Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to establish a Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion and Belief on a statutory footing.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government will champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all abroad. No one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe in. Envoy roles will be decided upon in due course. There are currently no plans to legislate on Envoy roles during this parliamentary session. We continue to use the strength of our global diplomatic network, including dedicated staff within the FCDO, to promote and protect FoRB around the world.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of calls to establish an international commission of inquiry into religious persecution and violence in (a) Nigeria and (b) other severely affected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. No one should live in fear because of what they do, or do not believe in. We work to uphold the right to FoRB multilaterally, including through our position at the UN, and bilaterally. The UK Government remains committed to supporting Nigeria to address ongoing security challenges, including violent extremism and intercommunal violence, which continue to impinge on the rights of Nigerians to FoRB.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether it is his policy to support the establishment of an international commission of inquiry by the UN on religious persecution in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to champion freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. No one should live in fear because of what they do, or do not believe in. We work to uphold the right to FoRB multilaterally, including through our position at the UN, and bilaterally. The UK Government remains committed to supporting Nigeria to address ongoing security challenges, including violent extremism and intercommunal violence, which continue to impinge on the rights of Nigerians to FoRB.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking in response to concerns of former employees of Atomic Energy Agency Technology regarding a redress of their pension.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report on the AEAT Pension case in June 2023, which made several recommendations for the government. This work was halted due to the general election and the new government will now consider it.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the study entitled Risk of all-cause and cardiac-related mortality after vaccination against COVID-19: A meta-analysis of self-controlled case series studies, published on 3 August 2023.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All vaccines used in the United Kingdom are only authorised once they have met the robust standards of effectiveness, safety, and quality set by the UK’s independent regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The monitoring of vaccine safety does not stop once a vaccine has been approved. Whilst no specific assessment has been made of this study, the MHRA continuously monitors safety data from a range of sources including Yellow Card reports, interim and final study reports for clinical trials, post-authorisation safety studies, and data from scientific literature.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service enforces parent (a) compliance and (b) payment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a paying parent fails to pay on time or in full, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to take immediate action to recover the debt and re-establish compliance. If this is unsuccessful and the paying parent is employed, the CMS will use a Deductions from Earnings Order (DEO) to take payment directly from their wages.
The CMS also has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children.
The Department plans to enhance effectiveness in collecting arrears payments by delivering changes via regulations to streamline the enforcement process. This will remove the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order, and instead allow the Secretary of State to issue an administrative liability order. Introducing this simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the cost to the public purse for hospital food in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the cost of inpatient food services, as well as other patient food services, in England over the last five years:
Year | Inpatient food service costs | Other patient food service costs |
2022/23 | £750,600,000 | £126,000,000 |
2021/22 | £660,200,000 | £89,700,000 |
2020/21 | £617,800,000 | £35,300,000 |
2019/20 | £630,500,000 | N/A |
2018/19 | £633,800,000 | N/A |
Source: the NHS Digital Estates Return Information Collection, published December 2023, available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/estates-returns-information-collection/england-2022-23
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in Tatton constituency will lose entitlement to winter fuel payments as a result of the proposed changes.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
To be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payment statistics, the Pension Credit data that has been used is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024.
It is estimated that around 18,200 pensioners in Tatton constituency (2010 boundary) will be impacted by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-xplore and the Winter Fuel Payment statistics for Winter 2022 to 2023 which are available via GOV.UK.
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of people claiming Pension Credit in Tatton constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients in Tatton constituency. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients who are not claiming Pension Credit pre-policy change, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
Please note that the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up that we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or Local Authorities.
The published Pension Credit figures refer to households rather than individuals, so the number of individuals receiving Pension Credit will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
In addition, while Pension Credit claimants constitute the majority of those that will be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, pensioners who claim other qualifying means-tested benefits will also be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. It is not, however, possible to include those on other qualifying means-tested benefits in these figures.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish the legal advice upon which he relied to block arms exports to Israel.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has published a summary of the international humanitarian law (IHL) process, used to assess and review Israel's compliance with IHL. This summary was informed by legal advice, and alongside the Foreign Secretary's Oral Statement, it outlines the decision and instances where we have deemed there are risks that UK arms might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL. This shows an unprecedented level of transparency about a decision of this nature.[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summary-of-the-international-humanitarian-law-ihl-process-decision-and-the-factors-taken-into-account#:~:text=The%20government%20has%20conducted%20a%20thorough%20review%20of%20Israel%E2%80%99s%20compliance].
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister in response to the question from the hon. Member Bolton South and Walkden of 4 September 2024, Official Report, which new Primodos scientific publication is being reviewed; and which team will conduct the review.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain hugely sympathetic to the families who believe that they have suffered due to the use of hormone pregnancy tests (HPTs). The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), together with the wider Government, have committed to review any new scientific evidence which comes to light since the conclusions of the 2017 independent Expert Working Group, convened by the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM).
This includes the publication by Danielsson et al, which is currently under review by the MHRA, and independent advice will be sought by our advisory body, the CHM, who will provide their expert advice on our assessment of this. The minutes and outcome of the CHM’s discussion, including any further regulatory action identified, will be communicated and publicly available through GOV.UK website at the earliest opportunity.