Written questions by Cooper.

What steps her Department is taking to process the settlement protection ILR applications from Syrian nationals.

The pause on processing settlement protection applications from Syrian nationals has been lifted.We are working through the outstanding cases in line with the relevant published policy guidance taking into account the latest published country policy information on Syria. Each application will be considered on its individual merits and some cases may require further consideration and evidence gathering.We will not remove anyone to their own or any other country where they would face persecution or serious harm.

When she plans to respond to the open letter from Young Women's Trust entitled For the Employment Rights Bill to work for young women and their employers, the Spending Review must increase funding for enforcement of their rights, dated 22 May 2025.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has responded to the open letter from the Young Women’s Trust, as the department responsible for delivering the Employment Rights Bill. At SR 2025, DBT were funded to support the establishment of the Fair Work Agency (FWA), which will tackle low pay, poor working conditions and poor job security. The government is committed to ensuring the FWA is fully resourced to deliver on its remit, with funding allocated to cover both transition and operational costs through to 2028-29. This includes the transfer of existing budgets from enforcement bodies such as the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, as well as funding for National Minimum Wage enforcement.

Innovation and Technology, how unsuccessful applicants to Innovate UK funding streams can seek feedback on their applications.

Assessor feedback is provided to successful and unsuccessful applicants and is comprised of the comments supporting the scores given by assessors. A notification email states when feedback will be available, which is then published on the applicant’s Innovation Funding Service dashboard.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing the role of a Fair Work Commissioner to ensure the independent enforcement of workers' rights.

Fair Work Agency officers will be operationally independent. Additionally, the Employment Right Bill provides for effective oversight of the Fair Work Agency through the three-year enforcement strategies and annual reports, which must be laid before Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.The Secretary of State is also required to consult the Advisory Board, which will have equal representation from businesses, trade unions and independent experts, to ensure they benefit from a broad range of insight when developing these documents.

If he will include further consultation on the scope of the Fair Work Agency in the roadmap for delivering the Employment Rights Bill.

Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.

Whether young women will be represented on the Advisory Board for the Fair Work Agency.

Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.

With reference to his Department's publication entitled Factsheet: The Fair Work Agency, whether the agency will be specifically mandated to uphold the rights of young women in the workplace.

Women and young people are less likely to get the employment rights they are entitled to than the general population. The creation of the Fair Work Agency will deliver a generational upgrade to enforcement of workers’ rights, and young women particularly stand to benefit.Its core function will be to enforce specific employment legislation set out in Part 1 of Schedule 7 of the Employment Rights Bill. The Government has worked closely with a variety of stakeholders as it has developed the Bill, and we are committed to continuing this.The Secretary of State has discretion to appoint individuals as independent experts to the Fair Work Agency’s Advisory Board, if the Secretary of State considers them to have relevant expertise. This could include appointing individuals with expertise in relation to young women’s experience of the labour market.

With reference to the guidance entitled Get VAT relief on certain goods if you have a disability, updated on 22 January 2019, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of permitting (a) sports clubs and (b) other charitable groups to purchase (i) wheelchairs and (ii) other medical appliances such at zero rate in (A) instances when those appliances will not solely be for the use of one person and (B) other instances.

Charities providing care, medical or surgical treatment for handicapped persons, rescue or first-aid services can already benefit from a VAT zero-rate when purchasing relevant goods. The supply of a wheelchair designed solely for the use of a disabled person can be zero-rated where it is supplied to a disabled person for their personal or domestic use or when supplied to a charity which will make the wheelchair available to a disabled person for their personal or domestic use. Sports clubs can register either as a community amateur sports club (CASC) or as a charity where the relevant conditions are met. However, where a sports club is registered as a CASC, they will not qualify for VAT reliefs which are only available to charities. There are currently no plans to widen the scope of current VAT reliefs as targeting these reliefs to disabled users ensures they are not open to distortion or abuse. The Government takes steps elsewhere in the tax system to take account of charities' unique status and invaluable contribution.

Whether he has made an estimate of the amount of non-residential building roof space that is (a) available and (b) suitable for the installation of solar panels.

No such estimate has been made. However, deploying rooftop solar remains a key part of the Government’s clean power mission, and it continues to be one of the most popular and easily deployed renewable energy sources. Solar is also an important part of the Government’s strategy for increasing energy performance of buildings, and the Future Standards this year will ensure our new buildings are fit for a Net Zero future. The Warm Homes plan will set out pathways for decarbonisation of all buildings, including non-domestic ones. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out soon.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 July to Question 63598 on Immigration: Hong Kong, what the (a) shortest, (b) longest and (c) average waiting time is for a biometric enrolment appointment from the date of receipt of a Priority Visa Service for BNO (British National Overseas) Indefinite Leave to Remain application, in each month since 8 September 2023.

The requested data is not held in a reportable format and could only be identified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

If she will carry out sector-specific impact assessments for proposed non-domestic rate multipliers ahead of the Autumn Budget 2025.

The business rates multipliers are set by Government. From 2026-27, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with rateable values (RVs) under £500,000. The Government intends to fund this by introducing a higher multiplier on properties with RVs of £500,000 or more. The new business rates multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context. When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the expected effects of the new RHL and higher multiplier arrangements.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question 63598 on Immigration: Hong Kong, how many and what proportion of applications to the priority visa service for BNO (British National Overseas) Indefinite Leave to Remain have been processed within five days of biometric enrolment in each month since 8 September 2023.

All figures relating to applications using the priority visa service for BNO (British National Overseas) Indefinite Leave to Remain are published in the relevant transparency data, which can be found here:Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability for patients to message their GP practice using the NHS app for medical and appointment enquiries over lunchtime periods.

We want patients to be able to contact their general practice (GP) by phone, online, or by walking in, and for people to have an equitable experience across these access routes. This is a key intervention in the Government’s ambition to end the 8:00am scramble. From 1 October 2025, practices will be contractually required to keep their online consultation tool open for the duration of core hours, from 8:00am to 6:30pm, for non-urgent appointment requests, medication queries, and admin requests. This will be subject to the necessary safeguards that are in place to avoid urgent clinical requests being erroneously submitted online. These requirements are set out in ‘You and Your GP’, a new patient charter, which will come into effect from September. Practices must provide a link to ‘You and Your GP’ on their website.Patients can currently access their practice’s online consultation tool through their practice’s website. For 74% of practices this is also available via the NHS App, and this is due to increase to 95% of practices by March 2026.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of revising the thresholds for determining the interest rate on student loan repayments for people living abroad in the context of local taxation levels.

The repayment of student loans, including the setting of interest rates applied to student loan plan types for borrowers in the UK or overseas, is determined by the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 (as amended).Overseas repayment thresholds are calculated using World Bank price level index (PLI) (which is used to compare differences between the cost of living in the UK and other countries), not the tax rates of countries of residence. This means that if a borrower is resident in a country calculated as having a lower cost of living than the UK, the repayment threshold applied to their loan will be lower than if they are residing in the UK. The country bandings and thresholds are reviewed annually.Using a recognised measure of the relative cost of living in different countries ensures that borrowers residing in different countries are assessed in a fair, transparent and consistent way.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the contribution by the hon. Member for St Albans on 9 July 2025, Official Report, column 325WH, whether she plans to make alternative funding available to London Colney Parish Council for the completion of their neighbourhood plan.

Following the Spending Review, my Department announced that it is unable to commission new neighbourhood planning support services for 2025 onwards.Technical support which has already been awarded will continue to be provided but must be completed before the end of March 2026.London Colney Parish is not in receipt of such support.The government remains of the view that neighbourhood plans can play an important role in the planning system. Communities can continue to prepare neighbourhood plans where they consider that doing so is in their best interests.Parish and Town Councils have access to their own resources which they can choose to use for neighbourhood planning if they wish.

Whether her Department has had recent discussions with Network Rail on the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) eliminating the use of glyphosate herbicides on railway property.

Network Rail uses glyphosate to control the growth of vegetation in places where it may cause problems for trains or colleagues working alongside the track. This helps to maintain the safe operation of the railway and avoid key parts of the railway being covered by vegetation. Network Rail has been reducing the amount of chemicals it uses on the network over the last couple of decades. Applications are targeted at the plants to ensure that the volume used is as low as possible. There is not currently a chemical alternative to glyphosate that gives Network Rail the same control of vegetation. Non-chemical approaches are available and used by Network Rail in other locations, but they are not viable for use on the operational railway.

Whether he has held discussions with Royal Mail on the adequacy of their response times to hon. Members raising casework matters about local postal services.

Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider. Royal Mail endeavours to respond to all queries about postal services in a timely manner. Specific operational arrangements continue to be an internal matter for Royal Mail as an independent business.

Whether HMRC has issued guidance that the (a) Customer Compliance Group and (b) Risk and Intelligence Service (Compliance, Operational Insight and Risking) Group should only investigate cases of alleged tax evasion where the estimated loss to the public purse has been more than £35,000 for five years or more.

HMRC Customer Compliance Group’s guidance specifically states that there is no de-minimis limit for suspected fraud referrals and does not contain any instructions that would limit investigation in relation to timespan of the tax at risk.HMRC’s Risk and Intelligence Service deliver a wide range of cases, including where there is suspected evasion behaviour. CCG use a variety of indicators to identify the highest risk cases to address different compliance risks, but do not use an estimated loss of £35,000 for five years or more as a standard selection criteria.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an independent watchdog to monitor the effectiveness of HMRC Customer Compliance Group.

HMRC and its Customer Compliance Group (CCG), is subject to a wide range of independent oversight and actively engages with a range of independent assurance, both internal and external.Internally, HMRC maintains robust governance structures, including oversight by its Executive Committee and HMRC Board, alongside newly established subcommittees of the Board such as the Closing the Tax Gap Committee chaired by non-executive director Bill Dodwell – with a significant focus on the work of Customer Compliance Group. Externally, HMRC is held to account by Parliamentary authorities, including the Committee of Public Accounts (PAC), the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), and the National Audit Office (NAO) who regularly undertake both financial and value for money scrutiny of HMRC and its Customer Compliance Group. Recent reports include those into tax evasion in the retail sector, managing compliance work since the pandemic and collecting the right tax from wealthy individuals – all of which primarily focused upon the work of HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group. HMRC Customer Compliance Group welcomes Parliamentary scrutiny and has accepted 93.5% of recommendations of these bodies in the last 24 months aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the Department. HMRC is working to implement the recommendations by the deadlines agreed with the respective bodies. Customers can also ask the independent Adjudicator’s Office to review complaints after they have been investigated, if they are dissatisfied with how they have been handled by the Department.

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to grant local authorities stronger powers to reject license applications for slot machines.

The Government wants local authorities to feel empowered to make decisions that are in their communities’ best interests. Local authorities have a range of powers to manage gambling in their areas, both under the planning system and as licensing authorities under the Gambling Act 2005.As set out in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s English Devolution White Paper, the Government will look to complement local authorities’ existing powers in relation to gambling outlets to refuse or place conditions on premises licences, in line with measures outlined in the 2023 Gambling White Paper, when parliamentary time allows.