Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on women in part-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of taxing pension contributions above £2,000 on women in full-time work.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Salary and bonus sacrifice is an additional NICs relief that is only available to some employees. Those whose employer does not offer it, the self-employed and those with earnings near the National Living Wage cannot benefit.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Bertin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Lloyd of Effra on 28 October (HL10895), when will they publish a formal response to the Independent Review of Pornography, Creating a Safer World–the Challenge of Regulating Online Pornography (HC 592), published on 27 February; and whether its recommendations will feature in their Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Home Secretary announced in Parliament the decision to continue the Pornography Review, and we are grateful for Baroness Bertin’s work.
We welcome the findings of the Independent Pornography Review and the valuable insights it has provided into the online pornography landscape. The Review highlights a set of complex and challenging policy and regulatory issues.
Where relevant to violence against women and girls they are being considered by the Home Office in the development of the new Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, which aims to halve violence against women and girls over the next decade. The government will provide a further update on how it is tackling the issues raised in the Review as part of its mission to tackle VAWG in due course. The VAWG strategy sits with Home Office and DSIT has been feeding in.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
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 introduction of telemedicine for first-trimester abortions on the number of criminal prosecutions in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has not made an assessment on the connection between the number of prosecutions for unlawful abortions and the availability of telemedicine for early medical abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance. Parliament decides the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken.
In 2022, Parliament voted to amend the Abortion Act 1967 to allow eligible women in England and Wales to take one or both pills for early medical abortion up to 10 weeks at home, following a consultation with a clinician either in person, by telephone or by electronic means. The Department works closely with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that abortions are provided safely, in accordance with the legal framework set by the Abortion Act 1967.
Abortion continues to be a very safe procedure for which major complications are rare at all gestations. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guidelines on abortion care.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 85202 on Sports: Women, what guidance (a) her Department and (b) the Charity Commission have issued to (i) local authorities and (ii) charities on sporting events that ban the participation of women and provide no alternative single-sex provision; and whether they have received representations in relation to events in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not issued guidance to either local authorities or charities on sporting events, and it has not received representations in relation to events in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
I refer the Honourable Member/my Honourable to the answer I gave on 4 November 2025 to Question 85202: “The Charity Commission for England and Wales provides guidance for charities on compliance with the Equality Act 2010.”
The Charity Commission has received representations in relation to events in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from three Members of Parliament,. David Holdsworth, CEO of the Charity Commission, sent a reply on 18 November 2025.
Asked by: Adrian Ramsay (Green Party - Waveney Valley)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what her timetable is for reaching a decision on whether to approve the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s revised Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations; and if she will lay the Government’s review of that Code of Practice before Parliament when it lays the Code of Practice.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The EHRC has revised its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations following the consultation and submitted it to the Minister for Women and Equalities on 4 September 2025. This is a long and legally complex document which will have an impact on service providers up and down the country.
The process for laying the Code in Parliament is set out in the Equality Act 2006. The Government will follow this process. If the decision is taken to approve the Code, it will be laid before Parliament for a 40 day period.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 12 November (HL Deb col 252), what specific reasons she has for saying that "the evidence base for telemedical medicine is sound".
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abortions are generally very safe, and most women will not experience any complications. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s clinical guidelines on abortion care.
The Abortion Notification System (ANS) collects information on complications that occur up until the time of discharge for all abortions, and where the medicine was administered for medical abortions. Since 2015, there has been a marginal downward trend in complication rates reported in the ANS. In 2022, complications were reported in only 0.12% of abortions.
The Department continues to work with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that women have safe and timely access to abortion services as decided by Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Merron on 12 November (HL Deb col 254), what was the specific evidence base for saying that "The data available does not point to concerns about the provision of telemedicine".
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abortions are generally very safe, and most women will not experience any complications. The evidence-base for home use of early medical abortion pills has been assessed by leading statutory and professional organisations and it is recognised to be a safe procedure in evidence-based guidance, including the World Health Organisation’s abortion care guideline, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 2022 report on best practice in abortion care, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s clinical guidelines on abortion care.
The Abortion Notification System (ANS) collects information on complications that occur up until the time of discharge for all abortions, and where the medicine was administered for medical abortions. Since 2015, there has been a marginal downward trend in complication rates reported in the ANS. In 2022, complications were reported in only 0.12% of abortions.
The Department continues to work with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, and abortion providers to ensure that women have safe and timely access to abortion services as decided by Parliament.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Church of England has made of the potential impact on the decriminalisation of abortion on clergy’s cure of souls.
Answered by Marsha De Cordova
In her capacity as Lead Bishop on Health and Social Care, the Bishop of London made a statement related to the proposed changes to abortion law on 20th June 2025, which can be found in full on the Church of England website at: https://www.churchofengland.org/media/press-releases/abortion-law-changes-comment-bishop-london
It included the following:
“Considering any fundamental reform to this country’s abortion laws should not be done via an amendment to another Bill. There should be public consultation and robust Parliamentary process to ensure that every legal and moral aspect of this debate is carefully considered and scrutinised. We need a path that supports women, not one that puts them and their unborn children in the way of greater harm.”
Assessing the potential impact of such a legal change is a long-term process, and Lords Spiritual continue to engage with the Crime and Policing Bill as it progresses through Parliament.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what decisions his Department has made on the (a) scope and (b) timeline of the review of transgender prisoner policy following the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are reviewing transgender prisoner policy following the For Women Scotland Supreme Court ruling. Alongside this, the Office for Equality and Opportunity is currently reviewing the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft updated Code of Practice on single sex spaces.
If the Code is approved, it will be laid before Parliament in due course. We are working closely with the Office for Equality and Opportunity on this, and will come forward with our updated policy on transgender prisoners once this process has concluded.