Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assistance they plan to provide to the government of Syria to clear landmines, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive weapons.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Explosive ordnance continues to pose a significant threat to civilians and humanitarian workers across Syria, as well as preventing the rehabilitation of buildings such as schools and clinics, as well as agricultural land.
We provide funding to the mine action sector via the UK-led Aid Fund for Syria, the UK Global Mine Action Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. We are working with partners to clear mines and unexploded ordnance in North East Syria, to allow restoration of services and landmines.
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 are the rates of child poverty in (1) England, (2) Wales, (3) Scotland, and (4) Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Relative low income after housing costs is the government’s headline measure of poverty. Based on a three-year average for 2021/22 to 2023/24, 31 per cent of children in England, 31 per cent of children in Wales, 23 per cent of children in Scotland, and 24 per cent of children in Northern Ireland were in relative low income after housing costs.
Further statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which we will publish in the autumn. We are considering all available levers as part of our strategy, including social security reforms, to give every child the best start in life. The causes of child poverty are wide-ranging and deep-rooted, and so it is right that the Taskforce carefully considers and assesses the available levers as it develops this Strategy.
In the meantime, we are pressing ahead with action.
As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. The government will provide £410 million per year by 2028-29 to expand Free School Meals eligibility to all pupils in England with a parent receiving Universal Credit. The government will also provide £80 million per year by 2028-29 for early years and post-16 settings to support this expansion. This expansion will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament. We are also establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year, including £158 million to the devolved governments, investing in local family support services and extending the £3 bus fare cap.
In August, we confirmed funding of £600m for the Holiday Activities and Food programme for the next three years, ensuring that children and young people in England can continue to benefit from enriching experiences and nutritious meals during the school holidays.
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, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 12 September (HL10050), 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 continues to work to evacuate some of the critically ill and injured children from Gaza. They will receive specialist treatment in National Health Service hospitals across the United Kingdom.
I refer the noble Lord to my Written Statement HLWS899 from 2 September 2025, available on the Parliament.UK website, which sets out the Government’s medical evacuation process from Gaza
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 their sanctions policy in relation to Israel, following that country’s attack on Qatar on 9 September.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
On 11 September, the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, condemned Israel's strikes on Doha as a "flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar," warning of the risk of further escalation. The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have both expressed grave concern over the incident, reaffirming UK solidarity with Qatar and calling for de-escalation. Since taking office, this Government has announced three packages of sanctions in relation to Israel/Palestine. In June we imposed sanctions on Israeli Cabinet Ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir, in their personal capacity for inciting violence towards Palestinians, while the previous rounds targeted individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations perpetrating and supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many chemical weapon attacks took place in Syria under Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
Independent international investigations mandated by the UN Security Council and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have confirmed that the Assad regime used chemical weapons at least nine times against its own people after Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, including chlorine and sarin nerve agent.
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.