Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a breakdown of student loan recipients by nationality in each of the last five years.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Attached is a table that breaks down unique students in receipt of tuition fee loans and/or student support scheme income contingent loans (such as maintenance loans) by nationality for the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic years.
Nationality is an optional field for borrowers to fill out when they are applying for student finance, which is why the data contains ‘unknown’ records. The department has seen a downward trend in the number of ‘unknown’ records in recent years, which could be due to people moving towards digital rather than paper applications, as the digital application has a drop-down menu for nationality making it easier for applicants to select the relevant option.
Please note, when compared to published figures, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/student-support-for-higher-education-in-england-2024, total numbers of borrowers in receipt of tuition fee and maintenance loans will differ to this dataset as we are counting unique borrowers. Furthermore, the data is not fully static and data can be updated or re-categorised over time.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of medical school places are occupied by non-UK nationals.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education sector. These data are shared with the department and include a wide range of information on students in UK higher education providers (HEPs), including their legal nationality.
In the 2022/23 academic year, there were 84,230 student enrolments in medicine and dentistry subjects at UK HEPs, of which 19,990 held a legal nationality other than British or dual-British nationality, representing 24.7% of those with known legal nationality.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of all meat (a) produced and (b) consumed in the UK that is Halal meat.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Of the 1.035 billion animals processed in English and Welsh slaughterhouses in 2024, an estimated 214.6 million animals (20.7%) were slaughtered to produce halal meat of which an estimated 27.0 million animals (2.6% of all animals processed) were slaughtered for halal meat without being stunned. These figures are calculated using data from a survey carried out at all slaughterhouses operating in England and Wales during the period 12 February to 18 February 2024, under the last Government.
We do not hold data that would allow us to accurately estimate the quantity of halal meat that was consumed in 2024.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of how many animals were slaughtered without being stunned for the production of Halal meat in 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Of the 1.035 billion animals processed in English and Welsh slaughterhouses in 2024, an estimated 214.6 million animals (20.7%) were slaughtered to produce halal meat of which an estimated 27.0 million animals (2.6% of all animals processed) were slaughtered for halal meat without being stunned. These figures are calculated using data from a survey carried out at all slaughterhouses operating in England and Wales during the period 12 February to 18 February 2024, under the last Government.
We do not hold data that would allow us to accurately estimate the quantity of halal meat that was consumed in 2024.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of animals were slaughtered without being stunned for the production of Halal meat in the UK in 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Of the 1.035 billion animals processed in English and Welsh slaughterhouses in 2024, an estimated 214.6 million animals (20.7%) were slaughtered to produce halal meat of which an estimated 27.0 million animals (2.6% of all animals processed) were slaughtered for halal meat without being stunned. These figures are calculated using data from a survey carried out at all slaughterhouses operating in England and Wales during the period 12 February to 18 February 2024, under the last Government.
We do not hold data that would allow us to accurately estimate the quantity of halal meat that was consumed in 2024.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many sandwiches have been delivered through her Department's contract entitled Catering - CIU, procurement reference CF-0360600D58000000L5A4EAK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The contracts maintained are designed to provide basic nutrition to arriving individuals in need, including children. The amounts of food provided across the two sites will vary according to need.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many sandwiches have been delivered through her Department's contract entitled Catering - KIU, procurement reference CF-0357300D58000000L5A4EAK.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The contracts maintained are designed to provide basic nutrition to arriving individuals in need, including children. The amounts of food provided across the two sites will vary according to need.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure the provision of pre-sentencing reports for all offenders.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Where a court is considering whether an offender should receive a sentence of immediate custody, a pre-sentencing report must be obtained and considered before forming an opinion unless, in the circumstances of the case, it considers that it is unnecessary to obtain a pre-sentence report. Pre-sentencing reports. These reports see the Probation Service play an essential role in court by providing an expert assessment of the nature and causes of the offender's behaviour and the risk the offender poses.
The Lord Chancellor has been clear that the recent guidelines published by the Sentencing Council regarding pre-sentencing reports, do not represent the views of this Government. The Lord Chancellor and the Chairman of the Sentencing Council have had a constructive discussion. It was agreed that the Lord Chancellor will set out her position more fully in writing, which the Sentencing Council will then consider before the guideline is due to come into effect.
The Lord Chancellor has already stated that she will be reviewing the role and powers of the Sentencing Council, as well as what role Government should have on issues such as this, and will not hesitate to legislate if necessary.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislation to prohibit the slaughter of animals without being stunned for Halal meat.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government encourages the highest standards of animal welfare at slaughter and would prefer all animals to be stunned before slaughter, but we respect the rights of Jews and Muslims to eat meat prepared in accordance with their religious beliefs. There are no plans to bring forward legislation to prohibit the slaughter of animals without prior stunning when slaughtered in accordance with religious rites.
Existing legislation sets out the main requirements to protect the welfare of animals when being slaughtered and there are additional rules that apply when animals are slaughtered by either the Jewish or Muslim method without prior stunning to ensure that animals are spared avoidable pain, suffering, or distress during the slaughter process.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many yellow card reports on covid-19 vaccines there were in 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet the applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses the available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the MHRA’s independent advisory committee, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions, which includes amending the product information.
All COVID-19 vaccines used in the United Kingdom have been authorised by the MHRA after meeting the MHRA’s standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness. As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continuously monitored, and benefits and possible risks remain under review. The MHRA has received a total of 6,912 spontaneous suspected side effects to COVID-19 vaccines in 2024 from over 15 million doses estimated to have been administered across the UK.
When considering the above spontaneous data, it is important to be aware that a reported reaction does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the vaccine, medicine, or device, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have been. The fact that the symptoms reported to the Yellow Card scheme occur after the use of a vaccine, medicine, or device does not in itself mean that they are proven to have been caused by it. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, and such events can also be coincidental.
It is also important to note that the number of reports received via the Yellow Card scheme does not directly equate to the number of people who suffered adverse reactions, and therefore they cannot be used to determine the incidence of a reaction or compare the safety profile of different vaccines, medicines, or devices. Adverse drug reactions and device incident reporting rates are influenced by the seriousness of the adverse reactions, their ease of recognition, and the extent of use of a particular medicine or device, and may also be stimulated by promotion and publicity. Reporting tends to be highest for newly introduced medicines during the first one to two years on the market, and then falls over time.