Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to visa sponsorship costs and salary thresholds on small to medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Where changes to fee legislation are made, impact assessments are produced which identify potential impacts resulting from the changes. This includes a recent published impact assessment covering the impact of changes to fees, including those for sponsor licences, that came into effect on 8 April 2026: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2026/44/pdfs/ukia_20260044_en.pdf.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has recommended that salary thresholds are updated in line with updated data from the Office for National Statistics or, in the case of health and education occupations, national pay scales. As our Immigration White Paper set out, we will ensure that international recruitment is never a cheap alternative to fair pay and we encourage businesses to invest in the domestic workforce.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to extend the minimum notice period given before introducing changes to the Immigration Rules.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
It is our usual practice to observe the recommended minimum 21 day convention between laying and implementation of Immigration Rules changes and we have no plans to change this. There may be times where adherence to the 21 day convention is not appropriate, for example were doing so may pose a risk to border security. In those instances, justification will be fully documented in the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the introduction of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation on those supported by the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.
ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.
We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.
Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.
There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to integrate lessons learned from the Afghan Resettlement Programme into the design and operation of future resettlement schemes.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.
ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.
We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.
Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.
There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has identified examples of successful integration of people supported by the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.
ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.
We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.
Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.
There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has assessed potential barriers to completing the relocation of eligible people under the Afghan Resettlement Programme to the UK and moving them out of transitional accommodation.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.
ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.
We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.
Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.
There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department will (a) set the programme plan and key performance indicators and (b) establish a single source of cross-department management information for the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.
ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.
We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.
Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.
There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Ofsted’s reviews of local authority children’s services departments.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Ofsted has a crucial role to play in upholding standards in children’s social care and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services through inspection. In 2024 Ofsted conducted the Big Listen, the biggest consultation in Ofsted’s history. The consultation identified the need to revise how Ofsted inspects, grades and reflects the realities of children’s lives through inspection.
The department is working closely with Ofsted to update its children’s social care inspection frameworks in line with the wider reform agenda, including embedding a focus on family help and the continuum of need, so that children and families are getting the right help at the right time. Ofsted introduced initial revisions in April 2026 and will consult in summer 2026 on further reforms for 2027.
We are also working with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission as they revise the Area SEND inspection framework to reflect clarified statutory roles for local authorities and integrated care boards, and wider SEND reform.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Network Rail is required to obtain a licence from Natural England before carrying out works that may disturb protected species.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
If Network Rail is carrying out work that may impact protected species, then it will look to carry out the work in such a way as to avoid needing a licence in the first place. If non-licensable activities are not feasible for the work required, then Network Rail, or its appointed contractors, will apply for a licence.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what requirements her Department places on Network Rail to undertake ecological surveys prior to vegetation clearance.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail is expected to carry out activities in a way that minimises harm, and wherever possible improves the natural habitat while maintaining the performance and safety of the railway.
Network Rail undertakes checks for nesting birds, which is particularly important if vegetation clearance is planned over the summer. At some locations, Network Rail may also undertake ecological surveys to establish the presence of other protected species such as bats or great crested newts. Depending on the outcome of these checks and surveys, vegetation clearance works may be rescheduled to a less sensitive time of year.