Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will set student immigration quotas which do not restrict the ability of international students to stay in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
There are no caps on the number of international students permitted to come to the UK. The Student route is not a route to settlement. There are currently no plans to change this.
Upon course completion, students may apply to extend their leave in the UK, including under work routes if relevant requirements are met.
We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by the Migration Advisory Committee entitled Rapid review of the graduate route, published in May 2024; and whether he plans to implement each of the recommendations in full.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to maintain routes to enable international students to (a) study and (b) make an economic contribution to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Migration Advisory Committee's review’s findings are currently being considered very closely. The Government will respond to the MAC’s recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for (a) sharing the guidance on network north local transport fund with local authorities and (b) announcing the funding allocations for the first two years.
Answered by Huw Merriman
The Department will provide advice for local transport authorities shortly on the scope, process and accountability framework for the new funding, to ensure that local authorities can develop delivery plans to make the most of it.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2024 to Question 23369 on Government Departments: Press, how much and what proportion of total Government expenditure on communications activities was with independent (a) broadcast media and (b) web-based only news media, including those that are members of the Independent Community News Network, in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
This figure is not held centrally. Channels are selected based on whether they will reach the target audience effectively to have the most impact. Independent news networks can form a key part of this and are considered where appropriate. Government constantly and regularly evaluates the effectiveness of its communications to ensure the right audiences are reached in the most efficient way.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to promote independent news networks by ensuring that (a) Government and (b) other public announcements are made by buying space on news websites not owned by newspaper groups (i) in areas where no local printed newspapers are available and (ii) generally.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Government runs a number of communications activities, including campaigns, across a range of media channels. For each activity, channels are selected based on whether they will reach the target audience effectively to have the most impact.
Independent news networks can form a key part of this and we consider them wherever necessary.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will introduce National Planning Policy Guidance to assist local government planning authorities to provide a consistent approach to (a) canal and (b) associated infrastructure restoration.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The restoration of inland waterways are hugely important to so many communities around the country. Whilst we do not currently have plans to introduce further guidance, we will certainly keep the matter under review.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department provides guidance to navigation authorities on attaining World Heritage Status for canal systems.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for nominating sites across the United Kingdom, the Overseas Territories, and the Crown Dependencies to UNESCO for World Heritage Status. The Department last updated the Tentative List of prospective World Heritage nominations in 2022/23.
Following the conclusion of this exercise, guidance was published on GOV.UK, which sets out the process for sites seeking World Heritage Status and advises those interested to contact the heritage agency responsible for heritage in their part of the UK (or the relevant Government authority if overseas) in the first instance.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 on the use of conversion practices with LGBT people.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
No one in this country should be harmed or harassed for who they are and attempts at so-called ‘conversion therapy’ are abhorrent. That is why we are carefully considering this very complex issue. We will be setting out further details on this in due course
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of legislation to ban conversion practices in Spain.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
No one in this country should be harmed or harassed for who they are and attempts at so-called ‘conversion therapy’ are abhorrent. That is why we are carefully considering this very complex issue. We will be setting out further details on this in due course