Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025, what assessment she has made on the ability of British Nationals Overseas visa holders to (a) access higher education (i) home fee status and (ii) student finance, and (b) withdraw (A) private and (B) individual pensions from overseas after five years of UK residence.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to help consolidate agricultural advice services; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on the (a) consistency and (b) coordination of guidance provided to farmers on climate change.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working across Defra to continue to improve the advice services on offer to farmers, building on existing broad services such as the Farming Advice Service and Catchment Sensitive Farming. We will aim to create greater alignment across services. We also continue to work with the commercial advice sector, who are often best placed to ensure that farmers get the information they need to make decisions that support their business and help achieve their aims.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
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 merits of taking legislative steps to prohibit the routine culling of male chicks.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The legislation sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals at the time of killing, including male chicks from the egg production sector.
Permitted killing methods for chicks, such as gas stunning and maceration, are based on scientific research and assessment to ensure birds are spared any avoidable pain, distress, or suffering. All laying hen hatcheries in the UK use argon gas mixtures as their stunning method.
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of technologies that allow chicks to be sexed in-ovo (within the egg). We welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Ban Hatch and Dispatch campaign.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The legislation sets out strict requirements to protect the welfare of animals at the time of killing, including male chicks from the egg production sector.
Permitted killing methods for chicks, such as gas stunning and maceration, are based on scientific research and assessment to ensure birds are spared any avoidable pain, distress, or suffering. All laying hen hatcheries in the UK use argon gas mixtures as their stunning method.
We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of technologies that allow chicks to be sexed in-ovo (within the egg). We welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle environmental harm in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) Hertfordshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) advises and regulates businesses across the energy, agriculture, and waste sectors; they are the environmental regulator for water companies; they prosecute and take action against those who pollute the environment and blight our communities; and they reduce and protect against flood risk and coastal erosion.
They are a Category 1 Responder (with the emergency services) under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and have a duty to warn, inform, and respond to flood incidents and prevent environmental damage. They work with other local responders to co-ordinate their response and support recovery.
For example, the EA advises on planning applications for all local planning authorities within their statutory remit, including St Albans and Dacorum district councils. This includes assessing flood risk and potential impacts to main rivers or controlled waters. They also have a role in working with Local Planning Authorities during the preparation of Local Plans to ensure flood risk, climate change, land contamination, and the water environment are appropriately included in their evidence base and policies.
In addition, they partner with the Joint Unit for Waste Crime, local authorities, and local police departments, such as Hertfordshire Constabulary, to tackle environmental waste crime. They follow a triage style approach to enforcement, ensuring it is intelligence led and target their efforts based on threat, risk, and harm.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make LGBTQ+ hate crimes aggravated offences; and if she will implement a national Hate Crime Strategy and Action Plan to improve (a) reporting and (b) support for victims of hate crimes based on (i) sexual orientation and (ii) gender identity.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
All hate crimes are unacceptable, and we back the police in taking the strongest action against the perpetrators of these appalling offences.
We are currently considering the best way to implement commitments in this space.
The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal called True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime - including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime - do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people claiming Personal Independence Payments with chronic health conditions are not subject to reviews unless there is evidence of significant change in their circumstances.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reviews are an important feature of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) ensuring the
support continues to meet the individual’s needs, as circumstances can change over time, and to make sure the correct level of support is being provided.
People who receive the highest level of PIP and whose needs will not improve receive an ongoing PIP award with a light touch review at the 10-year point. The light touch review is
intended to maintain a minimal level of contact with claimants to ensure nothing has changed and that we hold up to date information such as contact details.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March, we announced that we are considering ways to improve communication with people receiving these ongoing awards in PIP to ensure they provide the right reassurance for people whose conditions are unlikely to change and who are likely to remain on disability benefits for life that they will not be required to undergo regular award reviews.
We have also launched a review of the PIP assessment, which I am leading. During this first phase of the review, I am speaking to stakeholders to gather views on how best to approach the review. We will then publish the Terms of Reference in due course.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated by his Department for research into the (a) causes, (b) treatment, and (c) long-term effects of long covid in children and young people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, the NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, have jointly invested over £57 million into long COVID research with the aim of improving diagnosis and our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, evaluating the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, and clinical care. This research will support the treatment of long COVID in children and young people, as well as adults.
We have also funded research specifically focused on long COVID in children and young people, including the approximately £1.9 million CLoCk study jointly funded by the NIHR and MRC. The study developed an agreed definition of long COVID in children and young people and associated symptoms, to improve understanding of the condition and help harmonise research.
The NIHR and MRC remain committed to funding high-quality research into the causes, treatments and long-term effects of long COVID. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care including long COVID in children and young people. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of umbrella company practices on the (a) rights and (b) take-home pay of contractors; and whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to improve (i) transparency, (ii) regulation, and (iii) enforcement in this sector.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In March 2025, this Government published a response to the previous Government’s consultation on tackling non-compliance in the umbrella company market, outlining our approach to regulating the sector. Responses to the call for evidence and consultation gathered data from workers, including contractors.
Through the Employment Rights Bill, we are defining the activities of umbrella companies, and allowing for their subsequent regulation and enforcement through the Fair Work Agency. We will ensure that those who work through umbrella companies receive comparable employment rights to those taken on directly by an employment business. This complements the announcement made at Autumn Budget 2024.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to protect supported housing in (a) Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency and (b) Hertfordshire.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 51474 on 19 May 2025.