Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Public Health England's report entitled Commercial infant and baby food and drink: evidence review, published in June 2019, what steps he is taking to help tackle commercial baby foods with high levels of added sugar.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influence many aspects of wellbeing in later life.
A 2019 evidence review showed that babies and young children are exceeding their energy intake requirement and are eating too much sugar and salt. Some commercial baby foods, particularly finger foods, had added sugar, or contained ingredients that are high in sugar.
More recently, a report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition highlighted that free sugar intakes are above recommendations, and that commercial baby food and drinks contributed to around 20% of free sugar intake in children aged 12 to 18 months. This does not align with recommendations that, in diets of children aged 1 to 5 years, foods including snacks high in free sugars should be limited, and that commercially manufactured foods and drinks are not needed to meet nutrition requirements.
It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the effectiveness of HIV health promotion campaigns in reaching (a) under served and (b) at risk communities.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030. The Department, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan for England, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address improving preventive HIV care and HIV health promotion campaigns across England, including in London.
HIV testing is partly funded by local authorities through the ringfenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.
The London HIV Prevention Programme (LHPP) and Sexual Health London (SHL) are key organisations at the centre of London’s HIV prevention efforts, working to reduce new HIV diagnoses and improve access to testing. The LHPP promotes early testing and prevention, particularly among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, through its Do It London campaigns and targeted outreach. In parallel, SHL offers free, easy-to-access sexually transmitted infection testing for Londoners aged 16 years old and over via online self-sampling and local collection points.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve preventative HIV care in London.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030. The Department, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan for England, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address improving preventive HIV care and HIV health promotion campaigns across England, including in London.
HIV testing is partly funded by local authorities through the ringfenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.
The London HIV Prevention Programme (LHPP) and Sexual Health London (SHL) are key organisations at the centre of London’s HIV prevention efforts, working to reduce new HIV diagnoses and improve access to testing. The LHPP promotes early testing and prevention, particularly among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, through its Do It London campaigns and targeted outreach. In parallel, SHL offers free, easy-to-access sexually transmitted infection testing for Londoners aged 16 years old and over via online self-sampling and local collection points.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address period poverty in East London.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Nobody should have to miss out on education because of their period, which is why the department provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study, through the period products scheme. The scheme aims to remove periods as a barrier to accessing education, addresses pupils being unable to afford period products and aims to destigmatise menstruation.
Since its launch in January 2020, 99% of secondary schools and 87% of post-16 organisations in England have used the scheme to order period products.
The department publishes statistics regarding the scheme’s operation, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle racial inequalities in access to healthcare.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have set a Health Mission with the aim of tackling the social determinants of health, focusing on prevention, and ensuring that everyone lives longer, healthier lives. The Government recognises that racial health inequalities are linked to broader socioeconomic factors. Tackling these disparities is central to building a fairer health system where outcomes are not dictated by race or background. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they are born or their financial circumstances, can live longer, healthier lives, spending less time in poor health.
We are working to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas by addressing the social determinants of health. This includes measures to reduce socioeconomic inequalities that disproportionately affect ethnic minority communities, ensuring everyone can live longer, healthier lives.
We will also take a cross-Government approach to tackle the root causes of health inequalities. By prioritising prevention, shifting care closer to communities, and intervening earlier in life, we are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children in our nation's history.
The National Health Service’s Core20PLUS5 approach targets health inequalities by focusing on the most deprived 20% of the population, the Core20, and specific inclusion health groups and ‘PLUS’ populations, including ethnic minorities. Integrated care boards are responsible for implementing this approach, aiming to reduce inequalities in health outcomes and improve equitable access to healthcare treatments and services.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on improving the running of the Elizabeth line.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London (TfL) on a variety of issues. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL has overall responsibility for the management of the Elizabeth Line which is operated by their current contractor MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Limited.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on improving accessibility on the London Underground.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Disabled people should be able to travel easily, confidently and with dignity. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues including accessibility of their network. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL is responsible for managing the London Underground.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his (a) Middle Eastern and (b) Palestinian counterparts on reducing the impact of damage to (i) educational and (ii) cultural facilities in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are deeply alarmed by the disproportionate impact of the conflict on children in Gaza. Education is a priority sector, and we are engaging with partners to ensure children's needs are integrated into recovery planning. The destruction of cultural facilities is also highly concerning. The Foreign Secretary welcomed the Arab initiative of a Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza, alongside Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Italy on 8 March. We are funding technical expertise to support Palestinian Authority planning for Gaza's recovery and reconstruction. The UK is engaging with international partners to support a Palestinian-led recovery.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help reduce misogynistic content online.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, including illegal misogyny.
Where this type of abuse is not illegal, services likely to be accessed by children must provide safety measures to protect them from harmful and age-inappropriate content and activity, including content which is hateful and abusive. Category 1 services will also need to remove legal misogynistic content, where it is prohibited in their terms of service.
The Act requires Ofcom, the regulator, to publish guidance about protecting women and girls online, which it published in draft for consultation on 25 February.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help protect children from (a) deception, (b) bullying, (c) abuse and (d) harmful content online.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our priority is the implementation of the Online Safety Act so children benefit from its protections.
The Act requires services to protect users from illegal content. Companies will also need to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by children and provide safety measures to protect them from harmful and age-inappropriate content and activity, such as abuse, bullying, and content that promotes eating disorders or self-harm. Measures include using age assurance and changing their algorithms to filter out harmful content.
The illegal content duties are now in effect and the child safety duties will be enforceable by this summer.