Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the case brought by Sudan against the United Arab Emirates at the International Court of Justice which began on 10 April 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are fully committed to international justice and respect the independence of the International Court of Justice. We continue to call upon the warring parties to take concrete and immediate action to respect international humanitarian law and alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that the rapid support forces comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2736.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to use all diplomatic levers at its disposal to press the parties, including the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to comply with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2736. Despite the Russian veto in November of a UK-Sierra Leone led resolution to build on UNSCR 2736, the UK continues to work with UNSC partners to galvanise Council action on Sudan. This includes securing a UNSC press statement on 17 April which called for the end of hostilities in El Fasher and full implementation of Resolution 2736.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made representation to his Moroccan counterpart on including freedom of religion or belief during discussions on the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK champions Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all. It is our firm opinion that no one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe. The recently appointed Special Envoy for FoRB, David Smith MP, will play a critical role in promoting this right for all, through and alongside our global diplomatic network, our engagement in multilateral fora, and our important bilateral work. On 25 March, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials met and discussed FoRB with the President of the National Human Rights Council of Morocco.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help promote freedom of religion or belief in community engagement initiatives in Morocco.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK champions Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for all. It is our firm opinion that no one should live in fear because of what they do or do not believe. The recently appointed Special Envoy for FoRB, David Smith MP, will play a critical role in promoting this right for all, through and alongside our global diplomatic network, our engagement in multilateral fora, and our important bilateral work. On 25 March, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office officials met and discussed FoRB with the President of the National Human Rights Council of Morocco.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make transitional relief on Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) available to first-time buyers in cases where completion has been subject to unexpected delays.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In September 2022, the previous government announced a change to the level at which purchasers of residential property start paying Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), from £125,000 to £250,000. This change was made temporary in November 2022, and the rate reverted to £125,000 on 1 April 2025. For first-time buyers, the nil-rate band had been temporarily raised to £425,000 and the purchase price limit for accessing the relief to £625,000. On 1 April 2025, after the rates reverted, first time buyers can still benefit from paying no SDLT up to £300,000 and will be able to claim relief on purchases up to £500,000.
Purchasers have had notice of these tax changes, as legislated for in the Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Act 2023. In order to benefit from the temporary rates, purchasers will have needed to complete on their purchase by 31 March 2025. The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the usual tax policy making process.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support adoption services.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 2 April, the department confirmed funding of £8.8 million for Adoption England to improve the recruitment of adopters, matching of children, and family support during the 2025/26 financial year.
This includes funding to develop more Centres of Excellence as multidisciplinary teams across the country to provide specialist and therapeutic support to families and the development of national standards for adoption support. It also includes a new framework for an early support core offer, ‘Becoming a Family’, for the first twelve to eighteen months of placement and an Adoption Support Plan to guide assessments of a family’s support needs. All are designed to improve support and reduce the risk of an adoption breakdown.
Adoption England are also planning work to develop a national protocol on how children’s services, front door services and adoption support teams work together to better support families at risk of adoption disruption.
Adoption England and regional adoption agencies work closely with adopters to improve adoption support services. This includes considering the latest evidence of why adoption disruptions have occurred in their agencies and across the country.
Since its inception in 2015, the department has provided over £400 million through the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) to provide therapeutic interventions for around 52,700 children who have left care under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangements order. The interventions are designed to help children and their families to deal with their trauma and attachment difficulties and have been independently assessed to have helped prevent adoption breakdowns.
On 1 April, it was announced that the ASGSF would continue into 2025/26, with a budget of £50 million. A further announcement about arrangements for applications will be made as soon as possible. We remain committed to supporting families, who play an essential role in providing stable and loving homes for children in need.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent the public provision of personally identifiable information online.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
All organisations in the UK that process personal data must comply with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
The legislation sets out a series of principles with which organisations must comply. These include the need to process personal data lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely, unless certain limited exemptions apply. The legislation also gives people rights in relation to their personal data, such as the right to seek access to it, object to its processing or seek its erasure.
The legislation does not prevent individuals posting personal data online if it is done for domestic purposes, such as messaging friends, or sharing photos with their social networks, but the platforms that host the data will be subject to the legislation.
If individuals are concerned that organisations are processing their personal data unlawfully, they can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office which is responsible for regulating the legislation.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of the funding for the Bangladesh Collaborative, Accountable and Peaceful Politics programme is allocated to supporting individuals facing violations of freedom of religion or belief.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK-funded Bangladesh Collaborative, Accountable and Peaceful Politics (BCAPP) programme is a £27 million initiative designed to protect and promote freedom of religion or belief in Bangladesh. Through this programme, the Hunger project has organised a range of initiatives to foster inter-ethnic and religious peace, including peace events, consultation meetings with local authorities, and quarterly meeting focused on local conflict mediation. Whilst a specific breakdown of funding allocated to freedom of religion or belief is currently unavailable, the BCAPP programme helps ensure the rights of minorities are respected, and protected from discrimination.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the period of duration for spousal visas.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
A partner or spouse coming to or staying in the UK with their British or settled relative is granted permission for 33 or 30 months respectively. The temporary grant of permission allows the Home Office to confirm the relationship is ongoing and subsisting before an extension of permission to stay or settlement as a partner/spouse.
The Government will set out its approach to future policy on a range of immigration policy areas in the upcoming Immigration White Paper which will be published later this year.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with local authorities to make public transport more affordable.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services is one of the government’s top priorities and we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth.
The government is investing over £150 million to deliver a new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help millions access better opportunities and promote greater bus use by passengers. In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities. Local authorities can use this funding to introduce new fares initiatives, introduce new bus routes, make services more frequent and protect crucial bus routes for local communities.