Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she had with the police a) prior to the Great Israeli Real Estate Event on 14 June 2026 and b) following reports that materials were handed out promoting properties in West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, undermine the two-state solution, and contribute to instability and violence. We completely oppose the advertisement of property for sale in those settlements, and we were appalled by reports of an event where that advertising was taking place.
On 9 June, prior to the event, the UK Government updated advice to UK businesses to make clear that they should not engage in economic activity in illegal settlements, and warn them of the reputational and potentially legal consequences of any such activities. Alongside the Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport, I also wrote to the Advertising Standards Authority last week to request that they investigate whether any breaches of their regulations have occurred in the context of this event.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of low commissioning rates by local councils on incidence of non-payment for travel time between care visits for homecare workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.
Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.
As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed council commissioning rates for homecare to ascertain if councils are encouraging the underpayment of the National Living Wage.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We expect local authorities to pay sustainable fee rates that meet the costs of delivering care. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes negotiating fees individually with care providers, including in the homecare market, to achieve a sustainable balance of quality, effectiveness, and value for money.
Under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance, local authorities should assure themselves that providers are sufficiently remunerating staff to retain an effective workforce, including appropriate remuneration for any time spent travelling between appointments.
The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund provided over £3 billion to local authorities for adult social care from 2023/24 to 2025/26. This was used by authorities, based on their areas’ local priorities for improvement, to build capacity and support market sustainability, including to increase fee rates paid to care providers.
As part of our monitoring of the grant conditions, and to understand fee rates more generally, local authorities are required to provide an annual return to the Department which includes data on the fee rates they pay care providers. The Government publishes this data annually, with the latest being available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State with Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association on tackling the non-payment of travel time of homecare workers in advance of a fair pay agreement for adult social care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department of Health and Social Care has regular discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a range of issues regarding local government services, including adult social care.
All social care workers must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the work that they do. Time spent travelling between appointments counts as working time for minimum wage purposes.
Currently, National Minimum Wage enforcement continues to be delivered by HM Revenue & Customs under a contracting arrangement with the Fair Work Agency. This ensures continuity of service while the Fair Work Agency prepares for the full transfer of National Minimum Wage functions in April 2027.
If an individual believes their rights as a worker are not being upheld, they can seek confidential guidance and support from ACAS. ACAS can be contacted on 0300 123 1100, or they can visit the ACAS website for further information, which is available at the following link:
They can also submit a query online directly to HM Revenue & Customs via GOV.UK; it considers every complaint it receives.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many records of individual immigration status have been shared by NHS England with the Personal Demographics Service.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts must indicate on a patient’s NHS record whether they are an overseas visitor, whether an exemption from charges applies to that overseas visitor, and the date on which the latest assessment of their chargeable status took place, under regulation 3A of the charging regulations.
The Personal Demographics Service (PDS) is the national electronic database of all NHS patients, who are born in or have received NHS care in England, Wales, and the Isle of Man, or who are an overseas visitor.
It helps healthcare staff identify patients, match them to their care records, and keep their details up to date. If the person is an overseas visitor, information obtained via the PDS is used to help NHS trusts understand if a patient has an immigration status to make NHS charging decisions.
The Home Office provides data to the PDS when a new immigration record is created or approved, including the Home Office Reference Number, visa dates, and charging status.
This is used to enable an NHS Overseas Visitor Manager in an NHS trust to check when an overseas visitor accesses NHS services, when they need to confirm their charging status, and uses NHS systems linked to Home Office systems to check the relevant status. Access to this data on the PDS via NHS systems is limited to this purpose.
NHS England is directed to collect and analyse the data necessary to deliver this service under the Cost Recovery Collection, Processing and Dissemination of Overseas Visitor and UK Patient-Level Data Directions 2021, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (Immigration Health Charge) Directions 2021.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether data from Cost Recovery Collection in the NHS can be accessed by the Federated Data Platform.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed
Data collected as part of the NHS Cost Recovery Collection is not accessible by the NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP). The NHS FDP does not hold, process, or provide access to data relating to an individual’s immigration or residency status, nor does it ingest data from the Cost Recovery Collection.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has assessed if there is a clear risk that arms exports licensed by the UK government might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law by Israel in Iran.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister has been clear that the conflict in the Middle East is not our war. We are responding to this crisis with clear and calm leadership to protect our national interests without being drawn in to the conflict.
Export licence applications are rigorously assessed against the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including criterion 2(c) which states that we will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items under that licence might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also keep all existing licences under continual review on the same basis. This means that all these issues are kept under continuous review.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has assessed if there is a clear risk that arms exports licensed by the UK government might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law by Israel in Lebanon.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister has been clear that the conflict in the Middle East is not our war. We are responding to this crisis with clear and calm leadership to protect our national interests without being drawn in to the conflict.
Export licence applications are rigorously assessed against the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including criterion 2(c) which states that we will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items under that licence might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also keep all existing licences under continual review on the same basis. This means that all these issues are kept under continuous review.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has assessed if there is a clear risk that arms exports licensed by the UK government might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law by the US in Iran.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister has been clear that the conflict in the Middle East is not our war. We are responding to this crisis with clear and calm leadership to protect our national interests without being drawn in to the conflict.
Export licence applications are rigorously assessed against the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria, including criterion 2(c) which states that we will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items under that licence might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also keep all existing licences under continual review on the same basis. This means that all these issues are kept under continuous review.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, (a) on what date Morgan McSweeney was granted Developed Vetting clearance; (b) whether Morgan McSweeney handled documents for which he would require Developed Vetting clearance prior to that date.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security) (Jointly with the Cabinet Office)
We do not comment on the details of individual clearances or national security as a matter of course.