Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure the safety and security of East London Mosque.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
This Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion at their chosen place of worship, and to making our streets and communities safer.
The rise in anti-Muslim hatred across the country since last year has been a cause for concern, and subsequently, the Home Office is providing up to £50.9 million in 2023/24 to protect faith communities. This includes £29.4 million through the new Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, and the Government has confirmed that this level of funding will now be maintained annually through to 2027/28.
Mosques and Muslim faith community centres can register for protective security measures through the Home Office’s Protective Security for Mosques Scheme on GOV.UK. The scheme provides physical protective security measures, such as CCTV, intruder alarms and secure perimeter fencing. Due diligence checks are carried out by the Home Office; for example, to confirm that applicants are eligible registered charities. Following approval, applicants receive a site survey to assess the most suitable security measures for their site, which are funded by the Home Office and installed by the Department’s delivery partner.
We do not provide information about the funding on specific sites
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the number of people who have been displaced in Gaza since 8 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes.
According to a UN estimate, as of 1 April, up to 1.7 million people (over 75% of the population) had been displaced across the Gaza Strip.
As the Prime Minister has told Prime Minister Netanyahu and regional leaders, we are deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah. Over half of Gaza's population are sheltering in the area, and the Rafah crossing is vital to ensure aid can reach the people who so desperately need it.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what information his Department holds on the number of Israeli (a) civilians, (b) women and (c) children killed since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Any civilian death is a tragedy. Over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed in Israel, the vast majority on 7 October 2023 according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). 253 hostages were also kidnapped and taken into Gaza on 7 October, of whom 124 have been returned to Israel (112 alive and 12 deceased). We continue to call for the immediate release of all remaining hostages.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Prevention of Future Deaths Reports have related to (a) universal credit and (b) other benefits in each of the last five years.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has received 6 Prevention of Future Death (PFD) reports in the last five years to date. 1 report did not relate to a customer who was in receipt of benefits. The breakdown of the reports by year and the benefit claimed is provided in the table below:
Number of PFD reports received in the last 5 years | Universal Credit (UC) | Personal Independence Payment (PIP) | Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and PIP | Not in Receipt of Benefits |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1* |
2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* This report related to Child Maintenance.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive pursued prosecution of (a) public and (b) private sector employers for failure to abide by health and safety legislation during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, employees have to themselves and to each other and certain self-employed have towards themselves and others.
HSWA applies equally across all workplaces in all industry sectors and does not distinguish between either public or private sector duty-holders. As such, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) would not routinely differentiate or record this information.
The prosecution data below is for the time period of the 1st April 2020 and the 31st March 2022, this being the timeframe of the pandemic prior to HSE returning to business as usual. The figures are for all prosecutions taken under health and safety legislation which were published in the HSE Annual Report 2020/21 and 2021/22 respectively and are not Covid specific.
HSE pursued 206 prosecutions in 2020/21, with a 94% conviction rate, and 290 prosecutions in 2021/22, with a 96% conviction rate. A total of 496 prosecutions across the period referred to.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Health and Safety Executive is investigating (a) public and (b) private sector employers for failure to abide by health and safety legislation during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, employees have to themselves and to each other and certain self-employed have towards themselves and others.
HSWA applies equally across all workplaces in all industry sectors and does not distinguish between either public or private sector duty-holders. As such, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) would not routinely differentiate or record this information.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Labour - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any (a) public and (b) private sector employer has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive for failure to abide by health and safety legislation during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, employees have to themselves and to each other and certain self-employed have towards themselves and others.
HSWA applies equally across all workplaces in all industry sectors and does not distinguish between either public or private sector duty-holders. As such, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) would not routinely differentiate or record this information.
Reports received by HSE are generally in the form of a ‘concern’. These can be in relation to any health and safety issue in the workplace and can be submitted via HSE’s online reporting portal.
Between the 1st April 2020 and the 31st March 2022, this being the timeframe of the pandemic prior to HSE returning to business as usual, HSE handled over 70,000 concerns about health and safety in the workplace.
However, not all of these concerns were in relation to a failure to abide by health and safety legislation, some were requests for general health and safety advice, support, and guidance. This data has been published in the HSE Annual Report 2020/21 and 2021/22 respectively and is not Covid specific.