Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of the 815,000 people who use the Motability scheme will be impacted by one or more of the changes to the Motability scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An Equality Impact Assessment including consideration of the impact on affected individuals was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK.
The Motability Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit. Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Scheme.
Asked by: Ben Maguire (Liberal Democrat - North Cornwall)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of trends in the level of regional income disparities for people applying for UK family visas.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The MIR was raised in April 2024 from £18,600 to £29,000. This was the first time it had been increased since its introduction.
To help ensure we reach the right balance and have a solid evidence base for any further change, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) was commissioned to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules.
Conducting a full review of the financial requirements across the family routes will ensure we have a clear and consistent system. The MAC published their independent review of the financial requirements across the family routes and their report is now under review.
We will consider the recommendations made by the MAC and the Home Secretary will respond to the review in due course.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average timeframe is for decisions on fee waiver applications for partner visas.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Fee Waiver data is published in tables FW_01 – FW_03 of the ‘Immigration and Protection dataset’ found here: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK,
However, the specific information requested is not currently available from the published statistics because fee waiver applications are not categorised by a specific route such as "partner", instead, fee waiver applications include everyone applying on Family and Private Life grounds. The requested data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the full enforcement of Electronic Travel Authorisation checks on travel disruption for British dual nationals; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure airlines, travel agents and affected British citizens are informed of the requirement to travel with a valid British (a) passport and (b) certificate of entitlement.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
UK nationals are not eligible for an ETA. Under UK immigration legislation, the requirement to obtain an ETA cannot be applied to British citizens (including those with dual nationality). A dual British citizen may only evidence their right of abode in the UK, at the UK border, with a valid British passport or other passport endorsed with a certificate of entitlement (CoE) to the right of abode. The Government has worked extensively with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that this is communicated effectively to carriers, the wider travel sector, and British citizens in ETA-eligible countries. We recognise that this is a significant change for millions of travellers, and that is why we have allowed ample time between ETAs first being introduced in 2023 and the move to enforcement.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether transitional arrangements outlined in the 2025 UK Immigration White Paper include those close to settlement on existing long residence routes.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.
The consultation seeks views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. Transitional arrangements refer to temporary measures or rules put in place to manage the shift from one system, or policy framework, to another. Details of the earned settlement model, including any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK, will be finalised following that consultation.
The final model will also be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost is of processing a citizen application fee-waiver for under 18s.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has previously estimated the cost of processing fee waivers for under 18s applying for British citizenship in the Impact Assessment published alongside the Fee Regulations introducing the waiver in June 2022 – please see at page 8 of the following link: The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2022.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2025 to Question 87001 on Female Genital Mutilation: Training, what information her Department holds on the reasons why people who had registered for the free e-learning module on Female Genital Mutilation had not attempted to participate in the module.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We have issued a range of materials to support professionals to help them understand Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spot the signs, and support victims and survivors. This includes making available free e-learning for all frontline staff for example in healthcare, police, Border Force and children’s social care.
As this is a free e-learning module and not mandatory, we do not hold information regarding the reasons for not attempting or completing the module.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much their Department has spent on (a) advertising and (b) marketing in each of the last three years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The requested information is not centrally collated by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. All spending is subject to standard value for money assessments.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to consider representations from councillors at (a) Thurrock and (b) Basildon councils on alleged procedural improprieties before he decides on cancelling those local elections.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Secretary of State announced his decisions to the House on 22 January. We plan to bring forward legislation to postpone Thurrock Council’s 2026 elections.
In reaching his decisions, the Secretary of State carefully considered all the representations made.
Asked by: Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat - North Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of removing Sport England as a statutory consultee from the planning system on the provision of community sports facilities.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to Question UIN 103087 on 13 January 2026.