Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
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 United Nations Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, published on 10 October 2024.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have considered the report. The Government has been clear since day one that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) must be upheld, and civilians protected. The UK supports Israel’s right to self-defence, but it must do this in accordance with international humanitarian law. The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Too many civilians have been killed and we need to prevent further bloodshed now. What is urgently needed is an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the upholding of international law, protection of civilians including a rapid increase in aid getting into Gaza, and a pathway to a two-state solution.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential correlation between poverty levels and the lower standard allowance of Universal Credit for those people under 25.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in London in receipt of Universal Credit are aged under 25.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Department regularly publishes Universal Credit statistics. Statistics of the number of people who are on Universal Credit each month, by age and region, are published monthly and are currently available to January 2024 on Stat-Xplore.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants aged under 25 have at least one child.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have received an award from the Windrush Compensation Scheme in each quarter since that Scheme was launched.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
An individual could have more than one claim under the Windrush Compensation Scheme Rules, for example as a primary claimant, close family member, or as a representative of an estate. In addition, a claim may receive a preliminary, interim and/or full and final payment.
Data on the total number of people who have received a compensation payment is not published. Transparency Data shows how many claims have received a payment under the scheme.
The latest published data, covering the period up to November 2023, is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2023. WCS_03 refers; Value of Windrush Compensation Scheme payments made.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department will accept donations of (a) toys for children at her Department 's short-term holding facilities and (b) funds for the express purpose of procuring toys for children staying at such facilities.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Under contractual arrangements Home Office has Mitie Care & Custod provides, toys and games are for children in Short-Term Holding Facilities (STHF).
All local authorities are under a mandatory duty to comply with the National Transfer Scheme, ensuring all local authorities play a part in caring for unaccompanied children and that responsibility is fairly distributed across the UK.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on whether residential buildings were built using RAAC; and how that information was established.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 197493 on 11 September 2023.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children are held in the Manston asylum processing centre as of 1 November 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Home Office does not hold the data in the format requested.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding has been allocated to North East London ICS to support with GP retention in 2022-23; and how much was spent in that ICS for that purpose in 2021-22.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
North East London Integrated Care System (NEL ICS) reports that in 2021/22, it was allocated £460,000 and spent £460,000 on projects across all 7 boroughs. Programmes last year included the introduction of mid-career fellowships, the development of peer support groups for GPs at different career stages and widening participation through Primary Care mentorship and work experience.
NEL ICS was allocated £460,000 for 2022/23, which will be invested in existing and new projects.
NHS England advises that a total of £1.9 million for GP retention schemes was allocated and spent by the ICS/CCGs in 2021/22 and £2.3 million allocated to the Integrated Care Board in 2022/23.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Labour - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve GP retention in the North East London ICS area.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
We are working with NHS England and Health Education England to increase the general practice workforce in England, including North East London. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new schemes, alongside continued support for existing recruitment and retention schemes for the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, the New to Partnership Payment and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. In 2021/22, we saw the highest ever number of doctors accepting a place on GP training - a record 4,000 trainees, up from 2,671 in 2014.