The Government is committed to sustainable public finances and delivering on the priority of getting debt falling over the medium-term. To deliver on this priority, the Government has fiscal rules – the rules require underlying debt to be falling and borrowing to be below 3% of GDP in the fifth year of the rolling forecast period. The fiscal rules are comprehensive, and targeting public sector wide measures means the impact of Government decisions on the public finances is clearly reflected.

The Government is committed to ensuring fiscal decision making is aligned with achieving net zero and our legally binding environmental targets. The Green Book requires departments to assess the climate and environmental impacts of policy proposals, with major bids and proposals at fiscal events assessed according to these impacts, and Spending Review 2021 was developed alongside the Net Zero Strategy to ensure our plans were funded.

Spending Review 2021 committed £30 billion of domestic investment for the green industrial revolution. Since then, we have committed a further £6 billion for energy efficiency in the next parliament, up to £20 billion of long-term funding for early deployment of carbon capture, usage and storage, and over £1 billion for green industries supply chains through the Green Industries Growth Accelerator.

The Home Office expects all applicants for naturalisation to meet the statutory requirements which are based on a period of residence in the UK, including being free from immigration time restrictions and being of good character.

The Government considers that those seeking to make a permanent home in the UK should be equipped to integrate successfully in society, with an appropriate level of English and an understanding of British life. All applicants are therefore required to pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English language requirement. The aim is to ensure that those who intend to settle here develop both the language skills that enable them to make a success of living permanently in the UK and have an understanding of life here and society’s expectations.

There are no plans to change the requirements for citizenship.

The commitments set out in the National Disability Strategy are designed to support the UK to become as accessible and inclusive as possible, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ aims of progressive realisation. The strategy, together with other work such as the Disability Action Plan, demonstrate this Government's commitment to implementing the Convention through its legislation, policies and services.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is the world’s biggest zero tariff, zero quota trade agreement, and we actively use its mechanisms to continuously secure improvements to the trading relationship. In particular, the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the TCA creates a framework to agree to further trade facilitations, including potential reductions in the frequency of import checks, where justified.

The UK proposed an equivalence mechanism for SPS measures during the 2018-20 negotiations for the TCA. The EU did not accept this.

We remain open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.

The Ministry of Justice holds data on convictions for illegal working covering the period requested and this can be viewed in the Outcomes by Offence tool: June 2023.

The offence ‘illegal working’ can be found using the following HO code; 19464.

This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the above offence in the Outcomes by Offence data tool.

We are doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.

On 20 March, the Foreign Secretary announced the UK has funded WFP to provide 2000 tons of food aid, enough to feed 275,000 people in Gaza.

Israel has now committed to significant steps to increase the amount of aid getting to Gaza. We have seen an encouraging increase in the number of aid trucks getting into Gaza, but we must see further action to ensure more aid actually gets over the border.

Israel must fulfil its commitments to enable a flood of aid, including by guaranteeing deconfliction for aid workers.

As part of the review of the operation of the Troubles Permanent Disablement Scheme, I will consider evidence to determine whether an extension to the period for backdated payments is warranted. My officials have now conducted their engagement and I will advise on my decision in due course.

Since I advised on 17 January that I had met with Justice McAlinden, my officials have conducted extensive stakeholder engagement with more than twenty consultees throughout January to March. We are now considering the findings and will publish the report in due course.

Support for victims of the Troubles - including the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme - is a devolved matter.

Resourcing of the Victims Payments Board is a matter for the consideration of the Northern Ireland Executive.

Information on grants are publicly available on the National Lottery Database, found at https://nationallottery.dcms.gov.uk/data.

Between 26 March 2019 and 21 February 2024, 215 grants were awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, totalling £25,962,712.

Of these awards, 7 were made in the North Down constituency, with awards ranging from £4,700 to £1,048,020.

I was sorry to learn about the closure of the British Youth Council and want to express gratitude for its work over the years. Government is committed to the delivery of the UK Youth Parliament and intends to use funding allocated to the British Youth Council in 2024/25 to support the programme. We are working alongside previous UK Youth Parliament delivery partners from English regions and the devolved administrations, to understand the implications of the British Youth Council’s closure. We have been working at pace to identify a suitable organisation which can hold overall grant management responsibility for the UKYP 24/25. A preferred candidate has been identified and we are currently undertaking final due diligence checks and negotiating terms and I will update the house as soon as next steps have been formalised.

In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.

In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.

In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.

In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.

We are considering the Ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course.

My Department collects diversity information in line with its equality duties and the requirements of the Governance Code on Public Appointments for all public appointments set out in the Schedule to the Public Appointments Order in Council.

Information collected on appointments and reappointments is published annually by the Cabinet Office in the Public Appointments Data Report and can be found on GOV.UK. The Commissioner for Public Appointments also includes data in his annual report which is published at:

https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/publications/annual-reports/

The General Register Office within the Northern Ireland Department of Finance is responsible for the administration of marriage and civil partnership law in Northern Ireland. They should be contacted for further information regarding this matter.

I have received no formal representations from recipients of UK Shared Prosperity Fund monies in Northern Ireland to date. However, I recognise that UKSPF plays a significant role in supporting important provision across Northern Ireland, and in the normal course of business, my officials are regularly engaging with project deliverers and partners on this issue.

As with all Government funding, decisions regarding the future of UKSPF after the end of the current programme in March 2025 are a matter of the next spending review, so we are currently unable to outline specific plans at this stage. We recognise the need for those delivering UKSPF to have certainty as to its future and are committed to setting out further detail in due course.

My officials are regularly engaging with project leads and partners on this issue.