Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Israel about offering support or protection to the Druze population in Syria, and what steps they are taking to support these actions.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
We regularly engage with Israel, including to discuss recent events in Syria and the importance of refraining from actions that could risk aggravating tensions between Syrian communities. We will continue to work with the Syrian Government and international partners, including Israel, to advocate for the protection all Syrians.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent violence against the Druze community in Syria.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Recent violence against the Druze community in Syria was appalling. In our statement on 3 May, we publicly urged the Syrian government to take steps to shield civilians from violence and hold those responsible to account. The protection of all civilians and their full inclusion in the transition process is vital for peace in Syria. This will continue to be a priority in our engagement with the Syrian government.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to criminalise acts of ecocide.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK already has strong regulations in place to protect the environment and contravention of many of these is a criminal offence. These are enforced by regulators who can seek criminal convictions to punish significant and or persistent environmental offending.
Through the Environment Act 2021 the Government legislated to protect and enhance the natural environment, including setting legally binding targets and publishing the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). The Government has concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23). We published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025 (copy attached), to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. We will develop a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery information to help meet each of our ambitious Environment Act targets.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific legal and judicial expertise they are funding to support legislative changes aimed at protecting freedom of religion or belief in countries with blasphemy laws.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is deeply concerned by the use of blasphemy laws that undermine human rights including freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and freedom of expression. The UK regularly raises FoRB issues in multilateral fora and our important bilateral work.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office continues to work with countries (or governments) that request support on legislative reform through our programme funding, including the John Bunyan Fund, a designated programme for FoRB-focused overseas projects, and the Rule of Law Expertise (ROLE UK) programme.
Together with our partners, including the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute and the UK legal sector, we are supporting efforts across seven countries in this area, including on increasing knowledge on international standards and protections through existing legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 6 February (HL4583), what specific measures they are taking to address the root causes of marginalisation of minority faith communities in Nigeria, and what targeted support they are providing to protect individuals' freedom of religion or belief in the light of local blasphemy laws.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK supports programmes working to address the root causes of intercommunal violence in Nigeria through locally led peace-building efforts. Through our Strengthening Peace and Resilience programme ('SPRING') the UK is providing £38 million to reduce rural violence in northwest and north-central Nigeria, including by supporting collaboration and productive livelihoods for both farmers and pastoralists, and strengthening conflict early warning, management and response. The UK Government also funds the provision of legal and judicial expertise to make legislative changes to protect Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), including addressing blasphemy laws. The right of individuals to express their beliefs or non-belief is essential to a free and open society. Our dialogue on human rights, including FoRB, will remain an important part of the UK's partnership with Nigeria.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran regarding the arrest and imprisonment of Behnam Momtazi, a member of the Baha’i religious minority; and regarding the persecution of Baha’is in that country.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK condemns Iran's restrictions against Freedom of Religion or Belief. Baha'is face particularly acute repression by the authorities in Iran, which includes but is not limited to unfair arrest, detention, and lengthy prison sentences. We are committed to working with international partners to hold Iran to account for its repression of the Bahai's, and other religious minorities, including at the UN Third Committee. The UK raised ongoing discrimination against minority groups during Iran's Universal Period Review on 24 January.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds are currently held in the youth secure estate, broken down by (1) young offender institutions, (2) secure training centres, and (3) secure children's homes.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No children from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background are currently accommodated in the Oasis Restore Secure School or Oakhill Secure Training Centre.
In relation to Secure Children’s Homes and Young Offender Institutions: the information requested cannot be provided without breaching our legal obligations under data protection legislation. Where a request is made for statistical information and the total figure amounts to five or fewer, we must consider whether this would be likely to lead to the identification of individuals and whether disclosure of this information would be in breach of our statutory obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and/or the Data Protection Act 2018.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to disseminate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Recommendations for Teaching and Learning about the Persecution and Genocide of the Roma during the Nazi Era, published in December 2024, to schools and to incorporate it into teacher training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The Holocaust is the only historic event which is compulsory within the current national curriculum for history at key stage 3. The government has made a commitment that the Holocaust will remain a compulsory topic in the reformed national curriculum, which will also be required teaching in academy schools when it is implemented.
The history curriculum gives teachers and schools the freedom to decide how to teach the subject and what resources to use to support an understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazi’s persecution of non-Jewish groups including the genocide of the Roma. This can already include the work of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The government supports the teaching of Holocaust education by funding teachers’ professional development in this subject through University College London’s Centre for Holocaust Education (CfHE), and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s (HET) Lessons from Auschwitz project, which gives students aged 16 to 18 the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau. CfHE will receive £500,000 in government funding in the 2024/25 financial year, match funded by the Pears Foundation, and HET will receive £2.3 million. Both Lessons from Auschwitz and the knowledge and training provided by the CfHE include information and resources to support an understanding of the Holocaust and the Nazi’s persecution of other non-Jewish groups, including the genocide of the Roma.
In addition, a further £2 million funding for Holocaust remembrance and education was committed in the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024. This will be used to support the ambition set by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister for all students to have the opportunity to hear a recorded survivor testimony. The department is currently exploring how it can support schools to fulfil this ambition.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of wave and tidal energy in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The Government expects tidal stream to play a role in the 2030 energy mix, with even more potential to help meet the UK’s longer-term decarbonisation objectives beyond 2030.
Wave energy technologies have promise and the Government is closely monitoring the strides being made by the sector. These technologies are currently at the research and design (R&D) stage and may still have an important role to play in the UK energy system post-2030.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued on which speech, language and communication difficulties (1) count, and (2) do not count, as a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not released specific guidance on what is defined as a disability, as every case is different. However the Equality Act 2010 clearly sets out what is included as a disability. namely as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.” The Act describes “long-term” as where an impairment has lasted, or is likely to last for at least 12 months, or where the impairment is likely to last for the rest of a person’s life. “Substantial” is defined as an impairment that is more than minor or trivial.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s guidance provides greater clarity on the broad definition of disability which can be found here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80dcc8ed915d74e6230df4/Equality_Act_2010-disability_definition.pdf