Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the Mental Health Foundation, (b) the Antisemitism Policy Trust and (c) other civil society organisations on the regulation of online forums that allow the sharing of (i) detailed instructional information about methods of suicide and (ii) other (A) dangerous and (B) hateful content; and whether she plans further such discussions.

Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Secretary of State and department officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society groups, on online safety issues. During the development and passage of the Online Safety Act, the department and Ministers met with relevant civil society organisations to discuss issues such as suicide prevention and countering online hate and violence, to ensure the legislation took into account as broad a range of views as possible.

Following the Act gaining Royal Assent, there is ongoing engagement with relevant stakeholders as the legislation is implemented by Ofcom, the online safety regulator.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with her Qatari counterpart on (a) businesses in that country having links to Hamas and (b) the potential impact of those links on the level of risk for British business partners.

Answered by Greg Hands

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2024 to Question 20817 on Hamas: UNRWA, what assessment he has made of the threats faced by UNRWA staff members (a) John Ging and (b) Matthias Schmale.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

Neither John Ging nor Matthias Schmale currently work for UNRWA. John Ging left the organisation in 2011 and Matthias Schmale in 2021, We hold regular discussions with UNRWA about their operations in Gaza and across the region. We are not currently aware of any threats made to their senior operations staff.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had recent discussions with his Turkish counterpart on the reported granting of (a) citizenship and (b) passports to senior Hamas figures (i) Ismail Haniyeh and (ii) Saleh al-Arouri by that country.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We have not recently engaged with the Turkish Government on the reported granting of citizenship and passports to senior Hamas figures. Turkey granted citizenship to Ismail Haniyey in 2020, and Saleh al-Arouri was killed in January this year.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent estimate he has made of the number of British (a) dual-nationals and (b) citizens that were killed during the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office were informed of the deaths of 15 British nationals killed in the terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.

We do not have details on how many of the victims were dual nationals.

Found: Communications NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care ; Nicola