Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is taking steps to help support British citizens in Sudan to return to the UK in the context of the recent telecoms blackout.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Due to the security situation the British Embassy in Sudan has temporarily closed. The consular support we can provide is severely limited as we have no in-person presence. However we continue to provide tailored remote consular assistance to British nationals still in Sudan, communicating through our telephone consular helpline, Travel Advice updates and consular teams. British nationals who require assistance can call us 24/7. We call on Sudan's warring parties to restore vital communications and internet services.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's evaluation processes complement the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's International Recognition Procedure.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for the processes that it uses, in the development of its recommendations on new medicines. The NICE will continue aiming to publish guidance on new medicines within 90 days of the receipt of a United Kingdom marketing authorisation, and is working closely with the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, industry, and system partners to ensure that it is able to make timely recommendations on new medicines licensed through the International Recognition Procedure.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is taking steps to provide additional aid to alleviate the potential famine in Sudan.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The conflict is having a devastating impact on Sudanese populations, with 17.7 million people (37 percent of the population) now thought to be experiencing acute food insecurity, with the high risk of further deterioration. The UK is providing more than £38 million in humanitarian funding in 2023-24, including £12.2 million to UNICEF for lifesaving nutrition activities. In 2024/2025, the UK bilateral Official Development Assistance to Sudan will double to £89 million.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will publish the latest Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability assessment for Afghanistan; and if he will place a copy in the House Commons Library.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government last formally revised its Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability (JACS) for Afghanistan in 2019. We continue to carefully monitor the situation in Afghanistan with new reports and assessments commissioned by the UK and our partners on an on-going basis.
Due to the highly sensitive conflict context in Afghanistan, the latest JACS is not a public document. Other analysis is available, including the annual report issued by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) that covers threats to conflict and stability worldwide. Further reports and assessments of a specific nature are released on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when the latest Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability assessment was reviewed for Afghanistan.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government last formally revised its Joint Analysis of Conflict and Stability (JACS) for Afghanistan in 2019. We continue to carefully monitor the situation in Afghanistan with new reports and assessments commissioned by the UK and our partners on an on-going basis.
Due to the highly sensitive conflict context in Afghanistan, the latest JACS is not a public document. Other analysis is available, including the annual report issued by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) that covers threats to conflict and stability worldwide. Further reports and assessments of a specific nature are released on a case-by-case basis.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to open a third phase of the youth investment fund.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people.
While local authorities are responsible for delivering youth provision, the Government has worked closely with local authorities to update statutory guidance to support this delivery. The Government additionally provides significant funding to support youth services, with over £1.1 billion provided to the youth sector from DCMS in England between 2015 and 2021.
Over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This includes a significant number of interventions such as the Youth Investment Fund which is delivering grants to build, renovate and expand youth centres. Future funding commitments for the Youth Investment Fund beyond the current phase 2 will be subject to the next Spending Review Period.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have (a) arrived in the UK on a Health and Care Worker visa and (b) subsequently applied for a different type of visa since 2020.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office does not record or hold any data on these matters.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have (a) arrived in and (b) subsequently left the UK on a Health and Care Worker visa since 2020.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office does not record or hold any data on these matters.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people who were issued a Health and Care Worker visa since 2020 remain employed in the health and social care sector.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Home Office does not record or hold any data on these matters.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to assist university students affected by marking and assessment boycotts.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Unlike some other education sectors where the government has taken part in negotiations with trade unions, universities are autonomous. They are therefore responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff.
While government plays no formal role in such disputes, the department is deeply concerned about the impact of the marking and assessment boycott on students. It is unacceptable that students, many of whom have already suffered significant disruption to their studies over recent years, face further disruption and uncertainty. This disruption is particularly damaging to those students who are due to graduate and looking to enter the jobs market or progress to further study. The department has made clear that whatever the rights and wrongs of the current dispute, action that damages students' prospects is the wrong thing to do.
Our current understanding is that the vast majority of students have been unaffected by the industrial action and, in most cases, have received their full results on time, and progressed or graduated as normal. However, the department appreciates that, at some higher education (HE) providers, the impact of the boycott has been more significant.
This government believes students should be at the heart of the HE system. This is why the Office for Students (OfS) has been set up to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS wrote to institutions affected by the boycott on 12 June to reiterate its expectations in relation to its conditions of registration. The OfS have also published guidance to students on their rights during industrial action and will continue to monitor this ongoing situation through their normal regulatory mechanisms.
I have held discussions with the Russell Group, Universities UK and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) to better understand the impact on students and the mitigating actions their members are taking to minimise disruption. I have also written to the Russell Group and Universities UK, encouraging them to continue to do everything within their powers to protect the interests of students during this phase of industrial action. On 11 August, I wrote to UCEA and the University and College Union (UCU) urging them both to resume negotiations which, if successful, will bring an end to the boycott and further industrial action.
Universities have worked to reduce the impact on students in a variety of ways, including reallocating marking to other staff members and hiring external markers. Moreover, many universities have awarded degrees when they have enough evidence of a student’s prior attainment to do so. Others have assigned provisional grades to students to allow them to progress, and, once all papers have been marked, most institutions will award degree classifications that either remain as provisionally assigned or are uplifted to reflect the student’s achievements.
The department strongly urges all parties involved in this industrial dispute to resume negotiations. We will continue to engage with the HE sector to help better understand how students’ interests can be protected during this time.