Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the policy of not collecting data on complications, via Abortion Notification System and Hospital Episode Statistics, arising from at home medical abortions after the patient’s discharge from the care of the abortion service, accords with the commitment to collect empirical data to women’s improve health outcomes as outlined in the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy for England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our ambitions to make better use of data already collected, and to address gaps in women’s health data to improve women’s health outcomes.
The Department routinely publishes data on abortion complications reported via the Abortion Notification System. In addition, the Department committed to publishing a one-time analysis exploring whether Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) can be used as a supplementary source for data on abortion complications. The HES data in the publication includes abortion complications arising from any abortion which resulted in an inpatient admission.
The Department is now inviting views from third parties on abortion statistics for England and Wales, including the future publication of abortion complications data, via an online user engagement survey and via email.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia regarding the recent executions in 2022 and 2023 in that country which were allegedly based on political background or affiliation to the Shia sect.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK's opposition to the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We regularly raise concerns about its use and Saudi Arabia is a FCDO Human Rights Priority Country, in part because of the continued use of the death penalty. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon regularly discusses a wide range of human rights issues with the Saudi authorities, including on interfaith and the death penalty.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the government of Bahrain concerning its use of the death penalty.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Bahrain is well aware of the UK's long-standing policy to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances, in all countries, as a matter of principle. During Bahrain's Universal Periodic Review in November 2022, the UK recommended an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and has continued to discuss this with the Government of Bahrain, most recently on 20 December 2023.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) train operating companies, and (2) other stakeholders, on improving rail services to Stansted airport.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Officials meet regularly with the owners of Stansted Airport, Manchester Airport Group, and attend the annual Stansted Airport Surface Access Forum, along with other stakeholders.
Officials also engage regularly with Greater Anglia and CrossCountry about Stansted Airport services.
As a result, off-peak and weekend Stansted Express services doubled from December 2023 to give a 15-minute frequency to London.
The aspiration for full hourly CrossCountry services from Birmingham to Stansted Airport should be met when resources allow.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 22 January (HL1523), whether the complication rates referenced include the treatment of women as outpatients following telemedicine abortion complications arising from home use of early medical abortion pills.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The analysis of abortion complications data published by the Department compares Abortion Notification System (ANS) data on complications known to the abortion provider at the time of the patient’s discharge from the abortion service, and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient admissions data on abortion complications. It is not recorded on ANS whether the complications reported required inpatient or outpatient treatment.
The analysis does not include HES data on the treatment of women as outpatients following a termination. This is because HES data completeness is considerably higher for inpatient data than outpatient and accident and emergency data. Including the incomplete outpatient data in our analysis would have produced inaccurate results for this population.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 22 January (HL1523), whether the complication rates following the introduction of home use of early medical abortion pills would change if the outpatient treatment of complications were included in the statistics.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The analysis of abortion complications data published by the Department compares Abortion Notification System (ANS) data on complications known to the abortion provider at the time of the patient’s discharge from the abortion service, and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) inpatient admissions data on abortion complications. It is not recorded on ANS whether the complications reported required inpatient or outpatient treatment.
The analysis does not include HES data on the treatment of women as outpatients following a termination. This is because HES data completeness is considerably higher for inpatient data than outpatient and accident and emergency data. Including the incomplete outpatient data in our analysis would have produced inaccurate results for this population.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Manchester Airports Group regarding its ambition to develop new long-haul airline routes from Stansted airport as a means of driving growth in the region.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) to discuss a range of issues. Where opportunities for new commercial flights exist, airports and other stakeholders can work together to establish the case for commercial flights and work with airline partners to create new connections for their communities.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration, if any, they have given to introducing a temporary suspension of Air Passenger Duty to support the competitive position of UK airports.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with all taxes, the Government keeps Air Passenger Duty (APD) under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
APD applies to airlines and is the principal tax on the aviation sector since tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. It is expected to raise £3.8 billion in 2023-24 and the primary objective of the tax is to ensure that airlines make a fair contribution to the public finances.
From April 2023, the Government has reduced the rate of APD on domestic flights in order to support UK-wide connectivity. The new domestic rate applies to all flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (excluding private jets) and is set at £6.50 for economy passengers, benefitting more than 10 million passengers in 2023-24.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 8 January (HL1277), why advice from third parties, including that from abortion providers, was not sought prior to the decision not to release the abortion statistics comparing data from the Department of Health and Social Care’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics on an annual basis; and what was the evidential rationale for that decision.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To consider the completeness of abortion complications data submitted via abortion notifications, the Department committed to publishing a one-time analysis comparing data from its Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics. The Department is inviting views from third parties on abortion statistics for England and Wales, including the future publication of abortion complications data, via an online user engagement survey as well as via email. We welcome responses from abortion providers and all interested parties on this matter.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what methodology they are using to measure the efficacy and impact on women’s health of the 2022 changes to the Abortion Act 1967, permitting early medical termination of pregnancy taking place in the patient's home.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and abortion providers to ensure that abortions, including home use of medical abortion pills, are provided safely in accordance with the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967. Recently published data does not show an increase in abortion complications following the introduction of home use. The complication rates for Abortion Notification System and Hospital Episodes Statistics data remains similar both before and after the introduction of home use of early medical abortion pills.