Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provision will be made for wounded children with no surviving family in Gaza who require urgent medical care to be brought to the United Kingdom for medical treatment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working urgently to get some of the critically ill and injured children medically evacuated from Gaza. The first patients are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom in the coming weeks.
Children will only be transferred to the UK where it is clinically safe to do so and in the interests of each individual patient and where there is capacity within the National Health Service to treat them. They will be accompanied by their immediate family which means their parents, and siblings aged under 18 years old. Where both parents are deceased, they must be accompanied by a legal guardian. We will not be evacuating unaccompanied children.
It is too early to say how long this process will run for and thus the number of children we expect to be evacuated.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many wounded children from Gaza they will bring to the United Kingdom for medical treatment; and whether they plan to increase this number.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working urgently to get some of the critically ill and injured children medically evacuated from Gaza. The first patients are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom in the coming weeks.
Children will only be transferred to the UK where it is clinically safe to do so and in the interests of each individual patient and where there is capacity within the National Health Service to treat them. They will be accompanied by their immediate family which means their parents, and siblings aged under 18 years old. Where both parents are deceased, they must be accompanied by a legal guardian. We will not be evacuating unaccompanied children.
It is too early to say how long this process will run for and thus the number of children we expect to be evacuated.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate the process to bring wounded children from Gaza to the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working urgently to get some of the critically ill and injured children medically evacuated from Gaza. The first patients are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom in the coming weeks.
Children will only be transferred to the UK where it is clinically safe to do so and in the interests of each individual patient and where there is capacity within the National Health Service to treat them. They will be accompanied by their immediate family which means their parents, and siblings aged under 18 years old. Where both parents are deceased, they must be accompanied by a legal guardian. We will not be evacuating unaccompanied children.
It is too early to say how long this process will run for and thus the number of children we expect to be evacuated.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of churches in the West Bank that have been attacked in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the war in Gaza must end. We are concerned by incidents and strikes on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including most recently the Holy Family Church in Gaza being struck on 17 July and reports of attacks by violent settlers on Christian communities in the West Bank. Last week His Majesty's Consul General to Jerusalem visited Taybeh in the West Bank with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers on their community. My officials continue to meet with Church leaders in Jerusalem and carefully monitor reports impacting religious sites and freedom of religion or belief in Gaza and the West Bank. The UK is strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief for all.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of churches in Gaza that have been attacked in (1) 2023, and (2) 2024.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As the Foreign Secretary has made clear, the war in Gaza must end. We are concerned by incidents and strikes on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including most recently the Holy Family Church in Gaza being struck on 17 July and reports of attacks by violent settlers on Christian communities in the West Bank. Last week His Majesty's Consul General to Jerusalem visited Taybeh in the West Bank with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers on their community. My officials continue to meet with Church leaders in Jerusalem and carefully monitor reports impacting religious sites and freedom of religion or belief in Gaza and the West Bank. The UK is strongly committed to freedom of religion or belief for all.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact and allocation of the funds budgeted to support those who lose their jobs as a result of the transformation of Port Talbot.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Wales, supports those affected by Tata Steel UK’s decarbonisation transition and is supported by £100 million of funding. £80 million of which is provided by the UK Government, as confirmed by the Chancellor in the Budget on 30 October, and the remaining £20 million is provided by Tata Steel UK. The joint investment by UK Government and Tata Steel UK of £1.3 billion in an Electric Arc Furnace at Port Talbot has helped to protect 5,000 jobs and many more within the supply chain.
The Transition Board, in under a year, allocated the full UK Government £80 million funding to help those people and businesses affected by the transition, and to regenerate the local area. The UK Government Funds have created:
The Transition Board receives updates on the impact of the funds at every Board meeting, containing data provided by delivery partners, such as Neath Port Talbot Council and Business Wales. The Transition Board last met on 26 June, and the following progress was reported up until that date:
Funding for growth and regeneration projects in Port Talbot have also been funded by the Transition Board:
The growth and regeneration projects will also create construction jobs during the building, refurbishment and remediation phases.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure homeless people can access benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to question HL9238 on 17 July.
The Government has committed to a cross-government strategy to get the country back on track to ending homelessness. We have already taken the first steps, making a £1 billion investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services in 2025/26, a £233 million increase on the previous year, to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and to help prevent rough sleeping
My department is committed to ensuring people experiencing homelessness receive the benefits and support they need. Support is in place to help people experiencing homelessness claim and receive benefits, including:
Jobcentres provide outreach in community and homelessness settings in areas with high levels of homelessness and organise referrals to local authority housing teams under ‘Duty to Refer’ legislation. There are single points of contact in every jobcentre to support work coaches with complex homelessness cases, along with training to better understand and support vulnerable customers. Our advanced customer support senior leaders and vulnerable customer champions review our processes to ensure we are effectively safeguarding such customers
The Government’s plans to get Britain working include the new Jobs and Careers Service, which will provide individualised support to those with the greatest barriers to work, while Connect to Work will provide support to people with disabilities, health conditions and complex barriers, including those experiencing homelessness.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend to spend the £445 million of funding allocated to the country’s rail infrastructure needs; and whether they will dedicate any of this funding to the electrification of the Crewe to Holyhead railway line.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Spending Review and the 10-year Infrastructure Strategy recognises Wales’ long-term infrastructure needs and will deliver at least £445 million of rail enhancements to realise them. The detail of how this investment is to be realised will be determined by the Wales Rail Board in the coming months. The funding secured at the Spending Review includes delivery of the infrastructure changes needed to support the introduction of 50% more services across the North Wales mainline during 2026 and consideration of the future requirements of that line.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to improve access to medical care and vaccinations for people who are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of reducing barriers to healthcare services for those experiencing homelessness, including those in temporary accommodation.
We are committed to promoting high vaccine uptake for eligible cohorts across the vaccination programmes available on the National Health Service. General practices (GPs) offer relevant opportunistic catch-up vaccinations when anyone visits their GP for any reason. Primary and community care providers also have knowledge of, and have developed relationships with their local communities, making them optimally located to undertake outreach into underserved cohorts, such as the use of pop-up clinics and mobile units.
Local health systems are encouraged to use their access and inequality funding to target those who are at greater risk of morbidity, mortality, and hospitalisation, including those who are experiencing homelessness. Previously used to improve the offer of the COVID-19 vaccine, access and inequality funding can now be used to promote other vaccines, including flu, shingles, pneumococcal polysaccharide, and respiratory syncytial virus.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to improve access to benefits and support services for people who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has committed to a cross-government strategy to get the country back on track to ending homelessness. We have already taken the first steps, making a £1 billion investment in homelessness and rough sleeping services in 2025/26, a £233 million increase on the previous year, to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and to help prevent rough sleeping.
My department is committed to ensuring people experiencing homelessness receive the benefits and support they need. Support is in place to help people experiencing homelessness claim and receive benefits, including:
Jobcentres provide outreach in community and homelessness settings in areas with high levels of homelessness and organise referrals to local authority housing teams under ‘Duty to Refer’ legislation. There are single points of contact in every jobcentre to support work coaches with complex homelessness cases, along with training to better understand and support vulnerable customers. Our advanced customer support senior leaders and vulnerable customer champions review our processes to ensure we are effectively safeguarding such customers.
The Government’s plans to get Britain working include the new Jobs and Careers Service, which will provide individualised support to those with the greatest barriers to work, while Connect to Work will provide support to people with disabilities, health conditions and complex barriers, including those experiencing homelessness.