Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the salary sacrifice scheme to members of the armed forces to enable them to pay for items such as cars and bikes directly through their payroll.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no plans to introduce salary sacrifice schemes for members of the Armed Forces. However, the MOD continually reviews the overall offer to Service personnel with the aim of making it as attractive as possible, supporting maximum levels of recruitment and retention within available resources.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has provided guidance to health and wellbeing boards on how health and wellbeing is to be applied within the context of the Government heat and buildings strategy.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has issued no specific definitions or guidance in relation to health and wellbeing nor made a specific assessment of the compatibility with the World Health Organization’s definition. However, the Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on its heat and buildings strategy to ensure that health and wellbeing are considered
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department defines health and wellbeing, as it applies to the Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy; and what assessment he has made of the compatibility of that definition with that used by the World Health Organisation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has issued no specific definitions or guidance in relation to health and wellbeing nor made a specific assessment of the compatibility with the World Health Organization’s definition. However, the Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on its heat and buildings strategy to ensure that health and wellbeing are considered
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance will face any deductions to their benefits in the event that they support a Ukrainian refugee under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is grateful to individuals who wish to play their part in supporting Homes for Ukraine. DWP is working at pace with DLUHC and the Home Office to ensure benefit claimants who feel they can support the scheme are able to do so.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether people who receive social care support from their local authority will face any penalties or loss of support in the event that they support a Ukrainian refugee under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Deciding whether to review the support offered to people with care needs or to undertake a new financial assessment is a matter for local authorities. However, officials are reviewing whether national guidance is required to ensure that people who take part in the Homes for Ukraine scheme are not unfairly or unreasonably penalised for doing so.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking with its international counterparts to help trace missing Yazidi women.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK supports the implementation of Iraq's Yazidi Survivors law of March 2021 and we engage regularly with partner governments, NGOs, survivor networks and Iraqi Government ministries to advocate for full financial provision of the law. Through UK support to the International Organisation for Migration, we provide technical and practical assistance to the Directorate of Yazidi Survivor Affairs, whose mandate includes searching for missing survivors. UK programme funding also supports psycho-social care for female survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. We have contributed £2 million to the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD), whose work in gathering evidence of crimes, including against minority communities, we continue to champion.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department is providing support to the Government of Mozambique to fight the Islamist insurgency in that country.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK has taken a leading role in Mozambique as co-chair of the international taskforce on the insurgency in Cabo Delgado. This taskforce is a forum for high-level dialogue and coordination between the Mozambique Government and its international partners in response to the insurgency. Bilaterally, the UK signed a Defence MOU with the Government of Mozambique in May 2019, and we continue to work in partnership to address security issues of mutual interest. UK Aid has also provided over £22 million in humanitarian support in Cabo Delgado, primarily through UN agencies, ensuring that people displaced by the crisis have access to food, water, shelter and basic health. We welcome recent progress by Mozambican defence and security forces, with support from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda, to take back areas previously under insurgent control, and will continue to work with the Government of Mozambique to build long term peace and stability.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support is being provided to Coptic Christian women in Egypt who are the victims of abduction, forced conversion and marriage.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Government of Egypt has stated its commitment to protecting the rights of Coptic Christians and freedom of worship. We are encouraged by positive steps in recent years, including President Sisi's public commitments, to uphold the rights of minorities and freedom of worship. The UK Government is providing support to an Egyptian Government initiative to raise awareness of a number of social issues, including religious diversity and forced marriage. The Prime Minister and President Sisi have discussed the importance of protecting freedom of religion and belief, most recently during their meeting in Glasgow on 1 November. Lord Ahmad discussed freedom of religion and belief with Egypt's Ambassador to the UK in March 2022 and we will continue to raise these important issues.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle religious forced (a) marriages and (b) conversions around the world.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We work with international partners including the UN, G7, and other multilateral fora to promote FoRB. In May 2021, we ensured that FoRB was included in the G7 communiqué for the first time. This year, our Special Envoy for FoRB, Fiona Bruce MP, will Chair the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance to bolster joint international action on FoRB and on 5-6 July 2022, we will host an international Ministerial conference on FoRB. In 2020 and 2021, we continued to protect language on tackling the harmful practice of Child, Early and Forced Marriage by helping secure the adoption by consensus of relevant resolutions at the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps she is taking to help end (a) abductions, (b) forced conversions and (c) forced marriages of women and girls in Pakistan.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. We work with international partners including the UN, G7, and other multilateral fora to promote FoRB. In May 2021, we ensured that FoRB was included in the G7 communiqué for the first time. This year, our Special Envoy for FoRB, Fiona Bruce MP, will Chair the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance to bolster joint international action on FoRB and on 5-6 July 2022, we will host an international Ministerial conference on FoRB. In 2020 and 2021, we continued to protect language on tackling the harmful practice of Child, Early and Forced Marriage by helping secure the adoption by consensus of relevant resolutions at the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.