Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many field visits the Monitoring Committee of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership has conducted in (a) the UK and (b) Rwanda in (i) 2024, (ii) 2023 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Monitoring Committee have been taken through the end-to-end process under the partnership. This took place in Kigali in March 2023 and in the UK in May 2023 and have also held official and non-official meetings throughout 2022, 2023 and 2024 as well as undertaking training and testing of IT systems.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the Migration and Economic Development Partnership Monitoring Committees in (a) Rwanda and (b) the UK have met (i) separately and (ii) together.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Monitoring Committee have been taken through the end-to-end process under the partnership. This took place in Kigali in March 2023 and in the UK in May 2023 and have also held official and non-official meetings throughout 2022, 2023 and 2024 as well as undertaking training and testing of IT systems.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is developing economic models to forecast (a) price trends and (b) growth potential in cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is not developing economic models to forecast cryptoasset trends. Rather, it uses information from a range of sources to understand broad trends in the market in order to inform policy development.
In October last year, the Treasury published its final proposals for creating the UK’s financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets, and is currently working to deliver legislation giving effect to its proposals. As part of this, the government will publish analysis of the impacts of its legislation on cryptoasset businesses in scope of the forthcoming regime in the usual way.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what criteria his Department uses to determine whether it can enter into discussions on establishing potential asylum partnerships akin to the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is continuing to work with a range of international partners to tackle global illegal migration challenges. Our focus has been on passing the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which builds on the Illegal Migration Act, and putting plans in place to get flights off the ground as soon as possible to Rwanda.
A range of factors need to be taken into consideration for migration partnerships, including the human rights situation in the country.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he is taking steps to provide humanitarian support in Haiti.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains concerned by the deteriorating security situation in Haiti which exacerbates pre-existing humanitarian and economic crises. We continue to support Haiti through our contributions to UN agencies, multi donor, pooled NGO funds, and institutions such as the World Bank Group, who are active in addressing Haiti's significant humanitarian challenges.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many homes were built in Suffolk Coastal constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are taking significant steps to address the challenges to increasing housing supply around the country, including in Suffolk. We recognise the scale of challenges facing the housebuilding sector in the current macro-economic climate. Against this challenging backdrop, we have invested billions in housing since the start of this Parliament. This investment will support bringing forward land for development, enabling the market to deliver the homes and infrastructure that communities need, and support increasing local authority planning capacity.
We have also taken significant measures through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, and National Planning Policy Framework, to reform the planning system. These measures aim to reduce planning delays, bureaucracy, slow build-out rates, and wider barriers to growth and development.
We want decisions about homes to be driven locally and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need. This is why we have revised the National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) to be clearer about the importance of planning for homes and other development that our communities need.
The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply, with estimates of new homes delivered in each local authority, including East Suffolk, in each financial year since 2001-02, shown in Live Table 122 at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the availability of homes in Suffolk.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are taking significant steps to address the challenges to increasing housing supply around the country, including in Suffolk. We recognise the scale of challenges facing the housebuilding sector in the current macro-economic climate. Against this challenging backdrop, we have invested billions in housing since the start of this Parliament. This investment will support bringing forward land for development, enabling the market to deliver the homes and infrastructure that communities need, and support increasing local authority planning capacity.
We have also taken significant measures through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, and National Planning Policy Framework, to reform the planning system. These measures aim to reduce planning delays, bureaucracy, slow build-out rates, and wider barriers to growth and development.
We want decisions about homes to be driven locally and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need. This is why we have revised the National Planning Policy Framework (published 19 December 2023) to be clearer about the importance of planning for homes and other development that our communities need.
The Department publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply, with estimates of new homes delivered in each local authority, including East Suffolk, in each financial year since 2001-02, shown in Live Table 122 at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-net-supply-of-housing.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not centrally collected.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to take steps with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to use RAF Voyager aircraft to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Home Office is responsible for operationalising Migration and Economic Development Partnership flights to Rwanda and it plans to do so using a commercial provider. The Secretary of State for Defence will however consider any requests for support according to the normal Military Aid to the Civil Authorities process.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had with his Vietnamese counterpart on furthering the bilateral relationship.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I visited Vietnam from 25-27 October 2023 to attend the South China Sea Conference and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) South East Asia Ministerial Forum, and to discuss regional security, investment and economic development. The UK and Vietnam continue to have positive cooperation on long-term strategic priorities such as energy transition and adaptation to climate change, maritime security in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, illegal immigration, trade, technology and investment, and on education and research partnerships. Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Philip Barton recently visited Vietnam on 25 March to meet with Vietnamese ministries to discuss further cooperation in these areas.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make a comparative assessment between the adequacy of his Department's funding for economic development in the Canary Wharf area and (a) Chesterfield Borough Council and (b) Derbyshire County Council.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Homes England is tasked with accelerating house building and regeneration in all areas of the country.
Selection criteria include value for money for the taxpayer, the potential for early delivery, clear local support, and projects that support policy priorities such as brownfield development, diversification, and innovation. All investments are made following a thorough due diligence and approval process to ensure value for money for taxpayers. Fuller details of selection criteria can be found here.