Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help protect democratic processes in Turkey.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As a close friend and ally of Turkey, the Government is closely monitoring the situation and expects Turkey to uphold its international commitments and the rule of law. We regularly engage with the Turkish Government and the Foreign Secretary spoke with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on 29 March to express the UK's concern about the recent arrests and protests in Turkey. The UK is a staunch supporter of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law across the world and will always support the fundamental rights to free speech, peaceful assembly, and media freedom.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of (a) harassment and (b) abuse of NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no national mechanism at present to capture and report incidents of harassment and abuse. Data is held at a local level. The NHS Staff Survey captures data on self-reported incidents. Results from the 2024 NHS Staff Survey showed that 25.08% of staff have experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying, or abuse from patients or service users in the last 12 months. This shows a slight improvement in trends of the level of staff experiencing harassment, bullying, or abuse since 2020, as it is at its lowest reported levels in the past five years.
However, everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work. There is a zero-tolerance approach to any incidents of harassment or abuse against NHS staff, and the Government is taking further action to tackle it. On 9 April 2025, the Government announced that 36 out of 37 of the non-pay recommendations from the 2023 Agenda for Change pay deal have been accepted. These include significant commitments to tackling violence and aggression against NHS staff. The recommendations include improving the data and reporting of incidents and ensuring Violence Prevention and Reduction standards are upheld and form part of Care Quality Commission’s assessments.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing support for (a) growth in the social enterprise sector and (b) businesses that add general social value in Durham.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the social enterprise sector’s valuable contribution to local communities and society at large. This diverse sector is helping to meet some of the toughest challenges facing our society through delivering both social and economic value. We welcome collaboration between social enterprises and other forms of purpose-driven businesses who are working to achieve positive societal benefits.
The Government is committed to supporting social enterprises through finance, legislation, social value work and developing partnerships with the sector. That is why the Social Enterprise Boost Fund, originally scheduled to end in March 2025, was recently extended for a further 12 months until March 2026, with an additional £1 million in funding being made available. The Boost Fund is an up to £5.1 million package of funding designed to kick start and accelerate social enterprise activity in four disadvantaged areas of England, one of which is County Durham. A DCMS-commissioned independent evaluation of the programme’s achievement of its original objectives took place between March 2023 - March 2025 and the final report will be published on gov.uk in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve visa requirements for UK citizens with homes in both the UK and in a country in the Schengen Area.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK and the EU allow for visa-free short-term travel in line with their respective arrangements for third country nationals. The UK allows EU citizens short-term visa-free travel for up to six months. Meanwhile, the EU allows for travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period; this is standard for third countries travelling visa-free to the EU. Applications for visas to visit or stay for longer periods of time would be processed according to the rules of individual Member States. The UK Government will continue to listen to and advocate for UK nationals.