Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her article in the Sun newspaper entitled We can’t pretend everything is OK: knife crime, anti social behaviour and people smugglers are plaguing our streets, published on 20 July 2024, whether the Returns and Enforcement programme has a specific name.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

We have established a new Returns Transformation Portfolio, focusing on delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to safe countries, through swift decision making to remove people with no right to be in the UK. This is to ensure that asylum and immigration rules are respected and enforced.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure children from the most deprived households access free breakfast clubs.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government is committed to delivering on its pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary aged pupils. We have made early progress towards this, including announcing that up to 750 early adopters will be delivering these new breakfast clubs from April 2025.

The government confirmed it will triple its investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million in the 2025/26 financial year to help ensure children are ready to learn at the start of the school day and to help drive improvements to behaviour, attendance and attainment. This will also support parents, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing English National Concessionary Travel Scheme bus passes to be used before 9.30 am.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. Local authorities in England have the power to go beyond their statutory obligations under the ENCTS and offer additional discretionary concessions, such as extending the times at which concessionary passes can be used.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help uphold international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in the context of the conference entitled Preparing to resettle Gaza, which took place in Israel on Monday 21 October 2024.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

This government is committed to upholding international law. The UK's position on all settlements is clear. They are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. The Government will challenge those who undermine the prospects of a two-state solution or use hateful rhetoric. The UK also condemns inciteful remarks, such as those made by Israel's National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, which seek to inflame tensions and harm the viability of a two-state solution.

We support a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people. We must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future. And it needs to be irreversible.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting single parents in part-time work with dependent children from the Administrative Earnings Threshold.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Administrative Earnings Threshold determines the level of work coach support that Universal Credit customers receive. Customers on low incomes are able to access regular work coach advice and support to help them to increase their earnings, this can include advice on childcare or help to address skills gaps to aid career progression.

Work Coaches take each of our customers’ personal circumstances into account when agreeing reasonable actions to look for or progress in work, including any childcare responsibilities. Alongside this, we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit by listening to the full range of views on potential changes, so that our social security system is fit for purpose. And we will also be exploring how we can better support parents, as we develop our child poverty and labour market strategy objectives.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the election results in Georgia on the safety of LGBTQ+ people in that country.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We have not yet assessed the specific impact of the 27 October Georgian parliamentary elections on the safety of LGBT+ people. However, it is clear that the direction of the Georgian Dream party risks undermining freedom of expression and assembly and further discriminating against and stigmatising Georgia's LGBT+ community, including through the introduction of the Law on Family Values. We work closely with our partners to advance equality, including through the Equal Rights Coalition and the European LGBTI Focal Points Network. On 9 October, I raised my concerns over recent legislative changes, including these laws, with Georgian Foreign Minister Darchiashvili.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of reports that Israeli settlers plan to cross into Gaza and create outposts.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Settlements are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution. The Government will challenge those who undermine the prospects of a two-state solution or use hateful rhetoric. We will look at all options to take tougher action.

Settlement expansion in the West Bank has reached record levels in the past year and has been accompanied by an increase in settler violence. During the Foreign Secretary's visit to Israel and the OPTs on 14-15 July, he met with Palestinians displaced in the West Bank and was horrified to hear of acts of violence carried out by settlers. The Foreign Secretary made the UK's position clear to those communities and to the Israeli government.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of reports of Israeli forces (a) starving and (b) killing Palestinian civilians in Northern Gaza.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As the Foreign Secretary set out in his statement of 16 October, the humanitarian situation in Northern Gaza is dire. Israel must ensure civilians are protected and ensure routes are open to allow life-saving aid through. The UK is clear that International Humanitarian Law must be upheld, and civilians protected. We continue to raise issues of International Humanitarian Law with the Israel at the highest levels.

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 (a) promote brain health and (b) implement targeted interventions among those most at risk of dementia from South Asian communities.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England’s Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme led the development of resources to raise awareness of the specific dementia care requirements for people from ethnic minority communities to improve access, experience, and outcomes for people living with dementia from these groups.

These were released in May 2023 and include an e-learning module to support clinicians and a refresh of the intercultural dementia care guide, which incorporates considerations around language and communication in the provision of culturally appropriate care. Work to update the guide specifically included focus groups with black African, black Caribbean, and South Asian communities as the largest ethnic minority groups in England.

NHS England’s resource Dementia wellbeing in the COVID-19 pandemic accompanies the Dementia Well Pathway. Key priorities and actions for dementia diagnosis and post diagnostic support are included for each step. The resource highlights the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Toolkit to help provide support in identifying and addressing mental health inequalities.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has for the holiday activities and food programme.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The future of the Holiday Activities and Food programme beyond 31 March 2025 is subject to decisions flowing from this autumn’s government Spending Review. The outcome of this process will be communicated in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing auto-enrolment for Healthy Start.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Healthy Start scheme is kept under review. The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old. Healthy Start now supports over 353,000 beneficiaries. This figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme.

The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHS Business Services Authority is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card. However, we remain open to all viable routes to improve uptake.

Redundancies at TGI Fridays

National Sherwood Forest Day

Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly elections

Humanitarian situation in Sudan (No. 2)

Gaza family visa scheme

Uber and private hire drivers

Imprisonment of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

4 day working week

Release of fire appliance and life-saving equipment to Palestine

Found: Withdrawn after debate _NC1 Ms Stella Creasy Alex Sobel Charlotte Nichols Nadia Whittome Dr

Found: _NC1 Ms Stella Creasy Alex Sobel Charlotte Nichols Nadia Whittome Dr Simon Opher Rosie Duffield

Found: McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew Cooper Nadia

Found: McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew Cooper Nadia

Found: McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew Cooper Nadia

Found: McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew Cooper Nadia

Found: Paula Barker Charlotte Nichols Rosie Duffield Alex Ballinger John McDonnell Andrew Cooper Nadia