Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effectiveness of landmines in enabling the defence of land borders against conventional armed attack.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I hope the right hon. Gentleman will understand that the Ministry of Defence can’t comment publicly on operational matters. All anti-personnel landmines present an enduring risk to civilians in the wake of conflict. It is for this reason the UK remains a committed State Party to the Ottawa Treaty. The UK has successfully operated without anti-personnel landmines for fifteen years.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) mechanisms exist and (b) steps he is taking to ensure that integrated care boards are accountable for their commissioning of children’s palliative care.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, including for children and young people, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each ICB in respect of each financial year, and to publish a summary of its findings. This assessment must include how well the ICB has discharged its functions.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it is her policy that pre-sentence reports to inform judges prior to passing sentences on offenders should be requested in light of (a) their individual circumstances only and (b) any specific groups to which they belong.

Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Pre-sentence reports can be vital tools for judges and for all offenders, regardless of their membership of a certain cohort. Courts are required to obtain and consider them unless, in the circumstances of the case they consider them unnecessary.

We are clear that decisions relating to sentencing of individuals are a matter for the independent judiciary.

Equality before the law is a guiding principle of our justice system. It is this Government’s policy to protect this and to ensure that there is no differential treatment on the basis of race or ethnicity in our courts. That is why, on 01 April, we introduced legislation which has the effect of removing the specific reference to cohorts in the Imposition guidelines - and the Sentencing Council has agreed to pause the guidelines while we do so.

The Bill does not prevent the guidelines from advising that pre-sentence reports are sought in cases where the court would benefit from an assessment of an offender’s personal circumstances, such as pregnancy, if someone is a young offender, or a victim of domestic abuse.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the (a) domestic and (b) foreign sources of high-grade steel on which his Department will rely for the manufacture of (i) warships, (ii) armoured vehicles and (iii) jet aircraft (A) for the remainder of the parliament and (B) subsequently.

Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Defence Industrial Strategy will carefully consider the Ministry of Defence’s approach to steel, as a sub-sector within Defence and a critical element of the UK’s Defence industrial base. This will include consideration of the MOD’s use of specialist steel and the potential for Defence procurements to support the steel sector, noting capability and value for money considerations. The Defence Industrial Strategy will have a remit extending to 2035.

The Government will also bring forward a Steel Strategy that will ensure a sustainable future for UK steelmaking. The Steel Strategy will establish a long-term vision for the industry, promoting long-term growth, that aligns with wider priorities including Invest 2035, the upcoming Industrial Strategy.

Defence programmes have some requirements for specialist steel which cannot currently be sourced from UK manufacturers. Steel therefore sometimes needs to be sourced from overseas suppliers. UK steel is utilised where feasible including in both shipbuilding and armoured vehicles manufacture.

As part of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT)’s Steel Procurement Pipeline, the MOD publishes information on the steel required for current Defence projects such as shipbuilding and armoured vehicles. As part of the Department for Business and Trade’s Steel Public Procurement release the MOD also provides details on the country of origin for steel used in various Defence projects:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/steel-public-procurement

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on Ukrainian families invited to the UK following the Russian invasion wishing to seek (a) employment, (b) rental agreements, (c) educational continuity for their children and (d) indefinite leave to remain; and whether time already spent in the UK counts towards qualifying for such leave.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The UK’s Ukraine visa schemes (including the new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme) provide full access to the right to work, rent, access benefits, healthcare, and education in the UK.

The Ukraine Visa Schemes provide temporary sanctuary and do not lead to settlement in the UK. We recognise the Ukrainian government’s desire for the future return of its citizens to Ukraine. It is important our approach respects these wishes.

Similarly, time spent in the UK with permission granted under the Ukraine Schemes cannot be relied upon towards the continuous qualifying period for the purposes of a Long Residence application.

There are other routes available for those who wish to settle in the UK permanently, if they meet the requirements.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Fifty-seventh Report of the Committee of Public Accounts of Session 2022-23 on AEA Technology Pension Case, HC 1005, published on 14 June 2023, and to Questions 329 and 330 of the oral evidence given by the Minister for Pensions to the Work and Pensions select committee on 10 January 2024, HC 144, what steps she is taking to implement a redress scheme.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

In its response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the AEA Technology case, the department agreed to consider the PAC recommendation to ‘ensure that people have an adequate route of appeal when considering complaints about their occupational and personal pensions, through a review of the Ombudsman’. Progress on the PAC and subsequent WPC recommendations were paused due to the General Election. The department remains committed to providing the PAC with an update once the Cabinet Office has considered how it would like departments to scope and schedule a new series of reviews for public bodies.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the cost of loans advanced to (a) overseas and (b) domestic applicants subsequently found not to have seriously participated in higher education courses will not be borne by UK taxpayers; and what safeguards she plans to introduce to prevent student loan fraud in future.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

As a general rule, students are eligible for fee and maintenance loans only if they have settled status in the United Kingdom and have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland for three years. Students resident overseas are not eligible for loans.

The department and the Office for Students (OfS) have a programme of investigations underway. Where these investigations have found abuse of the student finance system, there will be serious consequences. We have now also asked the Public Sector Fraud Authority to tackle this threat and take forward this work across government. The department will always take steps to recover student loans that have been paid to students who have not been attending their courses. Depending on the precise circumstances, recovery has been and will continue to be pursued either from the institution or the student.

The department is consulting until 4 April on subcontracted provision. The consultation proposes changes to the requirements for courses to attract student finance that will necessitate subcontracted providers with specific numbers of students to be registered and regulated by the OfS. Together with the work of the OfS, which is currently consulting on reforms to its registration requirements, the department’s consultation will ensure subcontracted provision is better protected from poor quality and the risk of the misuse of public funding.

The department will also take immediate action on the use of agents to recruit students. The government can see no legitimate role for domestic agents in the recruitment of UK students. We are taking urgent steps to prevent any further abuse of the system.

International Day of the Midwife