Written questions by Taylor.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of granting Home Fee status to Hong Kongers under the British National (Overseas) Visa Scheme after three years’ residency in the UK before the start of the spring term in 2025.

Generally, to qualify for higher education (HE) student support and home fee status in England, a person must have settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course. There are exceptions to this for persons who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. This includes persons granted refugee status, humanitarian protection, or leave under one of the Afghan or Ukraine schemes.The creation of a bespoke immigration route for Hong Kong British National (Overseas)’s (BN(O)) reflects the unique and unprecedented circumstances in Hong Kong and the UK’s historic and moral commitment to BN(O) citizens. The BN(O) route is not a form of international protection and is not, therefore, comparable to the Afghan and Ukraine schemes. However, it remains open to a Hong Kong BN(O) to apply for refugee status or humanitarian protection should they believe they qualify.There are no plans to extend HE student support and home fee status to Hong Kong BN(O)s before they are settled in the UK.

If she will make a comparative assessment of the (a) tuition fee status and (b) student financing arrangements for students under the (i) Ukraine and (ii) Afghanistan humanitarian visa schemes and (iii) the British National (Overseas) visa scheme.

Generally, to qualify for higher education (HE) student support and home fee status in England, a person must have settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course. There are exceptions to this for persons who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. This includes persons granted refugee status, humanitarian protection, or leave under one of the Afghan or Ukraine schemes.The creation of a bespoke immigration route for Hong Kong British National (Overseas)’s (BN(O)) reflects the unique and unprecedented circumstances in Hong Kong and the UK’s historic and moral commitment to BN(O) citizens. The BN(O) route is not a form of international protection and is not, therefore, comparable to the Afghan and Ukraine schemes. However, it remains open to a Hong Kong BN(O) to apply for refugee status or humanitarian protection should they believe they qualify.There are no plans to extend HE student support and home fee status to Hong Kong BN(O)s before they are settled in the UK.

If she will extend the 75% business rates relief for pubs beyond March 2025 in the Autumn Budget.

Any decisions on future tax policy will be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event.

If he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the recommendations made in the UK Blood Cancer Action Plan, published by Blood Cancer UK on 4 September 2024.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Liverpool Walton to question 4539 on 19 September 2024.

If she will reduce the level of duty on (a) beer and (b) cider served in pubs.

The current alcohol duty system supports pubs through Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty. Draught Relief helps to level the playing field between pubs and supermarkets, allowing pubs and brewers to price their on-trade products more competitively. The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and rates that took effect on 1 August 2023. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its Budget process.

If he will make palliative care training mandatory for health and social care workers.

The training of health care professionals is the responsibility of independent statutory health care regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the Health and Care Professions Council. The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training, including for palliative and end of life care, is set by the relevant royal college, and has to meet the standards set by the GMC.Additionally, to ensure the health and social care workforce is well equipped and supported in delivering personalised care to people at the end of life, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, hosts the End of Life Care for All e-learning training programme, which includes nine modules on improving care for people at the end of life.

What steps he is taking to increase access to medicines for patients receiving (a) palliative and (b) end of life care.

Local integrated care boards (ICBs) can commission out-of-hours dispensing locally if there is a need for patients to access medicines outside of the core pharmacy hours, including as part of any palliative and end of life arrangements that the ICB is required to make under statutory guidance.Adults in the last days of life who are likely to need symptom control should be prescribed anticipatory medicines with written instructions for how to use or administer treatment. The medicines are prescribed in advance so that they can be obtained during local pharmacy opening hours and kept safely at home, or at a care home, so that the person or their carer has access to them if they develop symptoms. The use of anticipatory prescribing is a quality standard in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline, Care of dying adults in the last days of life.

Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of opening a consultation on banning the use of (a) cages and (b) close confinement systems in animal farming.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.

If he will publish independently-verified projections of future demand for the palliative and end of life care workforce at least every two years; and if he will take steps to ensure a properly resourced plan is in place for meeting this demand.

At this time, there are no plans to publish independently verified projections of future demand for the palliative and end of life care workforce. We will want to assure ourselves, and the National Health Service, that the current plan will deliver the reform needed. We will need to do this in light of the 10-Year Health Plan.

What estimate she has made of the timeframe within which the renationalisation of rail franchises will result in improvements to rail services.

Public ownership will end the failed franchising system, allowing operators to serve the interests of passengers, not shareholders. The failures of the past three decades cannot be fixed overnight, and bringing train operations into public ownership is only one part of this government’s extensive plans to improve the railways for passengers and taxpayers.

What steps she plans to take with local authorities to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility for Pension Credit.

The Government wants everyone eligible for Pension Credit but not currently claiming it to receive the benefits they are entitled to. The Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wrote to all local authorities on 20th August. The letter acknowledged the vital role local authorities play in supporting their communities. The Government recognises that many local authorities already do a huge amount of work to promote benefit take-up. We are asking that local authorities support our national Pension Credit campaign and help us reach those eligible pensioners who have not claimed Pension Credit, so they continue to receive an annual Winter Fuel Payment. We will continue to work with external partners, local authorities and the devolved governments to boost the take-up of Pension Credit.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to community warm banks in winter 2024-25.

Warm banks are locally led initiatives run by local authorities, charities and voluntary and community organisations.The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 made available up to £64.7 billion, the majority of which is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities.More broadly, DCMS, through its arms-length funding bodies, provide a range of funds charities and voluntary organisations, including warm banks, can bid for.