Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the Answer of 19 July 2023 to Question 194133 on Golf: Portrush, whether he is taking steps with the Northern Ireland Executive to help increase economic opportunities during the Open Championship in Royal Portrush in 2025.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2025 is an outstanding opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland’s exceptional tourism offering, stunning scenery and state-of-the-art golfing facilities. These are just a few of the many reasons that Northern Ireland is a great place to live, work and invest.

Economic growth, sport and tourism are all devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. The Secretary of State, Lord Caine and I continue to work closely with the Ministers for the Economy and Communities to ensure that Northern Ireland is well placed to maximise the plethora of opportunities that the Championship, and other sporting spectacles, will bring to Northern Ireland’s hospitality and tourism sectors.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will establish an independent body to verify the accuracy of forecasts made by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The OBR is required by legislation to publish an evaluation of its forecasts against outturn data each year, and in 2023 also published a working paper assessing its historic forecast performance since it was established. The paper showed that its GDP growth and borrowing forecasts were comparable to external forecasters, and more accurate than previous Treasury forecasts.

The OBR is reviewed externally every five years.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people have enrolled to study for a Essential Digital Skills qualification since 1 January 2024.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The number of learners undertaking an Essential Digital Skills qualification as of January 2024 is 11,250.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to monitor the value for money of Government-funded biodiversity projects over the next five years.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra has a number of schemes which provide funding to support biodiversity projects. This includes the Landscape Recovery Scheme, The Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme, and Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme.

Each individual scheme has its own monitoring and evaluation framework to evaluate the impact of the projects, and this will include evaluation of the value for money delivered. For example, the Species Recovery Programme is currently commissioning an evaluation for the current Spending Review period which will include evaluating whether the Programme is providing value for money.

Defra is also currently developing an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework to strengthen its understanding of progress towards meeting its statutory biodiversity targets, including its target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. This work will include an overall evaluation of the value for money delivered by the suite of government interventions for biodiversity.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress his Department has made on the (a) implementation and (b) operation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)

It remains an absolute priority for the government to take all necessary steps to protect the United Kingdom from any foreign state activity which seeks to undermine our national security, prosperity and democratic values.

The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), introduced under Part 4 of the National Security Act 2023, will support this aim by increasing transparency of foreign influence in UK politics and by providing greater assurance around the activities of specified foreign powers or foreign power-controlled entities.

We intend that the scheme will become operational in Autumn 2024. The work to deliver this is underway, including ensuring regulations on the new powers covered in the National Security Act are fully consulted on and are laid in Parliament as Statutory Instruments in advance of ‘go live’ of the scheme.

The Government expects to publicise the intended ‘go live’ date several months in advance to ensure those affected by the scheme are given sufficient time to prepare.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of hotels that will be used as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and accommodation needs are kept under continuous review. 

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab). Data is published on a quarterly basis.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 192484 on Broadband: Social Tariffs, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of eligible people who were both (a) aware of and (b) took up a mobile phone social tariff in the last six months.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Ofcom has a statutory duty to monitor the affordability of telecoms services, and releases regular reports regarding public awareness and take-up of broadband and mobile social tariffs.

In December 2023, as part of its Pricing Trends Report, Ofcom stated that awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households was 45% (or around 2 million households). The report also estimated 380,000 UK households were taking-up social tariff, this represents around 8.3% of those eligible. Ofcom does not differentiate between mobile or broadband for these purposes.

We continue to work closely with Ofcom and the telecoms industry to explore ways to improve awareness of social tariffs amongst eligible households.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of diagnosis rates for genetic haemochromatosis.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

While data is not held centrally on diagnosis rates for genetic haemochromatosis, genomic testing for haemochromatosis is available through the NHS Genomic Medicines Service (GMS) for patients in England who show an unexplained iron overload, suggestive of genetic haemochromatosis. Any clinician who suspects haemochromatosis can order this testing via local genomic laboratory hubs.

Seven NHS GMS Alliances play an important role in supporting the strategic systematic embedding of genomic medicine in end-to-end clinical pathways and clinical specialities. They help to achieve equitable access to standardised end-to-end pathways of care, inclusive of genomic testing, clinical genetics, and genomic counselling services. The alliances also raise awareness among clinicians and the public of the genomic testing available through the National Health Service and drive this embedding across all providers within their geography, from primary and community care to secondary and tertiary care.

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress he has made on the establishment of the Castelreagh Foundation.

Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

I am currently considering the next steps in support of our commitments to the Castlereagh Foundation following the publication of the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to monitor activities at Confucius Institutes.

Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people who arrived in the UK by small boats in 2023 are (a) male and (b) female.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Tourism events in Northern Ireland

Found: Mr Gregory Campbell 7R 2006–0726 Jul 2007 Failure to declare interests at certain meetings of Northern