Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether guidance on screen use will include recommendations on preventing eye conditions such as myopia and dry eye associated with excessive screen use.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department and the Department of Health and Social Care are jointly working to produce and publish new practical, evidence-informed guidance on screen time for early years. An early years screen time advisory group of child health and development specialists has been convened to shape the guidance, which will also be informed by the perspectives of parents and carers. And as I committed to in the House, I will consider how we will support children with eye conditions.
In addition, amid concerns that young people’s lives are dominated by time in front of devices, the government will support families by producing evidence-based screen time guidance for parents of children aged five to 16. Experts are considering a wide range of evidence, and the guidance will be published in due course.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether guidance on screen time and social media use will include the potential impact of excessive use of screens on sight loss.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department and the Department of Health and Social Care are jointly working to produce and publish new practical, evidence-informed guidance on screen time for early years. An early years screen time advisory group of child health and development specialists has been convened to shape the guidance, which will also be informed by the perspectives of parents and carers. And as I committed to in the House, I will consider how we will support children with eye conditions.
In addition, amid concerns that young people’s lives are dominated by time in front of devices, the government will support families by producing evidence-based screen time guidance for parents of children aged five to 16. Experts are considering a wide range of evidence, and the guidance will be published in due course.
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 he is taking to deliver increased glaucoma services in the community.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population, and for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services, to meet them. This can already include the commissioning of community-based glaucoma services, including glaucoma repeat readings and glaucoma monitoring.
The Getting It Right First Time programme is also developing best practice guidance for glaucoma services, to support consistent adoption of high standards of care from detection to ongoing monitoring or discharge.
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, pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2026 to PQ 106498, when she last raised the detention of Saeid Mansour Abdulraziq with her Egyptian counterpart; and what steps she is taking to advocate for his freedom of religion and belief.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK champions freedom of religion or belief for all and, where appropriate, will raise these issues with the Egyptian authorities.
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, whether her Department has undertaken any impact assessment ahead of the proposed reduction in financial support in the upcoming financial year to organisations providing disability support globally.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has funded disability inclusion activities in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) since 2019, and provided around £2 million to support disabled people's organisations in the Commonwealth through the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) between 2021 and 2024. The FCDO, alongside the Disability Unit in the Office for Equal Opportunities, has been an active member of the Expert Working Group developing the Commonwealth Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
We plan to publish indicative allocations for the next three years shortly, but in the interim, we will not speculate on the potential impact of hypothetical funding scenarios on different programmes and countries. The specific funding percentage requested by the Hon Member is not readily available, and could only be calculated and verified at disproportionate cost.
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 steps her Department is taking to help reduce disability discrimination across the Commonwealth.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has funded disability inclusion activities in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) since 2019, and provided around £2 million to support disabled people's organisations in the Commonwealth through the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) between 2021 and 2024. The FCDO, alongside the Disability Unit in the Office for Equal Opportunities, has been an active member of the Expert Working Group developing the Commonwealth Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
We plan to publish indicative allocations for the next three years shortly, but in the interim, we will not speculate on the potential impact of hypothetical funding scenarios on different programmes and countries. The specific funding percentage requested by the Hon Member is not readily available, and could only be calculated and verified at disproportionate cost.
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 criteria her Department uses to determine the distribution of UK aid funding.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has funded disability inclusion activities in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) since 2019, and provided around £2 million to support disabled people's organisations in the Commonwealth through the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) between 2021 and 2024. The FCDO, alongside the Disability Unit in the Office for Equal Opportunities, has been an active member of the Expert Working Group developing the Commonwealth Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
We plan to publish indicative allocations for the next three years shortly, but in the interim, we will not speculate on the potential impact of hypothetical funding scenarios on different programmes and countries. The specific funding percentage requested by the Hon Member is not readily available, and could only be calculated and verified at disproportionate cost.
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 proportion of UK aid is allocated to support disabled people globally.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has funded disability inclusion activities in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) since 2019, and provided around £2 million to support disabled people's organisations in the Commonwealth through the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) between 2021 and 2024. The FCDO, alongside the Disability Unit in the Office for Equal Opportunities, has been an active member of the Expert Working Group developing the Commonwealth Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
We plan to publish indicative allocations for the next three years shortly, but in the interim, we will not speculate on the potential impact of hypothetical funding scenarios on different programmes and countries. The specific funding percentage requested by the Hon Member is not readily available, and could only be calculated and verified at disproportionate cost.
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 steps her Department is taking to support disabled people across the Commonwealth.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has funded disability inclusion activities in the Commonwealth through the Commonwealth Disabled People's Forum (CDPF) since 2019, and provided around £2 million to support disabled people's organisations in the Commonwealth through the Disability Rights Fund (DRF) between 2021 and 2024. The FCDO, alongside the Disability Unit in the Office for Equal Opportunities, has been an active member of the Expert Working Group developing the Commonwealth Disability Inclusion Action Plan.
We plan to publish indicative allocations for the next three years shortly, but in the interim, we will not speculate on the potential impact of hypothetical funding scenarios on different programmes and countries. The specific funding percentage requested by the Hon Member is not readily available, and could only be calculated and verified at disproportionate cost.
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 Internationally Educated Nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council have lived in the UK for over five but fewer than ten years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on the length of residence in the United Kingdom of internationally educated nurses registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).
The NMC publishes statistics as part of its biannual registration data reports on the number of nurses who obtained their nursing qualification outside of the United Kingdom, by the length of time since their first registration with the NMC. Nurses though may have been resident in the UK prior to their first registration, so this is not the same as length of residence.
Also, length of time since first registration does not necessarily mean unbroken or continuous registration. Registrants may leave the register for a variety of reasons, for one or more period during their careers.
This information can be found in the ‘UK permanent Register data tables’ in the worksheet ‘Time’, at the following link:
https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-accounts/registration-statistics/