Written questions by Lake.

Upon what evidential basis she will deem it sufficient to lift the temporary pause on the processing of Syrian asylum seeker claims.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office has withdrawn the Country Policy Information Notes and Guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions for Syrian nationals. However, we continue to register new claims from Syrians in the UK who wish to claim asylum and when there is a clear basis upon which to make decisions on Syrian claims, we will resume the processing of them.

Whether she has had recent discussions with her counterpart in the Welsh Government on the application of the Barnett formula to agriculture funding in Wales from the 2025-26 financial year.

I regularly engage with Welsh Government ministerial colleagues. Engagement takes place at the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee (which is next due to meet on the 27th of February) and bilaterally, as well as through regular correspondence, on issues relating to devolved government funding including the application of the Barnett formula. Agriculture and fisheries funding from 2024-25 has been added to the devolved governments’ baseline funding from 2025-26 which means the funding amount will be maintained in cash terms. Funding is no longer ringfenced and the devolved governments can choose how to spend this in devolved areas. In future, the Barnett formula will apply in the normal way to agriculture and fisheries funding provided to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England.

Whether her Department plans to extend full expensing to leased vehicles to support the road haulage industry in Wales.

The UK has one of the most generous and competitive capital allowances regimes in the world and is the only major economy with permanent full expensing.The government recognises the case to extend full expensing to leasing and will explore making this change when fiscal conditions allow.

What steps her Department is taking to improve recruitment of HGV drivers.

To improve working conditions for HGV drivers, the Department and industry are jointly investing up to £43.5 million to upgrade truckstops across England. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network. This funding is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve security, showers and refreshment facilities and increase lorry parking spaces.In addition, the Department has been working with the insurance and road haulage trade associations to raise awareness of fleet insurance policies that can provide cover for newly qualified drivers without higher premiums.To support drivers in returning to the sector, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has introduced more flexible Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) requirements for those driving in the UK. The requirement removes the need to complete 35 hours of training prior to a return to driving and replaces it with a 7-hour ‘return to driving’ training module, and a requirement to complete the 28 hours of other CPC training within 12 months.The Department for Transport is also a strong supporter of the Generation Logistics campaign. Led by the industry, this initiative aims to raise awareness and enhance perceptions of careers in logistics, particularly among young people and underrepresented groups.

What plans her Department has to support the Welsh road freight industry.

At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses, by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut and cancelling the planned inflation increase for 2025-26. This maintains fuel duty rates at the levels set on 23 March 2022 for an additional 12 months, and represents a saving for drivers next year of overall around £3 billion. Vans will see an average saving of £126 and heavy goods vehicles will see an average saving of nearly £1,100. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of public finances. It is for the Welsh Government to allocate funding in devolved policy areas, including to support the Welsh road freight industry; they are accountable to the Senedd for those decisions. The Welsh Government will receive funding through the Barnett formula for any changes to UK Government department budgets in the usual way. This is the normal operation of the funding arrangements as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.

What steps her Department is taking to improve truck stop facilities for HGV drivers.

The Department and industry are jointly investing up to £43.5 million to upgrade truckstops across England. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network. This investment is supporting operators across 30 counties in England to improve security, toilets, showers and refreshment facilities and increase lorry parking spaces.

How many and what proportion of (a) Paying Parents and (b) Receiving Parents using the Child Maintenance Service disclosed domestic abuse in 2023-24.

Child Maintenance Service (CMS) did not capture the data requested on proportion of (a) Paying Parents and (b) Receiving Parents using the Child Maintenance Service who disclosed domestic abuse in 2023-24. Therefore, this information is not readily available to provide. To extract this data would involve the manual review of all CMS cases, at a significant cost to the department and taxpayer. The Department is assessing how it can provide statistics on domestic abuse now the application fee exemption statistics are no longer published. The Department's Chief Statistician will oversee the development of these statistics to make sure they meet the Code of Practice for Statistics.

How many and what proportion of child maintenance service cases are being dealt with by the specialist domestic abuse caseworker team.

The Child Maintenance Service takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring victims of abuse get the help and support they need to access and use the service safely and securely.CMS caseworkers are provided with domestic abuse training to ensure they understand, recognise and respond safely and appropriately to customers who are experiencing domestic abuse, or are survivors of domestic abuse. In July 2024, the training was updated with input from external stakeholders, and covers different types of abuse, including economic, post-separation, coercive and controlling behaviour.Specialist Case Team is one of the measures CMS have introduced to manage cases with the most challenging or complex domestic abuse concerns. This has minimised the need for parents to recount their history of domestic abuse and caseworkers to deliver support to some of the most vulnerable customers. As of February 2025, the volume of cases in the Specialist Case Team was 301, this equates to 0.04% of CMS total customer caseload.

Media and Sport, if she will make a comparative assessment of the potential impact of (a) external lottery managers, (b) bookmakers and (c) other gambling providers on the (i) forms and (ii) levels of gambling harms.

The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) collects data from its respondents on the gambling activities they participate in and the types of consequences they experience. Rates of gambling harm, measured by the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), are reported by type of gambling activity (such as lotteries or betting), rather than by supplier (such as external lottery manager or bookmaker).The PGSI nonetheless captures a range of harms experienced among those who gamble. The GSGB 2023 annual report found that 4.7% of respondents who had participated in society lotteries had a PGSI score of 8+ (representing ‘problem gambling’ by which a person will have experienced adverse consequences from gambling and may have lost control of their behaviour.) This captures society lotteries run by charities themselves and through external lottery managers. The equivalent rate for other gambling providers varies significantly, from 4.2% to 41.2%.

Of the inquests launched in Pembrokeshire in each of the past ten years, how many were concluded within 6 months.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

How many inquests were launched in Ceredigion in each of the past ten years.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

What the average time taken was for an inquest to be concluded in Ceredigion in each of the last five years.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

How many inquests were launched in Pembrokeshire in each of the past ten years.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

Of the inquests launched in Ceredigion in each of the past ten years, how many were concluded within 6 months.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

What the average time taken was for an inquest to be concluded in Pembrokeshire in each of the last five years.

The requested information is set out in the table below or can be extrapolated from the data published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023.YearNumber of inquests openedNumber of inquests concluded within 6 monthsAverage length of inquest process (in weeks) CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*CeredigionCarmarthenshire & Pembrokeshire*20231217041021434202222210610635302021151438183822202032126727363220193214521106232820184114718127 20172816121148 20163322136221 20153722637204 201419109970 * The Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire coroner area includes both the Carmarthenshire County Council and Pembrokeshire County Council areas, and it is not possible to provide information for Pembrokeshire only.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people living in Wales that have received overpayments of the Carers Allowance.

We don’t measure or report Fraud and Error statistics at a regional level. Our benefit review sample sizes are not large enough to support this level of detail measure or report Fraud and Error statistics at a regional level.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Israel's operation Iron Wall in the occupied West Bank; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of Israel's compliance with international law.

The UK has been clear that it is in no one's interest for further conflict and instability to spread in the West Bank. The risk of instability is serious and the need for de-escalation urgent. We continue to call on Israeli authorities to exercise restraint, adhere to international law, and clamp down on the actions of those who seek to inflame tensions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has held with his Israeli counterparts on ensuring that actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory comply with international law.

We have always been clear that a ceasefire is just the first step towards a lasting solution to this crisis. We must build confidence on all sides that helps sustain a ceasefire and move it into a lasting peace. This government is fully committed to international law and continues to press the Israeli government on issues of international law compliance. This government has suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in the Gaza conflict, following a review of Israel's compliance and commitment to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which concluded that there was a clear risk they might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL. Separately, this government respects the independence of the International Court of Justice. We continue to consider the Court's Advisory Opinion on Israel's occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) carefully. We are of the clear view that Israel should bring an end to its presence in the OPTs as rapidly as possible - but this must be done in a way that creates the conditions for negotiations towards the two-state solution.

What estimate she has made of (a) the number of people eligible for compensation and (b) the total cash value of the compensation owed under the ruling by the Court of Appeal from October 2024 that certain commissions that lenders paid to car dealerships for arranging loans were unlawful.

This is a complicated issue and the government is working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The government is pleased that the Supreme Court will hear an appeal from 1-3 April and hopes that its judgment will provide clarity for firms and consumers.

Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of copyright law to ensure that creators are remunerated for the use of their work in training AI tools.

The Government published a consultation on Copyright and AI in December 2024. Through this consultation, the Government aims to ensure that right holders in the creative industries can control and be remunerated for the use of their work, while supporting the development of world-leading AI models in the UK. The Government recognises that this is a complex area and welcomes all views and evidence to help shape its thinking. The consultation closes on 25 February.