Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps the Government took to mark United Nations International Mother Language Day.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
In liaison with other government departments and the UK National Commission for UNESCO (UKNC), the FCDO partnered with the Bangladesh High Commission and High Commissioner for the 6th year to celebrate International Mother Language Day (IMLD) in London. IMLD was supported by the UK's Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, with UKNC, focussing on the theme of International Mother Language Day celebration for 2024 which is "Multilingual education is a pillar of intergenerational learning". The UK Permanent Delegate to UNESCO also promoted IMLD through e-communications and social channels, including support for IMLD related activities taking place around the UK, for example celebrating local musicians performing in their mother language in Wales.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure more of the global population have access to education in their native language.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK prioritises foundational learning (literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills) for all children across our education programmes. This recognises that foundational learning is crucial to achieving higher order skills and reaping the full benefits of education. We are focused on delivering evidence-based interventions. A key part of the evidence on what works in literacy is ensuring that children learn in their mother tongue. We therefore advocate for the teaching of basic early education in children's native language. We encourage countries to delay the transition to another language of instruction to later in children's education once they have secured foundational learning.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of levels of costs for businesses of UK customs clearance fees on imported goods from the EU.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under the Postal Services Act 2000, postal operators are authorised to recover customs or excise duties charged on imported postal packets, including those from the EU. Goods over £135 attract a VAT or Customs Duty. Postal operators may collect these charges on behalf of HMRC from the recipient prior to delivery. A handling fee is also applied to cover the associated administrative costs.
All international courier and postal operators charge fees for their customs support services, and the Government does not have any authority over the charges they make, as these are commercial decisions for the operators.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance her Department issues for NHS Trusts on carbon reduction planning; and if she will publish guidance for trusts on offsetting carbon emissions.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Health and Care Act (2022) empowered NHS England to issue statutory guidance on decarbonisation to National Health Service trusts and integrated care Boards. The following guidance has been issued through that power: Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service report, which sets a Net Zero target of 2040 for the NHS carbon footprint, and covers offsetting; and the Net Zero Supplier Roadmap, which aims to decarbonise NHS procurement.
All 212 NHS trusts have Green Plans in place setting out how they will meet the ambitions set out in this guidance. The Government continues to provide significant financial support to this work, including investing over £800 million in grant funding through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (England) Regulations 2023 will come into force on 1 February 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government remains committed to banning the use of electronic training collars controlled by hand-held devices that deliver an electric shock to cats or dogs in England. Parliamentary business will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he will alter the existing categories for voluntary National Insurance contributions up to 15 years to include British National (Overseas) visa holders by (a) creating a new category of eligibility for Class 2 and 3 voluntary contributions and (b) carving out an exception for BNO visa holders in the existing requirements for people who have previously worked overseas.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
British National Overseas individuals who live or work abroad (or have previously) are usually able to make backdated voluntary National Insurance contributions payments for the previous six tax years where they have either previously lived in the UK for three years in a row or paid at least three years of contributions.
For the tax years 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 the government has extended the deadline for paying voluntary contributions to 5 April 2025.
The deadline has also been extended to 5 April 2025 for eligible customers to pay voluntary contributions for the tax years 6 April 2006 to 5 April 2016. Further guidance on the eligibility and deadlines for making voluntary contributions, including for those living or working abroad is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 67 of the People at the Heart of Care white paper, published in December 2021, whether it remains her Department's policy that the remainder of the funding to support the adult social care workforce will be allocated in 2024.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is fully committed to the 10-year vision for adult social care set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper. We want care to be outstanding quality, personalised and accessible. The social care workforce remains at the heart of our reform plans. Our vision is for an adult social care workforce where people feel supported, recognised, and have opportunities to develop and progress. Our workforce reforms will provide the workforce with more support to develop and progress within their careers and will improve the quality, safety, and personalisation of care.
The Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care plan, published in April 2023, set out how we are investing up to £700 million over this year and next, building on over £100 million already invested in 2022/23. This included substantial investment on workforce reform including a new care workforce pathway, a new level 2 qualification, investment in apprenticeships and funding to pay for thousands of learning and development courses for social care staff. Since then, we have announced an additional £570 million funding boost for local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care workforce capacity, including to boost care worker pay.
Despite some delays, we are making good progress and have recently announced the launch of the Pathway, Apprenticeship fund and the specification for the qualification as well as some additional funding for social care staff learning and development. We remain committed to the delivery of the whole programme.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases relating to the (a) mis-selling and (b) fraudulent advertising of pets took place in small claims courts in each year since 2018.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested by the could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. HMCTS does not record the reason for bringing a small claim, this information is contained within the ‘particulars of claim’ and therefore obtaining this information would require a manual review of all small claims files.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Countering Illegal Migration during the debate on the Draft Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Amendment of List of Safe States) Regulations 2024 of 10 January 2024, if it is his policy that the region of Jammu and Kashmir is part of India.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's long-standing position is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting political resolution on Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of Kashmiri people.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what alternative accommodation his Department is providing for asylum seekers being moved out of hotels.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are making significant progress in closing hotels, with 50 due to be closed by the end of January and many more in the coming months.
The programme of closures will be managed carefully to ensure all supported asylum seekers are provided with suitable alternative accommodation elsewhere in the estate. Dispersal accommodation and large disused military sites are cheaper for the taxpayer and less impactful on the communities.