Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to modernise port infrastructure.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK’s ports sector is largely privately owned and operated, with the government’s role primarily to ensure that the policy and regulatory environment supports efficient operation and investment, and to provide targeted support for connectivity and decarbonisation where there are clear public benefits. My Department is working at pace to update and streamline planning and regulatory processes for ports, including by updating the National Policy Statement for Ports. In addition, the Government is working with the National Wealth Fund, which has committed at least £5.8 billion of its capital to five sectors, including ports.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve skills in the maritime sector.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department remains committed to supporting the development of the UK’s future maritime workforce. Maritime training transforms opportunities, contributing to UK economic growth, boosting individual earnings, employment prospects, and social mobility.
Seafarer training is being future-proofed through the DfT and MCA managed Cadet Training and Modernisation programme and Ratings Review. The Department’s £18m Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) fund supports 50% of the cost of cadet training and a range of apprenticeships are available for ratings and wider maritime roles at sea and ashore.
The Maritime Skills Commission, which reports to the Department and Maritime UK, assesses the current and future skills needs of the sector and is currently focusing on areas such as skills for emerging technologies.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with the maritime sector to support the scale-up of green (a) fuels, (b) vessels and (c) shore power.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In March 2025, we published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy (MDS), which sets out our pathway to net zero emissions in domestic maritime by 2050. This strategy includes key policies designed to encourage the uptake of green fuels, vessels, and shore power, directly supporting the UK's ambitious climate goals.
The MDS outlines five core policies: implementing fuel regulations internationally and domestically, introducing domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) pricing through the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, taking action on emissions at berth, reducing emissions from smaller vessels, and improving energy efficiency. Alongside the MDS, we also launched two vital calls for evidence to inform policy development: one focusing on small vessels and another on net zero ports.
My department is also driving research and development of the fuels and technologies necessary to decarbonise the sector through the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE). To date, UK SHORE has allocated over £200m of funding to over 150 projects, leveraging over £100 million in private investment. This benefits all 12 UK regions, supporting over 350 organisations, including more than 200 SMEs. A further £30m was allocated to the sixth round of Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition announced in January for FY 24/25. The winners of the competition will be announced soon.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps she has taken to improve maritime safety standards.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are constantly striving to improve maritime safety whether this is through the UK’s leadership in international fora, such as the International Maritime Organization, or domestically. With some of the busiest waters in the world, and enhanced by the tireless work of its family organisations, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and our General Lighthouse Authorities, the UK continues to deliver world-class maritime safety.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) charges, (b) prosecutions and (c) convictions for unlawful abortion there have been in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to MP Mr Gregory Campbell East of Londonderry, Democratic Unionist Party on 5 June 2025.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 reports of alleged (a) human rights violations, (b) claims of late night police summons without official notice, (c) unauthorised home visits and surveillance activities against Hindu activists in India; and what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in India on (i) human rights and (ii) civil liberties in that country.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government takes all allegations of human rights violations very seriously. The UK Government has a broad, deep and respectful partnership with the Government of India. This includes sharing perspectives on human rights and minority issues and finding common ground.
Our High Commission in New Delhi and our network across India monitor human rights across the country, including reports of discrimination against minorities, or issues relating to Freedom of Religion or Belief. We engage Indian stakeholders on a range of human rights matters, working with Union and State Governments, and with civil society. This includes raising issues of concern where we have them, including at Ministerial level, where appropriate.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of allergic reactions in schools in England in each year since 2016.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold this data.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) serious but non-fatal and (b) fatal adverse reactions associated with the use of mifepristone have been reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in each of the last 10 years.
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 medicines, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion meet applicable standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. The MHRA rigorously assesses available data, including from the Yellow Card scheme, and seeks advice from their independent advisory committee, the Commission on Human Medicines, where appropriate, to inform regulatory decisions.
It is important to note that a reaction reported to the Yellow Card scheme does not necessarily mean it has been caused by the medicine, only that the reporter had a suspicion it may have. Underlying or concurrent illnesses may be responsible, or the events could be coincidental.
The following table shows the number of Yellow Card reports classified as serious, excluding fatal outcomes, and those with a fatal outcome, received for mifepristone from the initial licensing of the medicine, up to 13 May 2025:
Year | Serious reports | Reports with a fatal outcome |
2015 | 3 | 0 |
2016 | 9 | 1 |
2017 | 25 | 1 |
2018 | 9 | 0 |
2019 | 6 | 1 |
2020 | 8 | 0 |
2021 | 5 | 0 |
2022 | 5 | 0 |
2023 | 2 | 2 |
2024 | 10 | 0 |
2025 | 6 | 0 |
Reports received via the Yellow Card scheme can contain more than one suspect medicine. It should be noted that mifepristone is used in combination with misoprostol, and as such 60 of the serious reports and five reports with a fatal outcome include both products as the suspect drug.
Misoprostol is licenced for a variety of indications, including gastroprotection in duodenal and gastric ulcers, termination of pregnancy, and induction of labour. Mifepristone is licenced for termination of pregnancy and induction of labour.
A list of the possible side effects of mifepristone and misoprostol are provided in the product information document for healthcare professionals, the Summary of Product Characteristics, and in the UK Patient Information Leaflet.
A Yellow Card report is considered serious according to two criteria. Firstly, a reported reaction can be considered serious according to our medical dictionary. Secondly, if the original reporter considers the report to be serious, they can select from the six serious criteria available, which are: patient died due to reaction; life threatening; resulted in hospitalisation or prolonged inpatient hospitalisation; congenital abnormality; involved persistent or significant disability or incapacity; or if the reaction was deemed medically significant.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many females have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortion in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many males have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for unlawful abortions in England and Wales in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of prosecutions across England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool, that can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK.
The offences that constitute unlawful abortion include procuring an illegal abortion under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as child destruction under section 1 of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Information on the number of males and females who were proceeded against and convicted for these offences is available within the published data and can be accessed by filtering the ‘overall volumes’ dataset by sex. This data is held on a principal-offence basis and therefore reports information relating to the most serious offence that a defendant was dealt for.