Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
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 her international counterparts to ensure the protection of (a) Yazidis, (b) Christians and (c) other religious and ethnic minority groups in Iraq; and what steps she is taking to ensure aid reaches displaced communities in northern Iraq.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to supporting displaced communities in northern Iraq. We fund quick impact projects and livelihood support activities through the International Organisation for Migration and, through our Building Peace and Stability in Iraq programme, fund the office of the UN Durable Solutions Adviser which leads the UN's strategic coordination efforts.
The UK champions freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all. On 8 July, the Government publicly set out its approach to FoRB, providing a framework for UK engagement including for countries navigating the impact of conflict, both past and present, such as Iraq, including the Kurdistan region.
In July 2025, the former Minister for Human Rights and the UK Special Envoy for FoRB met with Mir Hazem Tahsin Beg, the Prince of the Yazidis. We also raise threats to minority faith communities in regular engagements with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and in multilateral fora. For example, at Iraq's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in June, we recommended that Iraq upholds the right for minorities to freely practice their religion or belief, without fear of persecution.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to the authorities in Myanmar on the reported increase in attacks on the Rohingya community; and what steps he is taking with international partners to help ensure humanitarian aid reaches displaced minority communities.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to condemn the Myanmar military regime's use of violence against civilians, including the systematic persecution and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities, such as the Rohingya. In April, we co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Myanmar calling for the Myanmar military to fully respect and protect the human rights of all persons in Myanmar, including Rohingya and other persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities.
Since 2017, the UK has provided over £108 million in support to communities in Rakhine, with an estimated £52 million in aid for the Rohingya and other Muslim minority groups. We are deeply concerned by the food security situation in Rakhine State and are working with international partners to improve humanitarian access to communities across the state.
Through our humanitarian programme, we have reached 1.3 million people since 2022 in conflict affected areas across Myanmar with essential humanitarian support.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 68387 on Epilepsy and Pregnancy: Sodium Valproate, what his Departments planned timeline is for establishing a centralised register caputring Pregnancy Prevention Programme interventions and acknowledgements, linked to prescribing data.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has worked collaboratively with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the safer use of valproate containing medicines. The best way to a centralised register is through the single patient record and the use of this to populate the federated data platfor, which would allow for the functionality of a centralised register. This is enabled by the Transformation Directorate to ensure that clinical care can be effectively and accurately coded.
The Medicines and Pregnancy Register monitors prescribing of valproate and highlights the number of pregnancies potentially exposed to valproate. This data demonstrates a reduction in prescribing valproate to women and girls as well as a reduction in the number of possible exposed pregnancies since the Pregnancy Prevention Programme (PPP) was introduced in 2018. Analysis shows the implementation of the PPP by ICBs is consistent across the country. The register is available at the following link:
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 68387 on Epilepsy and Pregnancy: Sodium Valproate, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) consistent and (b) effective implementation of the Pregnancy Prevention Programme by Integrated Care Boards.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has worked collaboratively with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the safer use of valproate containing medicines and there have been several steps to ensure that integrated care boards (ICBs) lead the implementation of the regulations set out by the MHRA. The agency issued a National Patient Safety Alert on valproate in November 2023, which is available at the following link:
The Medicines and Pregnancy Register monitors prescribing of valproate and highlights the number of pregnancies potentially exposed to valproate. This data demonstrates a reduction in prescribing valproate to women and girls as well as a reduction in the number of possible exposed pregnancies since the Pregnancy Prevention Programme (PPP) was introduced in 2018. Analysis shows the implementation of the PPP by ICBs is consistent across the country. The register is available at the following link:
Other information available to patients, clinical practitioners and prescribers includes: information from the MHRA; Decision Support Tools and Patient Information leaflets issued by NHS England; and the Valproate Integrated Quality Improvement Programme offered by NHS England. These are available at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/valproate-reproductive-risks
https://www.england.nhs.uk/personalisedcare/shared-decision-making/decision-support-tools/
https://www.southeastclinicalnetworks.nhs.uk/our-networks/valproate/
https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/sodium-valproate/
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS employees with a declared terminal diagnosis die when in (a) employment and (b) retirement.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst the Department does not hold the information requested, it does hold information on the number of National Health Service staff applications for NHS pension benefits on the grounds of serious ill-health. These pensions may be paid where members of the NHS Pension Scheme are terminally ill and have a life expectancy of less than 12 months.
The following table shows the number of applications for serious ill-health pensions accepted by the scheme administrator, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), for the last five complete scheme years, and is correct as of 2 September 2025:
Scheme Year | Total Applications Accepted |
2020/21 | 214 |
2021/22 | 222 |
2022/23 | 258 |
2023/24 | 265 |
2024/25 | 259 |
Source: NHSBSA
Notes: These figures do not include NHS staff who are terminally ill but do not meet the criteria for a serious ill-health pension, those who choose to not apply, and those who are not members of the NHS Pension Scheme. Therefore, the numbers of NHS employees with terminal diagnoses who die in employment and retirement may be greater than those set out in the table.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 68387 on Epilepsy and Pregnancy: Sodium Valproate, whether his Department is taking steps to guarantee that every female valproate patient aged 13-54 received documented counselling and signs the annual risk form before continuing treatment.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has worked collaboratively with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the safer use of valproate containing medicines.
The Medicines and Pregnancy Registry monitors prescribing of valproate and highlights the number of pregnancies potentially exposed to valproate. The Registry is available at the following link: https://tabanalytics.data.england.nhs.uk/t/Public/views/MedsPreg/TitlePage?%3Aembed=y&%3Aiid=1&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y.
This data demonstrates a reduction in prescribing valproate to women and girls as well as a reduction in the number of possible exposed pregnancies since the Pregnancy Prevention Programme (PPP) was introduced in 2018. Analysis shows the implementation of the PPP by ICBs is consistent across the country.
No such guarantee is being pursued. The existing measures described above including the regulatory position is a strong statement of the expected quality of care which is monitored through the Medicines and Pregnancy Registry.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 68387 on Epilepsy and Pregnancy: Sodium Valproate, whether his Department plans to (a) mandate central tracking and annual reporting on how many women (i) received the Pregnancy Protection Porgramme and (ii) signed the risk acknowledgement form.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has worked collaboratively with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on the safer use of valproate containing medicines.
There are no plans to mandate central tracking and annual reporting on how many women (i) received the Pregnancy Protection Programme and (ii) signed the risk acknowledgement form.
This is because such a measure would not be helpful, at an aggregated and anonymised level without a holistic review of each patient’s clinical and social circumstances. This could only be achieved with a national clinical audit. Such audits are expensive and can only be justified when there is significant room for improvement in outcomes, which is not the case in this instance.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the decline of freedom of religion or belief for religious minorities under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Afghanistan is a focus country in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's (FCDO) new approach to freedom of religion or belief, announced by the UK Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, on 8 July. FCDO officials regularly press the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans, most recently in July. We continue to support the UN Special Rapporteur and his mandate to document human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including against minority groups. Without truly inclusive governance that reflects the religious, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity of Afghanistan, we will never see an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 65744 on Special Educational Needs: Foetal Valproate Spectrum Disorder, if her Department will take steps to include the number of children with foetal valproate spectrum disorder in future statistic reports.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department does not have any plans to collect information on the numbers of children with special educational needs (SEN) who have foetal valproate spectrum disorder.
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with foetal valproate spectrum disorder. The SEND code of practice makes it clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make a decision on the future of (a) UKHSA Porton Down and (b) the single science hub at Harrow.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 17 July 2025, my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced that the Government will proceed with plans to develop new state-of-the-art scientific facilities at Harlow, Essex. The move to Harlow will only affect UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) staff and therefore anyone on the site employed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory will be unaffected.
The Harlow site, with its proximity to the Oxford-Cambridge Investment Corridor, also represents a significant growth opportunity. Moving UKHSA facilities to the area will unlock opportunities for partnerships with industry and academia.
This process will not be immediate. We expect the new site at Harlow to open in stages, beginning in the mid-2030s and concluding by 2038, and therefore given the criticality of the work carried out at both Colindale and Porton Down, these two sites will remain open until that time. UKHSA staff will receive extensive support throughout the next decade on this transition.