Written questions by Hall.

How many asylum claims were made by people holding student visas by nationality in the last 12 months; and what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of such claims.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK with a visa or other leave, by nationality and type of leave, in the year ending June 2025 is published in table Asy_01e of the ‘Asylum summary tables’. Data for the year ending September 2025 will be published on 27 November 2025.The UK keeps its visa system under regular review, and the government has been clear that we will do whatever it takes to tackle the issue of visa abuse.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of small modular reactor projects on (a) long-term waste management and (b) decommissioning.

Under the Energy Act 2008, prospective operators of nuclear power stations providing power directly to the grid are required to have a Funded Decommissioning Programme (FDP), making arrangements to cover the full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste management and disposal costs, approved by the Secretary of State before nuclear-related construction can begin, and to then comply with that programme thereafter. Based on current proposals for small modular reactors, the government anticipates that waste from such projects would be largely similar in nature to the current operating fleet, with low level waste disposable in existing facilities, while more hazardous waste would be stored pending disposal in a geological disposal facility when it becomes available.

Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to review planning requirements for converting homes into houses in multiple occupation.

Local planning authorities already have planning powers to limit the concentration or proliferation of HMOs within their locality. They can remove the national permitted development right for smaller HMOs to protect the local amenity or wellbeing of an area by introducing an ‘Article 4’ direction which, once in place, requires all new HMO proposals to secure planning permission. We keep the powers to regulate HMOs under review.

When her Department plans to launch its consultation on the future of the British National (Overseas) 5+1 Indefinite Leave to Remain visa route.

We will be consulting on the new settlement rules later this year.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to reform the (a) Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) and (b) Packaging Waste Export Recycling Note (PERN) system to (i) address market imbalances that disadvantage UK recyclers, (ii) reduce the price disparity between PRNs and PERNs, (iii) strengthen oversight of overseas export destinations and (iv) support domestic recycling infrastructure.

Yes, we have been working closely with relevant stakeholders to identify and prioritise options to reform the PRN system, including levelling the playing field between UK reprocessors and exporters, and increasing transparency in the system. We plan to consult on these shortly.

Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of strengthening waste regulations (a) for the list of approved destinations of and (b) on the environmental standards for aluminium scrap exports on (i) encouraging domestic recycling and (ii) reducing carbon leakage.

We are currently considering the role of exports in dealing with the UK’s scrap aluminium and how they can complement domestic recycling efforts. Overseas facilities receiving UK waste must be operated in accordance with standards that are broadly equivalent to those established in UK legislation. We work with the UK regulators to ensure the proper enforcement of our rules and regulations. Defra is committed to building a circular economy that enhances industry competition and capitalises on the UK’s potential in aluminium processing, whilst realising our environmental objectives.

Whether his Department considered including policies on the aluminium sector within the Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025.

I refer the Member of Parliament for Warrington to the answer I provided to UIN 72881 on 17th September, which was in response to a similar question she previously tabled: “To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reason the aluminium sector was not included in the Industrial Strategy.”

What steps his Department is taking to help support the aluminium industry in the context of (a) US tariffs and (b) global competition.

Thanks to the strength of the UK-US partnership, the UK remains the only country to benefit from a preferential 25% tariff on steel and aluminium exports to the US, avoiding the global rate of 50%. The UK is therefore uniquely positioned as the only country to have secured this commitment, giving our companies a 25% competitive advantage over global competitors.After US global tariffs were introduced in May, the Business Secretary instructed the Trade Remedies Authority to work with the aluminium industry to gather and assess evidence for possible trade protection measures.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the carbon border adjustment mechanism supports the international competitiveness of businesses.

The CBAM is an environmental policy designed to support decarbonisation and mitigate the risk of carbon leakage. It will be introduced on 1 January 2027. Carbon leakage can undermine efforts to reduce global emissions and curtail private investment in decarbonisation – compromising efforts to reach net zero and limit global warming to 1.5°C. The CBAM will ensure highly traded, carbon intensive products from overseas face a comparable carbon price to those produced here so that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions rather than simply displacing carbon emissions overseas. It will give industry confidence to invest in the UK knowing their decarbonisation efforts will not be undermined.

What steps her Department plans to take to help ensure that the carbon border adjustment mechanism will support a reduction in carbon leakage in all the sectors in scope of the legislation.

The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will be introduced on 1 January 2027 to address the risk of carbon leakage. Carbon leakage occurs when production and associated emissions shift from one country to another due to different levels of decarbonisation effort, for example, as a result of carbon pricing and climate regulation. The CBAM will place a carbon price on specific industrial goods imported to the UK from the aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and iron & steel sectors that are at risk of carbon leakage, to ensure they face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK.This will support UK decarbonisation efforts to lead to a true reduction in global emissions rather than simply displacing carbon emissions overseas, and give industry confidence to invest in the UK knowing their decarbonisation efforts will not be undermined.

What steps his Department is taking to help support the aluminium industry through its negotiations on free trade agreements.

We have taken decisive action to support the UK aluminium industry through recent trade agreements that reduce barriers and enhance market access by removing tariffs.Additionally, thanks to the strength of the UK-US partnership, the UK remains the only country to benefit from a 25% tariff on steel and aluminium exports to the US, avoiding the global rate of 50%. The UK is the only country to have secured this commitment, giving our companies a competitive advantage.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support farmers to strengthen the resilience of domestic food supply chains.

Resilient domestic production for a secure supply of healthier food is one of the 10 priority outcomes that the Government announced in the Good Food Cycle in July 2025. Defra works with industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise across the whole of the food supply chain. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption.

What steps his Department is taking to improve oversight of the administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

The government has taken significant steps to improve both the oversight and enforcement of performance standards in the Civil Service Pension Scheme administration, primarily through the new contract with Capita and enhanced internal controls. Capita has been contracted to assume full administrative responsibilities from 1 December 2025.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to introduce in-ovo sexing technology to end the routine culling of day-old male chicks in the UK egg industry.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. In its 2024 ‘Opinion on alternatives to culling newly hatched chicks in the egg and poultry industries’, the Animal Welfare Committee considered a range of technologies that could help end the routine culling of male chicks by identifying or determining the sex of chick embryos before hatching. In recent years there has been rapid global progress in the development of these technologies, and we welcome the UK egg industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help protect at-risk heritage assets.

The Government is committed to protecting heritage at risk and supporting communities to care for their local heritage assets.This year we announced almost £20 million new funding for local heritage. The £15m Heritage at Risk Capital Fund enables individuals and organisations in the most deprived neighbourhoods in England to rescue and repair at-risk historic sites and buildings that bring people together, like shops, pubs, parks and town halls. In August 2025, funding was announced for 37 much-loved historic buildings and sites, many of which are located on high streets and in town centres.Alongside this, the £4.85m Heritage Revival Fund has a particular emphasis on town centres and helps to rescue and repurpose neglected historic buildings in England, enabling community organisations, charities and social enterprises to take ownership and repurpose sites such as theatres, department stores and former banks.We have also continued the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, with a budget of £23 million, providing grants of up to £25,000 towards VAT on eligible repairs.This is in addition to the £330 million distributed each year through the National Lottery Heritage Fund.In October, we announced the 75 museum groups across the country who will receive a share of our new, £20 million Museum Renewal Fund, with outcomes for our £25 million Museum Estate and Development Fund due in the New Year.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of measures to protect women and girls from harassment, abuse and intimidation.

Everyone has the right to both feel safe and be safe going about their day-to-day lives and the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable.We recognise that public sexual harassment is a crime that often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women, feeling very unsafe. That is why tackling it is very much an important part of our ambition to halve VAWG in a decade.Once in force, the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023 will help tackle this issue and ensure women both feel and are safer on our streets.We are also working tirelessly across Government to deliver a new VAWG Strategy, which will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver the Government’s objectives on VAWG.

What recent discussions she has had with local authorities on tackling (a) pavement parking and (b) other obstructions for (i) pushchair, (ii) wheelchair and (iii) mobility aid users.

The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with local authorities on these matters. The Government fully understands the serious problems that vehicles parked on the pavement, and other obstacles on the pavement, can cause for pedestrians, especially for people with mobility or sight impairments and those with wheelchairs, prams or pushchairs. The Department has been considering all the views expressed in response to the 2020 pavement parking consultation and is currently working through the policy options and the appropriate means of delivering them. We will announce the next steps and publish our formal response as soon as possible.  In the meantime, local authorities can make use of existing powers to manage pavement parking, and it is up to them to decide where to restrict pavement parking and what enforcement is appropriate. Recent reforms by my Department to the process by which Traffic Regulation Orders are made will make it easier for them to do so.

What steps he is taking to improve access to mental health services for veterans in the North West.

This is a Government of service that will always stand up for those who have served our country. In the North West and across the United Kingdom, the Veterans Welfare Service provides advice and support to veterans and their families. In England, Op COURAGE and Op RESTORE provide a broad range of specialist mental health, physical and wellbeing care services to veterans. Additionally, with the North West Thrive Together programme, it is building and improving the veteran self-help referral process and reducing the stigma of asking for help by those that need it the most. The Reducing Veteran Homelessness ‘Homes at Ease’ programme in the North West provides mental health support for housing applications. In 2024-25, it delivered 267 psychotherapy sessions to 54 beneficiaries to provide a bridge to highly stretched services in the region. In May this year, we also announced VALOUR, our new commitment, backed by £50 million, to establish the first-ever UK-wide approach to veteran support, which will ensure easier access to essential care and support for veterans across the country.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of security officers at magistrate's courts.

Security in our courts and judicial security is paramount. Over £20 million in additional funding in 2025/26 has been allocated to a programme of works to further strengthen the existing arrangements. Local court security risk assessments are carried out to determine the appropriate number of Court Security Officers deployed at Magistrates Courts. These are reviewed when there are any significant changes to work activities or threats. There are ongoing risk monitoring arrangements in place to ensure the adequacy of these arrangements.

Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help safeguard public sector digital infrastructure against cyberattacks.

Government is committed to improving the cyber resilience of public sector digital infrastructure, focusing our efforts around the Government Cyber Security Strategy.We have already made important steps to better understand and mitigate cyber risk and are now accelerating our response to address key risks and better support departments through a more interventionist approach.This accelerated response will address the long-standing shortage of cyber skills, strengthen accountability for cyber risks, provide greater support for delivery in the form of cyber services, guidance, and hands-on technical support and bolster our response capabilities to fast-moving cyber incidents.