Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the timescales are for applications for Veterans Support Hubs; whether (a) match funding is required by devolved administrations in Scotland and (b) there is a (i) maximum or (ii) minimum capital spend required ifor the Veterans Support Hubs; and what crietria his Department plans to use for site selection.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is renewing the nation's contract with those that serve and have served, with over 1.8 million veterans and their families across the UK benefiting from a new network of VALOUR Recognised Centres. These centres, spread across the UK, will fundamentally transform how support is provided to veterans and the wider Armed Forces community, offering the first coordinated national network of support centres as part of the VALOUR programme.
Applications for the first round of development funding for VALOUR Recognised Centres opened on 10 November and closes on 14 January 2026. The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust will administer grants on behalf of the Ministry of Defence to existing organisations or consortiums of between £500,000 and £1,000,000 for each centre. There will be no requirement for matched funding from Devolved Governments.
Additional information on criteria and the application process, including capital spend, can be found at the following website https://covenantfund.org.uk/programme/valour-recognised-centres-development-fund/
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has prepared an evacuation plan for injured children in Gaza who have family members in the UK; what his planned timetable is for agreeing a safe evacuation route with adjacent countries; whether there is a limit on the number of injured children from Gaza that can be hospitalised in the UK for treatment; and what steps his Department is taking to settle (a) children with a family member and (b) orphaned children in the UK (i) until the war ends and (ii) permanently.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is horrific, we have consistently pressed the Government of Israel to allow access to essential healthcare. Getting patients out of Gaza remains challenging, particularly since the closure of the Rafah crossing in May 2024. There are provisions that allow a person to come to the UK for Private Medical Treatment under the Immigration Rules. On 1 May, the Minister for the Middle East announced that two children arrived in the UK to begin privately funded medical treatment through support to Project Pure Hope. However, the government is not currently considering implementing a bespoke visa route for Palestinians fleeing Gaza to come to the UK. The UK took the decision in December 2023 to extend consular support exceptionally to Palestinian nationals seeking to leave Gaza, in certain circumstances. Details of who the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office can try to help leave Gaza are published in our Occupied Palestinian Territories Travel Advice.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed prohibition of upwards-only rent reviews in all commercial property leases contained in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill on (a) institutional finance markets and (b) speculative development funding sources in the context of (i) large scale urban regeneration projects and (ii) other development projects.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government conducted extensive research and engagement before deciding to ban upwards only rent reviews. In the last quarter of 2024, 1 in 7 high street properties were vacant. Whilst we recognise the ban removes a guarantee of return from investors, it will support growth overall by making rents fairer and allowing businesses to access and invest in our High Streets.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will consult with the (a) British Federation of Property and (b) Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on her proposals to ban upward-only rent reviews in commercial leases in England.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The government conducted extensive research and engagement before deciding to ban upwards only rent reviews. We will continue to engage with stakeholders including with the British Property Federation and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to train civil servants in the use of AI.
Answered by Feryal Clark
DSIT has published guidance and launched training to upskill civil servants in the use of AI. These resources include the AI Playbook for the UK Government offering public services up-to-date guidance on AI technologies, their capabilities and limitations and 70 AI Civil Service Learning courses. The AI Community of Practice builds on this, offering knowledge sharing from teams who have developed AI solutions in government. GDS has built AI content into their Faststream Graduate and TechTrack Apprenticeship upskilling programmes, which are open to Civil Servants. In addition GDS has launched the AI Accelerator, an upskilling pipeline for existing civil servants within the Government Digital and Data profession to gain Machine Learning Engineering skills to work on AI tools.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will (a) reinstate VAT-free shopping for visitors and (b) allow VAT refunds on departure.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has no plans to introduce a new tax-free shopping scheme in Great Britain.
According to the OBR, the withdrawal of the VAT Retail Export Scheme will save the Exchequer around £540 million per year by 2025-26.
Recent ONS data shows that UK tourism numbers and spending has recovered at a similar rate following the pandemic to other European economies.
The Government has considered analysis supporting the introduction of a new tax-free shopping scheme and found that there is insufficient evidence that a new scheme would have greater benefits to the UK than costs.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department is supporting the (a) delivery and (b) expansion of apprenticeship programmes across Government departments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Cabinet Office is committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity. This includes supporting the Government's commitment to 2,000 digital apprenticeships by 2030 to improve digital skills and drive improvements and efficiency in public services.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is encouraging employees in his Department's Scottish offices to attend in person.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
The Government renewed its commitment to the 60% office attendance expectation on 24 October, emphasising the importance of collaboration through face-to-face interactions. This applies to all of the department's offices, including our offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention within the army reserve.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government inherited a recruitment crisis, with targets being missed every year for the past 14 years, and is taking decisive action to get recruitment back on track. This has included the largest pay rise to personnel in decades and scrapping 100 outdated policies that slow recruitment down.
Improving recruitment and retention levels is one of the Army’s top priorities, supported by defence.
Measures in place to increase recruitment into the Army Reserves include a sustained digital and physical marketing campaign; an increased focus on professional training and upskilling courses; and improved financial incentives.
A retention strategy has been launched to address barriers to retention through a holistic set of financial and policy initiatives spanning the entire employee lifecycle.
Further announcements will be made in due course, in line with the future Strategic Defence Review.
Asked by: Alison Taylor (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the Windsor Framework on the economy of the west coast of Scotland.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The UK internal market and trade between the UK’s four nations is worth around £129bn.
The Windsor Framework ensures Northern Ireland’s businesses have unfettered access to their most important market in Great Britain, including the west coast of Scotland, and the UK internal market system is helping to smooth the flow of trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.