Zarah Sultana MP: written questions
46 published records · newest first.
Written questions
ME/CFS: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 17 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 10724More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in geographical variations in the availability of specialist Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome services; and whether his Department monitors d
Answer: The Department recognises that there is variation across integrated care boards (ICBs) in terms of the delivery of services for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and that this affects the accessibility of specialist ...
Answered 1 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordME/CFS: Health ServicesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 17 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 10723More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to provide specialist Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) services in Coventry and Warwickshire ICB in the 2026-2027 financial year.
Answer: Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the needs of their local populations. This includes provision of specialist services for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. The Coventry and Warwickshire I...
Answered 1 Jul 2026
Original Parliament recordVisas: Fees and ChargesHome OfficeTabled 10 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 8656More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the policy of retaining the full application fee for refused long-term Standard Visitor visa applications, including the potential merits of introducing partial refunds for
Answer: There are no plans to introduce partial refunds or to refund fees where an application is refused.Fees are paid for the consideration of an application and are not refunded where an application is granted or refused, as set out in the Home Office’s immigr...
Answered 15 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordBritish National (Overseas): CitizenshipHome OfficeTabled 3 Jun 2026AnsweredUIN 6631More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how Form EM applications for registration as British citizens are considered in cases where British National (Overseas) status holders are unable to safely (a) access and (b) exercise any other nation
Answer: A British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) applying under this route would need to demonstrate they do not have another nationality.The statutory test is concerned with the legal possession of a nationality, irrespective of whether they are able to avail thems...
Answered 8 Jun 2026
Original Parliament recordVisas: Overseas VisitorsHome OfficeTabled 14 May 2026AnsweredUIN 1276More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to introduce (a) an independent right of appeal for refused Visitor visa applications and (b) clearer guidance for applicants whose applications are refused, including inf
Answer: There is no right of appeal against the refusal of a visit visa and there are no plans to introduce one; it was removed by Parliament in June 2013.All applicants who are refused a visit visa are provided with a refusal notice setting out the reasons for t...
Answered 19 May 2026
Original Parliament recordVisas: Overseas VisitorsHome OfficeTabled 14 May 2026AnsweredUIN 1274More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce errors in decision-making in UK Visitor visa applications.
Answer: The Home Office has a comprehensive framework in place to support improved decision-making on visit visa applications and to minimise the risk of error.This includes:Robust quality assurance processes, with decisions subject to both first-line checks by m...
Answered 19 May 2026
Original Parliament recordVenezuela: British Petroleum and ShellForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 124276More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Ministers in her Department have met with (a) BP and (b) Shell to discuss Venezuela since January 2026.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Answered 13 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordArgentina: Arms TradeForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 124275More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to relax arms export controls to Argentina.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the government statement on this subject issued in December 2025, which said: "There are no specific talks with Argentina about the UK relaxing its arms export controls, but more broadly, we look forward to deepening our co-...
Answered 13 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordShellForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 124274More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, who was present at the meeting on 24 January 2025 between Baroness Chapman and Shell PLC; and what their job titles were.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Answered 13 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordShellForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 124273More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions were held at the meeting on 24 January 2025 between Baroness Chapman and Shell PLC.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Answered 13 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordVenezuela: Diplomatic ServiceForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 26 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 124272More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions were held at the meeting in Caracas on 5 March 2026 with Harriet Thompson, Colin Dick and British natural resource companies.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided to her party leader on 12 January in response to Question 103190, and I would suggest that she resumes talks with him to coordinate their lines of questioning, and avoid duplicating each other's work.
Answered 13 Apr 2026
Original Parliament recordSatellites: Disclosure of InformationMinistry of DefenceTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120961More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has shared satellite data (a) imagery and (b) video gathered by the Tyche microsatellite with other countries since 2024.
Answer: In the interests of operational security of the UK and international partners, we cannot comment on the sharing of data from UK Space Command’s TYCHE satellite with other countries since its launch in August 2024.
Answered 25 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordProsecutionsHome OfficeTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120924More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recourse is available to victims when prosecutions collapse due to police case management.
Answer: The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and their investigative outcomes on a quarterly basis. This includes outcome type 17 “Prosecution time limit expired”, and the r...
Answered 24 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordProsecutionsHome OfficeTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120923More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance or oversight mechanisms are in place to ensure that police forces do not lose prosecutions due to the expiry of statutory time limits; and whether the Government plans to review safeguar
Answer: The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and their investigative outcomes on a quarterly basis. This includes outcome type 17 “Prosecution time limit expired”, and the r...
Answered 24 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordProsecutionsHome OfficeTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120921More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prosecutions were discontinued due to the expiry of statutory time limits arising from police administrative delay in each of the last five years.
Answer: The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and their investigative outcomes on a quarterly basis. This includes outcome type 17 “Prosecution time limit expired”, and the r...
Answered 24 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: DisqualificationDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120888More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that sanctions are imposed as a last resort and after adequate warning.
Answer: Sanctions are only ever applied if a claimant has failed to undertake their agreed requirements without good reason. All requirements are set in discussion with the claimant and tailored to their capability and circumstances, making them realistic and ach...
Answered 25 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordUniversal Credit: DisqualificationDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120887More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration he has given to lowering the sanctions daily rate reduction rate to less than 100% of the Universal Credit standard allowance.
Answer: Whilst a sanction typically results in a 100% reduction of the Universal Credit standard allowance rate for each day the sanction is in place (except for couples where this is halved), lower reduction rates apply in certain scenarios where it is reasonabl...
Answered 24 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordJobcentres: ReformDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120886More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, what steps he is taking to monitor the quality and
Answer: The Pre-referral Quality Check is completed by a Jobcentre Team Leader, deputy, or colleague with the relevant experience. The Department has a variety of internal performance metrics in place to monitor the quality of our services. We regularly review re...
Answered 24 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordJobcentres: ReformDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120885More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, against what objectives the claimant commitment pat
Answer: Evaluation of the claimant commitment pathfinder will focus on how well the approach enables more tailored conditionality, clearer communication of expectations, and improved engagement between claimants and work coaches. It will also assess claimant unde...
Answered 23 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordJobcentres: ReformDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 120884More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, how he plans to work with Universal Credit claimant
Answer: The claimant commitment pathfinder is being developed using direct insight from Universal Credit claimants and work coaches. Through structured user research activity and ongoing feedback, we are assessing how the new approach operates in practice and whe...
Answered 23 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordArms Trade TreatyForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 3 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 117422More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how her Department interprets the word facilitate in Article 7 of the Arms Trade Treaty 2015.
Answer: We assess our relevant treaty obligations in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Answered 11 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordArms Trade TreatyForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 3 Mar 2026AnsweredUIN 117421More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how her Department interprets the word facilitate in Article 7 of the Arms Trade Treaty 2015.
Answer: We assess our relevant treaty obligations in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Answered 11 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordPalestine: AirspaceMinistry of DefenceTabled 20 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 114280More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK has any agreement with the Palestinian authorities to use Palestinian airspace for military purposes.
Answer: Yes. The Ministry of Defence has permission from the Palestinian Authority to transit and overfly Palestinian airspace.
Answered 2 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordPalestine: AirspaceMinistry of DefenceTabled 20 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 114279More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Royal Air Force was granted access to Palestinian airspace to conduct military exercises with fighter jets on 18 and 19 February 2026.
Answer: Yes. The aircraft were granted overflight of the relevant Flight Information Regions, as designated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, under routine Diplomatic Flight Clearance procedures. The Ministry of Defence also had permission from th...
Answered 2 Mar 2026
Original Parliament recordSpecial Educational NeedsDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Feb 2026AnsweredUIN 111836More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties in respect of Education, Health and Care Plans for children with special educational needs.
Answer: The department and NHS England work together to support and challenge local areas to improve their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) service delivery where required. This includes monitoring, supporting and challenging any areas of identif...
Answered 2 Mar 2026
Original Parliament record
Published records only — not a full account of an MP’s work. How we work →