To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Israel: Arms Trade
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether there are pending applications for arms export licences for arms to Israel.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023. Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 July - 30 September 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October - 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.


Written Question
Gaza: Israel
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent assessment the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Compliance Assessment Process has made of (a) Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law and (b) its past record of compliance with IHL.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We have previously assessed that Israel is committed and capable of complying with International Humanitarian Law. We regularly review our assessment.

The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We regularly publish data on export licensing decisions on the dedicated gov.uk site: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data. That data covers export licensing decisions made to the end of June 2023. Information regarding export licensing decisions made since 1 July 2023 has not yet been published.


Written Question
Israel: Arms Trade
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what is the value of the (a) 28 extant and (b) 28 pending arms export licences to Israel identified in the Change of Circumstances review in 2023.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We have previously assessed that Israel is committed and capable of complying with International Humanitarian Law. We regularly review our assessment.

The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We regularly publish data on export licensing decisions on the dedicated gov.uk site: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data. That data covers export licensing decisions made to the end of June 2023. Information regarding export licensing decisions made since 1 July 2023 has not yet been published.


Written Question
Arms Trade: Israel
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether there are pending applications for arms export licences for arms to Israel as of 19 March 2024.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.

The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023.

Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 July – 30 September 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October – 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.


Written Question
Disposable Wipes: Plastics
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the report on the plastic in wet wipes consultation.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Following the public consultation on the proposed ban of wet wipes containing plastic, Defra has been working with the Welsh Government, Scottish Government and NI Executive to prepare a UK-wide Government response. This will be published this Spring.


Written Question
Disposable Wipes: Plastics
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason has the results of the consultation on plastic in wet wipes not yet been published.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We have been working closely with the Devolved Administrations to publish a UK-wide Government Response and agree a joined-up approach to the proposed ban across the UK. Our shared goal is to deliver a ban that is effective and proportionate. The UK-wide Government Response will be published this Spring.


Written Question
Sudan: Democracy and Human Rights
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of international coordination on supporting peace, human rights and democracy in Sudan.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted the UK-led resolution 2724, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan during Ramadan. This resolution supports the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, to co-ordinate regional peace efforts. We continue to call on Sudan’s warring parties to commit to a meaningful peace process that will deliver the stability the Sudanese people deserve.


Written Question
Children: Social Media
Monday 11th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent assessment the Government has made of the impact of (a) smartphone and (b) social media use by under 16s on their (i) mental health and (ii) safety.

Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government is committed to making the UK the safest place to be a child online, as evidenced by the landmark Online Safety Act.

Harmful and age-inappropriate online content and activity can be particularly damaging for children. That is why the Online Safety Act places robust, much-needed responsibilities on technology companies – including social media platforms, search services and other services which host user-generated content – to keep all users, but particularly children, safe online.

In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers noted that the available research did not present evidence of a causal relationship between screen-based activities and mental health problems; however, some research found associations between screen-based activities and negative effects such as increased risk of anxiety or depression.

The government is committed to ensuring that children have a positive experience online, using the internet for connecting with peers, as well as to access educational resources, information, and entertainment.


Written Question
Poverty: Families
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Government has taken to ensure that families living in poverty in the UK have sufficient (a) food (b) energy and (c) basic household goods.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.

Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024. We are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.

With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that, in 2021/22, children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.

Our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to help people into work, including face-to-face time with Work Coaches and targeted employment support. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.

To further help parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours, the Government is providing additional support with upfront childcare costs. We have also increased the childcare costs that parents on Universal Credit can claim back by nearly 50%, up to £951 a month for one child and £1,630 for two or more children.

As announced in Spring Budget, £500m of additional funding also enables the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.


Written Question
Chad and Sudan: Humanitarian Aid
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the impact of the halting of cross-border humanitarian operations on (a) the delivery of UK aid to Sudanese refugees in Chad and (b) those displaced within Sudan.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK condemns in the strongest terms the decision of the de facto authorities to stop humanitarian personnel and supplies from entering Sudan from Chad. The UK will do all we can to press for this further serious restriction on humanitarian access to be urgently lifted. On 27 February, the UK called the UN Security Council to convene for a closed consultation in response to this issue. We used this opportunity to condemn the decision and called for the re-instatement of permission for humanitarian supplies and workers to cross from Chad as well as for crossline access from Port Sudan into areas of Sudan under control of the Rapid Support Forces. We are currently urgently reviewing UKAid that may be affected to ensure our aid can still reach those in need. Given further increased risk of famine in Darfur as a result of this decision, we have also been urging the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to make a formal warning of the risk of famine in Sudan, through the issuance of a White Note under UNSC Resolution 2417.