Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the amendments proposed to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of Iraq.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq's Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children's rights, which we note have not yet been passed through the House of Representatives. As we continue to privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, including the Government of Iraq, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments' compatibility with Iraq's international obligations.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Iraqi counterparts on the amendments proposed to the Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is analysing the proposed amendments to Iraq's Personal Status Law and its implications for women and children's rights, which we note have not yet been passed through the House of Representatives. As we continue to privately engage with a range of Iraqi interlocutors to discuss this, including the Government of Iraq, we are emphasising the importance of any amendments' compatibility with Iraq's international obligations.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of welfare reforms since 2010 on (a) poverty, (b) child poverty, (c) disabled people, (d) women, (e) people of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and (f) older people.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2022/23 there were 1.3 million more people in relative low income after housing costs than in 2010/11. The 1.3 million increase comprises 700,000 children, 300,000 working age individuals and 300,000 pensioners. During this period, there was a gradual upward trend in relative poverty (before and after housing costs) for pensioners driven by working age incomes growing at a faster rate than pensioner incomes despite uprating of State Pension and Pensioner benefits limiting this gap.
The table below provides employment rate/level data for disabled people, women, people from an ethnic minority and older people in 2010 and 2024. Employment level and rates rose for the groups between 2010 and 2024.
| Disabled People | Women | Ethnic | Older People | ||||
Minorities | ||||||||
| Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate | Level | Rate |
April-June 2010 | n/a | n/a | 13.653m | 65.50% | 2.772m | 59.30% | 8.128m | 38.40% |
April-June 2024 | 5.534m | 53.00% | 16.312m | 71.90% | 5.459m | 67.80% | 10.891m | 41.90% |
We are committed to tackling poverty and raising living standards. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.
The Child Poverty Taskforce also continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We started this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders as the review progresses.
Further steps to tackle poverty include our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and to increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.
It is Government provision through (and ongoing improvement of) the State Pension and benefits system – combined with key interventions for private pensions and the labour market – that forms the foundation of support for pensioners of today and tomorrow.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential link between the fitness for work test and (a) suicides, (b) other deaths and (c) harm.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not collect or record the cause of a customer’s death and will not usually be made aware of how a customer died.
Cause of death is determined by a doctor or a coroner. There is no requirement for a Coroner to inform the department of the outcome of an inquest unless named as an Interested Person at that inquest - or the coroner decides to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the department.
As a result, we are unable to collect information on or make any assessment on any potential links between the fitness for work test and suicides, other deaths and harm and only a coroner would be able to determine if one did exist on a case-by-case basis.
Attempted suicides and suicides are very complex issues. Where there is an allegation that the Department’s actions, including any related to the fitness for work test, may have had an impact on a customer’s circumstances, we take it very seriously and where appropriate we would undertake an Internal Process Review to establish if we could have done anything differently, to inform future learning and improve services. These reviews do not investigate the cause of a customer’s death and are not undertaken as a result of every suicide or death and therefore would not provide the information to show if a link existed.
Internal Process Reviews themes are considered quarterly at the department’s Serious Case Panel, which has an external Chair. Arrangements are being made to start publishing fuller minutes of the Panel’s meetings from the new year.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the two-child benefit cap on trends in the level of child poverty in (a) the UK and (b) Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We published the framework ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’ on 23 October and will explore all available levers to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.
The Child Poverty Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, which includes considering social security reforms, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience, and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Strategy in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of extending access to benefits for families with children who have no recourse to public funds on levels of child poverty in Poplar and Limehouse constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In developing a Child Poverty Strategy, the Child Poverty Taskforce is considering all children across the United Kingdom. We recognise the distinct challenges of poverty faced by migrant children. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted, with solutions that go beyond government, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers in response.
The Home Office sets the immigration rules and grants immigration leave to individuals which allows them to live and work in the UK. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits to individuals where the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many judges have recused in England and Wales in 2023-24.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice does not hold this information. This is because a decision to recuse is a judicial responsibility. Whilst individual court and tribunal centres may hold records of recusals, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making court transcripts available to (a) defendants and (b) plaintiffs both (i) during and (ii) after court hearings.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Proceedings in the civil, family and crown courts are audio recorded, and HM Courts and Tribunals Service have processes in place which allow individuals, including defendants and plaintiffs, to request access to transcripts.
Where requested after the hearing has concluded, transcripts are produced by transcription companies using audio recordings. If a defendant or plaintiff requests an instantaneous transcript as a hearing is taking place, this can be provided through a qualified stenographer attending in-court. Both types of requests are subject to judicial approval and typically provided on payment of the relevant fee to cover the cost of the transcription.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested using powers in the (a) Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2023 and (b) Public Order Act 2023 for activity relating to protests against Elbit Systems UK's arms sales to Israel since (i) 8 October 2023, (ii) 26 January 2024 and (iii) 2 September 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. While the Home Office does hold data around protest-related arrests, this information is not categorised in a way that would enable to identification of arrests specifically made under this legislation. To obtain this information would require a review of arrest records across multiple police forces, which would exceed the cost threshold.
Asked by: Apsana Begum (Independent - Poplar and Limehouse)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been arrested using powers in the (a) Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2023 and (b) Public Order Act 2023 for activity relating to protests against arms sales to Israel since (i) 8 October 2023, (ii) 26 January 2024 and (iii) 2 September 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. While the Home Office does hold data around protest-related arrests, this information is not categorised in a way that would enable to identification of arrests specifically made under this legislation. To obtain this information would require a review of arrest records across multiple police forces, which would exceed the cost threshold.