Written questions by Stainbank.

What estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of reducing the headline rate of Digital Services Tax by the end of this Parliament.

The Digital Services Tax (DST) is an interim tax measure to ensure that digital services providers pay UK tax on digital services that reflects the value they derive from UK users. The UK remains committed to reaching a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project. It is UK’s intention to repeal our Digital Services Tax (DST) when this international solution is in place.The OBR’s latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook publication sets out forecasts of Digital Services Tax revenues.

If she will make an estimate of the potential impact of applying VAT to unredeemed deposits in the deposit return scheme on revenues to the Exchequer.

The Government is currently considering the VAT treatment of deposits charged under deposit return schemes. Should VAT be applied to unreturned deposits HMRC expect the impact on exchequer receipts to be negligible.

Food and Rural Affairs whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting businesses in the hospitality sector from charges under Extended Producer Responsibility.

Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging obligates brands and packaging producers to pay the costs of managing household packaging waste. Therefore, no assessment has been made of the merits of exempting all businesses in the hospitality sector. This is because a wide range of hospitality businesses operate take away business models, where food, and primarily non-alcoholic drinks, are taken away by consumers and disposed of off premises. There is also packaging used in the hospitality sector which can be evidenced as not ending up in household bins. Under the current regulations producers can exempt this packaging from being classed as household packaging. Since autumn 2024, the Government has been working with stakeholders to make an assessment of whether amendments to the regulations or the guidance can be made to further help producers in exempting packaging.

Communities and Local Government, whether she is taking steps with her counterpart in the Scottish government to help mitigate the impact of the closure of Rural Housing Scotland on (a) housing and (b) infrastructure in rural Scotland.

Officials from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regularly meet with officials from the Scottish Government to discuss a range of policy matters and interests.

What information her Department holds on the average time taken to process an asylum claim after July 2024.

The specific data requested is not currently available from published statistics and could only be collated and verified for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.However, the Home Office does publish data on the number of asylum claims awaiting an initial decision by duration. This data can be found at table Asy_D02 of the ‘Asylum and resettlement summary tables’.Additionally, data on the percentage of applications processed within six months is published in table ASY_D03 of the ‘Immigration and Protection’ data of the Migration Transparency Data collection.We are restoring order to the asylum system so that every part – border security, case processing, appeals and returns – operates swiftly.As a result, asylum decision making increased by 52% in the last three months of 2024.The Home Office continues to take action to speed up asylum processing whilst maintaining the integrity of the system.

Whether non-Syrian nationals displaced by the Syrian civil war seeking asylum have had their claims paused following the general pause of Syrian asylum claims from December 2024.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions. The pause also applies those who have previously been habitually resident in Syria. The pause is being kept under constant review and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions, we will resume the processing of them.

What information her Department holds on people who have been deported.

Statistics on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) by nationality and destination are published on a quarterly basis. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, and are currently available to the end of December 2024, which are available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.In addition, a note providing an overview of the number of people who have been returned from the UK since 5 July 2024 was published on 31 March 2025, and can be found here: Returns from the UK from 5 July 2024 to 22 March 2025 - GOV.UK.3,594 FNOs were returned in this period, which is an increase of 16% compared to 3,101 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior (FNO returns include both enforced and voluntary returns).Figures on deportations, which are a subset of enforced returns, are not separately available.We are committed to delivering justice for victims and safer streets for our communities. Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced and, where appropriate, we will pursue their deportation.

What guidance her Department has issued to refugees on the process of applying for indefinite leave to remain.

Guidance setting out the rules on settlement protection for refugees is available on GOV.UK at: Settlement protection.

What criteria she plans to use in applying her discretionary powers to give an exception to the current ban on citizenship being granted to an asylum seeker who has arrived irregularly.

We have strengthened measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally or who arrives without a required valid entry clearance or electronic valid authorisation having made a dangerous journey, including small boat arrivals, faces having a British citizenship application refused. The change applies to citizenship applications made from 10 February 2025, regardless of the time that has passed since the illegal entry took place.However, citizenship applications have always been, and will continue to be, considered on a case-by-case basis considering all positive and negative factors. The Secretary of State may choose to apply discretion to grant citizenship on an exceptional basis where there are particularly exceptional, compelling, or mitigating circumstances and where necessary to comply with our international obligations.

What proportion of refugees received indefinite leave to remain in the latest period for which data is available.

The Home Office publishes statistics relating to indefinite leave to remain and asylum in the Immigration system statistics publication.Data on the number grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) to refugees, is published in table Se_D01 of the Settlement detailed datasets. The latest data relates to 2023. In addition, information on the number of ILR grants to refugees, including persons given ELR (Exceptional Leave to Remain), HP (Human Protection) or DL (Discretionary leave) is published in table Se_D02 of the Settlement detailed datasets for which latest data relates to 2024.

What the average non-salary recruitment cost is for a civil servant in her Department at Executive Officer grade.

The Average non salary recruitment cost for a civil servant at Executive Officer grade is £1,202.60.

What steps her Department is taking to protect (a) low-paid civil servants and (b) civil servants affected by recent increases to Skilled Worker visa salary thresholds who might be at risk of losing their right to live and work in the UK.

Part (a)The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will implement, where applicable, the new National Living Wage rate of £12.21 per hour with effect from 1 April 2025. DWP annual salaries will reflect this new hourly rate regardless of age and working pattern.DWP offers a comprehensive range of employee benefits, including enhanced discounts that make both essential and leisure purchases more affordable for our colleagues. Our Cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme promotes health and sustainability by making commuting more cost effective. Employees can also apply for salary advances to assist with budgeting, covering expenses like travel, rentals deposits, bike and safety equipment. We are committed to continuously enhancing our benefits offer, including the launch of a colleague dental insurance scheme next month. Part (b) Whilst employees who have a current time limited work visa should have an expectation that they may be unable to work beyond the date their visa expires, we realise this situation in relation to potential sponsorship via a skilled worker visa is extremely unsettling for those affected. DWP takes the welfare of its staff very seriously and continue to provide a range of support to colleagues employed on time limited visas who may be impacted by the uplift to salary thresholds introduced in April 2024. This support includes ensuring they understand their responsibilities in establishing whether they will be eligible to apply for other visas to enable them to remain in employment with DWP and signposting to wider employee assistance support that is available to them via departmental contracts.

With reference to the Project Willow report, published on 19 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of removing the Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids cap in the Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate.

We welcome the Project Willow Report and are pleased that nine potential business models have been identified to be taken forward at Grangemouth. To help make these models a reality, the Prime Minister recently announced a commitment of at least £200m through the National Wealth Fund for co-investment with the private sector once an investable proposition comes to the forefront. We will also consider Project Willow’s recommendations in due course.We recognise that Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) will play an important role in the global Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) sector, particularly in the early years of the Mandate. We want to encourage UK production of HEFA in this global market and have not placed a cap on the amount of SAF produced in the UK. However, certain feedstocks, such as used cooking oil, from which HEFA is made, are limited in volume and will not be able to provide the amounts of SAF we expect to need to in the long term. We therefore need to create space for a range of SAF technologies and feedstocks to develop. The HEFA cap, which from 2027 will decrease the allowed contribution from HEFA as a proportion of total SAF supply annually, aims to create this space and encourage investment in alternative pathways. The cap would still allow around 1 million tonnes of HEFA SAF to be supplied in the UK each year from 2035 onwards.

What her planned timetable is for the introduction of legislation to enable the Revenue Certainty Mechanism.

The government is working at pace to deliver a revenue certainty mechanism for the UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry. The government has confirmed that it will introduce the SAF Revenue Support Bill in the first session of Parliament and we expect the legislation for a revenue certainty mechanism to be in place by the end of 2026. We will continue to monitor the estimated delivery date and work with industry to deliver an effective revenue certainty mechanism as soon as possible.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of fast-tracking legislation to enable the Revenue Certainty Mechanism.

The government is working at pace to deliver a revenue certainty mechanism for the UK Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry. The government has confirmed that it will introduce the SAF Revenue Support Bill in the first session of Parliament and we expect the legislation for a revenue certainty mechanism to be in place by the end of 2026. We will continue to monitor the estimated delivery date and work with industry to deliver an effective revenue certainty mechanism as soon as possible.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the availability of feedstocks for the production of renewable fuels.

British farmers are world-leaders and know their own land best - carefully planning their planting to suit the weather, their soil type, and their long-term agronomic strategy. The demand for UK produced crops is subject to global market prices and supply. Crop varieties grown in the UK can be of a specification for food, feed and/or bioenergy standards. This provides an in-built flexibility for farmers seeking an end-use market for their product. For farmers, the opportunity to sell into bioenergy often offers a secondary market for their surplus or lower quality crops and associated agricultural residues. The production of biofuels also produces valuable by-products including protein rich animal feed which is used by livestock farmers. In 2023, 133 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the UK were used to grow crops for bioenergy. This area represents 2.2% of the arable land in the UK. 36% of land used for bioenergy was for biofuel (biodiesel and bioethanol) in the UK road transport market with the remainder mostly used for heat and power production.

What steps his Department is taking to improve clinical pathways for people diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

In England, it is the responsibility of local integrated care boards to work with clinicians, service users and patient groups, to develop services and care pathways that are convenient and meet the needs of patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.NICE has published a clinical knowledge summary on the clinical management of blackouts and syncope, that provides advice for clinicians in the UK on best practice in the assessment and diagnosis of postural tachycardia syndrome.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's pause on processing asylum claims for people in Syria on the welfare of those people.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions. However, we continue to register new claims from Syrians in the UK who wish to claim asylum.This was, and remains, a necessary step. As long as there is no stable, objective information on which to base an accurate assessment of a claimant’s risk on return to Syria, we are unable to make robust, reliable decisions on claims for international protection.The pause is being kept under constant review and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions, we will resume the processing of them.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for the Access to Work Scheme.

In 2023/24, expenditure on all Access to Work provision was £257.8m. In real terms, this is a 33% increase when compared to the previous year. Payments were made to 61,630 people. The Scheme is highly personalised and each grant that is awarded is tailored to the individual, taking into account their specific circumstances. These grants provide funding for workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The Access to Work Scheme aims to balance the level of funding required to ensure individuals are able to purchase support needed to help them get into, and stay in, sustainable paid employment, alongside the need to safeguard public money and provide a value for money service.

When she plans to resume processing asylum claims for people from Syria.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions. However, we continue to register new claims from Syrians in the UK who wish to claim asylum.This was, and remains, a necessary step. As long as there is no stable, objective information on which to base an accurate assessment of a claimant’s risk on return to Syria, we are unable to make robust, reliable decisions on claims for international protection.The pause is being kept under constant review and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions, we will resume the processing of them.