Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the amount that was spent by local authorities on services supporting (a) refugees and (b) people seeking asylum to access healthcare services in the last 12 months.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The department does not hold this information to the level of detail requested. The department releases data on local authority spend through the local authority revenue expenditure and financing statistics, in which line 49 accounts for services or interventions for registered asylum seekers, including:

• Supported access to health, housing or education services

• Language/interpreter support

• Providing advice and information
• Access to legal advice

The department has not yet published data for the 2024/25 financial year. The first revenue outturn release for 2024/25 will be released in September 2025.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to reopen Sandeel fisheries in UK waters.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

In March 2024, and following a public consultation, the UK and Scottish Governments closed English waters of the North Sea and all Scottish Waters to sandeel fishing. The closure will shield sandeel as an essential food source for threatened seabird populations, commercially valuable fish and for marine mammals. The EU has raised a dispute that the UK’s decision to prohibit fishing for sandeel within UK waters is not compliant with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The UK is defending its decision. The hearing took place on 28th - 30th January and we are awaiting the tribunal's decision from the Permanent Court of Arbitration

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many top-up payments have been made to Asylum Support Enablement Cards in each week since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has a legal obligation to meet the essential living needs of asylum seekers or dependents who appear to be destitute or are likely to become destitute within a prescribed period, while their asylum claim is being considered.

Details of what is considered essential can be found in the annual asylum support rate review reports, published on gov.uk.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of aligning the controls on shotguns with that of other firearms on financial costs to farm businesses.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The consultation on the recommendation made to the Home Office on aligning the controls on shotguns with other firearms, as set out in the Government response to the consultation, “Firearms Licensing: a consultation on recommendations for changes made to the Home Office” and published on 13 February, will be published later this year. The necessary impact assessments will be published with that consultation.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of recent developments in Russia's war in Ukraine on food security in the UK.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

British reliance on food supplies from Ukraine is currently low. Defra actively monitors risks to UK food security on an ongoing basis. The UK Food Security Report, which was published in December, examines past, current, and future trends relevant to food security to present a full and impartial analysis of UK food security.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2025 to Question 30623 on British Indian Ocean Territory: Sovereignty, what the estimated full time equivalent is of those officials.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Work on the British Indian Ocean Territory - including policy development, legal advice and operational work - is spread across a wide range of officials in teams across the Ministry of Defence. It is therefore difficult to provide a full-time equivalent figure that is both precise and appropriately conveys the amount of time devoted to this issue.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 27517 on Hospitals: Concrete, whether he plans to publish the comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete schemes.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As stated in Question 27517, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive report into the seven reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) schemes being delivered through the New Hospital Programme. The final contract has been awarded to Mott MacDonald and can be found in the public domain on contract finder, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

The report is due to take a total of 19 weeks to complete. We do not expect to publish the report in its entirety as it will contain sensitive commercial information. This is in line with the approach taken with previous reports of this nature. We do, however, recognise the importance of transparency and the significant level of interest in the report outcomes, and will consider what can be released publicly once the report is complete.

We remain committed to removing RAAC fully from the National Health Service estate whilst working to keep facilities open, with patient and staff safety at the forefront of our decision making.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 30620 on Immigration: Appeals, how many appeals against administrative removal decisions have sought to rely on rights under the ECHR in the last month for which figures are available.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The requested information is not held in a reportable format. To provide this information would require a manual review of case records, which could only be done for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 30619 on Deportation, how many appeals against deportation orders have sought to rely on rights under the ECHR in the last month for which figures are available.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The requested information is not held in a reportable format. To provide this information would require a manual review of case records, which could only be done for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers have received funding through the Farming Resilience Fund since it was established.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Farming Resilience Fund provides free business support to farmers and land managers in England to help them through agricultural transition. It was set up to available from October 2022 and will run until March 2025.

Across all three phases of the Farming Resilience Fund, our delivery partners have provided specialist one-to-one advice to 26,088 farmers (as of 25 February).

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many Environment Agency permits allowing the importation of waste from outside the UK are in effect; and if he will provide a list of sites covered.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency currently has 208 notifications to import waste, which is recovered at 86 sites. The sites and the number of notifications to each site are listed in the table below:

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been paid to farmers in Improving Farming Productivity grants since 4 July 2024.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Rual Payment Agency has supported the farming and rural sector through payments under a range of grants. Since 04 July 2024, £2,403,543.46 been paid to farmers for Improving Farming Productivity grants.