Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether teachers and administrators are clear about the support their schools should provide to children with allergies, and what monitoring and evaluation processes they have in place to ensure this support is provided.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)

In 2014, the government introduced a new duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions, including allergies, and published the ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ statutory guidance for schools and others.

Schools also have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to their practices, procedures, and policies to ensure that they are not putting those with certain long-term health problems at a substantial disadvantage.

The department recently reminded all schools of their legal duty under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to plan for supporting pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. This reminder also included a link to the statutory guidance governing bodies must have regard to when carrying out their duty under Section 100.

Ofsted’s role is to make sure that schools provide a high standard of education through its inspection and reporting process. As part of that process, inspectors gather a wide range of evidence to make their judgements, including the evaluation of the experience of particular individuals and groups. This includes the experiences of pupils with medical needs.

As part of the inspection, inspectors will assess the effectiveness of safeguarding at the school. This includes the extent to which pupils with specific needs and vulnerabilities are kept safe. The safeguarding culture is also explored through speaking to leaders and staff about their work, including the messages that pupils receive through the curriculum.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish (1) their original investment case, including financial projections, for the purchase of a $500 million stake in US satellite technology company OneWeb in 2020; and (2) an updated business case and financial projections for their investment in the company.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

As was the case under previous governments, any investment case informing Government's decision to invest in OneWeb, including financial projections, remains commercially sensitive. As a publicly traded company, Eutelsat Group regularly publishes its financial results, including market guidance on their outlook and financial objectives, and the latest were published on 16 February 2024.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, according to their business plan justifying their investment in US satellite technology company OneWeb in 2020, what projection they made of the value of the company at the end of 2024.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

As was the case under previous governments, any investment case informing Government's decision to invest in OneWeb, including financial projections, remains commercially sensitive. As a publicly traded company, Eutelsat Group regularly publishes its financial results, including market guidance on their outlook and financial objectives, and the latest were published on 16 February 2024.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their (1) current, and (2) expected future, equity stake in US satellite technology company Eutelsat OneWeb (formerly OneWeb).

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. The Government has no plans to change its 10.89% shareholding in Eutelsat Group at this time.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current value of the Government's stake in Eutelsat OneWeb.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. At close of trading on 26 April 2024, the market value of the UK Government’s shareholding in Eutelsat Group was approximately €201 million or £171 million.

The Government’s investment into OneWeb has already created or protected around 400 UK jobs and Eutelsat OneWeb continues to ramp up commercial operations, with an order book of approximately €700m according to the company’s public filings.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether any additional equity or debt has been earmarked for further investment in Eutelsat OneWeb, following the Government's $500 million investment in 2020.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

Eutelsat OneWeb is a UK-based subsidiary of Eutelsat Group. The Government has not earmarked any additional equity or debt for investment into Eutelsat Group.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the Attorney General last received a briefing concerning suspected Rwandan war criminals living in England by the Crown Prosecution Service or the police.

Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton

The Attorney General was last briefed on this matter by the Crown Prosecution Service on 30 April 2024.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total allocation of funds to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command in (1) the current, and (2) previous, financial year; and what proportion of those funds in each period was allocated to the War Crimes Unit.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Budget allocations are set by Counter-Terrorism Policing Headquarters, who work with the Home Office and police forces to advise on funding for the counter-terrorism police network, including for specific units. Breakdowns of allocations to police forces or specific units are not provided publicly for national security reasons.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding (1) they have given so far, and (2) they have pledged to give, to support the government of Ukraine's investigations into war crimes, and how much they have given and pledged to give to the International Criminal Court or any other international bodies supporting victims and witnesses of war crimes.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The UK is committed to holding Russia to account for its actions in Ukraine. We have provided £6.2 million of capacity-building support to Ukraine's domestic work to document, investigate, and prosecute war crimes. Since February 2022, we have provided £2.3 million in additional contributions to the International Criminal Court to increase its capacity to collect evidence and support survivors. This is on top of our annual budget contribution to the ICC, a total of £36.2 million for 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether immunocompromised people eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine this winter, who have had an adverse reaction to Spikevax in the past, will be compensated if advised by local services to pay privately to access a Comirnaty vaccine.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Guidance from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) states that there are very few individuals who cannot receive the COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United Kingdom. Anyone concerned about possible reactions to a vaccine should in the first instance speak to the clinician responsible for their care for advice. Published UKHSA clinical guidance for health professionals and immunisation practitioners on COVID-19 vaccination includes guidance for the management of patients with a history of allergy, including circumstances where a person may be referred to an expert allergist and, after a review of the individual’s risks and benefits of vaccination, and where it is indicated, they could then be vaccinated in hospital under clinical supervision. NHS England will continue to follow this clinical guidance and offer the appropriate vaccination to those who are eligible, including those who are immunocompromised, under expert supervision in a hospital setting, where appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether all integrated care boards in England have been supplied with stock of both the Spikevax and the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccines this winter.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) manages the central storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines for the United Kingdom’s programme. For the autumn and winter programme, the UKHSA has supplied both the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax) and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) to the National Health Service.

NHS England works closely with the regional and integrated care board (ICB) teams to ensure they deliver the right vaccine to the right place at the right time. Every ICB has received both vaccines as part of the autumn and winter campaign.

Found: grateful to be supported in this work by my noble friend Lord Harrington and the noble lord, Lord Mendelsohn

Found: It then considered an amendment by Lord Mendelsohn (Labour), who sought an assurance from the government

Found: It then considered an amendment by Lord Mendelsohn (Labour), who sought an assurance from the government