Independence Payment, if he will make it his policy to collect data on the impact of registration of an appointee on a person's PIP payments to track the number of times benefits are inadvertently (a) missed, (b) delayed and (c) stopped.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no plans to collect this data.

We aim to process applications for appointeeship as soon as possible to avoid delays. It is important that the department conducts checks to ensure that an appointee is both suitable to act and needed by the claimant. Entitlement to PIP would be from the date of claim, meaning the claimant would not lose entitlement because of the appointeeship process.

Payments of benefit are the same whether a claimant has an appointee or not.

Payments would not be inadvertently stopped because someone has an appointee. Payment can be suspended if concerns are raised about the appointee’s suitability to act, or if there are doubts about the claimant’s entitlement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain submitted by Syrian nationals (a) before October 2024 and (b) to date are pending decision.

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

The information requested is not centrally held.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September2025 to Question 75189 on Pigs: Animal Welfare, how many complaints of illegal slaughter on pig farms the Animal and Planet Health Agency has received in the last 12 months.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) take all complaints of illegal slaughter, and serious breaches of animal welfare, seriously. On receipt of a complaint, APHA will triage the details provided to determine the action required. The number of
complaints is not publicly available.

Local authorities lead on enforcement and prosecutions with support from APHA where needed to provide veterinary expertise and evidence. Any successful prosecution for welfare offences taken by a local authority is published in the annual Section 80 report under the Animal Health Act 1981 which is laid in Parliament. The data for this report is held and provided by the local authorities.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2025 to Question 75189 on Pigs: Animal Welfare, how many prosecutions for illegal pig thumping brought by local authorities are being supported by the Animal and Planet Health Agency.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) take all complaints of illegal slaughter, and serious breaches of animal welfare, seriously. On receipt of a complaint, APHA will triage the details provided to determine the action required. The number of
complaints is not publicly available.

Local authorities lead on enforcement and prosecutions with support from APHA where needed to provide veterinary expertise and evidence. Any successful prosecution for welfare offences taken by a local authority is published in the annual Section 80 report under the Animal Health Act 1981 which is laid in Parliament. The data for this report is held and provided by the local authorities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the final recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and recommendations will be published this autumn. The government’s response will be published alongside this.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make it her policy to set National Highways key performance indicators for cleaning up litter.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government intends to set National Highways a performance indicator (PI) for cleaning up litter on their roads as part of a wide range of performance indicators for the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3) period, covering the years 2026/27 to 2030/31. RIS3 will be published in March 2026.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the availability of driving tests in St Albans.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.

These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.

DVSA is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. Since July last year, DVSA has recruited and trained 290 driving examiners (DE) who are now in post and delivering driving tests.

St Albans driving test centre is part of a cluster of test centres, including Stevenage.

A new entrant examiner has recently passed their training course and is now testing full time and conducting driving tests at both St Albans and Stevenage driving test centres. A further new entrant examiner is in their final week of training, if successful they will begin conducting tests at St Albans and Stevenage from 3 November 2025. DVSA has also made offers to one further new entrant examiner, DVSA will arrange their training course as soon as they have accepted.

On 28 May, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. The consultation closed on 23 July. DVSA will review the feedback given and announce next steps as soon as possible. Further information on the consultation can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when her Department plans to publish the (a) findings of and (b) next steps from its consultation entitled Improving car driving test booking rules, published on 28 May 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.

On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.

These actions include incentivised additional testing offers for driving examiners, doubling permanent training capacity for new driving examiners, and a call for volunteers from those currently in other roles (but qualified to examine) to carry out practical driving tests.

DVSA is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. Since July last year, DVSA has recruited and trained 290 driving examiners (DE) who are now in post and delivering driving tests.

St Albans driving test centre is part of a cluster of test centres, including Stevenage.

A new entrant examiner has recently passed their training course and is now testing full time and conducting driving tests at both St Albans and Stevenage driving test centres. A further new entrant examiner is in their final week of training, if successful they will begin conducting tests at St Albans and Stevenage from 3 November 2025. DVSA has also made offers to one further new entrant examiner, DVSA will arrange their training course as soon as they have accepted.

On 28 May, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. The consultation closed on 23 July. DVSA will review the feedback given and announce next steps as soon as possible. Further information on the consultation can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules

Local Housing Allowance

Local government and social care

Family Business Week 2025

Conduct of Sir Robbie Gibb and the independence of the BBC Board

Release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah and the plight of British nationals arbitrarily detained abroad

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week 2025

Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme

Loan Charge and settlement terms offered to large companies and individuals

Final delivery plan on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Flying Nightingales

Eligibility variations in access to IVF

Water bills

Buying community energy locally

Transparency and accountability in social media account closures

Government proposals for mandatory digital ID

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill

Renewable energy and coal