Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential for the development of offshore wind in Wales.
Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales
This government is supporting offshore wind projects in Wales which will deliver jobs, boost economic growth and clean power.
Under this government, the 1.5GW Mona offshore wind farm off the North Wales coast was awarded development consent, with the potential to support over 3,000 jobs.
And Floating Offshore Wind projects are progressing in the Celtic Sea, which could support over 5,000 new jobs and deliver a £1.4 billion-pound boost to the UK economy.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) dental nurses and (b) dentists have been refused Skilled Worker visas since 22 July 2025.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We do not routinely publish data on visas refused by occupation.
The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas by quarter and visa type in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on grants of visas by occupation are published in table ‘Occ_D02’ of the sponsored work visas by occupation and industry dataset, and data on the outcomes of visas, including visas refused, are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance dataset. Please note the data does not show the number of visas refused by occupation.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. Data is from January 2005 up to the end of June 2025.
Data on entry clearance visas for 2025 Q3 (July to September) will be published on 27 November 2025. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has issued guidance to work coaches on (a) suggesting and (b) requiring job seekers to become Only Fans creators.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has issued no such guidance.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an estimate of the annual (a) employees and (b) employers National Insurance contributions collected from people working in the UK with indefinite leave to remain immigration status.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold data on the immigration status of taxpayers.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an estimate of the annual income tax collected from people working in the UK with indefinite leave to remain immigration status.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold data on the immigration status of taxpayers.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department plans to take to reform the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has set out plans to introduce a single service where all payments will be monitored, enabling the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to identify missed, late, or partial payments in real time. This will enable swift enforcement action to restore compliance and increase the amount of money reaching children.
We expect the reforms will make hidden non-compliance within Direct Pay visible, enabling the CMS to intervene earlier to ensure children receive the financial support they are entitled to. Where cases are currently working well under Direct Pay, those families can move to a family-based arrangement or opt into Collect and Pay if they require the added security of enforcement.
Where compliance cannot be achieved, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve.
The Government is also conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose and secures the best outcomes for children who are within scope of the scheme. This includes updating the underlying research and considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.
Options for proposed reforms are currently being considered. Any changes made to the child maintenance calculation will be subject to extensive public consultation, which we plan to publish late this year, and if made, will require amendments to legislation so would be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) improve enforcement and (b) reduce the number of non-payments for child maintenance.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Most payments where a parent is unwilling to pay are collected regardless, via either a deduction from earning order (DEO) or a deduction from benefit. Only where these options are not available are other mechanisms needed.
Nevertheless, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring all separated parents within the statutory scheme support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.
If someone chooses not to pay their maintenance themselves, the CMS has administrative powers which means CMS officials can deduct maintenance directly from a paying parent’s wages, from their bank account, or from their benefits.
The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including deducting directly from earnings, bank accounts and forcing the sale of a property.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders (ALOs), removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order. Introducing this process should enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and get money to children more quickly. We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the reasons why over 4,100 women from the most deprived deciles of multiple deprivation have donated their eggs in return for payment of £750 since 2011.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not plan to undertake an assessment, however, academic research in the United Kingdom has consistently found that donating eggs and sperm is driven by altruism.
The compensation rate for egg donation is set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as provided for in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA has advised that the donor compensation levels originally set in 2011 followed a thorough ethical review, which identified a set of principles that ensured altruism remained at the heart of donation and that there weren’t any unjustifiable barriers to donation.
HFEA published data shows that egg and sperm donors in England from 2011 to 2020 lived in similar or more affluent socio-economic areas than the general population.
The HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee recently reviewed the published evidence of health outcomes for those having fertility treatment, including egg donors. The last 10 years of evidence were reviewed and the HFEA will update the relevant information on its website as needed.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of (a) the health impacts of egg retrieval on and (b) the financial motivations of the 829 women aged between 18 and 20 who donated their eggs between 2000 and 2022.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not plan to undertake an assessment, however, academic research in the United Kingdom has consistently found that donating eggs and sperm is driven by altruism.
The compensation rate for egg donation is set by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), as provided for in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA has advised that the donor compensation levels originally set in 2011 followed a thorough ethical review, which identified a set of principles that ensured altruism remained at the heart of donation and that there weren’t any unjustifiable barriers to donation.
HFEA published data shows that egg and sperm donors in England from 2011 to 2020 lived in similar or more affluent socio-economic areas than the general population.
The HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee recently reviewed the published evidence of health outcomes for those having fertility treatment, including egg donors. The last 10 years of evidence were reviewed and the HFEA will update the relevant information on its website as needed.
Asked by: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take legislative steps to require the listing of health risks on adverts placed by fertility clinics seeking egg donors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the United Kingdom’s fertility sector regulator, sets out strict requirements in its Licence Conditions and Code of Practice in relation to the recruitment of donors and the information that must be given to egg donors in advance of donating at UK-licensed fertility clinics, which includes information about the potential immediate or longer-term health risks and the psychological consequences of being a donor, as well as offering counselling to everyone involved.
In addition, the HFEA’s Code of Practice states that advertising should be designed with regard to the sensitive issues involved in recruiting donors and should follow the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes. This includes that advertising or publicity aimed at recruiting gamete or embryo donors, or encouraging donation, should not refer to the possibility of financial gain or similar advantage, although it may refer to compensation permitted under relevant HFEA Directions.
The ASA and HFEA issued a joint enforcement notice in 2021 to ensure fertility clinics and others were aware of the advertising rules, which remains in place.