Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department's policy for UK entry clearance visas issued in Pakistan to be sent to the named individuals in Afghanistan where an individual has had to return to Afghanistan due to not having an immigration status in Pakistan.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We normally require people who are granted permission to come to the UK to collect their passport and entry clearance vignette from the Visa Application Centre (VAC) they attended to enrol their biometric information. We will not send out secure documents, such as passports containing an entry clearance vignette, where there is a significant risk that the documents would not reach the intended recipients, as this could pose a security risk to the UK or expose the individual to danger. Where individuals are unable to attend a VAC to collect their documents, they must contact UK Visa and Immigration to agree alternative arrangements to collect their passports.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to enable British citizens who have been evacuated from Sudan to be reunited with family members who (a) remain in the country and (b) have fled to third countries.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Close family members of individuals who are in the UK with permission to stay as a refugee may be eligible to apply under the family reunion arrangements. Details can be found at: Application for UK visa (family joining refugee): appendix 4 VAF4A - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) support and (b) protect Palestinian healthcare services in the occupied West Bank.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We strongly condemn all forms of violence and incitement to violence. Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the principles of proportionality, distinction and necessity. The British Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly raises the importance of regularised access to healthcare with the Israeli authorities. Israel, as the occupying power, has a duty to ensure and maintain public health to the fullest extent possible. During his call on 4 July with the Israeli chargé d'affaires in London, the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, urged Israel to safeguard access to healthcare and take proactive steps to guarantee the safety of civilians during Israeli operations in the West Bank. The Foreign Secretary emphasised the importance of the proactive protection of civilians during his call with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on 5 July. The wounded and ill in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories should be able to access the urgent medical care they need. The UK's annual contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) also helps to fund (among other activities) access to health services for 3.5 million Palestinian refugees.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses have gone into liquidation following the non-payment of a loan through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an estimate of the number of businesses that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) that have since ceased trading. This will be considered as part of the scheme's ongoing evaluation, which will consider the impact of CBILS on business survival.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much the Government will receive as a result of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme interest rate being higher than the Bank of England base rate.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is a delegated scheme; as such, interest rates will depend on the specific loan agreements between a borrower and their lender.
The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed, partial guarantee (80%) against the outstanding balance. The Government does not benefit from interest repayments on loans through the CBILS scheme.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, for what reasons the rate of interest on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme has increased to eight per cent.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is a delegated scheme; as such, interest rates will depend on the specific loan agreements between a borrower and their lender.
The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed, partial guarantee (80%) against the outstanding balance. The Government does not benefit from interest repayments on loans through the CBILS scheme.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of charities that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme have outstanding monies to pay.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has not made an estimate of the number of charities that took out loans through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, and so does not have an estimate on the proportion of charities which have an outstanding balance on their loan.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses exported goods to the EU in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website it is also possible to access other published statistics and information related to international trade in goods.
Information about the number of businesses who exported goods to the EU in 2021 and 2022 was obtained from customs declarations and is publicly available in the Customs Importer and Exporter Population Report 2022 (see Table 2 ‘Partner by Direction’). Methodology notes about this data can be found here.
Prior to 2021, this information was obtained from the Intrastat survey and is publicly available in the Regional Trade Statistics Accompanying Tables for Q2 2021 (see Tab “CE”, Table 3: count of exporters to EU, 2018 to 2020). The applicable methodology is detailed in the published ‘Notes’ tab.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data the Government held on the remediation of buildings that have non-ACM cladding safety faults as of 21 June 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Information on the remediation progress of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding systems progressing through the Building Safety Fund can be found here.
Information on the remediation progress of buildings that are covered by the developer remediation contract and which have life-critical fire safety defects (including unsafe non-ACM cladding systems) and on the progress of buildings in the Cladding Safety Scheme is being collated and will be published in due course.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the proportion of children on the roll of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools who have been absent for four weeks or longer.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Data on absence and attendance are collected via two sources. The School Census collects data on total termly absence only and does not collect dates or continuous periods of absence. It does not collect data on whether pupils were absent for a period of four weeks or longer. It collects data on proportion of absence over a term or year.
Information on absence is also collected via data submitted to the Department by participating schools on a daily basis. The information requested is not readily available from this source and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.