Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Gaza.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.
Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.
We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the continued supply of aid to Gaza.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.
Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.
We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle violence against women and girls in conflict zones.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As a global leader on action to address conflict-related sexual violence, the Government has committed £60m to our Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative since launch in 2012. The Government has also sanctioned 13 perpetrators for conflict-related sexual violence since 2022. At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, the UK announced a further £2m funding to refugee and women-led organisations working to tackle Gender-Based Violence in crisis.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants died after their claims were denied for (a) Employment Support Allowance and (b) Universal Credit in 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Eligibility criteria for Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance can be found here and here.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effectiveness of the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Since 2010 Government has invested £5.4 billion billion into the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) (2010-11 to 2023-24), delivering an estimated 550,000 home adaptations in England. Adaptations funded through the DFG include stairlifts, level-access showers and grab rails. These adaptations can reduce emergency admissions to hospital, speed up a return home following a hospital stay and delay, or even prevent, the need for costly residential care in future.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) annually collects voluntary local authority-level data returns on local DFG delivery. Raw data from local authorities is analysed by Foundations, the DLUHC funded national body for DFGs and home improvement agencies. The 2021-22 report on local DFG delivery is available online at the following link.
There is good evidence of the impact and effectiveness of housing adaptations generically, and the DFG specifically. For example, Public Health England’s falls prevention toolkit (2018) compared the impact of different interventions on preventing falls, including exercise classes and home adaptations. It found that adaptations produce significantly higher returns on investment with £1 of investment in home assessment and modification saving £3.17 on health and care costs. If quality of life gains for the individual are considered, savings rise to £7.34 per £1 spent.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse is of hanging an official portrait of His Majesty The King in public authorities in the UK.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As is usual practice following accession, an Official Portrait has been taken of His Majesty The King to mark the start of the new Reign, for use in public buildings and for other official purposes. His Majesty’s Government will use this portrait for the Official Portrait Scheme, announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in April last year.
The ongoing scheme opened in November 2023 to enable certain Public Authorities across the UK to apply for a free, framed official portrait of His Majesty The King for display in their buildings. As always, the Government is ensuring value for money in the contract for the production and distribution of the Official Portrait. By establishing a UK-wide contract for the supply of portraits for this scheme, HMG has achieved a significant cost saving in comparison to comparable commercially available royal portraits thereby benefiting the public-purse as a whole. The supplier will be paid per delivered portrait and as it is a voluntary scheme the final cost will depend on the uptake.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities with finding homes for children with complex needs.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children should live somewhere that meets their needs and keeps them safe. Under Section 22G of the Children Act 1989, it is the duty of each local social services authority to provide suitable accommodation for children in their care. However, the government recognises the challenges local authorities face, and the need for system-wide reform.
To support local authorities, the department has allocated £259 million in funding to maintain capacity and expand provision across open children’s homes (OCHs) and secure children’s homes (SCHs) within England, up until March 2025. Funding to develop OCH provision is provided on a match-funding basis with the department and the local authority local authority contributing 50% funding. For SCH provision, the department provides local authorities with 100% funding. Additional capacity has already been developed, with 36 smaller projects being complete and becoming operational within the SCH estate since the programme launched in 2021.
The government recognises the need for long-term, system-level reform of children’s social care. In February 2023, the government published “Stable Homes, Built on Love – Implementation Strategy and Consultation”, which set out the government’s proposals to reform children’s social care following reviews from the Competition and Markets Authority and Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The report recommends system changes to ensure suitable placements are available to meet the needs of children.
The department recognises that some children and young people can fall between gaps in a complex system of education, social care and justice services, and there is a lack of evidence-based, integrated, co-commissioned models of care. These gaps are being addressed through a jointly led departmental and NHS England cross-government work programme to improve how system partners work together to improve outcomes for children who are in the most complex situations.
The department has established an ‘‘Improving support for Children in Complex Situations with Multiple Needs” Task and Finish Group (TFG), which aims to enhance support for children in complex situations. The goal is to improve collaboration among system partners to better serve children, particularly those at risk of losing their freedom. The group aims to align government efforts to design, commission and deliver integrated care models, including social care, health, education and youth justice, with the support of key stakeholders.
Transparency data has been published online which provides more information about the TFG and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/improving-cross-sector-support-for-children-in-complex-situations-with-multiple-needs-task-and-finish-group?cgfc.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has conducted an equality impact assessment of the use of machine learning in benefit fraud investigations.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has robust processes to ensure ethical use and impact of data is considered which includes Equality Impact Assessments for transformative initiatives that involve personal data, aligned with data-ethics frameworks, codes of practice, and working principles for analytical communities within the department that work with personal data.
We do not use algorithms to make decisions regarding fraudulent claims, these are always made by humans.
We will be providing further information in our 2023-24 Report and Accounts - committees.parliament.uk/publications/42012/documents/208912/default/
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 steps she is taking to help tackle health inequalities in the North East.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) financial and (b) other support his Department is providing to women's refuges in City of Durham constituency.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has provided £3,531,383 since 2021/22 to County Durham and have committed a further £1,216,337 for 2024/25. This funding is for County Durham to commission support for victims of domestic abuse who are residing in refuges and other types of domestic abuse safe accommodation locally.
Statutory Guidance and Regulations provide further details to local authorities on how the duties should be delivered on the ground. The Department continues to work closely with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, the domestic abuse sector and the LGA in supporting local authorities, including best practice workshops.