Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will set out how complaints relating to (a) cleanliness, (b) safety and (c) hygiene in landlord-provided asylum accommodation are (i) monitored, (ii) reported and (iii) investigated to ensure such accommodation is fit for purpose.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office expects the highest standards of cleanliness, safety and hygiene in all asylum accommodation and holds providers to account through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services (AASC) contracts.
Contractual expectations are set out in the AASC Statement of Requirements (Schedule 2) which requires accommodation providers and their landlords to ensure that properties are safe, habitable and fit for purpose at all times, including meeting standards on cleanliness, hygiene, repairs and health and safety compliance.
Monitoring of accommodation standards is carried out through Home Office contract management and assurance activity, including inspections and performance reporting against contractual requirements.
Reporting routes are available to asylum seekers through the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, delivered by Migrant Help, which allows issues or complaints relating to accommodation to be raised.
Investigation and resolution of complaints are managed by the Home Office once issues are escalated by Migrant Help. Providers are required to investigate concerns promptly, take remedial action within contractual timescales, and report outcomes to the Home Office.
Independent customer satisfaction and assurance activity further informs performance management and continuous improvement.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what contractual expectations are placed on landlords providing asylum accommodation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office expects the highest standards of cleanliness, safety and hygiene in all asylum accommodation and holds providers to account through the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services (AASC) contracts.
Contractual expectations are set out in the AASC Statement of Requirements (Schedule 2) which requires accommodation providers and their landlords to ensure that properties are safe, habitable and fit for purpose at all times, including meeting standards on cleanliness, hygiene, repairs and health and safety compliance.
Monitoring of accommodation standards is carried out through Home Office contract management and assurance activity, including inspections and performance reporting against contractual requirements.
Reporting routes are available to asylum seekers through the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, delivered by Migrant Help, which allows issues or complaints relating to accommodation to be raised.
Investigation and resolution of complaints are managed by the Home Office once issues are escalated by Migrant Help. Providers are required to investigate concerns promptly, take remedial action within contractual timescales, and report outcomes to the Home Office.
Independent customer satisfaction and assurance activity further informs performance management and continuous improvement.
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, what discussions her Department has had with the Glasgow 2026 Organising Company on ensuring an effective community legacy from the Commonwealth Games.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department is in regular contact with the Organising Company and Scottish Government to support Glasgow 2026. I was pleased to be able to visit Glasgow this summer and discuss with the Commonwealth Sport Coordination Commission and other partners the excellent work that is being done to ensure a successful event and legacy.
The Organising Company will publish further details in late 2025 on how the event will deliver lasting community benefits, alongside a range of other positive outcomes.
As a Government, we are proud to support the Glasgow Games, which will drive economic growth, showcase Scotland and the UK to the world, and build on the legacy of Glasgow 2014.
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is to process an application for (a) Leave to Remain and (b) Indefinite Leave to Remain; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time to process such applications.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UKVI are currently processing applications on all of its routes where a customer service standard is operated within their published customer service standards. As previously announced by the Home Secretary, Family Reunion applications are currently paused. Visa processing times are published on the UKVI website at Visa processing times: applications outside the UK - GOV.UK and Visa processing times: applications inside the UK - GOV.UK.
It may take longer to process an application if:
we need more information on personal circumstances (for example if there is a criminal conviction)
Asked by: Maureen Burke (Labour - Glasgow North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding from the Growth Mission fund to Springburn Winter Gardens.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
In her recent Spending Review speech, the Chancellor announced that the Government would be establishing a Growth Mission Fund to expedite local projects that are important for growth.
Whilst we cannot confirm funding allocations yet, our £240 million Growth Mission Fund should support transformative projects that give local leaders real investment to deliver real change.
Details regarding funding criteria will be set out in due course.
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 (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 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 (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 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 (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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 Business and Trade)
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
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.