Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government why the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London continues to enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Act 1996 provides the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office with certain privileges and immunities in line with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations for the purposes of furthering economic and trade interests. There are no current plans to replace this legislation.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was discussed during the recent meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Indo-Pacific) and Hong Kong’s Convenor of the Executive Council and whether the meeting included discussions on human rights violations in Hong Kong.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Minister West met with Regina Ip on 31 October in an official capacity. Human rights were raised as part of the discussion.

The UK will continue to speak often and candidly with Hong Kong authorities across both areas of contention as well as areas for cooperation. Engagement with representatives of Hong Kong and China is pragmatic and necessary to support UK interests.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the next steps following the recent meeting between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Indo-Pacific) and Hong Kong’s Convenor of the Executive Council.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Following the meeting, Minister West visited Hong Kong for a two-day programme of engagements. Minister West met with stakeholders across the Hong Kong Government to discuss areas of co-operation and challenge on areas of contention.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of cross-border transnational repression faced by migrants from Hong Kong and whether the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London has facilitated it; and, if so, what steps they are taking to tackle it.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

The first duty of any government is to keep the country safe and protect its citizens. The UK does not tolerate attempts by any state to threaten or intimidate UK residents. We continually assess potential risks and take the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously. This involves taking a proactive approach to countering the most acute forms of state-directed threats to individuals.

We will continue to implement measures in the National Security Act 2023, which make the UK a harder target for those states which seek to conduct hostile acts.

Home Office officials work closely with operational partners, the FCDO and other government departments to ensure that UK residents are safe and secure. Where individuals have concerns for their safety, they are advised to contact their local police in the first instance.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Indo-Pacific) discussed the forthcoming sentencing of the 45 pro-democracy activists under the National Security Law with Hong Kong’s Convenor of the Executive Council during their recent meeting.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Minister West met with Regina Ip on 31 October in an official capacity. Human rights were raised as part of the discussion.

The UK will continue to speak often and candidly with Hong Kong authorities across both areas of contention as well as areas for cooperation. Engagement with representatives of Hong Kong and China is pragmatic and necessary to support UK interests.

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government why the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill has not yet been published; and when they plan to publish it.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

The King’s Speech set out our intention to publish the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill during the first session.

The Bill will deliver our manifesto commitments to introduce mandatory pay gap reporting for large employers on ethnicity and disability, and extend the right to make equal pay claims to ethnic minority and disabled people. We intend to consult on these measures before we publish the Bill and will announce our plans in due course.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what methods they plan to employ to engage with disabled people and people with long-term health conditions and their representative organisations in developing the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.

In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.

We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.

The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.

We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.

In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces will have proper regard to the proposals in the Disability Employment Charter.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.

In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.

We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.

The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.

We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.

In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces will be chaired by a disabled person; whether their appointment process will be subject to the Nolan principles; and what proportion of the review panel will be disabled.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.

In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.

We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.

The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.

We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.

In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to commence the independent review into the role of employers in creating and maintaining healthy and inclusive workplaces.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are shortly going to launch “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. Sir Charlie Mayfield is recognised and respected in the business community and is ideally placed to engage with employers, businesses, disabled people and their representative organisations.

In appointing Sir Charlie Mayfield as the Lead Reviewer, we have taken due regard to the Nolan principles, and the Terms of Engagement for this review will commit the chair to conducting their appointment by these principles.

We will work closely with the lead reviewer to ensure appropriate stakeholders are engaged as the review progresses. We are looking to engage a broad range of stakeholders across the country, including employers, employees across various sectors, clinical practitioners, and lived experience. An expert panel will be established following the results of the discovery phase, and will be supported by a diverse range of external stakeholders.

The review will give appropriate consideration to proposals from all stakeholders, including the Disability Employment Charter.

We want to work alongside employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to understand this problem, and do our part to support them. We will work to strengthen these relationships and trust, and welcome any insights that are shared through this review.

In addition to this independent review, the department is working to establish a disability panel to consult disabled people as part of our wider efforts to ensure that the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms. Once established, the panel will be engaged on the independent review.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform Access to Work and Disability Confident; whether any reviews of these schemes will be chaired by disabled people; and what proportion of the review panels will be disabled.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Get Britain Working White Paper, published 26 November 2024, set out the Department’s plans for labour market transformation, including more support for workers and employers. In the Spring, we will set out our proposals for significant reforms to health and disability benefits in a Green Paper. We appreciate the real importance of this topic for disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives and so many others and so we will be carefully considering our approach and listening to their views.

The Disability Confident scheme needs to be more robust, and we acknowledge the need for reform. Officials are currently exploring options to enhance the criteria, and we will collaborate closely with employers, disabled people’s organisations, and disabled individuals themselves to fully realise the scheme's potential.

Our independent review into the role of employers in supporting healthy and inclusive workplaces will also make recommendations for change, and as part of this we are committed to working closely with disabled people. As set out in the White Paper, we will establish a disability panel to ensure the views and voices of disabled people are put at the heart of the design and delivery of our reforms.

As in all policy areas, any further reform proposals would be announced in due course in the usual way.