Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the application window for international students to apply for a Graduate visa in the event of their university exam results being delayed.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
If a student’s results are not expected before their current visa expires, and they need more time to demonstrate successful course completion, they may apply to extend their Student visa as set out in the Immigration Rules Appendix Student.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce processing times for applications for Graduate visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Our published transparency statistics can be found here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK, including data on service standards.
The current publication covers to end of March 2025: Visas, status and immigration data: Q1 2025 - 98% of standard Graduate cases are considered within service standard.
We continue to operate within our service standard of 8 weeks for straightforward applications, with even faster times for our priority services.
We encourage applicants to apply as early as possible and ensure they have provided all required documents, and their university has reported successful course completion to UKVI, to avoid any delay in processing.
Where applications are complex or there is missing information, decisions may take longer. Applicants will have been informed by email if this is the case, but these emails can be missed or ignored. We encourage applicants to check their junk or spam folders and respond promptly to any request for further information. Further information on processing times is available here: Visa processing times - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing consideration of extenuating circumstances in decisions on Graduate visa applications.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Graduate route is an unsponsored route with streamlined requirements, of which a fundamental element is the need to have successfully completed an eligible course of study. UKVI have the ability to exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis where there are exceptionally compelling and compassionate circumstances.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, for what reason a cap was introduced to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme was previously due to end in March 2025. The Government extended this for one year with an overall budget of £23m. To ensure this budget remains affordable, claims are now capped at £25,000 per place of worship. These changes to the scheme were necessary given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited and the pressures on other parts of the heritage and cultural sectors and we feel that the cap ensures the fairest distribution of the available budget. Based on the Department’s analysis of previous data, 94% of applications between 2022-2024 have been under £25,000, and most of these claims were for under £5,000.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to support UK Research and Innovation; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing doctoral studentships in the UK on the level of financial support for researchers, in the context of (a) increases in the cost of living and (b) international comparisons of PhD stipends.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government will provide £8.8 billion funding to UK Research and Innovation in 2025-26, of which £773 million is allocated to talent, including doctoral students. UKRI sets a minimum stipend level for the students that it funds and announced in January that this would increase by 8% (to £20,780) from 1 October, with additional funding provided to UKRI training grants to support the uprating. UKRI considers a range of factors when setting stipends, including affordability, potential impact on the number of students, the welfare of students, ensuring that doctoral training remains attractive to potential candidates, and international peers.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support pupils with Additional Support Needs (ASN); and whether her Department provides additional funding for ASN courses in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Glasgow North East to the answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45165.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce barriers to treatment and care between UK nations.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While health is predominantly devolved, working together across the United Kingdom on health and social care is ingrained in our values. NHS emergency care is available for all patients, regardless of borders and we are working with the Devolved Governments to support people to lead independent, healthier lives for longer. This government has provided an additional £6.6 billion through the Barnett formula to support the Scottish Government.Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) ensure compliance with the Civil Service Code and (b) record breaches of that code.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions makes it a contractual term of employment that its employees comply with the Civil Service Code and report if ever they are required to act in any way which may be illegal, improper or unethical. Failure to meet this contractual duty could result in disciplinary action, for which the most severe penalty could be dismissal.
The Department uses mandatory induction training and periodic communications to ensure its employees are aware of the standards prescribed by the Code and through its annual ‘People Survey’, employees are asked if they are aware of the Code and know how to report alleged breaches. Undertaking annual training in security and anti-fraud measures, relevant to the Code’s requirement for honesty, is also mandatory and monitored for compliance. Employees are required to declare apparent conflicts of interest and declarations are mandatory for the Senior Civil Service and for employees in particular circumstances.
Day to day, line managers are responsible for ensuring the employees they manage comply with the Code, and for dealing promptly with alleged breaches. All employees can use either the grievance or whistleblowing procedures to request investigation of alleged breaches by colleagues and in the case of whistleblowing, they may also report concerns about breaches of the Code to the Civil Service Commission or National Audit Office.
Confirmed breaches of the Code are recorded for whistleblowing but are also registered in disciplinary data according to the nature of the proven breach, e.g. fraud, theft, data misuse.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department takes to monitor enforcement of the Civil Service Code.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions deploys a variety of methods for monitoring enforcement of rules of conduct that underpin but are not exclusively about the Civil Service Code.
For example, the Departmental Audit and Risk Assurance Committee monitors the effect of measures to prevent and detect dishonesty that takes the form of internal fraud and security breaches, and employees are appointed to roles in areas such as security, data management and fraud detection to assess risks, monitor compliance, implement improvements and undertake investigations.
Other employees, such as human resources experts, support enforcement of the Civil Service Code by monitoring take up of mandatory training and ensure that concerns identified by misconduct, grievances and annual ‘People Survey’ are acted upon.
It is not possible to state all of the ways of monitoring enforcement of rules that ensure compliance with the Civil Service Code’s wide-ranging standards for integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the previous Government's policies on life expectancy in Glasgow North East constituency.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made. This would be a matter for the Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland: Life Expectancy in Scotland 2021-2023 - National Records of Scotland (NRS)