Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Tanzanian counterpart on alleged reports of (a) forced evictions, (b) excessive use of force and (c) arbitrary detention of Maasai people in Tanzania.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British High Commission in Dar es Salaam continues to meet with stakeholders on this issue, including the Government of Tanzania, Maasai community leaders and civil society representatives, to better understand the challenges faced by all parties. This is a complex and important matter, and we will continue to encourage all involved to engage in meaningful dialogue.
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, with reference to the National Prostate Cancer Audit's report entitled NPCA State of the Nation Report 2024, published January 2025, what steps he is taking to tackle inequalities preventing Black men from (a) receiving early diagnosis and (b) accessing NICE recommended treatments following advanced prostate cancer diagnosis.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To address disparities and find ways to better detect prostate cancer earlier, we have invested £16 million in the United Kingdom-wide TRANSFORM trial, aimed at helping find the best ways of detecting prostate cancer in men, even if they are not displaying any symptoms. This research will aim to address some of the inequalities that exist in prostate cancer diagnosis by targeting black men in trial recruitment, ensuring that one in ten participants are black men.
Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, we will publish a new National Cancer Plan, which will include further details on how we will improve access to treatments and outcomes for all tumour types, including prostate cancer. We are now in discussions about what form that plan should take, and what its relationship to the 10-Year Health Plan and the Government’s wider Health Mission should be. We will provide updates on this in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of (a) e-scooters and (b) e-bikes on pavements on pedestrians.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The use of e-scooters and e-bikes on pavements is unacceptable and can have serious impacts on pedestrians, both by causing injuries and by making it much harder for pedestrians to get about.
Privately owned e-scooters cannot be legally ridden either on roads or on pavements, and in the e-scooter rental trial schemes, the use of e-scooters on pavements is not allowed. Enforcement is a matter for the police.
The Highway Code makes clear that cyclists, including those riding e-bikes, must not cycle on the pavement. The only exception to this is on pavements that are designated as shared use routes, where the Highway Code says that cyclists should always take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and should allow them plenty of room. As above, enforcement is a matter for the police.
E-cycles or e-scooters parked obstructively on the pavement also present a safety risk to pedestrians, and particularly so for vulnerable pavement users such as those with visual impairments or mobility issues. Guidance for those operating the e-scooter trials makes clear that appropriate parking provision should be provided to ensure e-scooters do not cause an obstruction. Operators also use geofencing, parking incentives and penalties to prevent pavement riding and obstructive parking. The Government recently announced plans in the English Devolution White Paper to empower local leaders to regulate shared hire bike schemes to tackle issues such as obstructive pavement parking and antisocial behaviour.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21024 on Migrants: Detainees, if she will specify whether each Brook House Inquiry recommendation has been (a) accepted, (b) partially accepted, (c) rejected; which are (i) open and (ii) closed; and the date of closure for each closed recommendation.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
30 out of the 33 recommendations made by the Brook House Inquiry have been accepted or partially accepted. Following full consideration three recommendations (recommendations 7, 19 and 30) have been rejected.
Positive progress continues to be made against the accepted recommendations, with 12 recommendations (recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26) met and closed as of October 2024, 5 (recommendations 5, 11, 27, 28 and 29) due for closure by the end of January 2025, and the remaining 13 (recommendations 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 31, 32 and 33) on track for closure by summer 2025.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to review the adequacy of revenue raising mechanisms for climate reparations ahead of COP30 in Belem.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Countries in the Global South are disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change, and we are committed to partnering with these countries to address the climate and nature crisis and accelerate the clean energy transition.
We are committed to helping deliver global climate finance, including the New Collective Quantified Goal agreed at COP29 of at least $300 billion per year to developing countries by 2035, and responding to the wider call on all actors to increase climate finance to developing countries to £1.3 trillion per year. As part of that effort, we consider specific revenue raising mechanisms on a case-by-case basis, and we are pressing for faster and more ambitious reforms to the global financial system to deliver much more and higher quality climate and development finance. This is not about reparations. The UK government's position on reparations has not changed.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made on implementing the recommendations of the Brook House Inquiry, published on 19 September 2023; and whether any of those recommendations have been completed.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
30 out of the 33 recommendations made in the Brook House Inquiry report have been accepted or partially accepted, with 12 recommendations met and closed as of October 2024. The remaining recommendations remain on track for closure by summer 2025.
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 her Department is taking to tackle delays in processing claims for pension credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have deployed more than 500 additional staff to process the increase in Pension Credit claims.
Pensioners won't miss out on Winter Fuel Payments even if their Pension Credit claim takes longer to process than usual. Where the customer is eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment, the Department aims to make this payment within 2 weeks of the award of Pension Credit.
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 has she made of the potential impact of delays in winter fuel payments on pensioners experiencing poverty.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help secure redress for victims of the collapse of Football Index.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The collapse of BetIndex Ltd, the operators of the novel gambling product Football Index, had a significant impact on former customers, and we recognise that many people were affected, and that for some people financial losses were significant. The previous Government commissioned an Independent Review in June 2021, conducted by Malcom Sheehan KC and which reported in September 2021. The review looked at how the company had been regulated, and identified areas for improvement for the Financial Conduct Authority and the Gambling Commission. All recommendations of the report have since been implemented.
The previous Government concluded that it would not be appropriate for the Government to use public funds to provide compensation for those who had lost money through the collapse of Football Index and BetIndex. Whilst the Government strongly sympathises with all who were impacted, we do not think this decision should be reopened.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential role of the oil and gas industry in (a) contributing to international climate finance pledges and (b) contributing funds to the just transition of works into green industries.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has made several spending announcements since July to deliver the UK’s 2019 pledge to spend £11.6bn in International Climate Finance between April 2021 and March 2026, and is supporting workers to move from carbon-intensive sectors to clean energy industries with initiatives like the Energy Skills Passport.
Additionally, the temporary Energy Profits Levy, which applies to upstream oil and gas producers, is expected to raise £12.6bn between now and 2030. This revenue will help support the transition, enhance energy security and independence, provide sustainable jobs, and help protect electricity bills against price shocks.