Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when her Department plans to answer a request for information, reference FOI 2023/23519, submitted on 1 November 2023 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by Mr Dan Wright.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The department attaches great importance to timely responses to FOIs and apologises for the exceptional delay in this case. The department is reviewing processes to mitigate the risk of a recurrence of late responses and will provide a full response no later than 3rd May on this case.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, with reference to the oral statement of 17 April 2024 on the Humanitarian situation in Gaza by the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how his Department called for a wholly independent review of the killing of the World Central Kitchen aid workers; and what (a) guarantees of independence and (b) investigatory powers he has sought.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As the Prime Minister said in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 2 April, the UK was appalled by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli airstrike on 1 April. The Prime Minister called for a thorough and transparent investigation into what happened. Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have stressed the importance of effective deconfliction.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department are working on the science and technology skills dashboard.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The science and technology jobs and skills dashboard has been developed by the department’s Unit for Future Skills alongside science and technology policy experts in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is expected to be published in due course. Once the dashboard is published, the expectation is for it to take less than one full time-equivalent staff member to maintain and develop further.