Written questions by Morton.

What funding she has allocated to frontline policing to mitigate changes to employer National Insurance contributions.

The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 and represents a 6.4% cash increase and 3.9% real terms increase in funding.This includes an additional £230.3 million of funding for territorial police forces to cover the costs of the increases to National Insurance Contributions.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish the criteria to determine the prioritisation of Official Development Assistance funding in 2025-26; and what steps is he taking to ensure such spending optimises value for money.

We are committed to modernising our approach to development to help provide the best value for money for UK taxpayers and deliver mutual benefits at home and overseas. We will work with our partners in new ways to maximise our impact.To enable us to deliver the transition to spending 0.3 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance effectively, in 2025/26 we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, as well as planned humanitarian spend. This will help deliver the flexibility the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office requires to set a transitional set of final allocations following the Spending Review. We have also established an exemptions process to allow for critical new development work to continue.Full detail is set out in Baroness Chapman's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee [https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47275/documents/245059/default/].

Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the planned changes to the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme on listed places of worship.

DCMS Ministers received advice on changes to the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, including consideration of the potential impacts of various options to scale the scheme. The changes announced were necessary given the tight fiscal challenges we inherited from the previous government and considering competing financial demands in other parts of the heritage and cultural sector.Will continue the widest distribution of the scheme’s benefits within the available means. Based on previous scheme data, we expect 94% of claims to be unaffected by this change.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of fully funding apprenticeships for under-22s in SMEs on apprenticeship starts to date.

Since April 2024, the government pays 100% of apprentice training costs, up to the funding band maximum, for non-levy paying employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 21, and apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care.Apprenticeship statistics, including starts by young people, can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

With reference to the press release entitled Joint statement of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Charlevoix, published on 14 March 2025, whether the Government has plans to increase its loan to Ukraine from the profits of sanctioned assets.

The Government has provided £2.26bn as part of the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans for Ukraine (ERA) scheme. This will be repaid using profits from immobilised Russian sovereign assets in the EU. The G7 has agreed that the ERA can support $50bn in funding to Ukraine – the entirety of which has been pledged. The UK’s total military, humanitarian and economic support pledged since the start of the conflict now amounts to around £12.8bn.

Pursuant to the Answer 18 March 2025 to Question 36660 on USA: Trade Agreements, if he will set out his the expected timeline for an economic deal.

On Tuesday 18 March, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and the Special Envoy to the UK Mark Burnett in Washington DC. The meeting followed last month’s agreement between the Prime Minister and President Trump that teams would start working together on an Economic Prosperity Deal, building on our shared strengths and commitment to economic security. Ministers and officials will be continuing discussions moving forward.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has for participation by (a) Ministers and (b) officials at the European Political Community Summit in Albania on 16 May 2025.

The UK values the European Political Community (EPC) as a format that brings together leaders from across Europe for frank discussions about shared challenges such as European security and irregular migration. The UK has played a central role in the EPC since its inception, particularly through hosting at Blenheim Palace in July 2024. We welcome Albania's hosting of the EPC on 16 May. Attendance at the EPC is at leader-level only and cannot be delegated. We will set out the Prime Minister's travel plans in the usual way.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his European counterparts to help tackle (a) intolerance and (b) other discrimination against Christians in Europe.

There is no space for religious intolerance in pluralistic, modern societies. We are championing the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our engagement in multilateral fora, our bilateral work, and our programme funding. We will continue to recognise the impact of the issue of Christian persecution globally, alongside the persecution of other individuals on the basis of their religion or belief. The Special Envoy for FoRB met with European and US counterparts in the margins of the 58th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in March. We actively participate in the Article 18 Alliance - bringing together 38 Member States, 26 of whom are European, to discuss actions our nations can take so that together we can promote respect for FoRB worldwide. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials attended the Article 18 Alliance and International Contact Group meetings in Geneva in March.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Minister for International Development’s letter of 14 March 2025 to the International Development Select Committee, how many (a) business cases, (b) contracts and (c) agreements for aid programmes were put on hold following the instruction issued to aid programmes.

As an immediate step to prepare for the reduction to the UK's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) issued an instruction on 7 March to all ODA programme teams in FCDO not to approve new business cases, contracts or agreements, or announce new funding until initial allocations for FCDO ODA in the financial year 2025/26 are set. Payments under existing agreements has continued. In the Minister for Development's letter of Thursday 27 March to the International Development Committee, she confirmed FCDO's approach to setting initial ODA allocations for the financial year 2025/26, including the broad criteria against which new business cases, contracts and agreements will be considered through an exemption process. Given the ongoing exemption process, it is not possible to set out a total number of new business cases, contracts and agreements that FCDO ODA programme teams may have progressed but did not do so as a result of this approach. Guidance has been provided to teams to enable the ongoing development of business cases in high priority areas.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Overseas Development Assistance on WASH funding worldwide.

The UK recognises the fundamental role that clean water, sanitation and good hygiene play in terms of improving people's health and wellbeing, in helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change, and in empowering women and girls. Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the spending review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much funding his Department is providing to Ukraine to help tackle antimicrobial resistance.

We have provided £477 million in humanitarian support to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, which includes support for healthcare services. Our support includes funding for the Ukrainian Red Cross, who have funded NHS doctors and nurses to share best practice with their Ukrainian counterparts, including how to prevent the spread of infections and antimicrobial resistance. Through the World Health Organisation, we are also strengthening Ukraine's health system to provide better care and rehabilitation services to meet the needs of those injured because of the war. In February, the Defence Secretary announced that we would double our funding to £40 million for Project Renovator, which draws on the UK's leading defence medical expertise to expand Ukraine's military rehabilitation and medical services.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to apply further sanctions to assets associated with (a) the (i) owners and (ii) affiliated entities of Chelsea Football Club and (b) other Russian (A) people and (B) entities.

The UK has been clear that we need to keep the economic pressure on Russia to hinder its ability to wage war. The UK has sanctioned over 2,200 individuals and entities under the Russia sanctions regime, over 2,000 of which were sanctioned since Putin's full-scale invasion. We will not comment or speculate on future designations as to do so could reduce their impact. We are determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea FC reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine as soon as possible and we are doing everything we can to bring that about quickly.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to Overseas Development Assistance on the Africa Strategy.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent in 2027.We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the spending review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to harmonise sanctions against Belarus with those imposed on Russia; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of such harmonisation on (a) the protection of human rights, (b) support for political prisoners and (c) other UK foreign policy objectives in Belarus.

The UK has sanctioned over 200 Belarusian individuals and entities to date, in response to both human rights abuses in Belarus, and the Lukashenko regime's support for Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. There are also a range of broad UK sanctions measures in place in Belarus, targeting goods and technologies. We keep further sanctions against Belarus under review.Sanctions are just one of the tools we use. Alongside our partners and multilateral organisations, the UK consistently calls for human rights abuses to be investigated and for the release of all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally. In August 2024, the UK announced £2.5 million of funding to support the survival of Belarusian human rights and civil society causes in the face of continued political pressure.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he last had discussions with his French counterpart on the right to freedom of religion or belief in France.

The UK is strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief for all abroad. The UK champions the right to freedom of religion or belief and promoting tolerance and mutual respect through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora, and in our bilateral work. Ministers and officials engage with their French counterparts on a broad range of issues, for example at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Conference on Addressing Antisemitism (10-11 February 2025). Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials also engage with faith leaders in France.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the Official Development Assistance budget is allocated to initiatives tackling antimicrobial resistance.

The UK is a global leader in tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and supports action though its multilateral, bilateral and research investments. It is not possible to identify the AMR element of all such spending.Direct AMR spend includes, but is not limited to: i) the UK's Fleming Fund programme which strengthens drug-resistance surveillance systems across low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean (£57.5 million in 2023-24); ii) the UK Global Antimicrobial Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) which supports Research & Development into products and solutions that reduce the threat of AMR in low and middle income countries (£16.4 million in 2023-24); iii) FCDO's funding to product development partnerships in 2024/25 included over £32 million to the Medicines for Malaria Venture, TB Alliance and the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit's DeTACT project to develop new antimalarials and treatments for drug-resistant malaria and tuberculosis and to protect the effectiveness of existing medicines.Official Development Assistance (ODA) allocations and the impact on programmes are being worked through following the decision to reduce UK ODA from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the spending review.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has faced legal challenge on the use of assets derived from sanctioned (a) individuals and (b) entities.

UK financial sanctions limit the provision of certain financial services and restrict access to financial markets, funds, and economic resources. Financial sanctions do not involve a change in ownership of the frozen funds, or economic resources, nor are they confiscated or transferred to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation for safekeeping.The G7 is providing Ukraine with $50 billion of funding as part of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration scheme. The first £752 million of the UK's £2.26 billion contribution was received by Ukraine earlier this month and will be used to strengthen their defence capabilities in the face of Russian aggression. The G7's funding will be repaid by the profits generated on holdings of immobilised Russian sovereign assets in the EU.Separately, we continue our work at pace with allies to consider all lawful routes to ensure Russia pays for the damage it is causing Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary is having regular discussions with key partners on this issue, including at the Weimar+ Group on Monday 31 March.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief is taking to help tackle the persecution of religious minorities in Afghanistan.

The Envoy works closely with the Minister for Africa and Human Rights, and with other government departments to promote His Majesty's Government's shared priorities on freedom of religious belief for all. He also works with a range of UK and international partners through the Article 18 Alliance. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials regularly press the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans. We extended the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett to report on human rights in Afghanistan, including those of minority groups. Ministers and officials engage regularly with a range of Afghans, including religious and ethnic minorities, to ensure our policy and programming reflect the needs of the entire population.

Communities and Local Government, in what month this year she will publish the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill.

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).

What is the current average time to clear Personal Independence Payments appeals at the (a) First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) and (b) Upper Tribunal.

Information about appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support), including the average time to clear Personal Independence Payment appeals is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.The information requested for the Upper Tribunal is not currently available.