Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Minister will discuss routes for British citizens to be employed in the EU in the longer term with his EU counterpart; for example, whether it would be possible for youth mobility participants to transfer onto other visa routes such as Skilled Worker Visas, without a legal gap in EU residence.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
UK nationals who wish to work in the EU are subject to the immigration requirements of the relevant Member States. This Government is committed to ensuring opportunities for British citizens to live, work, study, and travel across the European Union. That is why at the 2025 UK-EU Summit, we agreed to negotiate a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement, as well as time-limited. We have been clear that the scheme should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes, such as with Australia and New Zealand. The exact parameters of the scheme are subject of ongoing negotiations.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with his European Commission counterpart on pathways for British citizens to be employed in the EU for a limited time if they come off the proposed Youth Mobility Scheme and prior to the expiry of their youth mobility visas.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We are negotiating an ambitious youth experience scheme with the EU. This will provide a valuable form of cultural exchange for young Brits to travel, experience other cultures and learn languages, as well as work and study abroad in Member States.
We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement, as well as time-limited. We have been clear that the scheme should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes, such as with Australia and New Zealand, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing negotiation.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had discussions with his European Commission counterpart on allowing British citizens participating in the proposed Youth Mobility Scheme.to move between EU Member States.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We are negotiating an ambitious youth experience scheme with the EU. This will provide a valuable form of cultural exchange for young Brits to travel, experience other cultures and learn languages, as well as work and study abroad in Member States.
We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement, as well as time-limited. We have been clear that the scheme should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes, such as with Australia and New Zealand, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing negotiation.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to allow people to do their EU-UK youth mobility exchange in (a) EEA countries and (b) Switzerland.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We are negotiating an ambitious youth experience scheme with the EU. This will provide a valuable form of cultural exchange for young Brits to travel, experience other cultures and learn languages, as well as work and study abroad in Member States.
We have agreed that any scheme will be capped, subject to a visa requirement, as well as time-limited. We have been clear that the scheme should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes, such as with Australia and New Zealand, but the exact parameters are subject to ongoing negotiation.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will amend the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 to enable the Public Health and Service Ombudsman to stop requiring an hon. Member's signature before members of the public can refer a complaint to them.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government believes the filtering process MPs facilitate continues to provide an effective way to empower backbenchers to hold the executive to account and emphasises the Ombudsman’s position as a servant of Parliament.
We have no plans to amend the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 at this time.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a signer being present at Government news conferences.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is strongly committed to making our communications accessible and inclusive, and to reducing the barriers Deaf people face in their everyday lives.
Since we have come into power, we have endeavoured to ensure as many of the Prime Minister's speeches as possible have BSL interpretation in vision during live streams. This can be found on the Prime Minister’s social media channels - X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. Where speeches do not have political content, the interpretation is also made available afterwards on gov.uk.
I pay tribute to the outstanding work of the Government’s BSL Advisory Board. We will continue to work with them, and with other members of the Deaf community, on how we can improve further the accessibility of our communications.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to relocate Government (a) departments and (b) agencies to the South West.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring that the Civil Service workforce operates across the country, including in the South West, to improve policy making and outcomes for UK citizens.