Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will have discussions with the BBC on maintaining a sustainable production department in Scotland.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The public service remit for television requires that public service broadcasters like the BBC make an appropriate range and amount of their programmes across the UK. This includes specific obligations to production in Scotland, where the BBC is required to make 8% of its network spend and network programme hours. The independent regulator Ofcom holds the BBC to account in meeting these obligations.
The Government is committed to working with the sector to ensure the right framework, conditions and support are in place for all broadcasters - including the BBC - to be more ambitious in growing our world-leading TV sector outside of London and the South East, and to commission content in every part of the country. Ministers and officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have regular discussions with the BBC, and during the upcoming Charter Review will consider the work of the BBC across the whole UK, including in Scotland.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the salary threshold for the visa sponsorship programme.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary confirmed on 30 July that the Government will be retaining the increase to the general salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa route brought in by the previous government. The general salary thresholds are updated on an annual basis to keep track with the latest available salary data and pay scales to account for overall wage increases.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Pakistani counterpart on the role of that country’s Islamic Council in the persecution of Uyghur Muslims.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned by the discrimination faced by marginalised religious communities around the world. In Pakistan, we work to promote the rights of religious minorities through diplomatic engagement and programme funding. I raised the issue of religious tolerance when I met with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister when I visited this year. The UK also stands firm on human rights in China, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. We raise our concerns with China at the highest levels - the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary both raised human rights recently with their Chinese counterparts.
Asked by: Blair McDougall (Labour - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will remove Asma Assad's UK citizenship.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not comment on individual cases.
But in the wider issue raised, the Home Office acted swiftly to temporarily pause decisions on Syrian asylum claims whilst we assess the current situation.
We keep all country guidance relating to asylum claims under constant review so we can respond to emerging issues.
While all asylum claims are routinely considered on their individual merits, it is standard procedure to deny protection to anyone who has committed crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious crimes abroad or acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.