Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of border arrangements in Gaza for supporting eligible students to travel to study in the UK.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 January in response to Question 103313.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help support students in Gaza with confirmed offers from UK universities to come to the UK; and whether her Department has set a timetable for the provision of that support.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 January in response to Question 103313.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of issuing emergency visas to students in Gaza who have confirmed UK university places; and whether her Department has had recent discussions with UK universities on facilitating safe passage for affected students.

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

The Government provided exceptional support to enable the departure of Chevening Scholars and fully funded scholarship students from Gaza, for students whose courses began before 31 December 2025. This support was for students who met the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules.

The Government is reviewing the impact of the policy implemented to-date, and any decision on further support will depend on the evolving international situation. We will continue to keep the policy under review.

This has been a cross-Government initiative and the Home Office, Department for Education and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office have engaged with Higher Education Institutions throughout this process.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the length of delays in the DVLA medical licensing process, particularly the time taken for applications to be reviewed by medical caseworkers after receipt; what steps her Department is taking to improve capacity and processing times; and whether (a) service standards and (b) target timeframes are in place for medical licence decisions.

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

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. However, driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer as they vary widely in complexity and the DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued.

The DVLA is currently rolling out a new casework system which will deliver significant improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions. This will be fully implemented by March 2026 and will provide improved turnaround times, increased capacity, increased automation, higher levels of digital functionality and increased digital communication. The DVLA is also increasing the number of staff to help reduce application processing and call waiting times.

The DVLA’s most recent annual report and accounts for 2024/25 showed that the DVLA achieved 85 per cent against its customer service measure to make a licensing decision in 90 days in 90 per cent of medical driving licence cases.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) number and (b) proportion of Universal Credit claimants have income levels above the income tax personal allowance.

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

The requested information is provided below.

a) In November 2025, 1.9 million people on UC had net earnings above £1047.50 (which is the £12,570 annual personal allowance divided by 12). This includes earnings from employment and self-employment.

b) This equates to 22% of all people on UC.

Notes:

Volume is rounded to the nearest 100,000

Percentage is rounded to the nearest 1%

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