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Written Question
Israel: Terrorism
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - 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 on the terror attack on 16 February at Re’em Junction that killed two and left four injured.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

This terrorist attack serves as a reminder of the daily security challenges Israel faces. The Government condemns all violence against innocent civilians and, as the Government has stated previously, for there to be a lasting peace, Israel's security must be assured. We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we continue to have regular discussions with Israeli counterparts on all aspects of the conflict.


Written Question
Iran: Hezbollah
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent Iranian media reports that Iran is supplying Hezbollah with ‘Almas’ anti-tank missiles.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We condemn Iran's destabilising political, financial, and military support to proscribed groups, including Lebanese Hizballah. We have made clear to Iran that it must cease proliferating advanced weapons systems throughout the region. We will continue to work to disrupt Iran's destabilising activity in Lebanon and the wider region, including by holding Iran to account in multilateral fora and through sanctions; addressing Iranian weapons proliferation; and strengthening the Lebanese Armed Forces.


Written Question
Care Leavers: Finance
Thursday 21st December 2023

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Autumn Statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 22 November (HC Deb cols 325–357), whether they have any plans to provide an enhanced package of financial support for care leavers aged 18 to 25 when they leave the care system.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department recognises the challenges that care leavers face as they make the transition from care to living independently and have put in place a range of support measures.

To help care leavers to engage in education, employment and training (EET), the department has increased the Care Leavers’ Apprenticeships Bursary from £1,000 to £3,000. Local authorities are required to support care leavers to engage in EET, including providing a £2,000 bursary if the young person is studying in higher education. Care leavers are also a priority group for the 16 to19 bursary if studying in further education (up to £1,200 per year).

In addition, the department has increased the leaving care allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 to enable care leavers to furnish their first home, and the Junior ISA scheme provides an initial £200 payment to open a savings account for all children who have been in care continuously for 12 months. Anyone can pay money into the accounts, and the funds can then be accessed by the young person when they leave care at age 18.

Improving outcomes for care leavers is a cross-government priority and there are a range of ways in which the government is supporting care leavers to reduce their financial vulnerability, including:

  • Providing support to care leavers through the Household Support Fund, which local authorities can use to help vulnerable residents to help with cost-of-living increases.
  • Promoting the support available through the Warm Home Discount Scheme, which provides support with energy costs over the winter.

Local authorities are required to publish their ‘local offer’ for care leavers, setting out care leavers’ legal entitlements, plus any further discretionary financial support that the local authority provides, such as Council Tax Exemptions, free leisure passes and rent deposit/guarantor schemes.


Written Question
Household Support Fund
Wednesday 20th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Autumn Statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 22 November (HC Deb cols 325–357), what plans they have to extend the Household Support Fund.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government has provided over £2 billion in funding for the Household Support Fund since October 2021.

The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.


Written Question
Defibrillators: VAT
Monday 2nd October 2023

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the taxpayer of removing VAT on all defibrillator purchases.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

The government has not made a robust assessment of the cost to the taxpayer of removing VAT on all defibrillator purchases.

The Government provides support to aid the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) through VAT refunds on purchases made by local authorities and VAT reliefs for purchases made through voluntary contributions, where the AED is donated to eligible charities or the NHS. Otherwise, they attract the standard rate of VAT.

The Department of Health and Social Care are examining whether there are ways to further expand public access to defibrillators.

The Government keeps all taxes under constant review.


Written Question
Defibrillators: VAT
Monday 2nd October 2023

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much VAT was collected on defibrillator purchases in (1) 2020, (2) 2021, and (3) 2022.

Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)

HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on defibrillators. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.


Written Question
China: Uyghurs
Monday 31st January 2022

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will update their business risk advisory system regarding forced labour in the Uyghur region in China, in light of the conclusions of the Uyghur Tribunal, published on 9 December 2021.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Our overseas business risk guidance on Xinjiang was last updated in August 2021. It makes clear the extensive evidence of human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang, including the use of forced labour, and urges UK companies to take appropriate steps to ensure their operations do not directly or indirectly contribute to these violations. We continue to keep the guidance under constant review.


Written Question
Israel: Palestinians
Thursday 2nd September 2021

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK's investment of (1) effort, and (2) resources, into the advancement of the Middle East peace process.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We firmly believe a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue. That is why we support steps to increase understanding and dialogue between the parties that can help create the conditions for meaningful negotiations. We will continue to fund peacebuilding projects focused on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.


Written Question
Israel: Palestinians
Thursday 2nd September 2021

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's response to Freedom of Information Request FOI2021/07873, dated 23 June, how the disclosure of funding allocated to the advancement of the Middle East peace process would "potentially damage" international relationships.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Following an internal review, the international relations exemption has now been withdrawn and information will be released shortly.


Written Question
Overseas Aid
Thursday 2nd September 2021

Asked by: Lord Polak (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why they do not list (1) the Norwegian Refugee Council, or (2) other partners, on their Development Tracker website as receiving funding, despite that information being publicly available elsewhere.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Development Tracker presents information on partners who have received funds from Her Majesty's Government (HMG) in multiple ways depending on how the funding is reported by both the Government department and the implementing partner.

From information reported by the FCDO and other government departments, partners who have received funding are listed as implementing partners on country pages [1] and on project pages [2]. Projects relating to specific partners can also be viewed using Development Tracker's search function [3].

When partners publish data reporting that the UK has been a funder, they will appear on the Partners tab of a Development Tracker project page. There may therefore be instances where the Norwegian Refugee Council or other partners who receive funds from HMG are not listed within the partners tab as they have not referred to HMG as a funding organisation.

[1] For example, on the South Sudan country page, the Norwegian Refugee Council is listed here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/countries/SS/

[2] For example, the Norwegian Refugee Council is listed here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-204019

[3] For example, search for Norwegian Refugee Council as shown here https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/search?query=Norwegian%20Refugee%20Council&inclu deClosed=0