Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 156-7W, on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, in how many licensable treatment cycles at least (a) 30 and (b) 40 eggs per cycle were collected in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information requested is shown in the attached table.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will bring the conclusions relating to the genocidal extermination of Christianity in the report commissioned by Human Liberty entitled crimes against humanity published in May 2014 to the attention of the UN Security Council, the North Korean Government and HM Embassy in Pyongyang.
Answered by Lord Swire
We are aware of the report produced by Hogan Lovells on behalf of Human Liberty. However, we note that the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) were unable to establish the crime of genocide on religious grounds, because the available evidence in this respect was ambiguous.
However, the COI did find that systematic and widespread human rights violations were taking place, and did find reasonable grounds to establish that crimes against humanity had been committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The findings of the COI formed the basis of the core text of the subsequent UN Human Rights Council resolution on the DPRK, adopted in March 2014, which the UK cosponsored.
In April, the same month, the UK took part in a public ‘Arria-formula' briefing with other Security Council member states to consider DPRK human rights. In May, the UK raised DPRK human rights concerns during closed consultations between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Security Council. In June, I visited Geneva, where I took part in an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK, Mr Mazuki Darusman. I raised the importance of DPRK human rights with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and stressed the importance of UN action. The next step will be to ensure there is an appropriate focus on DPRK human rights at this autumn's UN General Assembly (UNGA) session and that there is a strong DPRK resolution, strongly supported, in the UNGA Third Committee.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government supports recommendation 1224 of the UN Human Rights Council's Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), published in February 2014; and whether his Department has taken steps to support the work of human rights non-governmental organisations in their attempts to broadcast accessible information into the DPRK and to improve the human rights situation in that country.
Answered by Lord Swire
The UK does not currently provide financial support to any of the organisations making cross-border broadcasts into the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK). Through our Embassy in Pyongyang however, the UK is one of the few countries who are able to engage directly with North Koreans, complementing the efforts of others, like the US, who support broadcasts into North Korea. The recent report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights in North Korea recognised the importance of both approaches.
The UK continues to play an active role in raising human rights violations in the DPRK in other meaningful ways. For example, we pressed for a strong DPRK resolution at the March UN Human Rights Council, including a call for the UN General Assembly to submit the report of the Commission of Inquiry to the UN Security Council for its consideration and appropriate action. In April, we and other Security Council members took part in a public “Arria” briefing by the Commission and in May, we raised the need for a continued focus on human rights during a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee. Recently, I visited Geneva, where I took part in an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK, Mr Mazuki Darusman. I raised the importance of DPRK human rights with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon and stressed the importance of UN action. The next step will be to ensure there is an appropriate focus on DPRK human rights at this autumn's UN General Assembly session and that there is a strong DPRK resolution, strongly supported, in the UNGA Third Committee.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question
To ask the Prime Minister, whether it is the Government's policy that decisions in Parliament relating to abortion should be subject to a free vote; and if he will instruct that the Department for International Development's practice paper, Safe and unsafe abortion, published in July 2011, should not be regarded as an expression of the Government's policy until its contents have been approved by the House in a free vote.
Answered by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton
Issues on matters of conscience have, by tradition, been the subject of a free vote in the House of Commons. Issues relating to abortion in other countries are determined by respective Governments.