Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking, in collaboration with the Government of Iran, to preserve freedom of religion or belief amid ongoing protests in Iran.

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

I refer the Hon Member to the statement made by the Foreign Secretary on 13 January, and her responses to the questions raised in the subsequent debate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of suspected Placenta Accreta Spectrum were (a) recorded antenatally and (b) confirmed at delivery in each of the last five years; and what the rate of missed antenatal diagnosis was by trust.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

This data is not held centrally.

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 ensure frontline diagnostic capability for Placenta Accreta Spectrum at every level of maternity care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To ensure effective diagnosis and management of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), national guidance is provided within the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Placenta Praevia and Placenta Accreta: Diagnosis and Management guidelines. Both these guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng192/documents/draft-guideline-2

https://www.rcog.org.uk/guidance/browse-all-guidance/green-top-guidelines/placenta-praevia-and-placenta-accreta-diagnosis-and-management-green-top-guideline-no-27a/

The Department does not hold data on what proportion of the maternity workforce has received PAS diagnostic training in each of the last five years, as PAS training is managed locally by trusts. The Department does not currently have plans to mandate frontline PAS diagnostic training.

In 2020, NHS England commissioned placenta accreta networks in the United Kingdom to support local and regional screening, shared protocols, and co-ordinated referral pathways to specialist pregnancy accreta centres. These centres consist of highly experienced multidisciplinary teams with the expertise to manage this condition and improve the safety outcomes for women and babies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to mandate frontline Placenta Accreta Spectrum diagnostic training for relevant maternity clinicians.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To ensure effective diagnosis and management of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), national guidance is provided within the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Placenta Praevia and Placenta Accreta: Diagnosis and Management guidelines. Both these guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng192/documents/draft-guideline-2

https://www.rcog.org.uk/guidance/browse-all-guidance/green-top-guidelines/placenta-praevia-and-placenta-accreta-diagnosis-and-management-green-top-guideline-no-27a/

The Department does not hold data on what proportion of the maternity workforce has received PAS diagnostic training in each of the last five years, as PAS training is managed locally by trusts. The Department does not currently have plans to mandate frontline PAS diagnostic training.

In 2020, NHS England commissioned placenta accreta networks in the United Kingdom to support local and regional screening, shared protocols, and co-ordinated referral pathways to specialist pregnancy accreta centres. These centres consist of highly experienced multidisciplinary teams with the expertise to manage this condition and improve the safety outcomes for women and babies.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the maternity workforce has received Placenta Accreta Spectrum diagnostic training in each of the last five years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

To ensure effective diagnosis and management of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS), national guidance is provided within the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Placenta Praevia and Placenta Accreta: Diagnosis and Management guidelines. Both these guidance documents are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng192/documents/draft-guideline-2

https://www.rcog.org.uk/guidance/browse-all-guidance/green-top-guidelines/placenta-praevia-and-placenta-accreta-diagnosis-and-management-green-top-guideline-no-27a/

The Department does not hold data on what proportion of the maternity workforce has received PAS diagnostic training in each of the last five years, as PAS training is managed locally by trusts. The Department does not currently have plans to mandate frontline PAS diagnostic training.

In 2020, NHS England commissioned placenta accreta networks in the United Kingdom to support local and regional screening, shared protocols, and co-ordinated referral pathways to specialist pregnancy accreta centres. These centres consist of highly experienced multidisciplinary teams with the expertise to manage this condition and improve the safety outcomes for women and babies.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations she has made to her Bangladeshi counterpart on reports of violence against Hindu communities and the safety of religious minorities.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK condemns all religiously motivated violence in Bangladesh.

We have consistently raised the importance of protecting religious minorities with the Bangladeshi authorities, including during visits by the UK Human Rights Ambassador in February 2025, and Baroness Chapman in November. The British High Commission also meets with civil society groups and minority communities.

Bangladesh's Interim Government has publicly reaffirmed its commitment to protecting communities-Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim-including in a statement on 10 January. This statement set out steps being taken by the Home Ministry to respond rapidly to incidents, protect victims and witnesses, and ensure the law is applied fairly.

Our commitment to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is reflected through our engagement with civil society groups and minority communities as well as our £27 million Bangladesh Collaborative, Accountable and Peaceful Politics programme (2023-2028). The programme aims to protect civic space, foster inclusive dialogue, and address tensions that can lead to violence.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the ethnic pay gap reporting framework will require employers to record and report pay gap data for Jewish and Sikh employees as distinct ethnic groups.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Our consultation on ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting closed in June 2025. The consultation sought views on the proposed approach, including whether ethnicity data should be collected following the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Ethnicity Harmonised Standard. Good progress has been made in analysing the responses and we will publish the Government response to the consultation in due course.

The ONS current harmonised standard does not include specific “Sikh” and “Jewish” categories for a person’s ethnic group. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), which is independent of government, is currently running a public consultation which seeks to review the harmonised standard to ensure it meets the needs of both data users and respondents.

We will monitor the progress of this review during policy development.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the level of respondent burden to provide evidence on the need for an additional data point in the consultation entitled Assessing User Needs for Additional Response Options for the new Ethnicity Harmonisation Standards, which opened in October 2025.

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

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 3rd February is attached.