Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to fund a financial incentives scheme to help pregnant women to stop smoking during this Parliament.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. In England, the Government is funding a broad package of measures to support current smokers to quit, including the National Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme. The future settlement for the scheme will be confirmed in due course.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will review eligibility rules to allow grandparents to take out share based ISAs for grandchildren.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
To ensure that the Junior Individual Savings Accounts (JISA) regime remains simple and sustainable, HMRC specify who can open and manage an account to prevent more than one JISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error. It also ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Given the nature of the role, the ISA rules require this to be someone with parental responsibility for the child. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild but can add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year.
The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of occupational and state pension payments on eligibility for Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 14 October 2024 to question UIN 6904, this outlines the interaction between Carer’s Allowance and State Pension. Personal pensions paid to the carer are not treated as earnings and therefore do not affect their Carer’s Allowance award. Some contributions to personal pensions can be deducted from earnings so as to calculate the net earnings figure for Carer’s Allowance purposes.
Social security is a transferred matter in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with funding bodies on the potential implications for their policies of reports of a recently released hostage having been held in UNRWA premises.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government is relieved about the release of hostages, including that of Ms. Damari, and hope all others will also soon return safely to their families. Reports that hostages have been held in United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) premises are very concerning. We welcome the fact that UNRWA has said that they take all allegations extremely seriously, and there should be independent investigations into any misuse of its facilities by Palestinian armed militants, including Hamas. We also note UNRWA's statement that it was forced to vacate all its installations in the north of Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, on 13 October 2023. Following Catherine Colonna's Independent Review, UNRWA set out an action plan with detailed management reforms. As a result, we are assured that UNRWA is taking action to ensure it maintains the highest standards of neutrality. As the Minister for Development told the House on 28 January, she has discussed the issue of neutrality with UNRWA's leadership, including directly with Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. She also spoke to UNRWA staff members on their work to implement the recommendations of the Colonna report during her visit to the region on 3-5 December. A Memorandum of Understanding governs UK financial support to UNRWA. We continue to monitor UNRWA's activity through due diligence and annual assessments.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has funded the BBC Media Action charity in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The BBC Media Action charity has not received funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in any of the last five years. Sources of funding for BBC Media Action can be found in their annual reports.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an estimate of future trends in the level of prostate cancer rates up to May 2028.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will hold discussions with his NATO counterparts on the potential merits of seeking financial contributions from non-NATO countries who are advantaged by their immediate proximity to NATO countries.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
NATO partnerships are key for the Alliance in helping promote and maintain global security. They are mutually beneficial and enable NATO and partners to develop and strengthen unity on key issues, including support to Ukraine, and uphold the rules-based international order. The UK has championed NATO’s global outlook and will continue to do so.
All NATO Allies have signed up to the Washington Treaty and the principle of collective defence. As part this commitment, Allies contribute to NATO’s common funding in support of the Alliance’s objectives, priorities and tasks. In line with NATO’s Defence Investment Pledge, all Allies agreed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defence – a figure the UK has exceeded every year since 2006. We continue to encourage all Allies to do so.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what outcomes there were through Innovate UK's Launchpad initiative in Northern Ireland in 2024.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK has allocated up to £7.5 million for the Life and Health Sciences Launchpad in Northern Ireland. An initial allocation of funding was made to 14 business-led projects in April 2024. 18 additional projects targeting early-stage businesses in this cluster were funded in summer 2024. Competitions are currently in planning to allocate the remaining Launchpad funds.
Innovate UK is evaluating the impact of all the Launchpads, including the one in Northern Ireland. It will publish interim findings from early 2027 via UKRI’s public website. A full impact evaluation will subsequently report from late 2028.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Launchpad Initiative in Northern Ireland by Innovate UK on the life and health sciences sector.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK Launchpads is an £80 million programme that builds on local innovation strengths to support emerging clusters of SMEs to deliver jobs, growth, and high productivity. For each Launchpad, Innovate UK invests up to £7.5 million for business-led innovation projects.
The Northern Ireland Launchpad is dedicated to the advancement of healthcare solutions and medical breakthroughs. Innovate UK has appointed independent consultants to evaluate the impact of this and the other Launchpads and will publish interim findings from early 2027 via UKRI’s public website. A full impact evaluation will report from late 2028.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish the (a) guarantees, (b) insurance policies and (c) loans issued by UK Export Finance to businesses in Northern Ireland in 2024.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) produces audited details of businesses supported each financial year as part of its transparency protocols.
Details of all UKEF support for businesses for 2023/24 and previous years can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-business-supported
The corresponding return of all businesses supported during financial year 2024/25 will be published in the summer.
UKEF does not publish a breakdown by UK nations and regions.