Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland executive on the potential introduction of a national screening programme for prostate cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in the four nations of the United Kingdom about all aspects of screening. The implementation of any UK NSC screening recommendation is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the Armed Forces Covenant Duty on the work of his Department.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The extension of the Armed Forces Covenant Legal Duty will require the Cabinet Office to have due regard to the principles of the Covenant across a wide range of new policy areas. A full assessment of the impact of the extension on the Cabinet Office will take place once the necessary legislation is progressing through Parliament.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of Skilled Worker visa eligibility criteria for (a) childcare and (b) early years workers.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 12 May, the Government published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. On 22 July the first phase of changes took effect, including raising the threshold for Skilled Worker visas to graduate level occupations. Nursery education teaching professionals meet this new threshold.
Other occupations in childcare and early years work are classed as medium skilled roles and are not on the Temporary Shortage List (TSL) or Immigration Salary List (ISL). Therefore, new applicants from overseas are ineligible, and those in the UK on other visa routes will not be able to switch to the Skilled Worker route.
Those on Skilled Worker visas before 22 July 2025 and who need to extend their stay can continue to apply in medium skilled roles and will have to meet the salary requirements in place at the time they apply.
On 2 July we asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas. We expect the MAC to respond around the end of the year.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the adequacy of the (a) salary and (b) eligibility requirements for (i) childcare and (ii) early years workers under the Skilled Worker visa route.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 12 May, the Government published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. On 22 July the first phase of changes took effect, including raising the threshold for Skilled Worker visas to graduate level occupations. Nursery education teaching professionals meet this new threshold.
Other occupations in childcare and early years work are classed as medium skilled roles and are not on the Temporary Shortage List (TSL) or Immigration Salary List (ISL). Therefore, new applicants from overseas are ineligible, and those in the UK on other visa routes will not be able to switch to the Skilled Worker route.
Those on Skilled Worker visas before 22 July 2025 and who need to extend their stay can continue to apply in medium skilled roles and will have to meet the salary requirements in place at the time they apply.
On 2 July we asked the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise on future salary requirements for Skilled Worker visas. We expect the MAC to respond around the end of the year.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending the Indefinite Leave to Remain qualifying period on the recruitment and retention of overseas workers in Northern Ireland’s health and social care sector.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Details of how this initiative will work will be provided around that consultation.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the Skilled Worker visa route on the health and social care workforce.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Details of how this initiative will work will be provided around that consultation.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide clarity to Skilled Worker visa holders in the UK impacted by proposed changes to the Indefinite Leave to Remain qualifying period.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Details of how this initiative will work will be provided around that consultation.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Skilled Worker visas have been granted for (a) childcare and (b) early years posts since their inclusion on the eligible occupations list.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on sponsored work visas by visa type and occupation in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on grants of visas are published in table ‘Occ_D02’ of the sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. Data is from January 2021 up to the end of June 2025.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed extension of the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the Skilled Worker route will apply to people already residing in the UK under that route.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year. Details of how this initiative will work will be provided around that consultation.
Asked by: Sorcha Eastwood (Alliance - Lagan Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will meet the Chief Medical Officer to discuss the potential merits of raising the digital age of consent.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In December 2024 DSIT commissioned a feasibility study into research to understand the impact of smartphones and social media on children. The report will be published in due course.
The government keeps all legislation under review and engages regularly with experts – including Chief Scientific Advisors - to gather evidence of where updates are needed. The government has not proposed changes to digital age of consent or a consultation on this, at this stage.
Where there is evidence that more needs to be done to protect children online the government will not hesitate to act.