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, with reference to the US Executive Order entitled Unleashing America’s Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources, published on 24 April 2025, whether he is taking steps to advance a global moratorium on deep-sea mining as a member of the International Seabed Authority.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government notes the US Executive Order on 'Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources'. The UK is a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and is committed to the continued work of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to finalise the draft exploitation Regulations. The UK supports a moratorium on the granting of exploitation licences for deep sea mining by the ISA until there is sufficient scientific evidence to assess the potential impact of deep-sea mining on marine life, and until the ISA adopts robust, enforceable regulations. This is a matter for all member States to consider carefully, and the UK will continue to engage actively at the ISA Council and Assembly in July.
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 the allocated budget is for the smokefree pregnancy incentive scheme for the year 2025-26.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme has a budget of £5.8 million for the financial year 2025/26, with future settlements being considered as part of the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, If he will take steps to ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on biological sex in Government department workplaces.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We welcome the ruling and the clarity it brings for women, and service providers.
We will review and update policy wherever necessary to ensure it complies with the latest legal requirements.
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.