Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment his Department has made of the risk of famine in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The situation in Gaza is desperate. Many Palestinian civilians have been killed and there is an urgent need to get more aid to the people of Gaza to prevent a famine.
The UK is doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to provide additional funding to help tackle (a) knife and (b) gun crime.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government remains committed to providing the resources needed to tackle violent crime. This includes taking firm action to protect the public by addressing the threat of criminals gaining access to illegal firearms including implementing legislation to prevent legally held firearms getting into the hands of criminals.
In 2023/24 we allocated £55m to Violence Reduction Units, £12.9m to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty and £30m to ‘Grip’ hotspot policing patrols to tackle serious violence. Work is ongoing to continue this activity in 2024/25.
In the 2024 Spring Budget, the Chancellor committed an additional £75 million over 3-years from 2025 to upscale existing violence reduction units and expand activity across England and Wales, supporting a prevention first approach to serious violence.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to support Birmingham City Council’s efforts to tackle street cruising.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The exercise of powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 by local authorities is a local matter.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help tackle the shortage of prescription medications for the treatment of diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department has worked intensively with industry to seek commitments from them to address issues with the supply of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. As a result, deliveries have been expedited and supplies boosted, and the overall supply position in the United Kingdom has improved. Guidance for healthcare professionals, which was updated in March 2024 and supersedes the National Patient Safety Alert, now allows for the initiation of new patients onto Rybelsus tablets, an oral semaglutide, or Mounjaro KwikPen (tirzepatide), and provides advice on what to prescribe patients who are unable to obtain their existing GLP-1 RA treatment whilst there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some products.
We are aware of supply issues with some insulin products for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. However, the vast majority are in stock. Comprehensive management guidance on alternative products has been issued to the National Health Service where needed.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to limit advertisements promoting food products that are high in sugar.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
On 1 October 2025, the Government will introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for the advertising of less healthy products, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online. The Government and regulators are working through the necessary steps to implement and enforce these regulations. These steps include consulting, finalising guidance, and laying regulations.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce flooding in urban areas.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is investing £5.6 billion between 2021 and 2027 to better protect communities across England from flooding and coastal erosion. This investment includes a record £5.2 billion capital investment programme, a £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programme, £170 million for economic recovery from flooding and over £30 million of funding for flood incident management.
This investment will benefit both urban and rural communities. We forecast that around 55% of the £5.2bn investment, and around 60% of schemes, will better protect properties in urban areas. This includes investment in major flood projects benefitting urban areas, such as the Thames Estuary Programme, the Southsea Coastal Scheme, and others.
Flood risk is also an important consideration in the planning system and there are strong safeguards in place. In 2022/23, 96% of all planning decisions complied with Environment Agency advice on flood risk.
On 13 March 2024 the Government published its response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s study into ‘reducing the risk of surface water flooding’. Our response sets out actions to strengthen and further develop the implementation of current policy, supporting lead local flood authorities to access better data, information and to improve co-operation between bodies.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to support unemployed people in Birmingham with (a) skills training and (b) financial management.
Answered by Jo Churchill
In Birmingham, our local Jobcentre Plus partnership teams are working directly with colleges and training providers to ensure claimants have access to the right skills support. Our successful Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) have seen almost three hundred customers in Sparkhill take up this support in the last year. This provision includes pre-employment training, work experience and a guaranteed job interview across a variety of sectors, with further SWAPs available with employers such as HS2, Compass Group, Air Scaffolding, Weatherspoon’s, and Jet 2.
In the Hall Green constituency, we have recently supported customers into jobs in the hospitality sector through English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision based at Sparkhill Jobcentre. Customers have also taken up non-teaching roles within local schools through the skills training we have set up with Pineapple Recruitment, and Sparkhill Jobcentre staff work closely with Joseph Chamberlain College to support claimants move into self-employment.
We are committed to ensuring that all staff can identify and signpost customers to the financial support they require. Across all our Jobcentres in Birmingham, Work Coaches have regular conversations with customers about the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and how this can help to remove barriers to work, such as support with childcare costs.
The ‘Move In Move On’ programme helps customers in supported accommodation to move into work via a partnership with the Salvation Army. This programme offers financial education, tenancy skills and employability. We also work with The Money House which offers a financial education course to support 16–25-year-olds with banking, budgeting, and spending habits to support in reducing youth homelessness.
To help facilitate signposting discussions with customers, staff have access to a database of national and local support information, the District Provision Tool, which ensures that customers can access tailored support where required.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is making to promote (a) international trade and (b) investment opportunities for businesses based in Birmingham.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for Business and Trade’s export promotion campaign ‘Made in the UK, Sold to the World’ is tailored regionally, and in March 2024 Lord Offord, Minister for Exports held the ‘Made in the Midlands’ Roadshow in the region
The International Trade Advisory Service has staff in Birmingham supporting businesses to export. The Export Academy provides online educational support and the Export Digital Enquiry Service answers specific international trade queries
The Government has provided £160M for the creation of a West Midlands Investment Zone. The West Midlands Combined Authority estimate that this may bring up to £5.5B investment and 30,000 new jobs by 2034.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help support survivors of domestic abuse in Birmingham.
Answered by Laura Farris
The government has taken a number of measures to support victims of domestic abuse across England and Wales. As a result of the of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and our Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan (2022) the government will invest up to £140 million in supporting victims.
Funding which may support victims in Birmingham from this plan includes, but is not limited to:
Ringfenced funding the Ministry of Justice provided to PCCs. In 2023/2024 MoJ provided £38 million for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors and £21 million for community-based domestic abuse and sexual violence services.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children are not hungry at school.
Answered by Damian Hinds
The department provides a range of support designed to ensure that children in schools are provided with healthy and nutritious meals throughout the school day.
The department is investing up to £35 million in the National School Breakfast Programme until the end of July 2025. This funding is supporting up to 2,700 schools in disadvantaged areas, meaning that thousands of children from low-income families are being offered free nutritious breakfasts at school to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
In addition to this, the department spends over £1 billion a year on free school meals, including £600 million for Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM). Under the benefits-based criteria, two million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for free meals. Close to 1.3 million additional infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the UIFSM policy in 2014. In total, over one third of pupils are in receipt of this crucial support, which is up from one in six in 2010.
Furthermore, the department provides over 2.2 million children in reception and Key Stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school through the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme.
The department supports the provision of nutritious food in schools through ‘The Requirements for School Food Regulations’ (2014), which require schools to provide children with healthy food and drink options and to make sure that children get the energy and nutrition they need across the school day.