Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of failed asylum seekers scheduled for deportation are known to have mental health issues.

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

There is no specific figure available of the type described in these questions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reporting rate is of failed asylum seekers to her Department.

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

There is no specific figure available of the type described in these questions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many deportations have taken place to Somalia since 8 July 2024.

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

Statistics on returns from the UK by nationality and destination are published on a quarterly basis. These returns are published in the Returns Detailed Datasets, and are currently available to the end of March 2025, available at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many failed asylum seekers still in the UK hold criminal records.

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

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 19 June to Question 58400.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has undertaken a risk assessment on solar radiation modification.

Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is not in favour of using Solar Radiation Modification (SRM). Given the significant uncertainty around the possible risks and impacts of deployment on the climate and environment, the Government is not deploying SRM and has no plans to do so.

The Department works closely with the research community to evaluate the latest research on the potential risks and impacts of solar radiation modification.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with the UKRI on its funded research projects on solar radiation modification.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Department engages regularly with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and its constituent Councils, on a range of research and innovation priorities.

In April 2025, UKRI’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) invested £10 million in four research projects on solar radiation modification (SRM). These projects cover stratospheric aerosol intervention; marine cloud brightening; the environment’s response to SRM; and the cooling potential of lesser-known SRM approaches. These projects will not involve outdoor experiments.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of children aged 12-16 who are vaping.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England publishes estimates of the prevalence of vaping in children in the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England Survey. This survey covers children in years 7 to 11 in secondary school, the majority of whom will be aged 12 to 16 years old, although some 11 year olds will also be included.

The latest figures for England are from the 2023 survey, which showed that 5% of children were regular vapers, 4% were occasional vapers, and 25% reported having ever tried vaping. The report is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/smoking-drinking-and-drug-use-among-young-people-in-england/2023

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of children aged between 12 and 16 years inclusive that have taken illegal drugs.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are two official national surveys on illicit drug use among children. NHS England’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People surveys pupils aged between 11 and 15 years old in England. In 2023, 13% of pupils reported that they had taken drugs.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales, published by the Office for National Statistics, reported that in the year ending March 2024, 15% of young people aged 16 to 19 years old reported using any drugs in the past 12 months.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to (a) schools and (b) teaching bodies on using vapes in school settings.

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

In the UK, it is against the law to sell nicotine vaping products to under 18s or for adults to buy them on their behalf. Young people should not have these products in schools.

Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including which items are banned from school premises. School staff can search pupils for banned items as outlined in the department’s Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance.

Schools have an important role in educating pupils about the dangers of harmful substances. Primary pupils should be taught about legal and illegal harmful substances while secondary pupils are also taught about the associated legal and psychological risks. The relationships, sex and health education curriculum is currently being reviewed and will consider vaping as part of the review of the statutory guidance.

FRANK, the government-funded national drug and alcohol advisory service, has also been updated with relevant information on vapes, including the risks, physical effects and addictiveness of nicotine vapes.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools reported finding students in possession of illegal drugs.

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

The department does not collect such information centrally.

The Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance emphasises the importance of the school’s duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all pupils. Searching can play a critical role in ensuring that schools are safe environments. Authorised members of school staff have the statutory power to search a pupil when they have reasonable grounds to suspect them to be in possession of prohibited items, such as illegal drugs. At all times, schools must ensure they continue to adhere to their statutory safeguarding duties as outlined in the Working Together to Safeguard Children and Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance documents.

The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks, including drug-taking. To support schools to deliver this content, the department has published a suite of teacher training modules, including one on drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with schools on the potential impact of (a) children buying vapes from their peers and (b) preventing the use of vapes in schools on levels of (i) behaviour and (ii) teacher morale.

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

The sale of vapes to under 18s is illegal, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will ban the sale of all consumer nicotine products to anyone under 18.

Schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy that sets out what is expected of all pupils, including what items are banned from school premises. The ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance outlines effective strategies that will encourage good behaviour and the sanctions that will be imposed for misbehaviour, including vaping anywhere in school.

The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that, in both primary and secondary school, pupils should be taught the facts about legal and illegal harmful substances and associated risks. This includes smoking, alcohol use, and drug taking.

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 establishing legally-binding poverty reduction targets.

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

This Government is committed to tackling Child Poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the autumn. The Taskforce will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across government to reduce child poverty.

The Taskforce will be guided by the leading, internationally-recognised measure of poverty - Relative Poverty After Housing Costs (the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income, after deducting housing costs).

We will also measure the experience of children in the most severe and acute forms of poverty, which we are considering how best to measure as we develop the strategy.

These headline metrics will be supported by a range of other metrics as part of a monitoring framework to ensure the Strategy is on track to meet its aims.

The strategy is focused on metrics related to child poverty, but we are working closely with colleagues on complementary metrics across government. An example is the Plan for Change measure on the percentage of five-year-olds reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the average weekly cost of (a) student accommodation, (b) food and (c) living for university students in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The latest Student Income and Expenditure Survey for 2021/22 collects data on income and expenditure across the academic year, assumed to be 39 weeks.

In the 2021/22 academic year, full-time undergraduate students’ total median living costs were £5,841 including spending on food, entertainment, personal items and other spending not directly related to students’ courses.

Full-time undergraduate students had a median spend of £1,814 on food in the 2021/22 academic year.

The median expenditure on housing costs across full-time undergraduate students who incurred those costs was £4,940.

Birthday of James Furlong

Government policy on the Hillsborough Law

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Alberto Costa (Chair); Paula Barker; Gill Furniss; Mehmuda Mian;

Found: Current membership Alberto Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool

Found: Presented by Ian Byrne supported by Kim Johnson, Paula Barker, Peter Dowd, Derek Twigg, Sorcha Eastwood

Found: Not called_2(a) Richard Burgon Andy McDonald Rachael Maskell Cat Eccles Neil Duncan-Jordan Paula Barker

Boxing APPG
Friday 18th July 2025

Found: Virtual meeting, Zoom In attendance: Name Organisation Chris Evans MP Chair of APPG Boxing Paula Barker

Boxing APPG
Friday 18th July 2025

Found: Meeting, Zoom In attendance: Name Organisation Chris Evans MP Chair of APPG Boxing Paula Barker

Maternity APPG
Thursday 10th July 2025

Found: attendance (45): Lewis Atkinson MP (Sunderland Central), Antonia Bance MP (Tipton and Wednesbury), Paula Barker