Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when funds will be available from Fresh Start Funding for financial year 2023-24; and what funds are available to the Northern Ireland Department of Finance from that scheme in 2023-24.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Main Estimates 2023-24, the Northern Ireland Executive was provided with £64.4 million of capital funding under the Fresh Start Agreement. Any additional Fresh Start Agreement funding in 2023-24 for the Northern Ireland Executive would be confirmed through the Supplementary Estimates process that is ongoing.
Funding for individual projects is administered by the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Education.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether Fresh Start Funding has been awarded for construction of the Millennium Integrated Primary School new build project.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Main Estimates 2023-24, the Northern Ireland Executive was provided with £64.4 million of capital funding under the Fresh Start Agreement. Any additional Fresh Start Agreement funding in 2023-24 for the Northern Ireland Executive would be confirmed through the Supplementary Estimates process that is ongoing.
Funding for individual projects is administered by the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Education.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Q26 of the evidence given by Neil Couling to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 10 January 2024, HC 417, whether it is his policy that where a claim is subject to checking that claim is not suspended and there is no interruption to payments so long as the claimant cooperates with that process.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where customers provide all evidence requested, within the timescales requested, to enable DWP to verify entitlement to benefit then no payment will be interrupted. If the evidence is not provided within the timescale or there is a high risk of fraud and/or error DWP’s Enhanced Review Team (ERT) may suspend payments to prevent further loss and the customer to build up possible debt.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether there is a cap on weekly working hours for charity worker visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is no cap on weekly working hours for those with permission on the Charity Worker visa route. However, visa holders must be undertaking voluntary fieldwork that does not fill a permanent position, even if this is on a temporary basis.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 42, on what evidential basis his Department proposed preventing overseas care workers from bringing family dependants to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As the Prime Minister has made clear, current levels of migration to the UK are far too high. The long-term plan the Home Secretary has announced would mean around 300,000 of the people who came to the UK last year would not have been able to come.
Care workers were added in February 2022 as a temporary addition to address acute shortages in the social care sector. This has since seen a rapid increase in numbers of people arrive with over 80,000 visas issued to main applicants in the last year to this September alone, bringing a further estimated 100,000 dependants.
The Government will reduce the numbers on the Health and Care visa route by removing the right for care workers and senior care workers to bring dependants from spring 2024.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, when he plans to bring forward the commencement orders for Section 4 of the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
The planned repeal of the Administration of Justice (Language) Act (Ireland 1737) is one of many steps in the Identity & Language legislation that will affirm the need to respect the freedom of all persons in Northern Ireland to choose, maintain and develop their national and cultural identity.
The Government is carefully considering its next steps on implementation, including the remaining commencement orders and will provide an update to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to this Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, if he will publish the evidential basis that increasing the salary threshold for family visas will achieve its policy objectives.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Investigative work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process; analysis will be published in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 20 November 2023, Official Report, column 37, whether round three of Levelling Up funding for Northern Ireland will be allocated to (a) unsuccessful projects under round two and (b) new applications.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In Northern Ireland, the Government is not proceeding with this round of the Levelling Up Fund at this time. In the context of the growing pressure on NI budgets it is right that UK Government should consider its approach to funding available for NI in the round. £30 million has been reserved for Northern Ireland from LUF 3. As part of our commitment to levelling up, we want to work with a restored Executive to find the best approach to supporting people in Northern Ireland, taking account of current budget pressures.
We will continue to work closely with projects and places in Northern Ireland that were awarded a total of £120 million in the first two rounds of the Fund and work with stakeholders on how best to level up communities in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 20 November 2023, Official Report, column 37, what his planned timescale is for the allocation of round three of Levelling Up funding for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In Northern Ireland, the Government is not proceeding with this round of the Levelling Up Fund at this time. In the context of the growing pressure on NI budgets it is right that UK Government should consider its approach to funding available for NI in the round. £30 million has been reserved for Northern Ireland from LUF 3. As part of our commitment to levelling up, we want to work with a restored Executive to find the best approach to supporting people in Northern Ireland, taking account of current budget pressures.
We will continue to work closely with projects and places in Northern Ireland that were awarded a total of £120 million in the first two rounds of the Fund and work with stakeholders on how best to level up communities in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many spouse visas were issued to people with incomes between £18,600 and £38,700 in (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland in 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The number of spouse visas issued to people with incomes between £18,600 and £38,700 in (a) the UK and (b) Northern Ireland in 2022 does not form part of any current transparency data or migration statistics and is not published.
The transparency data does, however, include a range of processing data and the latest data can be found at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)