Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to mediate tensions between the Governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is deeply concerned by the renewed conflict in northern Ethiopia and the implications across the Horn of Africa. We call on all parties to end hostilities, respect international humanitarian law, allow safe and unhindered humanitarian access, and return to dialogue under African Union-led mediation.
Ministers and senior officials have engaged with Ethiopia and Eritrea to call for restraint and de-escalation. We are also coordinating closely with the African Union, United Nations and international partners. On 14 October the UK released a statement which called for "all parties to respect the sovereignty… of all countries in the region". This followed a statement on 24 September condemning attacks by the Tigray Defence Forces.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department has taken to provide education and training to those who will be delivering the Healthy Babies programme, including on infant feeding.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies guidance sets expectations for local authorities to develop and maintain a confident and skilled workforce, supported through ongoing professional development and multi-agency learning. For infant feeding specifically, local systems are expected to take a strategic, collaborative approach to developing a skilled and knowledgeable infant feeding workforce, with appropriate and accredited training at a range of levels, including trained peer supporters.
National support includes a freely available e-learning package for the early years and health workforce on the links between breastfeeding and perinatal mental health, providing tools and guidance to support practical, person-centred care.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of the legal advice provided to asylum claimants and foreign national offenders during immigration cases.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has not undertaken a specific assessment of the adequacy of legal advice provided to asylum claimants and foreign national offenders in immigration cases.
Reported cases in which immigration advice may have fallen below expected standards are concerning and underline the important role of the relevant regulators in maintaining standards and investigating misconduct. Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, immigration advisers must be registered with the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) or authorised through a Designated Qualifying Regulator (DQR) in England and Wales, or a Designated Professional Body (DPB) in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The IAA, DQRs and DPBs are responsible for ensuring advisers are fit, competent and meet appropriate professional standards.
For advisers and organisations it regulates directly, the IAA assesses fitness and competence as part of registration, requires organisations to renew their registration annually, conducts audits, and can investigate complaints and take regulatory or enforcement action where appropriate.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) exercises The Law Society of England and Wales' functions as a DQR for solicitors and undertook thematic reviews of immigration and asylum legal services in 2022 (https://www.sra.org.uk/immigration-thematic/) and 2024 (https://www.sra.org.uk/sra/research-publications/thematic-review-asylum-legal-services/). These reviews found generally good standards of service while identifying areas for improvement. The SRA has also published guidance on solicitors' obligations when providing immigration advice, available here: https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/immigration-work-guidance/.
In addition, the Legal Aid Agency monitors providers of legal aid funded immigration and asylum advice through independent peer reviews, which assess the quality of legal work, and contract compliance audits.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve support for SEND students and families transitioning to secondary and post-16 education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
New digital Individual Support Plans will set out the educational needs of children and young people with SEN and the support required to help them thrive, bringing information together in one place to support students and their families to experience smoother, better-informed transitions. We are also introducing new expectations for planning for post-16 destinations to begin at least 12 months before students leave school.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the auction of occupied Palestinian land in the UK, in the context of guidance on businesses maintaining commercial relationships with illegal settlements.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, undermine the two-state solution, and contribute to instability and violence. We completely oppose the advertising of property or auctioning of land in those settlements, and we have updated advice to UK businesses to make clear that they should not engage in economic activity in illegal settlements, and warn them of the reputational and potentially legal consequences if they do so.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of cladding remediation costs in buildings under 11 metres in height on leaseholders.
Answered by Samantha Dixon
We recognise the difficulties facing some leaseholders in buildings under 11 metres who are being asked to pay significant cladding remediation costs. The Department’s investigations indicate that most buildings under 11 metres are safe and do not require cladding remediation, with risks often able to be addressed through lower-cost mitigations. However, as set out in the Remediation Acceleration Plan update, we remain committed to providing funding in specific circumstances where cladding remediation is needed to address life-critical fire safety risks from cladding. We intend to provide an update on this shortly.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support her department is giving to women-led humanitarian and peace-building groups in Palestine.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In both Lebanon and Palestine, we ensure that our humanitarian and recovery efforts recognise and address the specific needs of women and girls. For instance, in Palestine, our funding to the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund and the United Nations Population Fund has supported women led organisations to deliver specialised interventions to support survivors of gender-based violence in Gaza. The UK will continue to advocate for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in political and peace processes in the region.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support her department is giving to women-led humanitarian and peace-building groups in Lebanon.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In both Lebanon and Palestine, we ensure that our humanitarian and recovery efforts recognise and address the specific needs of women and girls. For instance, in Palestine, our funding to the Occupied Palestinian Territory Humanitarian Fund and the United Nations Population Fund has supported women led organisations to deliver specialised interventions to support survivors of gender-based violence in Gaza. The UK will continue to advocate for the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in political and peace processes in the region.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of defendants over the age of 18 who have been remanded by the police are released by the court at the first hearing on (a) sentence, (b) bail and (c) for other reasons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on pre court remands at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Remands data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.
However, data held centrally does not include details on the circumstances around the release of a defendant held on remand.
This information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of defendants under the age of 18 who have been remanded by the police are released by the court at the first hearing on (a) sentence, (b) bail and (c) for other reasons.
Answered by Jake Richards - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on pre-court remands at criminal courts in England and Wales in the Remand data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
However, data held centrally does not include details on the circumstances around the release of a defendant held on remand.
The information may be held in court records but to examine individual court records would incur disproportionate costs.