Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
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 merits of supporting the Fund for International Co-operative Development.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the important contribution cooperatives have made in serving local communities around the world. Cooperatives are a tried-and-tested model in international development, that can enable citizens and producers to access services or markets and strengthen their voice in local processes. Cooperatives can enable sustainable and inclusive development centred on self-help, democratic ownership, and concern for the community. The UK has supported cooperatives and producer organisations in developing countries, including, for example in agriculture through funding to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), which supports producer organisations, and the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Programme (CASA), which partners with cooperatives and small agribusinesses in low-income countries to improve smallholder farmers' access to markets. We will set out our spending plans following the completion of the spending review.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
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 merits of working with co-operative movements (a) in the UK and (b) globally.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the important contribution cooperatives have made in serving local communities around the world. Cooperatives are a tried-and-tested model in international development, that can enable citizens and producers to access services or markets and strengthen their voice in local processes. Cooperatives can enable sustainable and inclusive development centred on self-help, democratic ownership, and concern for the community. The UK has supported cooperatives and producer organisations in developing countries, including, for example in agriculture through funding to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP), which supports producer organisations, and the Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness Programme (CASA), which partners with cooperatives and small agribusinesses in low-income countries to improve smallholder farmers' access to markets.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to meet disabled people to discuss the proposals set out in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 26 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have set out proposals to reform the health and disability benefits proposals in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March 2025. A full 12-week consultation will begin from the point all accessible versions are published on GOV.UK. We would like to hear views from a wide group of people, in particular disabled people and people with health conditions and disability organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.
We also intend to run a number of accessible virtual and face-to-face events on the Green Paper to hear from stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative organisations, directly. More information on these events and registration will be advertised on the consultation pages on GOV.UK in due course.
In the Green Paper, we have also announced that we will set up collaboration committees to develop parts of our reforms further. This will involve bringing together disabled people and other experts with civil servants around specific issues to collaborate, provide ideas, challenge, and input into recommendations.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposals costs for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department published a Policy Rationales Impact report “Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impact” alongside the Spring Statement on 26 March 2025.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Pathways to Work Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the number of disabled people who will lose access to PIP following changes to the daily living assessment criteria.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’. The publication ‘Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts’ may be of interest. In particular, Table A4 on page 9.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has plans to publish an (a) Green Paper and (b) public consultation on access to nature; and what steps he has taken to improve people's access to nature.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are currently developing policy to improve access to nature, working closely with other Government departments and key stakeholders, and further information will be available in due course. In addition, we are already delivering key initiatives aimed at improving people’s access to nature, including:
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to help tackle hate crimes against trans people in England and Wales.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
All hate crimes, including those targeting the LGBT+ community, are completely unacceptable. This Government is determined to tackle these appalling crimes, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these offences.
We have already committed to ensuring parity of protection for LGBT+ and disabled people under the aggravated offences and will implement this change in an appropriate legislative vehicle in due course.
The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime - including transgender hate crime - do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to make anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes an aggravated offence.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
All hate crimes, including those targeting the LGBT+ community, are completely unacceptable. This Government is determined to tackle these appalling crimes, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these offences.
We have already committed to ensuring parity of protection for LGBT+ and disabled people under the aggravated offences and will implement this change in an appropriate legislative vehicle in due course.
The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime - including transgender hate crime - do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on its international obligations on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains opposed to anti-United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Knesset legislation which came into force on 30 January, and unequivocally rejects attempts to undermine or degrade UNRWA. UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza and enabling the broader international response through its logistics and distribution network. We reiterated this position in our E3 joint Foreign Ministers' statement of 31 January, alongside France and Germany. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories also raised this with the Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs on 23 January.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) awareness and (b) compliance with Rule 215 of The Highway Code.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government's flagship road safety campaign, THINK!, aims to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads. The THINK! Campaign plays an important role in raising awareness of, and encouraging compliance with, new road safety legislation. This has included changes made to The Highway Code in 2022, which aimed to improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding – including advice on safely passing horse riders in Rule 215.
Over £2.4 million has been spent on media to raise awareness of and encourage compliance with the changes, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.
Enforcement of the law is a matter for the police who will decide on the evidence of each individual case, whether an offence has been committed and the appropriate action to take.