Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish a substantive Answer to Question 20914 on Gender Dysphoria: Surgery, tabled on 18 December 2024.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
A response to Parliamentary Question 20914 has now been provided; we apologise for the delay.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of children travelling to (a) Poland, (b) Turkey, (c) Florida and (d) other countries for gender reassignment surgery in each of the last three years.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The requested data is not centrally held. However, Border Force has a duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
We take this duty very seriously and are committed to protecting vulnerable children who cross the border.
All new Border Force entrants receive safeguarding training as part of their induction course. Once established, all Border Force Officers and managers have continuing training and knowledge refresh obligations.
Where concerns are raised, officers will take action to safeguard individuals who could be at risk.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people previously diagnosed with (a) Down Syndrome and (b) other severe learning difficulties will be required to undergo a further assessment when their (i) personal independence payment and (ii) employment support allowance are migrated to universal credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
People claiming Employment Support Allowance are being migrated to Universal Credit, but anyone on Personal Independence Payment will remain on it. Customers who move to UC following the receipt of a migration notice from ESA have their LCW or LCWRA moved with them to UC.
So, for the vast majority of cases there is no need for a new WCA.
The Work Capability Assessment is a functional assessment that applies to both UC & Employment and Support Allowance. Receipt of other benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) do not provide an automatic passport to LCW or LCWRA as the assessment criteria are different. Therefore, customers in receipt of PIP only, may be referred for a WCA if they declare a health condition when making their claim to Universal Credit.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes made to employer's National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on the (a) staffing levels of and (b) level of (i) economic and (ii) social contributions to charities; and if she will make it her policy to exempt the charitable sector from these changes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In order to repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to support public services, the government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions (NICs).
HMRC published on 13 November a Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the impact of the changes on charities as employers.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no NICs. All charities are eligible for the Employment Allowance, even if they are wholly or mainly carrying out functions of a public nature.
More broadly, within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities, CASCs and their donors in 2023-24.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations she has received (a) directly and (b) via other Departments from the Special Educational Needs and Disability Transport Operators Group on the potential inclusion of (i) drivers and (ii) passenger assistants in any (A) grant and (B) compensation scheme to offset the impact of changes in employer national insurance contributions; and if she will include this cohort in any such scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) costs only. This funding will be allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way. This is the usual approach the Government takes to supporting the public sector with additional employer NICs costs, as was the case with the previous Government’s Health and Social Care Levy.
This does not include support for the private sector, including private sector firms contracted by central/local government. For private sector organisations that contract with local or central government, the impact of tax changes would be taken into account along with all other changes to their cost base in the usual way through contract negotiations.
The definition of who is in scope as a public sector employee is based on Office of National Statistics classification of the entity paying employer NICs. This applies to employees who are directly employed by the public sector, but not, for example, where services are contracted out. The public sector comprises central government, local government and public corporations.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Oral Statement of 11 December 2024 on Puberty-suppressing Hormones, Official Report, Column 923, what guidance his Department issues to parents considering taking their children to other countries for (a) top surgery and (b) other gender reassignment surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no published guidance regarding young people under 18 years old travelling abroad for gender reassignment surgery. NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services, which are commissioned in line with NHS England's interim service specification and the Cass Review, do not make referrals for surgical interventions.
The Government strongly discourages parents from taking their child abroad for gender reassignment surgery. Parents should seek advice from appropriate medical professionals if they believe their child has gender incongruence.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what the Government's policy is on the potential prosecution of UK nationals returning to the UK after serving as volunteer fighters in the Ukrainian armed forces if they hold (a) both Ukrainian and UK citizenship, (b) sole UK citizenship but born to Ukrainian parents and (c) sole UK citizenship without Ukrainian antecedents; and whether official guidance for volunteers returning to the UK is publicly available.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice to Ukraine states: 'If you travel to Ukraine to fight, or to assist others engaged in the war, your activities may amount to offences under UK legislation. You could be prosecuted on your return to the UK'. Their full advice is available here: Ukraine travel advice - GOV.UK.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which acts independently of police and government, will consider any information that is referred by the police and any decision to prosecute will be considered on a case-by-case basis and in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
To date, the CPS has not prosecuted any cases involving UK-linked foreign fighters in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 counterparts in Mozambique on (a) violence perpetrated against Christians by Islamic extremists in Cabo Delgado and (b) the effectiveness of the steps Mozambique is taking to tackle the humanitarian and security situation in that region, in the context of its freedom of religion and belief obligations.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to working multilaterally and bilaterally to defend Freedom of Religion or Belief around the world. In Mozambique, the UK regularly engages with authorities and religious leaders both in the capital (Maputo) and northern Mozambique (Cabo Delgado and Nampula) to address the problems of violence and to tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis, including several times this year. The UK is supporting efforts to counter the ongoing IS-Mozambique insurgency in Cabo Delgado, through programmes aimed at building local resilience to violent extremism and security and human rights training of Mozambican Armed Forces, as well providing humanitarian assistance to those displaced. Ongoing challenges for religious communities remain, as Christian and Muslim places of worship continue to be affected.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his policy is on (a) doctors and (b) other qualified medical personnel administering pain-relieving drugs which may shorten lives; and whether regulations on that issue changed after the conviction of Harold Shipman.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A wide variety of medicines are used for the purpose of pain-relief, and they have differing levels of regulation. Some items can be bought off-the-shelf without a prescription, whilst others require authorisation from a medical professional. The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 set out the responsibilities which certain medical professionals may undertake regarding the supply and administration of regulated medicines. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 sets out the legal framework for the prevention of misuse of controlled drugs.
Decisions about what medicines to prescribe and administer are made by the doctor or other qualified medical personnel responsible for that part of the patient’s care. They must always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed and administered, and they must take account of appropriate national guidance on clinical effectiveness. Clinicians are responsible for the decisions they make regarding the administration of medicines, and they are regulated by the relevant regulatory body for their profession.
Professional regulators are responsible for setting and enforcing their own standards for the healthcare professionals that they regulate. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the regulator of nurses and midwives in the UK. Both the GMC and the NMC are independent of the Government, are directly accountable to Parliament, and are responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of their statutory duties.
Following the Shipman Inquiry's Fourth Report, published on 14 July 2004, the Government introduced tighter controls on the procurement, storage, supply and prescribing of controlled drugs, and established national and regional monitoring by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and a network of regional NHS Controlled Drug Accountable Officers. The CQC is responsible for making sure that health and care service providers, and other regulators, maintain a safe environment for the management and use of controlled drugs in England. The CQC does this under the Controlled Drugs (Supervision of Management and Use) Regulations 2013. These regulations strengthened system governance to monitor the safe use and prescribing of controlled drugs, and require greater co-ordination between the health system and police, to investigate and take action, to protect patients and the public against the misuse and diversion of controlled drugs. Further information on these regulations is available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/373/contents/made
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of increasing National Insurance contributions at the Autumn Budget 2024 on the ability of (a) Citizens Advice services and (b) other community-centred charities to maintain their (i) staffing levels and (ii) contribution to society.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In order to repair the public finances and help raise the revenue required to increase funding for public services, the Government has taken the difficult decision to increase employer National Insurance.
HMRC recently published on 13 November a Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the impact of employer NICs changes.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses and charities from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs
More broadly, within the tax system, we provide support to charities through a range of reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs for charitable giving, with more than £6 billion in charitable reliefs provided to charities, CASCs and their donors in 2023 to 2024.