Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of (a) Universal Basic Income and (b) existing social security benefits in reducing poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the outcomes of national trials of Universal Basic Income conducted in the UK.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Universal Basic Income on (a) job-seeking behaviour and (b) participation in the gig economy.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of Universal Basic Income on (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty in the UK.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has undertaken research into the potential impact of implementing a universal basic income on (a) employment rates and (b) workforce participation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with her international counterparts in countries that have trialled Universal Basic Income on (a) their experiences and (b) key challenges.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to (a) review and (b) incorporate international best practices from Universal Basic Income trials into domestic policy considerations.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the potential impact of international trials of universal basic income on (a) employment rates and (b) poverty levels.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of blood donors have had their appointment deferred due to (a) low haemoglobin, (b) recent travel, (c) activities that increase risk of HIV infection, (d) anaemia, (e) hepatitis exposure, (f) hypertension, (g) medications, (h) pregnancy, (i) recent vaccination, (j) no viable vein and (k) any other reason for deferral by (i) ethnicity, (ii) gender, (iii) age and (iv) other identity markers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for collecting blood donations across England, in order to fulfil hospital requests to meet patient need.
From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, a total of 1,734,2851 appointments were attended. Of those, a total of 291,011, or 16.8%, were deferred.
Codes are used to group together various reasons for deferral, particularly the “medical” deferral code. It is not possible to break down the reason for the deferrals further without accessing individual donor records. Anaemia is not distinguished from low haemoglobin during a session as a donor may be deferred when their haemoglobin is too low to donate, but is within “normal range” for other purposes.
The following table shows the number and percentage of appointment deferrals, the deferral reason, and the percentage of attendances:
Deferral reason | Number deferred | Percentage of attendances (%) | Percentage of total deferrals (%) |
Administrative | 8,392 | 0.5 | 2.9 |
Blood Pressure | 1,900 | 0.1 | 0.7 |
Clinical | 8,956 | 0.5 | 3.1 |
Haemoglobin | 173,574 | 10 | 59.6 |
Infection/Contact | 16,876 | 1 | 5.8 |
Medical | 53,746 | 3.1 | 18.5 |
Other | 1,761 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
Skin Piercing | 7,877 | 0.5 | 2.7 |
Surgery | 3,847 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
Travel | 4,493 | 0.2 | 1.5 |
Vaccination | 1,369 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
No Suitable Vein | 8,220 | 0.5 | 2.8 |
Total | 291,011 | 16.8 | 100.0 |
Source: NHSBT’s centrally held administrative systems, extracted 27 June 2025
Notes:
This data refers to whole blood donors only and does not include data on platelet and plasma donations. Tables showing further breakdowns by ethnicity, gender, age, and main blood group are attached, due to the size of the data.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of blood donors with Ro blood type have had their donations deferred in the last 12 months; and what was the reason for those deferrals.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025, the number of Ro blood type donor attendances was 59,655. Of those, 9,978, or 16.7%, were deferred. The following table show the number of Ro donor deferrals, the percentage of Ro donor attendances, and the percentage of total Ro deferrals, broken down by the reason for deferral:
Reason | Number of Ro donor deferrals | Percentage of Ro donor attendances | Percentage of total Ro deferrals |
Administrative | 284 | 0.5% | 2.8% |
Blood Pressure | 53 | 0.1% | 0.5% |
Clinical | 89 | 0.1% | 0.9% |
Haemoglobin | 6,806 | 11.4% | 68.2% |
Infection / contact | 509 | 0.9% | 5.1% |
Medical | 1,393 | 2.3% | 14.0% |
Other | 40 | 0.1% | 0.4% |
Skin piercing | 239 | 0.4% | 2.4% |
Surgery | 113 | 0.2% | 1.1% |
Travel | 183 | 0.3% | 1.8% |
Vaccination | 46 | 0.1% | 0.5% |
No suitable vein | 223 | 0.4% | 2.2% |
Total | 9,978 | 16.7% | 100% |
Note: this data refers to whole blood donors only and does not include plasma or platelet donors.
The codes that are given above are used to group together a range of more specific reasons for deferral, particularly the “medical” deferral code. It is not possible to provide a more detailed breakdown of this code without accessing individual donor records.