Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Government of China concerning the reported police raid on Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu on 14 June 2026, and what assessment she has made of restrictions on unregistered Protestant churches in China.

Answered by Seema Malhotra

Reports of further raids on churches in China are deeply concerning, and the environment for freedom of religion or belief across China remains restrictive. The Government champions freedom of religion or belief for all abroad. We work to uphold these rights through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora, and through bilateral engagement. The Prime Minister raised human rights when he met President Xi Jinping in January.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 7 July 2026 to Question 13788 on Migraines: Drugs, whether NHS England's processes for reviewing and identifying themes from Prevention of Future Deaths reports have identified (a) propranolol toxicity and (b) psychiatric adverse drug reactions associated with migraine preventive medicines as a theme.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

Individuals or organisations receiving a coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report have a statutory obligation to respond to the report and a deadline of 56 days to do so.

NHS England has processes in place to review and consider learning from PFD reports relevant to National Health Services. PFD reports may be considered alongside information from a range of sources, including patient safety incident data, clinical evidence, coroner recommendations, and medicines safety information from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Where PFD reports identify concerns relating to medicines, including potential toxicity or psychiatric adverse effects associated with preventive migraine treatments, these issues can inform patient safety activity and service improvement work as appropriate. The MHRA is responsible for monitoring the safety of medicines in the United Kingdom through the Yellow Card scheme and other pharmacovigilance processes, and works with partners across the health system to identify and assess emerging safety signals. NHS England and healthcare providers are expected to have regard to relevant safety advice issued by the MHRA.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the total number of supported accommodation places available (a) overall and (b) specifically designed for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness in England.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The most recent assessment of supported housing stock was published on 4 November 2024 in the Supported Housing Review 2023. This research estimated that in 2023 there were approximately 535,400 units of supported housing in England, and of that total 51,400 units were for single people experiencing homelessness and 24,900 units for families experiencing homelessness. The report is published on gov.uk here.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of psychotherapy and counselling not being under statutory regulation on public protection; and whether his Department plans to introduce such regulation.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) operates a voluntary registry programme, which provides a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions. This sits between employer controls and statutory regulation by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for unregulated health and social care occupations, such as counselling and psychotherapy. There are currently 10 organisations linked to the counselling profession, and eight organisations linked to the psychotherapy profession, listed on the PSA’s website as holding an accredited register.

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulates the arts therapist profession, which has four protected titles linked to it: art psychotherapist; art therapist; drama therapist; and music therapist. The HCPC also regulates the practitioner psychologist profession, which has nine protected titles relating to the profession: practitioner psychologist; registered psychologist; clinical psychologist; forensic psychologist; counselling psychologist; health psychologist; educational psychologist; occupational psychologist; and sport and exercise psychologist.

The Department has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to the counselling and psychotherapy professions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment the Department has made of the potential impact of psychotherapy and counselling remaining outside statutory regulation on public protection, in the context that other psychological professionals, including psychology, art therapy and music therapy, are subject to statutory regulation; and whether the Department has plans to help tackle this.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is clear that the professions protected in law must be the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight must be proportionate to the risks to the public.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) operates a voluntary registry programme, which provides a proportionate means of assurance for unregulated professions. This sits between employer controls and statutory regulation by setting standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for unregulated health and social care occupations, such as counselling and psychotherapy. There are currently 10 organisations linked to the counselling profession, and eight organisations linked to the psychotherapy profession, listed on the PSA’s website as holding an accredited register.

The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) regulates the arts therapist profession, which has four protected titles linked to it: art psychotherapist; art therapist; drama therapist; and music therapist. The HCPC also regulates the practitioner psychologist profession, which has nine protected titles relating to the profession: practitioner psychologist; registered psychologist; clinical psychologist; forensic psychologist; counselling psychologist; health psychologist; educational psychologist; occupational psychologist; and sport and exercise psychologist.

The Department has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to the counselling and psychotherapy professions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanism exists for psychiatric adverse drug reaction signals, including Yellow Card reports and Prevention of Future Deaths reports, to be considered in national migraine prescribing guidance, pathway design and medicines safety assurance.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The safety of medicines is closely monitored through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) pharmacovigilance system. Reports submitted through the Yellow Card Scheme are used by the MHRA to identify and investigate potential adverse drug reaction signals, including psychiatric adverse effects. Where a safety concern is identified, the MHRA can take regulatory action and communicate new safety information to healthcare professionals and patients.

National clinical guidance and care pathways are informed by the best available evidence, including emerging medicines safety information. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence keeps its guidance under review and considers new evidence and safety information when determining whether recommendations should be updated. Medicines safety concerns may also be considered through National Health Service medicines governance and patient safety processes.

Coroners’ Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports provide an important source of patient safety learning. NHS England has established processes to review, analyse, and identify themes arising from PFD reports and to escalate issues where further action is required. Learning from PFD reports can, therefore, inform wider patient safety improvement work, including service design and clinical practice where relevant.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to project 5 titled Neuronal Basis of Somatosensorial and Pathological Pain listed in the non-technical summaries for project licences granted between January and March 2026 requiring retrospective assessment, published in June 2026, whether she plans to end the approval of licences for experiments that involve causing pain to animals.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances understanding of significant public health challenges, including chronic pain. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how nerve cells in the spinal cord contribute to the perception of touch and pain. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to support the development of new, more specific targets for interventions to alleviate a variety of pain conditions.

All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised. The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.

The Government has a long-term vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances. The Government’s published strategy, Replacing animals in science, is backed by £75 million in funding, and contains commitments to accelerate the development and regulatory acceptance of non-animal alternatives, including the creation of a UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (UKCVAM).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to project 4 titled Neural mechanisms of cognition listed in the non-technical summaries for project licences granted between January and March 2026 requiring retrospective assessment, published in June 2026, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of invasive brain research on non-human primates.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances the understanding of major public health challenges. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how brain cells, together with brain chemicals, support key mental processes including learning, memory, planning and decision-making. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to aid the development of therapies for neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression, addiction and dementia.

All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised. The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Care Quality Commission's assessment framework requires providers to evidence medicines safety checks for psychiatric history, psychotropic medication use and previous psychiatric adverse drug reactions when prescribing neurological treatments with psychiatric warnings and contraindications.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Single assessment framework includes a quality statement that requires service providers to ensure medicines and treatments are safe and meet people’s needs and preferences by enabling them to be involved in planning, including when changes to treatment and medication happen.

People’s medicines should be appropriately prescribed, supplied, and administered in line with relevant legislation or national guidance, and in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Accurate and up-to-date information about people’s medicines should also be available and there should be appropriate arrangements for the safe management, use, and oversight of controlled drugs.

The CQC expects all medicines to be prescribed appropriately and that the prescriber has the necessary information about the patient to do so safely, which includes previous responses to medicines such as adverse drug reactions. Patients should be fully informed of the risks with any treatment, including any potential side effects.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England's neurology service specifications require providers to include structured mental health and medication safety fields in headache referral, assessment and prescribing templates.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

NHS England’s service specification for adult neurology sets out the overall standards and outcomes expected of providers. The specification makes clear that providers should deliver a holistic assessment and management approach for people with neurological conditions, including headache disorders. This includes appropriate consideration of co-existing mental health needs, safe and effective use of medicines, and adherence to relevant national guidance. Providers are expected to have robust arrangements for medicines optimisation and medication safety, including the identification and management of issues such as medication overuse in headache.

Clinical practice should also be informed by guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, including guidance on headaches, which supports comprehensive assessment, the identification of medication overuse, and safe prescribing. Integrated care boards, as commissioners of services, are responsible for ensuring that local pathways and clinical processes reflect these expectations and support high-quality, safe, and patient-centred care.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the consistency of HM Government's application of targeted measures to (a) Israeli settlers and settlement-linked entities in the West Bank and (b) Turkish settlers and Turkish-linked entities in occupied Northern Cyprus; and what steps she has taken to apply the existing Cyprus sanctions framework to entities involved in Turkish settlement activity in Northern Cyprus.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has announced four rounds of sanctions since February 2024 against individuals and groups responsible for the violent expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, and against others responsible for inciting that violence. In each case, this has been done as a direct response to specific violent acts committed by the individuals and groups in question, or repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians.

We are not aware of any allegations of an equivalent nature against individuals and groups in the north of Cyprus, but the UK will continue to take decisions on sanctions designations on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the relevant legal framework and statutory requirements.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether an equality impact assessment under the Public Sector Equality Duty was completed before each of HM Government's decisions to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers and settlement-linked entities in 2025 and 2026.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has announced four rounds of sanctions since February 2024 against individuals and groups responsible for the violent expansion of illegal Israeli settlements, and against others responsible for inciting that violence. In each case, this has been done as a direct response to specific violent acts committed by the individuals and groups in question, or repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian civilians.

We are not aware of any allegations of an equivalent nature against individuals and groups in the north of Cyprus, but the UK will continue to take decisions on sanctions designations on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the relevant legal framework and statutory requirements.

Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has of the impact of the provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 on the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)

The Government, in consultation with experts and business, has published 29 Impact Assessments which comprehensively outline the expected impacts of the Employment Rights Act: Employment Rights Act 2025: impact assessments - GOV.UK.

Our analysis shows that the Employment Rights Act will help increase employment and benefit over 18 million workers, with young workers being some of the largest beneficiaries of the Act.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance has the Department issued to local authorities on the mechanisms for scrutinise Housing Benefit claims in the period prior to the implementation of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

Whilst DWP has responsibility for overall Housing Benefit policy and legislation, local authorities have statutory responsibility for the day-to-day administration and assessment of Housing Benefit claims.

The existing Housing Benefit guidance for supported housing claims provides advice for local authorities on how to assess and process Housing Benefit claims. We will be updating this manual early next year to reflect the measures being implemented within the Act.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost of establishing and operating a dedicated, multilingual hotline for reporting transnational repression, staffed by personnel trained in state threats; and how that cost compares to the annual cost of the Defending Democracy Taskforce.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Government is committed to ensuring that individuals who may be victims of transnational repression (TNR) can report concerns with confidence, and that those reports are handled effectively across policing. While it would not be appropriate to comment on individual security arrangements, support is always threat‑led and tailored to the specific circumstances of each case.

Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is embedding a national reporting model to ensure that cases indicating potential foreign state involvement are identified and escalated to specialist teams. This is supported by training and guidance available to all forces, including call handlers, to recognise indicators of TNR.

Our understanding of TNR is informed by multiple sources, including engagement with victims and civil society (which continues at ministerial and official level), to ensure policy remains evidence led and proportionate.

The Government, in consultation with CTP, has assessed that existing reporting channels, including 101 and 999, are well established, operate 24/7, and allow for effective triage by trained professionals with onward referral to specialist teams. Language support, including translation services, is embedded within these mechanisms, and work is ongoing to ensure interpreters can support the accurate identification of TNR cases.

Memorial plaque for Ann Widdecombe

Found: Committee Room 5 [ND46] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman

Found: Macmillan Room, PCH Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman

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Found: Committee Room 5 [ND42] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman

Found: Alberto Costa Mary Glindon Navendu Mishra Tessa Munt Apologies: Alex Barros-Curtis, Bob Blackman

Found: Committee Room 5 [ND45] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman

Found: meeting held on 10 February at 10.00am in the Committee Room 6 [ND40] Members present: Bob Blackman

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Found: Glindon Carolyn Harris Navendu Mishra Kirsteen Sullivan Apologies: Alex Barros-Curtis, Bob Blackman

Found: Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman Bambos Charalambous

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Found: Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Mr Alex Barros- Curtis Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Bob Blackman (Chair); Jonathan Davies; Mary Glindon; Alison Hume;

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Bob Blackman (Chair); Jonathan Davies; Mary Glindon; Will Stone;