Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make ecocide a criminal offence.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has strong laws in place to protect the environment. Contravention of many of these is a criminal offence. Convictions are sought to punish significant or persistent environmental offending.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the bus manufacturing sector.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to strengthening the long-term competitiveness of the UK bus manufacturing sector and accelerating the shift to zero-emission vehicles. This includes reforms to bus procurement, supporting the work of the DfT UK Bus Manufacturing Expert Panels, and a £15 billion investment over five years to improve local transport in the North and Midlands, supporting sector growth and new zero-emission buses. Through DRIVE35, we are providing funding to support R&D and commercial scaling of zero-emission vehicles, creating skilled jobs and attracting private investment for sustained sector success.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the application of the Litigation and Settlement Strategy on settlements made following disguised renumeration schemes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. The Government will respond by Autumn Budget 2025.
The Litigation and Settlement Strategy (LSS) ensures that HMRC applies the law fairly and consistently. The LSS applies as much to the resolution of a dispute with a multinational corporation as it does to small business customers or individuals. This ensures every taxpayer, no matter who they are, pays the tax due under the law.
Central to the LSS is that HMRC will not settle a dispute by agreement for an amount which is less than it would reasonably expect to obtain from litigation.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government have reviewed the underspend on the Equitable Life Payment Scheme.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the previous Conservative Government, the Equitable Life Payment Scheme was wound down and closed in 2016. The only remaining part of the Payment Scheme in operation is the annual payments made to eligible With-Profit-Annuitants and the Scheme is on track to distribute the remainder of the £1.5 billion as planned.
There are no plans to reopen any decisions relating to the Payment Scheme or review the £1.5 billion funding allocation previously made to it. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when her Department plans to publish the integrated public transport strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As committed to in the Government’s manifesto, we will be publishing a long-term strategy for transport to set out the Department’s vision for domestic transport across England. We intend to publish the Strategy towards the end of this year.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to mandate a National Activities Safeguarding Framework for Children and Vulnerable Adults participating in extracurricular activities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The majority of out-of-school settings providers do a good job of delivering safe and enriching education and activities.
These providers have a legal duty of care to ensure the safety of children that attend their setting and protect them from harm. Local authorities are also legally responsible for safeguarding children in their areas and, when there are concerns, we expect them to intervene using the wide range of powers available to them. Similarly, local authorities have a statutory duty to make enquiries about safeguarding concerns under the Care Act 2014. Statutory guidance for the Care Act 2014 makes clear that local authorities must ensure that the services they commission are safe, effective, and of high-quality.
We have acted to improve sector safety by updating the safeguarding code of practice for out-of-school setting providers and accompanying guidance for parents and carers. We also published new e-learning for out-of-school providers and strengthened guidance for local authorities.
We are seeking to further improve safeguarding standards and have published a call for evidence to help improve our understanding of safeguarding within the sector. This will help gather evidence required to inform potential approaches, such as a national framework, and enhance the safety of these settings.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 support the protection of journalists in conflict zones.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly condemns all violence directed against journalists and media workers. Civilian reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law. We are therefore appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In a recent joint statement with 28 other countries, we called on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem can conduct their work freely and safely. The statement also called for all attacks against media workers to be investigated and for those responsible to be prosecuted in compliance with national and international law.
The UK has contributed £3 million to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Global Media Defence Fund, benefitting over 9,000 journalists, including time-sensitive emergency support to journalists and media experiencing sudden major crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti. Earlier this year the UK provided funds to UNESCO's Special Fund for Gaza, supporting locally based journalists with vital equipment.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
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 support compliance with International Humanitarian Law by the Israeli Government on the protection of journalists reporting on the conflicts in Gaza and the West Bank.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK strongly condemns all violence directed against journalists and media workers. Civilian reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law. We are therefore appalled by the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions of media workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In a recent joint statement with 28 other countries, we called on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem can conduct their work freely and safely. The statement also called for all attacks against media workers to be investigated and for those responsible to be prosecuted in compliance with national and international law.
The UK has contributed £3 million to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Global Media Defence Fund, benefitting over 9,000 journalists, including time-sensitive emergency support to journalists and media experiencing sudden major crises in Ukraine, Sudan and Haiti. Earlier this year the UK provided funds to UNESCO's Special Fund for Gaza, supporting locally based journalists with vital equipment.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have received indefinite leave to remain in 2025.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes statistics relating to indefinite leave to remain in the Immigration system statistics publication. The latest data is available up to the end of June 2025.
Data on grants of settlement can be found in table Se_D02 of the Settlement data tables. A settlement grant provides individuals with indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
Data on EUSS grants are available in table EUSS_D02 of the EUSS data tables. Settled status is an indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK, granted under the EUSS, which is available to EU, other EEA, and Swiss citizens who were residing in the UK that was launched in August 2018.
Additionally, data on family visa grants, included those granted immediate settlement are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset. You may be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain if you have a family member settled in the UK - either as a British citizen or a person with indefinite leave to remain.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what engagement she has had with the Further Education sector in Scotland on the proposals in the Immigration White Paper to increase the standard qualifying period for permanent residence from five to ten years.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The reforms in the Immigration White Paper, including the proposed increase in the standard qualifying period for settlement, were agreed across Government at a Home and Economic Affairs Committee the previous Home Secretary attended prior to publication on 12 May 2025.
We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year. All will be welcome to participate. We will provide details of how the scheme will work after that consultation.