​The government has been clear that we welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK and positively impact our higher education (HE) sector.

The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of English HE providers, has statutory duties relating to financial sustainability. The government works closely with the OfS to monitor financial risks across the sector.

Ultimately, HE providers are independent from government and as such must continue to make the necessary and appropriate decisions to ensure their long-term sustainability.

All study visa applicants are required to meet the genuine student requirements set out in the Immigration Rules. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) considers each application on its individual merits. Department officials regularly engage with the Home Office and UKVI to discuss range of issues pertaining to the study visa route.

I refer the Honourable member to the answer I gave on 1 June 2026 to Question 2708: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-05-19/2708/.

The Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU) continues to work closely with departments to ensure we take a coordinated, whole-system approach to tackling drugs and drug-related harms.

JCDU maintains strong cross-system governance at national level, supported by work to further develop the national outcomes framework. At a local level, the unit continues to work with Combating Drugs Partnerships (CDPs) to support a joined-up approach to delivery, and recently published an independent evaluation which found that CDPs have strengthened multi-agency working with strong leadership and clear governance key to success (www.gov.uk/government/publications/process-evaluation-of-combating-drugs-partnerships/process-evaluation-of-combating-drugs-partnerships). The JCDU is also supporting Dame Carol Black, the Independent Advisor to Government on drugs, on a programme of expert-led work to improve our understanding of system challenges, as well as engaging with international partners to share information and best practice.

Alongside this, the Government continues to make progress on a range of department-led work to prevent drug use, improve treatment and recovery support, and support enforcement partners to tackle drug supply. This includes record numbers engaging with drug and alcohol treatment, wider access to life-saving naloxone, and increased drug seizures and county lines closures.

Tackling these issues is central to delivering the Government’s missions to make our streets safer, improve health, widen opportunity and support growth.

The Government has called for widespread adoption of the live music sector’s £1 voluntary ticket contribution to help safeguard the future of the grassroots music sector. We want to see the levy in place for as many stadium and arena shows in 2026 as possible, and we continue to urge major promoters, venues, and artists to step up.

The Government welcomes the commitment already made by many, and is encouraged to see that the LIVE Trust has already distributed over £500,000 in levy funding to industry programmes and is projected to receive a total of £10 million in 2026.

However, we want to see uptake increase further, and have consistently said that we are prepared to explore legislative options if required to ensure the sustainability of our world-leading live music industry.

We know that controlling and coercive behaviour (CCB) is a particularly insidious form of abuse and recognise the long-term emotional and psychological distress it can cause.

Controlling or coercive behaviour is an offence in the Serious Crime Act (2015). The statutory definition of domestic abuse, contained within the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, explicitly recognises controlling or coercive behaviour as a form of domestic abuse. The Act extended the coercive or controlling behaviour offence to ex-partners and families who do not live together. This offers protection to victims who are experiencing CCB from a family member they do not live with or post-separation abuse from an ex-partner.

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduced a statutory definition of ‘honour’-based abuse (HBA). Once in force, this will explicitly recognise that controlling or coercive behaviour can take place within a HBA context. The definition stipulates that the perpetrator(s) and the victim must be known to one another in person. This includes those that are personally connected but also wider community members who might be perpetrating the abuse.

The government has set out our view on the implementation of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, including CCB, in “Domestic Abuse Act 2021: post-legislative scrutiny”, which is published on Gov.UK.

I met Prime Minister Rahman on 17 February and reinforced the UK's commitment to working with the Government of Bangladesh to advance democratic, economic and social reforms. I welcomed the peaceful and credible parliamentary elections held earlier that month as an important step forward for the country and its people. The UK continues to encourage the Bangladeshi authorities to work towards a sustainable and inclusive political settlement in the interests of all Bangladeshis, and to ensure that the rights and voices of minority groups and civil society are recognised within that process.

The Government acknowledges the challenges faced by women with endometriosis and the impact it has on their lives, their relationships and their participation in education and the workforce. We are committed to improving waiting times for diagnosis and treatment so patients can get the care they need sooner.

For women with severe endometriosis, NHS England commissions specialised services through 61 accredited hospitals contracted to deliver care in line with the current service specification. These are accredited by the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy. A revised specification is progressing through NHS governance and commissioning processes, ahead of consideration by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group in 2026/27.

The revised specification will introduce a networked model of care to ensure all patients with endometriosis have access to clinicians with appropriate expertise, including through primary care, community services, and secondary care settings. This will improve the standards of care for women with severe endometriosis by ensuring specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice.

Research has led to new treatments being made available, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approval of two pills to treat endometriosis in 2025, namely Relugolix and Linzagolix. Both are estimated to help approximately 1,000 women with severe endometriosis for whom other treatment options have not been effective.

Endometriosis is also identified as a priority condition in the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy, where women experience unacceptably long delays to diagnosis, pain being dismissed, and fragmented care.

Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out how we will tackle the root causes of homelessness across England, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes backed by £39 billion investment and tackling poverty by scrapping the two-child limit to lift 450,000 children out of poverty.

The Joint Combating Drugs Unit (JCDU) is responsible for driving and co-ordinating efforts across Government to tackle drugs, working in close partnership with six departments – the Home Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Education. JCDU comprises full-time civil servants who are seconded from key government departments.

Each department is responsible for delivery of their programmes and projects. Progress is overseen by the lead departmental ministers but also reported to me as the lead drugs Minister, while a lead Permanent Secretary fulfils the role of senior responsible owner at official level.

Illicit drug use affects the whole of society, and this Government is taking a collective response to deliver safer streets, improve health outcomes and contribute to opportunities and growth through reducing crime and saving lives.

Waiting time is the time that a defendant spends at the Crown Court before the main hearing starts (for example, the trial). The latest data to Q3 2025 shows that the median waiting time for sexual offences in England was 27 weeks and was 32 in the Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB).

The Government commissioned Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts and, after considering the recommendations made in the report, we have announced our intention to take forward a bold package of structural reforms designed to speed up justice for all victims, including victims of sexual offences. This financial year we also funded 111,250 Crown Court sitting days – an all-time high - so that more cases could be heard.

We have also published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy - ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse’ - setting out the Government’s approach to tackling sexual and other offences perpetrated against women and girls. We are already acting by:

• Supporting victims with the largest ever investment of £550 million in victim support services over the next three years;

• Announcing a package of court measures to protect victims, particularly of sexual offences, from unnecessary and intrusive cross-examination about their personal lives.

Network Rail has apologised for the frustration and inconvenience caused to the people of Sunderland. It has conducted an investigation of the issues raised, and I am aware that Northern is working with the honourable member to improve various aspects of the station.

To aid retention and to encourage existing driving examiners (DE) to stay in role, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is making an exceptional payment of £5,000 to DEs and eligible roles (divided into two payments) over the next 12 months. By keeping more experienced driving examiners and bringing in new ones, DVSA will lose less testing capacity from the system, making more tests available for learner drivers.

Examiner capacity is rising, with 1,542 FTE examiners now in post (the highest since 2021) as of December 2025.

DEs are civil servants and as such, their salary is determined by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance. The guidance sets out the financial parameters Civil Service departments can use to determine pay awards for their staff. DVSA cannot act independently from this guidance. DVSA continues to look at different financial incentives to recruit examiners and, indeed, to offer to existing employees conducting tests.

The attached excel spreadsheet shows the (a) average and (b) highest waiting time for driving test centres (DTC) in the North East of England, from the financial year 2015/16 to the financial year-to-date (YTD). Please note, that DVSA does not hold data for Elswick and South Shields DTCs beyond 2022/23, due to these centres closing.

To aid retention and to encourage existing driving examiners (DE) to stay in role, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is making an exceptional payment of £5,000 to DEs and eligible roles (divided into two payments) over the next 12 months. By keeping more experienced driving examiners and bringing in new ones, DVSA will lose less testing capacity from the system, making more tests available for learner drivers.

Examiner capacity is rising, with 1,542 FTE examiners now in post (the highest since 2021) as of December 2025.

DEs are civil servants and as such, their salary is determined by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance. The guidance sets out the financial parameters Civil Service departments can use to determine pay awards for their staff. DVSA cannot act independently from this guidance. DVSA continues to look at different financial incentives to recruit examiners and, indeed, to offer to existing employees conducting tests.

The attached excel spreadsheet shows the (a) average and (b) highest waiting time for driving test centres (DTC) in the North East of England, from the financial year 2015/16 to the financial year-to-date (YTD). Please note, that DVSA does not hold data for Elswick and South Shields DTCs beyond 2022/23, due to these centres closing.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) receives core funding from the Home Office.

In 2025/26 HMICFRS is receiving £28m to enable it to carry out its statutory functions. Additional in-year funding is provided if there is a requirement for extra inspections that are commissioned and are not part of the agreed inspection programme.

As part of Home Office’s work to allocate its Spending Review settlement for the period 2026/27 to 2028/29 work has been undertaken to assess the required level of funding allocated to all areas of Home Office activity including HMICFRS.

Alongside delivering the Strategic Defence Review recommendations aimed at re-energising our relationship with, and increasing the strength of our Reserve Forces, we continue to review the policies and legislation which shape the Reserves landscape. This includes the terms and conditions of service for all elements of our Reserve Forces. The age limits for joining the Reserve Forces are, together with all employment polices, regularly reviewed to ensure they meet the demands of the Services and are determined by the branches and trades of each Service.

As well as the Services reviewing their policies, the Ministry of Defence also annually reviews the overarching policies for the Reserve Forces. This is to ensure that we are making the most of the unique skills offered, we attract and retain the personnel needed to deliver Defence outputs and, as much as possible, reflect wider societal norms such as upper age limits which have recently been reviewed across all the Services resulting in retirement ages being raised to align more closely with society.

The table below shows the current average waiting time in weeks and the number of tests available at Sunderland, Gateshead, Gosforth and Durham driving test centres (DTC) as of 24 November 2025.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is continuing with recruitment campaigns across the country to provide as many tests as possible. A full-time driving examiner (DE) can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.

Since May 2025, DVSA has recruited two new entrant examiners for Sunderland, two new entrants for Gateshead, one new entrant for Gosforth, and one new entrant for Durham. There are also two new entrants undertaking training who are earmarked for Gosforth.

From DVSA’s most recent recruitment campaign, DVSA advertised for further examiner positions for DTCs in the area and is starting to make employment offers, with the hope to have further new entrants in post early in 2026, after all pre-employment checks and training have been successfully completed.

DVSA will also be advertising for further examiner positions in the next recruitment campaign, scheduled to launch next month.

The six National Health Service neighbourhood mental health centres currently being piloted will bring together a range of community mental health services under one roof, including crisis services and short-stay beds. People with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder will be able to walk in without an appointment if they need mental health support, as well as advice on employment, housing, or volunteering, delivered by a multi-disciplinary team.

The pilot sites will allow us to test the extent of the benefits this model will realise in this country, but we still expect it to be an improvement as it has demonstrated positive outcomes and efficiencies in other health systems across the globe.

While the evaluation of the six pilots will not be available until next year, evidence from comparable international models shows an association with positive outcomes such as reduced admissions and length of stay.