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Written Question
Karim Ennarah
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when his Department last raised the case of Karim Ennarah with the Egyptian Government.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Minister for North Africa, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, last raised Karim Ennarah's case with the Egyptian Ambassador on 20 February 2024 and also raised this case with Foreign Minister Shoukry during his visit to Cairo last year. Our Embassy in Cairo continues to raise the challenges faced by human rights defenders with the Egyptian authorities, and UK representatives have also done so via Item IV Statements at the Human Rights Council. Human rights defenders make a vital contribution to the health of all societies and should be able to conduct their work and lives unimpeded in Egypt, fully benefiting from their rights under the Egyptian Constitution.


Written Question
Vaccination: International Cooperation
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

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 support global immunisation and vaccination efforts; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted global health and immunisation. The UK Government is committed to supporting efforts to get routine immunisation back on track and has invested £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems as a core part of restoring immunisation services.


Written Question
Myanmar: Military Aid
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage his international counterparts to stop the supply of (a) arms, (b) military equipment, (c) fuel and (d) funds to Myanmar.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Since the coup in February 2021, the UK has announced fifteen rounds of targeted sanctions on the military leadership and those who seek to profit from supplying the regime in Myanmar. The UK continues to work closely with international partners, including the US, EU and Canada, to take robust action to reduce the military's access to arms, military equipment, fuel and funds and to pressure those who sell arms to the military. We have used, and will continue to use, our role at the G7 and the UN to this end.


Written Question
Myanmar: Human Rights
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

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 implications for his policies of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights A/HRC/54/59: Situation of human rights in Myanmar, published on 19 September 2023.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK shares the findings of the report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the increasingly dire human rights situation in Myanmar. We remain committed to targeting the regime's access to finance and arms, including through sanctions on the military leadership to inhibit access to revenue and equipment. Accountability is key in stopping the atrocities committed against the Myanmar people. To support the preservation of evidence for future prosecution, we have provided over £600,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and established the Myanmar Witness project. Continued humanitarian access and assistance remains a UK priority in Myanmar.


Written Question
Housing Associations: Maladministration
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of maladministration cases have been due to unreasonable delays from housing associations each of the last 5 years.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Clinical Trials
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many clinical trial protocols have been awaiting approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for more than (a) 30, (b) 60 and (c) 120 days.

Answered by Will Quince

As of 5 July 2023, the number of clinical trial protocols, initial clinical trial authorisation applications, that have been awaiting approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for more than 30 days (31 to 60 days inclusive) is 68, for more than 60 days (61 to 120 days inclusive) is 110 and for more than 120 days (121 days+) is 81. The MHRA publishes this data about its performance on its website every month.


Written Question
Clinical Trials
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is taking to reduce the time it takes to assess human challenge clinical trials.

Answered by Will Quince

The Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is aware that customers who have submitted initial applications and amendments to our Clinical Investigations and Trials team have experienced extended timeframes in some cases and understands how this unpredictability is impacting companies. The MHRA has taken several significant steps to address the extended timeframes for clinical trial approvals. This includes, but is not limited to, prioritising recruitment and training of specialist staff, working with external stakeholders to streamline and improve its processes, and enhancing customer service support and communications. The MHRA regularly reviews and prioritises applications based on public health impact, patient safety and patient need. Unless a human challenge trial application is considered to meet those criteria it is not prioritised over other clinical trial applications.


Written Question
Clinical Trials
Wednesday 5th July 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency expedites human challenge trial applications where a case has gone beyond its 60-day review deadline.

Answered by Will Quince

The Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is dealing with queued applications sequentially. However, the MHRA is reallocating work and routinely evaluates applications for their complexity and prioritises applications based on public health impact, patient safety and patient need. This approach applies to all queued clinical trials including human challenge trial applications that have exceeded the 60-day review deadline.


Written Question
Inland Waterways: Biodiversity
Tuesday 27th June 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to conserve biodiversity in canals.

Answered by Trudy Harrison

We recognise that the inland waterways across England and Wales are an important national asset forming an important part of our natural environment by providing green and blue corridors along which biodiversity can flourish.

We are committed to recovering nature, including restoring our freshwater habitats, which is why we have now set four legally binding targets for biodiversity. By 2030 we have committed to halt the decline in species abundance and by 2042 we aim to reverse species decline; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitats. Action towards these targets will drive essential improvements to our freshwater habitats.

Defra is committed to improve at least 75% of our waters to as ‘close to their natural state’ as soon as is practicable, set out in the EIP. In April we published our Integrated Plan for Delivering Clean and Plentiful Water. The actions in the plan aim to restore all types surface waters, for example, river, lakes and canals.


Written Question
Clinical Trials
Monday 26th June 2023

Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)

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 the time taken to conduct clinical trial approvals by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the UK's life sciences sector.

Answered by Will Quince

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is committed to making regulatory decisions in accordance with statutory timeframes. The MHRA has recently undertaken a significant recruitment exercise to bring on board new specialist staff to increase clinical trial assessor capacity within the Agency. The MHRA are supplementing this new assessor capacity with additional fixed-term resource of appropriately experienced and qualified specialists to support the training and supervision of new staff.

The MHRA continue to develop plans to increase staff capability and expertise, and to review internal processes for efficiencies. To that end, significant progress has been made to draft proposals for how a risk-proportionate approach to clinical trial assessments could be implemented.

Following public consultation, the MHRA plans to reform national legislation to deliver a world-class sovereign regulatory environment for clinical trials that will support the development of innovative medicines and ensure that the UK retains and grows its reputation as a world leading base for life sciences.