Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the Government has plans to ban non-disclosure agreements used for victims of sexual misconduct, bullying and discrimination.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Thank you to the Hon. Member for raising this topic. This Government is committed to delivering the Plan to Make Work Pay in full and updating Britain’s employment protections, so they are fit for our modern economy and the future of work. This includes strengthening protections from sexual harassment and harassment in the workplace. Ministers are identifying the most appropriate delivery mechanisms for the commitments in the Plan, including an Employment Rights Bill that will be introduced to Parliament within 100 days of taking office.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will restore the Official Development Assistance budget to 0.7% of gross national income.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

This Government is committed to restoring ODA spending at the level of 0.7 per cent of GNI as soon as fiscal circumstances allow. The Government will set out its approach to the House in due course.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. During the Foreign Secretary's visit to Israel and the OPTs on 14 July, he reiterated our commitment to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a peace process to deliver a two state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her policy is on repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is clear that homelessness is too high and can have a devastating impact on those affected.

We need to take a long term approach and to tackle the different factors that can cause people to become homeless.

We will consider these issues carefully and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, develop a new cross-government strategy to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. This will include consideration of any relevant legislation.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her Department's policy is on increasing county council funding for (a) social care services, (b) SEND services and (c) road maintenance.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government recognises the pressures that local authorities are facing and is committed to getting councils back on their feet, by providing multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system.

Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.

The Government’s manifesto set out our intention for a programme of reform to create a National Care Service to deliver consistency of care across the country. We will work with the Department for Health and Social Care to engage local government on the development of this.

On SEND services, we are committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

We will also work constructively with the Department for Transport with a view to ensuring local authorities have sufficient revenue funding within their settlement to carry out vital cyclical repairs to their network.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help free (a) Alaa Abd El-Fattah, (b) Jagtar Johal Signh, (c) Jimmy Lai and (d) other British nationals detained overseas.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

FCDO consular staff are currently providing consular assistance in over 1600 cases relating to arrest or detention. Consular staff aim to stay in regular contact with British Nationals in detention and do what they can to support their health and welfare. The UK Government cannot interfere in criminal or civil court proceedings in other countries. However, where there are human rights concerns such as allegations of torture or mistreatment, with the consent of the person affected, we raise these­­ concerns with the local authorities, highlighting the detaining state's obligations under international human rights law.

You asked about three cases:

• The UK government continues to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian government. We have been consistently clear in calling for his release and continue to press for urgent consular access.
• We remain committed to pushing the Government of India for faster progress to resolve Jagtar Singh Johal's case. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr Johal's case this week (24 July) during a bilateral meeting with the Indian Minister of External Affairs, during his first official visit to India as Foreign Secretary.
• We call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and immediately release British national Jimmy Lai.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 207 on Vagrancy Act 1824, whether it is her Department's policy to de-criminalise homelessness.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government is clear that homelessness has a devastating impact on those affected.

We need to take a long term approach and to tackle the different factors that can cause people to become homeless.

We will consider these issues carefully and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, develop a new cross-government strategy to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness. This will include consideration of any relevant legislation.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to provide consular assistance to British nationals who are detained overseas.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) consular staff endeavour to give appropriate and tailored support to British nationals overseas and their families in the UK 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They support the c.3000 British nationals who are arrested or detained each year and are currently providing consular assistance in over 1600 cases relating to arrest or detention. Consular staff are primarily concerned with the welfare of our detained British nationals, and tailor the consular assistance they provide depending on the specific circumstances of each case.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her Department's policy that universities should have a statutory duty of care to students.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has asked the higher education (HE) Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck, to continue to work with students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector to drive meaningful change in mental health practice through the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.

The Office for Students (OfS) is providing £400,000 of funding to the student mental health charity, Student Minds, to rapidly expand the scale and membership of the University Mental Health Charter Programme. The Programme supports universities to adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, and also follow a process of continuous improvement to work towards the Charter Award. The University Mental Health Charter is already raising standards within the sector.

The department has appointed academic experts from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health to undertake a National Review of HE Suicides. It will report findings by spring 2025, ensuring lessons from tragic cases are shared widely across the sector.

In 2024, to support HE providers to engage with the National Review of HE Suicides and develop mental health and suicide prevention strategies, the OfS is allocating £15 million of funding. This funding is in addition to the £10 million provided early this year to support student mental health and hardship.

The government is determined that children and young people receive the mental health care they need which is why it has committed to recruit 8500 additional staff across children and adult mental health services.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to help improve mental health practice in universities.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department has asked the higher education (HE) Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck, to continue to work with students, parents, mental health experts and the HE sector to drive meaningful change in mental health practice through the HE Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.

The Office for Students (OfS) is providing £400,000 of funding to the student mental health charity, Student Minds, to rapidly expand the scale and membership of the University Mental Health Charter Programme. The Programme supports universities to adopt a whole-institution approach to mental health, and also follow a process of continuous improvement to work towards the Charter Award. The University Mental Health Charter is already raising standards within the sector.

The department has appointed academic experts from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health to undertake a National Review of HE Suicides. It will report findings by spring 2025, ensuring lessons from tragic cases are shared widely across the sector.

In 2024, to support HE providers to engage with the National Review of HE Suicides and develop mental health and suicide prevention strategies, the OfS is allocating £15 million of funding. This funding is in addition to the £10 million provided early this year to support student mental health and hardship.

The government is determined that children and young people receive the mental health care they need which is why it has committed to recruit 8500 additional staff across children and adult mental health services.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will (a) sanction violent settlers who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank and (b) sanction all entities connected to those settlers.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK has already moved to sanction those responsible for violence in the West Bank and announced designations against eight extremist Israeli settlers perpetrating human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. The UK has also designated two groups known to have supported, incited and promoted violence against these communities.

The UK's position on settlements is clear. They are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. The Foreign Secretary raised this with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Herzog during his visit to Israel and the OPTs on 14-15 July.

We do not comment on future sanctions designations as to do so would reduce their impact.

UK arms exports to Israel

Oxfordshire rowers and the Paris Olympics

Child poverty and the two-child benefit cap

State pension age and 1950s-born women