Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to protect Chinese people and others in the UK who are accused by China of breaching their Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.
Answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has discussed this law with Chinese officials, stressing the importance that the law does not harm the rights of members of minority groups and that it is not applied extraterritorially. The UK's Human Rights Ambassador has raised the law at the UN Human Rights Council, most recently on 8 September. We will never tolerate attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm their critics overseas, and anyone caught assisting a foreign state to undermine our security will be brought to justice.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made (1) to the government of China, and (2) at the United Nations, about China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress.
Answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has discussed this law with Chinese officials, stressing the importance that the law does not harm the rights of members of minority groups and that it is not applied extraterritorially. The UK's Human Rights Ambassador has raised the law at the UN Human Rights Council, most recently on 8 September. We will never tolerate attempts by foreign governments to coerce, intimidate, harass, or harm their critics overseas, and anyone caught assisting a foreign state to undermine our security will be brought to justice.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS inpatient wards in England caring for children and young people, including child and adolescent mental health inpatient units, have mixed-sex bays or sleeping areas; and from what age, if any, patients on such wards are allocated sleeping accommodation according to their sex.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many patients aged 16 or 17 years old were placed on adult inpatient wards in NHS hospitals in England in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many of those placements were on mixed-sex wards or bays.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The requested information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the British Transport Police presented a file for the prosecution of three passengers who removed a naked man from a District Line Underground train in August 2025; and whether an apology has been issued by the police or the Department for Transport following the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to authorise charges.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The British Transport police (BTP) are operationally independent from government and decisions about which cases to present to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lie solely with them.
Given the circumstances of the incident, BTP deemed it appropriate to investigate the matter, particularly given the vulnerability of the individual concerned. Though the CPS did not authorise charges in this case, BTP pursue prosecutions in circumstances where they consider there are grounds to do so.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of patients who are unable to walk or have severe tendonitis or tendon rupture because of treatment by fluoroquinolone and quinolone antibiotics.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom. The MHRA rigorously use science and data to inform our decisions, enable medical innovation, and to make sure that the medicines and healthcare products available in the UK are effective and are acceptably safe.
All medicines have some side effects. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the expected benefits in preventing or treating illness. Information about the known side effects of medicines is included in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for healthcare professionals and the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) for patients. The SmPC and PIL for all licensed medicinal products can be found on the MHRA’s website.
Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been reported to cause serious side effects involving tendons, muscles, joints, nerves, or mental health, and in some patients, these side effects have caused long-lasting or permanent disability. Restrictions to the use of fluoroquinolones were introduced in 2019, following the European review, to minimise the risk of disabling and potentially long-lasting or irreversible side effects.
Additional evidence on the safety of fluoroquinolones and the effectiveness of measures to minimise the risk of disabling and potentially permanent side effects has become available since 2018, in the form of UK adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reports, the results of the European Medicines Agency funded Drug Utilisation Study of prescribing trends following the European review, and publications investigating disability and serious ADRs in association with fluoroquinolones.
In view of the serious nature of these ADRs, the impact they have on patients, and the availability of new evidence since the European review, the MHRA has carried out a further UK review of risk minimisation for disabling and potentially long-lasting/irreversible side effects associated with fluoroquinolone which includes tendinitis and tendon rupture. Patient engagement and inclusion of the patient voice have a central role in this review. The Public Assessment Report of the review was published online in 2025 and provides the MHRA with an assessment and the expert advice on the management of risks, as advised by the Commission on Human Medicines.
A Drug Safety Update to remind healthcare professionals about the risks was published in August 2023 and a Drug Safety Update covering psychiatric side effects specifically was published in September 2023. The additional regulatory action from the review was communicated via a Drug Safety Update published in January 2024. Systemic fluoroquinolones must now only be prescribed when other commonly recommended antibiotics are inappropriate. Situations in which other antibiotics are considered to be inappropriate and where a fluoroquinolone may be indicated are where:
The MHRA will continue to monitor the safety of fluoroquinolones and will take further regulatory action if this is appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to conduct an urgent review of the safety of quinolone and fluoroquinolone antibiotics; and what assessment they have made of the reasons cited by the European Medicines Agency for the imposition of restrictions or suspensions on prescribing these antibiotics on 15 November 2018.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) regulates medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom. The MHRA rigorously use science and data to inform our decisions, enable medical innovation, and to make sure that the medicines and healthcare products available in the UK are effective and are acceptably safe.
All medicines have some side effects. These side effects need to be continuously balanced against the expected benefits in preventing or treating illness. Information about the known side effects of medicines is included in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) for healthcare professionals and the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL) for patients. The SmPC and PIL for all licensed medicinal products can be found on the MHRA’s website.
Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been reported to cause serious side effects involving tendons, muscles, joints, nerves, or mental health, and in some patients, these side effects have caused long-lasting or permanent disability. Restrictions to the use of fluoroquinolones were introduced in 2019, following the European review, to minimise the risk of disabling and potentially long-lasting or irreversible side effects.
Additional evidence on the safety of fluoroquinolones and the effectiveness of measures to minimise the risk of disabling and potentially permanent side effects has become available since 2018, in the form of UK adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reports, the results of the European Medicines Agency funded Drug Utilisation Study of prescribing trends following the European review, and publications investigating disability and serious ADRs in association with fluoroquinolones.
In view of the serious nature of these ADRs, the impact they have on patients, and the availability of new evidence since the European review, the MHRA has carried out a further UK review of risk minimisation for disabling and potentially long-lasting/irreversible side effects associated with fluoroquinolone which includes tendinitis and tendon rupture. Patient engagement and inclusion of the patient voice have a central role in this review. The Public Assessment Report of the review was published online in 2025 and provides the MHRA with an assessment and the expert advice on the management of risks, as advised by the Commission on Human Medicines.
A Drug Safety Update to remind healthcare professionals about the risks was published in August 2023 and a Drug Safety Update covering psychiatric side effects specifically was published in September 2023. The additional regulatory action from the review was communicated via a Drug Safety Update published in January 2024. Systemic fluoroquinolones must now only be prescribed when other commonly recommended antibiotics are inappropriate. Situations in which other antibiotics are considered to be inappropriate and where a fluoroquinolone may be indicated are where:
The MHRA will continue to monitor the safety of fluoroquinolones and will take further regulatory action if this is appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker which peers would cease to be members of the House if (1) the phased retirement age proposed in the Retirement and Participation Committee’s report, published in July, was implemented by 8 July 2029 and each year thereafter until the target retirement age of 80 is reached; and (2) a flat retirement age of 80 was enacted by 8 July 2029.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The data below captures the age of members of the House as of Tuesday 15 September 2026 but does not include Bishops who have their own retirement age of 75. The first table sets out the number of peers who would cease to be members of the House under the phased retirement aged proposed in the Retirement and Participation Committee report.
Period | Proposed Retirement Age | Number of affected current members by Party/Group | ||||
Conservative | Crossbench | Labour | Liberal Democrat | Other | ||
8 July 2029 to 7 July 2030 | 85 | 40 | 38 | 42 | 18 | 9 |
8 July 2030 to 7 July 2031 | 84 | 9 | 13 | 17 | 9 | 1 |
8 July 2031 to 7 July 2032 | 83 | 14 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 5 |
8 July 2032 to 7 July 2033 | 82 | 8 | 15 | 18 | 4 | 4 |
8 July 2033 to 7 July 2034 | 81 | 16 | 10 | 19 | 6 | 3 |
The second table demonstrates the number of peers who would be affected by a flat retirement age of 80 if enacted on 8 July 2029.
Number of affected Current Members aged 80 or over as of 8 July 2029 by Party/Group | ||||
Conservative | Crossbench | Labour | Liberal Democrat | Other |
63 | 68 | 72 | 32 | 15 |
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask The Senior Deputy Speaker which peers would cease to be members of the House if (1) the 20 per cent minimum participation requirement proposed in the Retirement and Participation Committee’s report, published in July, was implemented by 8 July 2029 based on current attendance data and projections, and (2) the 20 per cent minimum participation requirement had been implemented at the end of the last session based on published attendance data for the preceding two sessions.
Answered by Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede
The data below captures the age of members of the House as of Friday 11 September 2026 and relates only to those who were current members at the start of this Session. Any members who were on leave of absence or disqualified from the House are not included in these figures. The first table demonstrates the number of peers who would cease to be members of the House if the 20 per cent minimum participation requirement proposed in the Retirement and Participation Committee’s report was implemented by 8 July 2029 based on current attendance data and projections,
Party/Group | Number of members with less than 20% attendance 13 May - 11 Sept 2026 |
Conservative | 43 |
Crossbench | 48 |
Labour | 28 |
Liberal Democrat | 5 |
Other | 16 |
The second table demonstrates the number of members who would have ceased to be members if the 20 per cent minimum participation requirement had been implemented at the end of the last session based on published attendance data for the preceding two sessions.
Party/Group | Number of members with less than 20% attendance 2023-24 and 2024-26 sessions |
Conservative | 26 |
Crossbench | 39 |
Labour | 6 |
Liberal Democrat | 3 |
Other | 8 |
Asked by: Lord Blencathra (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the duration of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Yes, the government remains committed to its ambitious Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament.