Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with the Health and Safety Executive on monitoring public exposure to silica dust.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Responsibility for exposure to silica dust is led by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who are supported by a number of other governmental organisations, to minimise risks from exposure to silica.

The Environment Agency, or equivalent regulators in devolved administrations such as Natural Resources Wales, regulates activities that have the potential to harm the environment and people. The regulator decides if relevant environmental permits and other consents and licences should be issued and, if so, what conditions should be applied. Local authorities also enforce nuisance legislation which includes the control of dust emissions.

The UK Health Security Agency would expect any activities that generate dust, including silica, to be well managed and regulated and have clear plans in place for proper management and monitoring, in order to minimise any impact to the public.

The HSE’s advice states that no cases of silicosis have been documented among members of the general public in Great Britain, indicating that environmental exposures to silica dust are not sufficiently high to cause this occupational disease. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/quarries/silica.htm

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2024 to Question 17238 on Migrants: Domestic Violence, for what reason his Department does not routinely publish information on the concession or immediate settlement for migrant victims of domestic abuse in a reportable format; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing the number of individuals who have claimed indefinite leave to remain through the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (a) in each year between 2018 and 2023 and (b) annually from 2024.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Data relating to specific concessions within the Act are not published as part of the National Statistics series. The latest quarterly Immigration Systems Statistics were published in February 2024, and include data for the period to December 2023. Table Se_04, “Grants of settlement to spouses on the basis of marriage”, is included within the Settlement summary tables: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d8880b54f1e70011165916/settlement-summary-dec-2023-tables.xlsx.

Table Se_04 provides data on persons “Granted settlement due to domestic violence after leave to remain granted as a spouse”. The published statistics do not show how many or what proportion of these would have applied under DDVC.

There are currently no plans to publish the requested information within these tables. However, the contents of all tables are regularly reviewed to ensure they are appropriate and meet the requirements of users.

Town and Country Planning

Town and Country Planning

Found: Letter dated 17/04/2024 from Laura Farris MP to Alex Davies-Jones MP regarding correction to a response