Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the contribution made to the social and charitable sectors by volunteers on the Charity Worker Visa route.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office values the contribution made by volunteers on the Charity Worker visa route to the social and charitable sectors, though no formal assessment has been carried out. All visa routes are kept under regular review to ensure they are operating as intended.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Charity Worker Visa applications have been granted in each year of the operation of that visa route.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by visa route, including Charity Worker visas, in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on the outcomes of visa applications are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance visas dataset.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data is from January 2005 up to the end of September 2025.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the adequacy of the VAT exemption on mobility devices.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the importance of ensuring disabled people are supported in meeting the additional costs of disability, which is why VAT is relieved on certain equipment and appliances designed solely for their use, including wheelchairs, certain motorised wheelchairs and mobility scooters, and other mobility aids.
VAT Notice 701/7 - Reliefs from VAT for disabled and older people sets out which goods and services for disabled people are zero-rated for VAT, and which mobility aids for people aged 60 or over are reduced-rated (subject to VAT at a rate of 5%).
While all taxes are kept under review, there are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of these goods.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, further to the answer to UIN 92453 of 21 November 2025, what further assessment will be made of the Disability Confident scheme, and what action will be taken to assess employees and applicants experiences as part of this process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 15 January 2026 I announced more details about the reforms to the Disability Confident Scheme.
Proposed changes include:
We are planning a proportionate assessment of the different strands of the upcoming reforms: this is likely to include qualitative interviews to get insights from employers and employees, conducting short surveys, and gathering feedback on specific processes and products to iteratively improve and adapt.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of applications for naturalisation as a British citizen were processed within the UK Visas and Immigration six-month service standard in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps her Department is taking to meet this service standard.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Home Office publishes regular data on the processing of applications for British citizenship on the Gov.uk website. This includes performance against the service standard for completing applications. The most recent Migration Transparency data published in November 2024 shows that 99.9% of straightforward applications were decided within service standard.
The link to the latest Migration Transparency Data can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/passport-citizenship-and-civil-registrations-data-q3-2024.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme on small-scale craft production.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Revenue & Customs’ Spirits Drinks Verification Scheme (SDVS) conducts assurance of spirit producers wishing to apply for Geographic Indication status, ensuring their processes and products comply with established standards. As the SDVS is not limited to craft producers and engagement with the scheme is voluntary, no assessment of the impact on small scale craft producers has been undertaken.
However, the government recognises the importance of protecting and promoting the unique status of the UK’s traditional spirit drinks industry. That is why at Autumn Budget we announced an investment of up to £5m to improve the SDVS and ensure the fees HMRC charge producers for its verification service are as low as possible.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent progress she has been made in removing dangerous cladding from building across the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Statistics on the progress of remediating unsafe cladding on 11m+ buildings in England are published monthly here: Building Safety Remediation - GOV.UK.
The latest published statistics, as at 31 October 2024, shows progress over the last three months as: 120 more buildings in England are known to have started or completed remediation works on unsafe cladding since the end of July, and 86 more buildings are known to have completed remediation.
The published statistics also include data on remediation progress of buildings in Northern Ireland progressing remediation via the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Building safety is a devolved matter and the progress of remediation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is a matter for their respective devolved administrations.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had recent discussion with the Scottish government on the Cladding Remediation Programme in Scotland.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Building standards and remediation are a devolved matter. Scottish Government have taken a different remediation approach in terms of identification, assessment and scope.
We support the collective improvement of the safety of the UK’s built environment and regularly work with colleagues in Scotland and other devolved Governments to support them in driving remediation and protecting affected residents.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking taken to (a) encourage growth in, (b) support small scale craft produce in and (c) reduce barriers to entry to the spirits industry.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Autumn Budget the Government announced a number of measures to help reduce business costs and encourage growth within the spirits industry. These included:
o Legislation to abolish the Alcohol Duty Stamp Scheme. From 1st May 2025 approximately 3500 spirit producers, bottlers and labellers will no longer need to comply with the duty stamp requirements, saving industry an estimated £6.5m annually.
o Investment of up to £5m into HMRC’s Spirit Drinks Verification Scheme, to reduce costs for spirit producers registering traditional products for Geographic Indication.
o Increased generosity of Small Producers Relief, available to producers of spirit-based products under 8.5% abv.
The Government is also simplifying the administration of alcohol duty, reducing burdens and supporting growth. From March 2025 HMRC’s arrangements for duty returns and payments will be reformed, supported by a new online service. As a result, many small spirit producers will no longer require costly duty deferment arrangements to underwrite their monthly liabilities.
Additionally, reform of the production approvals required by spirit producers will mean they will no longer be required to operate separate excise warehousing facilities for the storage, bottling and labelling of their own products.
Beyond simplification and investment in the alcohol duty system, the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) also leads a government effort, working with devolved governments and the sector, to support this important industry. DBT helps boost spirit exports by leveraging trade agreements and removing barriers. They recently obtained recognition of the Scotch Whisky Geographic Indicator in Brazil, valued at £25m over five years. DBT also continue to spotlight UK spirits at global trade shows in key markets, including a trade mission to India in November this year and Germany in March 2025. Finally, the Export Academy food and drink programme, launched in October, offers dedicated upskilling to both emerging and experienced exporting distilleries.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
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 support rural community organisations undertaking community-led broadband installations.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Through the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS), the government provides a subsidy of up to £4,500 for residents and businesses towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband via local community-led broadband projects.
Approximately 2,300 premises in Stirling and Strathallan have received a gigabit-capable connection via the GBVS and its previous iterations. The voucher scheme is currently paused in the constituency while Building Digital UK finalises the scope of a wider Project Gigabit contract for Central and Northern Scotland.