Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether science and discovery centres fall within the remit of her Department.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Science and discovery centres are vital assets across local communities nationwide. Given the breadth of their mission, they do not fall under the exclusive purview of a single government department. Their work contributes significantly to the objectives of several departments, including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
While their full scope extends beyond DCMS's direct remit, key aspects align closely with DCMS policy areas, such as the visitor economy, youth, and museums. For these areas, DCMS takes ownership over their respective policy domain, while collaborating closely with other government departments to support these institutions.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85760 on Visas: Digital Technology, when the eVisa error form was introduced; and how many of those forms have been received.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Between 1st November 2024 and 12th December 2024 customers could use the former Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) error form to report issues to UKVI on both their eVisa and their BRPs. A standalone eVisa error correction webform was then rolled out by UK Visas and Immigration on 12th December 2024.
The Department publishes a range of data on its digital status programme and will be, in due course, publishing management information on the volumes of eVisa error corrections webforms received.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Ambitions framework aligns with the NHS 10 Year Health Plan in the context of (a) the shift to neighbourhood health services, (b) integrated care and (c) preventative models of care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Ambitions Framework aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan in several ways, including both the foundations on which the framework is built, and the associated six ambitions. For example, the shift to neighbourhood health services aligns to education and training, community partnerships, population-based needs assessment, continuity partnership, and compassionate and resilient communities referenced in the Ambitions Framework.
Ambition 1, that each person is seen as an individual, specifically references integrated care as a key building block, with alignment also clear with regards to shared records, personalised care and support planning, access to social care, inclusion of specialist level care, and ensuring an overall system approach. Finally, preventative models of care for palliative care and end of life care are not curative, but improve quality of life, preventing avoidable escalations of need, including emergency care.
Therefore, alignment between the 10-Year Health Plan and the Ambitions Framework can be seen in the specific reference to rehabilitative palliative care and further complemented through 24/7 access, using new technology and improved use of existing and new data. Importantly, the Ambitions Framework was first published in 2015 and is due to be refreshed in 2026, providing further opportunity to align where appropriate.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 85759 on Imports: Israel, how his Department determines whether there are doubts about the declared origin of goods.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HMRC takes a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to customs enforcement but does not provide specific details regarding checks, as it may serve to undermine compliance activity.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many British nationals are serving in the Israeli Defence Forces.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to the question 44556 on 23 April 2025.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment has she made of the implications for her policies of the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner press release entitled “More than a human can bear”: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023, published on 13 March 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians by Israeli forces are extremely concerning. We unequivocally condemn sexual violence in Palestine, in Israel, and wherever it occurs in the world. The UK has consistently called for all reports, to be fully investigated to ensure justice for victims and survivors. We continue to call on Israel to fully enable the UN and its agencies to deliver their mandate in Palestine, including allowing the UN and partners to implement protection programmes for survivors of gender-based violence and vulnerable groups.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Department has spent on dental research in each of the last three years.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Between the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years, the NIHR directly spent £18.2 million on research projects and programmes on dentistry research. The following table shows the spend on dentistry research, to the nearest £100,000, from 2022/23 to 2024/25 and in total over that period:
Financial year | Spend |
2022/2023 | £5.1 million |
2023/2024 | £7.1 million |
2024/2025 | £6.1 million |
Total | £18.2 million |
The Department, through the NIHR, also funds clinical academic training for doctors and dentists through the Integrated Academic Training Programme. This includes Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACFs) at the pre-doctoral level and Clinical Lectureships (CLs) at the post-doctoral level. From 2022 to 2024, 53 ACFs and 15 CLs were recruited in dentistry, with an estimated total value of over £14 million across the duration of the awards.
In addition, investments in NIHR infrastructure, not included in the figures above, support the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research that is funded by the NIHR’s research programmes, other public funders of research, charities, and the life sciences industry. This has supported the delivery of over 50 studies and the recruitment of over 12,000 participants in research under the specialty area of oral and dental health in the last three financial years.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dental research. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who is responsible for the (a) national and (b) regional (i) adoption and (ii) spread of health innovation within the NHS; and what role the Health Innovation Network and Integrated Care Systems play in this process.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the NHS Act 2006, NHS England has a statutory duty to promote innovation in the provision of health services. The Health and Care Act 2022 extends this duty to each integrated care board (ICB), requiring them to promote innovation as part of their planning and commissioning responsibilities.
Nationally, NHS England supports the adoption and spread of innovation through programmes such as the NHS Innovation Service, Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme, and the NHS Innovation Accelerator. NHS England also works alongside the Department and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) to develop national policy and coordinate action to strengthen the health innovation ecosystem.
Innovation is a central theme of both the 10-Year Health Plan and the Life Sciences Sector Plan. The latter sets out specific actions and assigns senior responsible officers across NHS England, the Department, OLS, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, reflecting the shared national responsibility for supporting innovation.
Regionally, Health Innovation Networks (HINs), commissioned by NHS England and OLS, support the adoption and spread of innovations across England through, but not limited to, building capacity to serve integrated care system (ICS) needs, supporting ICSs with the roll-out of national innovation programmes, real-world evaluation, and supporting local-to-national adoption. Each HIN serves its local population but also works as part of a network to share learning and support the spread of innovation across England.
Ultimately, ICBs and National Health Service providers are the commissioners of services. They decide whether to procure new products, services, or technologies based on local priorities, evidence of benefit, affordability, and alignment with system plans.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with which countries does the UK operate international science partnership funds; and how much and what proportion of the funding for the partnership with Japan is from (a) public and (b) private sources and (i) domestic and (ii) foreign contributors.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The International Science Partnership Fund currently operates in:
United States of America, Japan, Canada, India, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, Israel, Taiwan, China, Ireland, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Denmark, and Latvia (non-ODA)
South Africa, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Philippines, Vietnam, Turkey, and Ghana (ODA)
Information on spend in Japan is not provided under the exemptions in the Ministerial Code that cover information that is not currently held and where there would be a disproportionate cost to gaining it.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with science and discovery centres on their financial resilience since the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises the important role these centres play in engaging the public with science and inspiring young people. As set out in the answer of 29 October 2025 to Question 84033, Minister Vallance has followed up with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to explore a coordinated approach to supporting these centres. I refer my honourable friend to that answer for further detail.