Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support (a) autistic people and (b) their families affected by claims that acetaminophen causes autism.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that recent claims suggesting a link between acetaminophen and autism may have caused concern among some individuals. The Government, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and I have provided clear reassurance through traditional media and social media channels that there is no evidence to link the use of acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, by pregnant women to autism in their children. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency swiftly published a press release confirming that taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children. The press release is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her planned timeline is for the allocation of £400 million into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that communities across the UK benefit from high-quality sport facilities to help enable people to get active and build pride in place in local communities. At least £400 million is to be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities over the next four years. This investment will fund projects that promote health, wellbeing and community cohesion, while removing the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups, such as women and girls, people with disabilities, and ethnic minority communities.
The Government has allocated £5 million of this funding towards basketball and basketball-led multi-sport facilities in England in 2026/27. This dedicated funding for basketball will be matched by the NBA, who will invest £5 million through to 2028.
Funding is subject to departmental business planning processes which are ongoing. We are working with the sports sector and local leaders to develop plans for delivering this funding, prioritising the areas which need it most across the UK and ensuring that investment best serves the needs of these communities. Further details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase funding for breast cancer research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is one of the largest areas of spend at over £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.
In the period 2020/21 to 2024/25, NIHR Programme and Career Development and Capacity Awards invested approximately £28.6 million into breast cancer research awards. As well as funding cancer research, the Department also invests in centres of excellence, and services and facilities to enable the delivery of cancer research in England. This includes a contribution of £21.6 million over five years to the network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, a United Kingdom-wide network for delivery of early phase cancer trials, and the NIHR’s five-year £29 million investment in Biomedical Research Centres, fostering collaborations between world-leading universities and National Health Service organisations, bringing together academics and clinicians to do translational research, including for all cancer types. The NIHR also works closely with industry to bring innovative research to the UK. This creates a strong portfolio of research and innovation to improve breast cancer outcomes.
The Early Detection using Information Technology in Health trial is another important example of investment. In February 2025 the Department announced that nearly 700,000 women across the country will take part in a world-leading trial to test how cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools can be used in the breast cancer screening pathway. The trial is backed by £11 million of Government support via the NIHR, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/world-leading-ai-trial-to-tackle-breast-cancer-launched
The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including breast cancer. The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the NHS will improve diagnosis and outcomes for cancer patients in England.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's report of 2020 entitled Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases, what steps his Department is taking to implement recommendations from that report; and whether the Government has any plans for an alternative inquiry to take its place.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice and its partners are delivering a package of reforms aimed at improving how the family justice system supports children and families – including victims of domestic abuse.
As part of this work we have already taken forward many of the actions it committed to following the Harm Panel report. This includes expanding the Pathfinder model which aims to improve the experience of children and families involved in private law proceedings. Through delivery of Pathfinder in ten court areas, we are learning a significant amount about how the family courts can operate in line with the principles for reform set out in the Harm Panel report. We are carefully monitoring these lessons ahead of further expansion. Alongside this, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s recent report on the Family Court Review and Reporting Mechanism pilot has made further recommendations, which the Government is now considering.
In addition, following the recommendations of the Harm Panel report, we have completed a review of the presumption of parental involvement. The evidence from the review suggests that the presumption may feed into a pro-contact culture in the family courts, finding a high incidence of court-ordered contact between children and parents who have caused or posed a risk of harm. As part of our wider package of family court reforms, the Government announced on 22 October 2025 that we will repeal the presumption of parental involvement from the Children Act 1989 when Parliamentary time allows.
The Government will also be publishing our new, cross-government Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy as soon as possible, which will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s ambition to tackle violence against women and girls.
The Government therefore does not consider it necessary to establish an alternative inquiry at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have received verified evidence from the United Nations or other credible sources confirming the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in Sudan; and what action they are taking to support the investigation and documentation of such crimes.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is appalled at the severe impact of the conflict in Sudan on women and girls, including widespread sexual violence.
Through our leadership roles at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, we have championed evidence collection and accountability. On 6 October, the UK led efforts to renew the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), the only independent mechanism preserving evidence of atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence. We also fund a specialist Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) investigator within the FFM and are deploying a UK secondee to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Darfur investigation.
On 1 November, the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £5 million to support critical humanitarian services in Sudan, £2 million of which will be specifically allocated to bolster responses which focus on supporting the survivors of rape and sexual violence. This is in addition to the £120 million in UK funding already allocated for Sudan this year, including support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
We directly support women and girls through our programming, including the Women's Integrated Sexual Health programme which provides sexual and reproductive services to women, girls, persons living with disability and men, with UK aid delivered in camps for IDPs and elsewhere. Through our Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme, the UK is providing an additional £4.95 million until March 2026 to support 100,000 women and girls with a range of services to prevent and respond to FGM, child marriage and gender-based violence. This brings the total UK support delivered through this programme to £19.95 million.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of women and girls in camps for internally displaced people in Darfur and along Sudan's borders, following reports of widespread sexual assaults and forced marriages.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is appalled at the severe impact of the conflict in Sudan on women and girls, including widespread sexual violence.
Through our leadership roles at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, we have championed evidence collection and accountability. On 6 October, the UK led efforts to renew the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), the only independent mechanism preserving evidence of atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence. We also fund a specialist Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) investigator within the FFM and are deploying a UK secondee to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Darfur investigation.
On 1 November, the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £5 million to support critical humanitarian services in Sudan, £2 million of which will be specifically allocated to bolster responses which focus on supporting the survivors of rape and sexual violence. This is in addition to the £120 million in UK funding already allocated for Sudan this year, including support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
We directly support women and girls through our programming, including the Women's Integrated Sexual Health programme which provides sexual and reproductive services to women, girls, persons living with disability and men, with UK aid delivered in camps for IDPs and elsewhere. Through our Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme, the UK is providing an additional £4.95 million until March 2026 to support 100,000 women and girls with a range of services to prevent and respond to FGM, child marriage and gender-based violence. This brings the total UK support delivered through this programme to £19.95 million.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she plans to publish the findings from the consultation on the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill: mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting, which closed on 10 June 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are currently considering the responses to our recent consultation on mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting. The findings from the consultation will inform the development of measures in the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and the government response to the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to deploy experts from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative to support the documentation of sexual violence and the protection of survivors in Sudan and neighbouring countries.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is appalled at the severe impact of the conflict in Sudan on women and girls, including widespread sexual violence.
Through our leadership roles at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, we have championed evidence collection and accountability. On 6 October, the UK led efforts to renew the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), the only independent mechanism preserving evidence of atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence. We also fund a specialist Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) investigator within the FFM and are deploying a UK secondee to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Darfur investigation.
On 1 November, the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £5 million to support critical humanitarian services in Sudan, £2 million of which will be specifically allocated to bolster responses which focus on supporting the survivors of rape and sexual violence. This is in addition to the £120 million in UK funding already allocated for Sudan this year, including support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
We directly support women and girls through our programming, including the Women's Integrated Sexual Health programme which provides sexual and reproductive services to women, girls, persons living with disability and men, with UK aid delivered in camps for IDPs and elsewhere. Through our Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme, the UK is providing an additional £4.95 million until March 2026 to support 100,000 women and girls with a range of services to prevent and respond to FGM, child marriage and gender-based violence. This brings the total UK support delivered through this programme to £19.95 million.
Asked by: Baroness Helic (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding has been (1) paid, and (2) pledged, to local women's organisations providing medical and psychosocial support to survivors of sexual violence in Sudan.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK is appalled at the severe impact of the conflict in Sudan on women and girls, including widespread sexual violence.
Through our leadership roles at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, we have championed evidence collection and accountability. On 6 October, the UK led efforts to renew the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), the only independent mechanism preserving evidence of atrocities, including conflict-related sexual violence. We also fund a specialist Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) investigator within the FFM and are deploying a UK secondee to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Darfur investigation.
On 1 November, the Foreign Secretary announced an additional £5 million to support critical humanitarian services in Sudan, £2 million of which will be specifically allocated to bolster responses which focus on supporting the survivors of rape and sexual violence. This is in addition to the £120 million in UK funding already allocated for Sudan this year, including support for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
We directly support women and girls through our programming, including the Women's Integrated Sexual Health programme which provides sexual and reproductive services to women, girls, persons living with disability and men, with UK aid delivered in camps for IDPs and elsewhere. Through our Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) programme, the UK is providing an additional £4.95 million until March 2026 to support 100,000 women and girls with a range of services to prevent and respond to FGM, child marriage and gender-based violence. This brings the total UK support delivered through this programme to £19.95 million.
Asked by: Joe Morris (Labour - Hexham)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders in the North East on the Rape Action Plan.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
In July 2025, His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) published its
inspection report on early advice and pre-charge decision-making in adult rape cases. In
response to the report’s recommendations, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is implementing
a new Rape Action Plan.
The Plan aims to ensure that the quality of the CPS’s rape casework is of a consistently high
standard, with a focus on providing enhanced oversight of legal decision-making, supporting and
upskilling prosecutors, and increasing public confidence. The Plan is still under development and
has not yet been finalised.
Following the publication of the HMCPSI report, the CPS convened an engagement session with
national stakeholders from the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector to discuss the
findings and outline the actions the CPS would be taking under a new Rape Action Plan. The
CPS continues to engage regularly with these stakeholders through its established consultation
group. At a local level, CPS Areas maintain a range of engagement mechanisms, including local
scrutiny panels and dedicated Inclusion and Community Engagement Managers. Both national
and local channels will be used to keep relevant stakeholders informed as the Rape Action Plan
progresses.
The CPS remains resolute in its determination to increase the number of rape cases capable of
being taken to court each year, so that more victims – irrespective of their background and
circumstances – can see justice. It greatly values the expertise and insights of external
stakeholders and is grateful for their continued engagement as it works towards this ambition.