Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Propriety and Ethics Team has (a) carried out investigations into and (b) provided the Prime Minister with advice on (i) allegations of and (ii) the alleged involvement of Ministers in corruption in Bangladesh in the last 12 months.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Following a self-referral by the former Economic Secretary to the Treasury, the Hon Member for Hampstead and Highgate, the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards undertook a fact-finding process relating to recent media allegations about the former minister. Advice from the Independent Adviser was provided to the Prime Minister and published on gov.uk on 14 January 2025.
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is a long-standing principle that Civil Service advice is given and treated in confidence. This includes detailing whether or not advice has been given and by whom.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take legislative steps to introduce an immediate moratorium on import permits for hunting trophies of cheetahs.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The government committed to a ban on the import of hunting trophies of endangered animals in its manifesto and will deliver on this. Defra is currently engaging with a range of stakeholders in order to decide on the most effective approach.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that community-based ear wax removal services are made available to patients in (a) Harrow East constituency and (b) England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) have a statutory responsibility to commission cost-effective healthcare to meet the needs of their local populations. This includes the arrangement of services for ear wax removal. When ICBs exercise their functions, including commissioning healthcare services such as ear wax removal, they have a duty to reduce inequalities between persons with respect to their ability to access health services, and to reduce inequalities between patients with respect to the outcomes achieved for them by the provision of health services.
Manual ear syringing is no longer advised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to the risks associated with it, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection, so general practitioners (GPs) will often recommend home treatment remedies to alleviate ear wax build-up.
However, in line with the NICE’s guidance, a person may require ear wax removal treatment if the build-up of earwax is linked with hearing loss. A GP could then consider referring the patient into audiology services, which ICBs are responsible for commissioning.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to increase funding for the development of non-animal human-relevant testing methods.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are considering funding into alternatives for animal testing as part of the Spending Review and cannot commit funding amounts in advance of this process.
The Government already invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of 3Rs approaches. The NC3Rs is currently undergoing a five year funding review that will determine future allocation of resources. A significant amount of research funding in the UK also goes to underpinning technologies that have the potential to deliver the 3Rs.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 destruction of the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government supports the Interim Government's agenda to restore law and order, ensure accountability and promote national reconciliation. While we have not had discussions with the Interim Government of Bangladesh regarding the destruction of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum specifically, we have encouraged all sides to work together to end the cycle of retributive violence. In February, Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders visited Bangladesh and met with the Interim Government and discussed a wide range of human rights concerns. We continue to work with the Interim Government as it charts a peaceful transition to an inclusive and democratic future.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 Bangladeshi counterpart on the potential impact of (a) corruption and (b) money laundering on the economy of that country.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to assisting investigative, prosecuting and judicial authorities in combating international crime. Whilst we cannot comment on any individual asset recovery cases, we have robust illicit finance legislation and instruments which can be used to support asset recovery requests. The UK is providing support to the Interim Government of Bangladesh through the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency and the International Centre for Asset Recovery. We will continue to support these recoveries to the extent that we can.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent people will no longer be eligible to Personal Independence Payment following the proposed reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number will not be known until those affected have gone through their first award review after the reforms take effect, starting in November 2026.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the standard level of the Personal Independence Payment who did not score four points in any of the 10 descriptors are (a) autistic and (b) neurodivergent.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In January 2025 (latest available data), there were 8,200 claimants of Personal Independence Payment in England and Wales receiving the Standard Daily Living component who did not score at least four points in any of the 10 descriptors and had autism as their primary condition. There were 21,600 such claimants whose primary condition was a neurodivergent condition, including the 8,200 with autism.
We have defined Neurodivergent claimants as those with the following primary conditions:
- Autism
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- ADHD / ADD
- Tourette’s Syndrome
There may be other claimants with neurodivergent conditions as a primary or secondary condition, but these are not identifiable from the readily available data. Behavioural responses on the part of claimants and assessors to the reforms planned to take effect from November 2026 will affect the outcomes of award reviews undertaken after that date.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's report entitled The Buckland review of autism employment: report and recommendations, published 28 February 2024, how many recommendations of that report have been implemented.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The independent Buckland Review of Autism Employment reported to the last Government with recommendations to employers, third sector organisations and government on addressing barriers autistic people face when seeking and remaining in employment.
This was a valuable piece of work. This Government is committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity (as a more inclusive concept including autism, ADHD and other conditions, recognising that these co-occur for many neurodivergent people) in workplaces. We have launched a review by an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to build on the Buckland Review and advise on how we improve experiences for all neurodivergent people, including in recruitment and day to day workplace practices. Recommendations are expected in the summer.
Although we have set a more ambitious and inclusive scope by expanding beyond the focus of the Buckland Review, several of the recommendations specifically to Government are already in progress. These include working with employers to reform Disability Confident to improve the scheme's outcomes and realise its full potential, promoting and enhancing the visibility of the Support with Employee Health and Disability Service (SEHD), and launching our new Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, to support disabled people, those with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment to get into and stay in work. We have also collaborated with ACAS to promote updated neurodiversity guidance for employers.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to publish a target for the autism employment gap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the current disability employment gap. As set out in the King’s Speech last July, the government is committed to making the right to equal pay effective for ethnic minority and disabled people and introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers.
Addressing disability pay gaps will play a key role in boosting opportunity and household income for disabled people, as we deliver our programme for national renewal set out in the Plan for Change.
Disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting will provide transparency and vital data to help businesses identify and close pay gaps within their workforces. We also know that the current disability employment gap stands at 28 percentage points as of December 2024 and that for autistic people in particular the gap may be even more substantial.
We are committed to supporting all neurodivergent people in their employment journeys and reducing the employment gap, and on 29 January this year, we launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. Recommendations are due in the late summer.