Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to authorise the use of frozen Russian state assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This Government is clear that Russia must be held responsible for its illegal war. That includes its obligations under international law to pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine. Working with allies, we continue to pursue all possible lawful avenues by which Russia can be made to meet those obligations. Our agreement with G7 partners to provide approximately $50 billion in additional funding to Ukraine, repaid by the profits generated on sanctioned Russian sovereign assets, is an important step towards ensuring Russia pays. Our focus is on delivering this commitment, including the UK's £2.26 billion contribution, as soon as possible.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve the study of tropical diseases in medical school curricula.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of individual UK medical schools to determine the content of their own curricula. The delivery of these undergraduate curricula has to meet the standards set by the medical regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), who monitors and checks to make sure that these standards are maintained. GMC standards require the curriculum to be formed in a way that allows all medical students to meet the GMC’s Outcomes for Graduates by the time they complete their medical degree, which describes the knowledge, skills and behaviour they have to show as newly registered doctors.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when her Department was informed that former employees of (a) ISG and (b) ESS had access to the layout of prison estates; for what reason former employees were able to access the plans following the cessation of their employment; what assessment her Department has made of whether the former employees of other companies have had similar access; and what steps her Department is taking to prevent a similar security breach in the future.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
When ISG Construction Limited entered administration on 20 September 2024, the Ministry of Justice took the necessary measures to immediately secure its data. Access to the Department’s software platform was immediately revoked to former employees of ISG and ESS, and the respective subcontractors.
The Department was informed on 26 November 2024 that a small number of former employees of ISG and ESS, and the respective subcontractors, had accessed an active software platform managed by ESS following the administration. As soon as the Department was made aware of this, we liaised with the Administrator to ensure they revoked access. This was completed within 24 hours, on 27 November 2024.
The Ministry of Justice is investigating the incident and any steps required to prevent a similar incident in future.
Asked by: Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending the unit of measurement for court funding to judicial working days from sitting days.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The funding of HM Courts and Tribunals Service is agreed annually between the Lord Chancellor and the Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals, via the Concordat process.
Sitting days are an important metric used in this process, because they currently provide the best basis for estimating the number of case disposals that can be achieved for a given level of funding. This is essential to assess any funding proposal’s impact on waiting times, caseloads and access to justice.
Judicial working time incorporates other important tasks (including work outside the hearing room, training, recruitment and leadership work) in addition to the time sitting in courts and tribunals. Work is underway to consider whether the definition of a ‘sitting day’ can be updated and improved to account for work outside of the hearing room that directly helps to progress cases towards disposal.
As the Lord Chancellor has previously set out, she is determined that the Concordat process under her will be different and improved.