Written questions by Kearns.

How long it took for the National Security Advisor to be vetted after his appointment.

Individuals appointed as National Security Adviser go through an extensive process which includes National Security Vetting (NSV). National Security Vetting for the current National Security Adviser was conducted to the usual standard set for Developed Vetting.It is long-standing practice that the government does not comment on individual vetting cases.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has had discussions with international partners on Stepan Latypov; and what assessment she has made of the level of opportunity to secure his release in prisoner exchanges.

We are deeply concerned by and condemn the ongoing domestic repression imposed by the Lukashenko regime, and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining political prisoners.

Whether the department plans to review its commitment to statutory guidance on allergy safety in schools; and whether it will consider the potential benefits of legislative measures, in the context of the passing of amendment 209 to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the House of Lords.

The government is committed to improving allergy safety in schools.On 25 March, the House of Lords agreed a government amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, requiring all schools in England to put allergy safety measures into place. Schools will be required to have allergy safety policies, review them at least annually and publish them on their website. A Regulation-making power will permit the Secretary of State to place specific allergy safety duties, including requiring schools to stock adrenaline devices, to secure allergy awareness training, the recording and reporting of incidents and the content of allergy safety policies.Schools will be required to have regard to statutory guidance. Draft statutory guidance was published for consultation on 6 March. The consultation closes on 1 May, so the new guidance can be published in the summer and come into effect from September 2026.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether medical evacuation flights can currently leave from St Helena Airport following the airport regulators downgrade; and what emergency support is being provided to the St Helena Government to ensure medical safety.

The UK is actively providing assistance, working in partnership with the St Helena Government and Governor. I have been in contact with the St Helena Chief Minister to underline our support and met the St Helena Health Minister and London Representative on 11 February. The St Helena airport now has approval to accept small aircraft, including medical evacuation flights from the island in the case of emergencies. We will work together at pace to urgently ensure a return to full operations at the airport.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support her Department is providing to the St Helena Government following the aviation regulator downgrade of St Helena Airport and subsequent suspension of flights.

The UK is actively providing assistance, working in partnership with the St Helena Government and Governor. I have been in contact with the St Helena Chief Minister to underline our support and met the St Helena Health Minister and London Representative on 11 February. The St Helena airport now has approval to accept small aircraft, including medical evacuation flights from the island in the case of emergencies. We will work together at pace to urgently ensure a return to full operations at the airport.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Lord Mandleson's contract as Ambassador to the United States was terminated on the basis of gross misconduct.

I refer the Hon. Member to the Government's response to the Urgent Question tabled on 12 February, the Written Ministerial Statement in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister that same day, and Oral Statement on the 23 February which set out an update on the Government's process. We will set out further details in due course. The Government wishes to ensure that Parliament's instruction is met with the urgency and transparency that it deserves.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of Conflict Management Dogs as a less-lethal option for Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers; and what plans she has to ensure that capability is maintained.

Armed policing capabilities are built upon ongoing assessments of operational threat and risk and are used in threat to life situations. The use of firearms by the police should always be the last resort, considered only where there is a serious risk to public or responder safety. Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms Officers (CTSFOs) receive the highest level of police firearms training and can provide a second-wave response to more complex or long running attacks.The Home Office works closely with the police to ensure they have the necessary capabilities and their capacities to respond to a range of incidents across the policing and counter-terrorism landscape, while respecting their operational independence from Government.

What steps the Government is taking to incentivise UK-based companies to retain and create skilled jobs in the UK rather than offshore them.

Our modern Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to back our strengths and create a highly skilled, economically prosperous country, with key objectives to drive up business investment and create high-quality jobs across the UK. We are focused on capturing a greater share of internationally mobile capital and supporting businesses to employ skilled workers in the UK, including through investing over £1 billion in tailored sector skills packages. We have also published the Clean Energy Jobs Plan with ambitions to recruit 400,000 people in the UK, with Jobs Plans covering other priority sectors to follow.

If he will publish a break down of the billions in investment secured on his visit to China in January 2026.

As set out in the 30 January press release, hundreds of millions worth of new investment was secured as part of the visit, alongside £2.2 billion in export deals. This includes investment from HiTHIUM, Chery Commercial Vehicle, Asymchem, and POP MART.Further detail can be found in the press release.

Whether the £530,000 community compensation payment listed in the Community funds for transmission infrastructure guidance for the installation of a substation applies to substations installed as part of a wider solar development.

The £530,000 figure is not compensation. It is a community benefit recognising, transparently, the vital role that host communities play in delivering nationally important clean energy infrastructure. The guidance applies only to onshore electricity transmission assets including transmission substations delivered by transmission network project developers. Whether a substation is associated with a solar farm or another project does not alter this: applicability is determined by its status as an in‑scope onshore transmission asset. DESNZ has consulted on a mandatory community benefits scheme for low carbon energy infrastructure, including solar, a response will be published in due course.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the security of prisons holding ISIS members following gains by the Syrian army against the Syrian Democratic Forces.

I refer the Hon Member to the written ministerial statement published on 28 January. Any further updates on the issues addressed in that statement will be made in the normal way in due course.

How many people she expects to settle their disguised remuneration liabilities as a result of the McCann Review into Loan Charge settlement terms.

The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to bring the matter to a close for those affected, ensure fairness for all taxpayers and ensure that appropriate support is in place for those subject to the loan charge.The Government accepted the review’s conclusion that the loan charge was an extraordinary piece of Government policy which necessitated an exceptional response, and is now legislating a new settlement opportunity that will assist those who have not yet settled to do so.As a result, most individuals could see reductions of at least 50% in their outstanding loan charge liabilities, and an estimated 30% of individuals could have these liabilities written off entirely. To encourage more people to settle, the Government will write off the first £5,000 of liabilities in addition to the proposals put forward by Ray McCann.The Government’s response to the review represents a fair and proportionate attempt to provide a route to resolution for those who have not yet been able to settle with HMRC. In turn, this requires those individuals to now come forward and engage with HMRC in good faith.Tax avoidance deprives the Exchequer of funds needed to deliver vital public services and it is right that resources are targeted to stop this. There are no plans to apply the review’s recommendations beyond those individuals and employers with outstanding liabilities that were the focus of the review.

Whether her Department holds data on the proportion of roles employed offshore by UK-headquartered companies, broken down by sector and salary band.

HM Treasury does not hold data on the proportion of roles employed by UK-headquartered companies to this level of granularity.

Whether the Government plans to extend the improved settlement terms announced following the McCann Review to individuals who have already settled their Loan Charge liabilities with HMRC.

The Government commissioned an independent review of the loan charge to bring the matter to a close for those affected, ensure fairness for all taxpayers and ensure that appropriate support is in place for those subject to the loan charge.The Government accepted the review’s conclusion that the loan charge was an extraordinary piece of Government policy which necessitated an exceptional response, and is now legislating a new settlement opportunity that will assist those who have not yet settled to do so.As a result, most individuals could see reductions of at least 50% in their outstanding loan charge liabilities, and an estimated 30% of individuals could have these liabilities written off entirely. To encourage more people to settle, the Government will write off the first £5,000 of liabilities in addition to the proposals put forward by Ray McCann.The Government’s response to the review represents a fair and proportionate attempt to provide a route to resolution for those who have not yet been able to settle with HMRC. In turn, this requires those individuals to now come forward and engage with HMRC in good faith.Tax avoidance deprives the Exchequer of funds needed to deliver vital public services and it is right that resources are targeted to stop this. There are no plans to apply the review’s recommendations beyond those individuals and employers with outstanding liabilities that were the focus of the review.

If the UK will proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist organisation following its designation by the European Union.

The UK stands proudly on the side of freedom and human rights, and we have long criticised Iran’s authoritarian regime and taken robust action to protect UK interests from Iranian state threats. On 13 January, the Foreign Secretary set out the action that the Government is taking in coordination with allies in response to the consistent threat that the Iranian regime poses to stability, security, freedom and the UK national interest. We are now working further with the EU and other partners to explore what sanctions will be needed to respond to the horrific escalation seen in recent weeks.It is the Government’s long-standing position not to comment on the detail of security and intelligence matters, including whether or not a specific organisation is being considered for proscription.However, we are acting decisively to disrupt threats posed by Iran here in the UK. We have placed the Iranian state on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), meaning that anyone working for or directed by the Iranian state to conduct activities in the UK must declare that activity, or risk up to five years in prison. The National Security Act 2023 also strengthens our powers to counter state threats, including from Iran, and provides the security services and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to deter, detect, and disrupt these threats. Furthermore, we have committed to take forward plans recommended by Jonathan Hall KC for a proscription-like power for state and state-linked bodies to tackle malign activity more appropriately than is offered under the existing powers. We will introduce legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows.The UK now has over 550 sanctions against Iranian linked individuals and entities, including the IRGC, which has been sanctioned in its entirety. Over 220 designations have been imposed since this Government came into office. In concert with international partners, we will use all appropriate tools at our disposal to protect the UK, and our interests, from state threats.

When she will respond to Written Question 106338 which was due on 21 January 2026.

The response to Written Parliamentary Question 106338 was published on 2 February.

With reference to the report on the Southport attack by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a new offence of planning a mass casualty attack.

The Government accepts and strongly supports the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation’s (IRTL) recommendation to consider creating a new offence to capture individuals intending to kill multiple people and planning for such attacks. As recognised by the IRTL, this is a complex area of law and will require working through difficult legal and ethical issues to avoid unintended consequences. We are considering carefully the best way to close the gap in the legislation.

Whether her Department issues guidance on membership of the Chinese Communist Party being a declarable interest for university senior staff and trustees.

Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines the information for England only.Higher education (HE) providers are independent and autonomous bodies, and as such are responsible for designing and implementing their own policies.As the independent regulator, it is the role of the Office for Students to monitor and assess registered universities’ compliance with its conditions of registration, including those relating to good governance, and to take regulatory action where they have been breached. This includes that higher education providers must uphold public interest governance principles, which encompasses management of conflicts of interest.We are clear that foreign interference in the HE sector is unacceptable, and whilst there are a range of existing requirements on universities to protect against it, we believe more should be done to support providers to proportionately mitigate risk. We set out our considerations in the ‘Future of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act’ policy paper published in June 2025, and are taking steps to share good practice, raise awareness and develop new responses where necessary.

Communities and Local Government, whether the Prime Minister shared with the Planning Casework Unit a written record of his discussions on 23 August 2024 and 18 December 2024 with the President of the People's Republic of China on the proposed new Chinese Embassy.

As has been the case under successive administrations, government does not normally disclose details of internal discussions.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Guidance on planning propriety: planning casework decisions, published on 16 December 2021, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the Government's compliance with that guidance in the context of discussions between the Prime Minister the Chinese President in (a) August and (b) December 2024.

In dealing with any application, Ministers and officials will act in accordance with published propriety guidance on planning casework decisions. More information can be found on gov.uk here.