Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what further steps he plans to take to encourage the Egyptian authorities to release Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government remains committed to securing the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah. We continue to raise Mr El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian Government. The Prime Minister wrote to President Sisi on the case on 26 December. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty most recently on 20 December 2024. The National Security Advisor, Jonathan Powell raised this with the Foreign Minister on 2 January 2025. I raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Foreign Minister Abdelatty on 15 October 2024.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will conduct a further review with Cabinet colleagues into the compatibility of the Government's export licences to Israel with its obligations under international humanitarian law in the context of recent civilian deaths in (a) Lebanon, (b) the West Bank and (c) Gaza; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Cell undertakes regular assessments of Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law in order to meet our legal obligations under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). On 2 September, following a conclusion that there is a clear risk that items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL, we suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in Gaza. This is subject to the specific measures set out to Parliament excluding exports to the global F-35 programme from the scope of the suspension. We continue to keep all export licences under careful review and licences may be suspended, amended or revoked.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing data on whether illicit objects were found during strip searches (a) in police custody and (b) during police stop and searches by (i) police force and (ii) the (A) age, (B) sex and (C) ethnicity of the person.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police. Its use must be fair, respectful, without unlawful discrimination, and transparent. The Government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip searching children.
As part of the Home Office’s Annual Data Requirement, data on strip searches which take place in custody is collected and published on an annual basis online at gov.uk:
Other PACE powers, year ending March 2023 (second edition) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
This custody data includes the number of strip searches carried out, as well as the age, sex and ethnicity of persons searched. For the 2024/25 custody data collection, forces will be required to record the reasonable grounds for search during a strip search. However, the data does not currently include data on the outcome of the search, and this is something the Home Office will consider collecting in future years.
Since April 2023, the Home Office has also collected data on the extent of clothing removal in stop and searches, allowing analysis of strip searches under stop and search powers. This includes publishing for the first time in September 2024 a breakdown by the sex, age and ethnicity of the person strip searched following the stop and search encounter. Home Office statistics on stop and search includes data on the outcome of the search, including the grounds for the search and whether the outcome of the search was linked to the grounds, which allows analysis of items found.
Information on the levels of stop and search is available at gov.uk:
Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Data on the level of clothing removal during stop and search is labelled as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote its collection on a voluntary basis and ongoing quality improvements to the data.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require NHS England to publish Referral To Treatment waiting times for (a) glaucoma, (b) macular degeneration and (c) other irreversible sight loss conditions separately from minor and reversible eye condition waiting times.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no current plans to require NHS England to publish Referral to Treatment waiting times for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other irreversible sight loss conditions separately from minor and reversible eye condition waiting times.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an estimate of the cost to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology of (a) cancelled appointments and (b) appointments missed because the patient did not attend in 2023-24.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.
The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:
Outcome | Appointments |
Cancelled by hospital | 69,335 |
Cancelled by patient | 61,699 |
Did not attend | 61,904 |
Not known/other | 221 |
Attended | 377,520 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments for children under 19 years were (a) cancelled and (b) missed because the patient did not attend in 2023-24.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.
The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:
Outcome | Appointments |
Cancelled by hospital | 69,335 |
Cancelled by patient | 61,699 |
Did not attend | 61,904 |
Not known/other | 221 |
Attended | 377,520 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.
No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) assessment of and (b) access to specialist treatments for rare diseases.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025. Delivery partners have committed to reviewing the effectiveness of treatment access pathways like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMs), the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), and the Innovative Medicines Fund for rare disease therapies.
NHS England commissions over 80 highly specialised services provided to small numbers of patients, which includes services for rare diseases. The services are delivered and co-ordinated nationally through a limited number of expert centres, to develop appropriate clinical quality, expertise, and experience.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency supports development and access to treatments for rare diseases through regulating the medicines supplied in the United Kingdom. These include the Orphan Medicinal Products Regulation, and Marketing Authorisations under Exceptional Circumstances for treatments where there is limited data, such as rare diseases. Additionally, initiatives like Project Orbis, the ILAP, the EAMS, and the Regulatory Advice Service for Regenerative Medicines accelerate access to treatments.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on the potential merits of connecting Clapham Junction station to the Northern line.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Government remains committed to supporting London and the transport network on which it depends. We recently provided £485m in funding to support Transport for London’s (TfL) capital programme for 2025/26 and will continue to work with TfL to understand its capital funding needs, which will be considered at Phase 2 of the Spending Review. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and TfL and it is for the Mayor to assess the merits of capital projects and make decisions on investment.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that patients living with rare inherited retinal diseases receive (a) timely and (b) equitable access to new treatments.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as rare inherited retinal diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits, and NHS England ensures that funding is available for any licensed new medicines recommended by the NICE. The NICE aims to issue guidance on new medicines, including for rare diseases, as close to the time of licensing as possible. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.
The NICE is currently appraising one treatment for treating visual impairment caused by a rare inherited retinal disease, and final guidance is expected to be published in April 2025.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take to tackle disproportionate use of full strip searches during stop and searches of (a) Black, (b) Asian and (c) other ethnic minority people.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use must be fair, respectful and without unlawful discrimination. No one should be subject to the use of any police power based on their race or ethnicity. That is why the Government’s manifesto committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip-searching children and young people.
This Government welcomes the recent reduction in the disproportionate use of stop and search powers, but there is more work to do. We are also increasing transparency in the use of these powers. Figures published in September, covering the 12 months to March 2024 includes, for the first time, data on whether the stop and search included a strip search.