Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on assessing whether silent prayer is taking place during public protests or gatherings whereby that action may constitute a breach of the law.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not issued any guidance to police forces on the topic of silent prayer.
The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent from Government.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance she has issued to police forces on ensuring that their methods of assessing silent prayer respect individuals' rights to freedom of (a) thought, (b) conscience and (c) religion.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not issued any guidance to police forces on the topic of silent prayer.
The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent from Government.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the Government is taking to increase the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure in Northern Ireland, in the context of recent ransomware attacks in the last 12 months.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring the security and resilience of the UK's telecommunications infrastructure. The Telecommunications (Security) Act 2021 introduced a robust security framework throughout the United Kingdom and requires public telecoms providers to identify, reduce, and prepare for security and resilience risks, including ransomware attacks. Ofcom is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with this framework. The Government keeps its telecoms security and resilience policies under constant review to ensure evolving risks to UK telecommunications networks are effectively mitigated.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the treatment of Uighur peoples in Xinjiang, China.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. These concerns were raised directly by the Foreign Secretary on his recent visit to China. We continue to coordinate efforts with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations, for example, joining a statement led by Australia on China's human rights situation at the UN Third Committee on 22 October.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Chinese government on the treatment of Uighur peoples in Xinjiang.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. These concerns were raised directly by the Foreign Secretary on his recent visit to China. We continue to coordinate efforts with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations, for example, joining a statement led by Australia on China's human rights situation at the UN Third Committee on 22 October.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) scale and (b) nature of the persecution and murder of Christians in Nigeria.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Terrorist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa have sought to undermine the right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) by attacking those who do not subscribe to their extremist views, including both Christians and Muslims. These incidents are distinct from the ongoing intercommunal violence across Nigeria. The root causes of this violence are complex, and whilst religious identity can play a role, so can loss of economic opportunity, competition over land and natural resources, disruption to traditional ways of life created by environmental degradation, and historical grievances. The precise scale of people killed in attacks in Nigeria recently remains uncertain, particularly as not all attacks are reported to local authorities.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to improve cross-border cooperation on tackling (a) organised crime and (b) paramilitary activities in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The UK and Irish Governments work together to tackle security challenges and keep people on both sides of the border safe. The UK Government has regular discussions with the Irish Government on a range of issues, including cross-border security.
Non national security criminal justice matters are a matter for the devolved Department of Justice. The Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) on Cooperation on Criminal Justice Matters provides a mechanism for the Northern Ireland Justice Minister to meet her counterpart in the Irish Government to discuss matters of shared concern.
The NI Executive leads on tackling paramilitarism in Northern Ireland and the UK Government jointly funds the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime (EPPOC). EPPOC aims to create safer communities, resilient to paramilitarism, criminality and coercive control by tackling paramilitary activity in all its forms.
I commend the PSNI and An Garda Síochána for their work in keeping people on both sides of the border safe, including the work of the cross border Joint Agency Task Force (JATF) which was established to tackle organised and cross jurisdictional crime.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many firearm licenses have been revoked in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Policing and justice are devolved matters. The control of firearms in Northern Ireland is exercised by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Figures relating to firearm licence revocations are held by the PSNI.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many firearms have been registered in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Policing and justice are devolved matters. The control of firearms in Northern Ireland is exercised by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Figures relating to firearm registration are held by the PSNI.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average cost per patient for palliative care was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included on the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) in England must commission. It is difficult to quantify the total provision of, or spend on, palliative and end of life care at either a national or local ICB level because it is delivered every day by a wide range of specialist and generalist health and care workers providing care for a wide range of needs that include, but are not always exclusive to, palliative care.
That care is provided across multiple settings, including in primary care, community care, in hospitals, in hospices, in care homes, and in people’s own homes. Therefore, not all palliative and end of life care will be recorded or coded as such.