Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will have discussions with her counterpart in Pakistan about the abduction of Women in Balochistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses in Pakistan, including in Balochistan. Advocating for civil and political rights is a core part of the UK's diplomatic engagement with Pakistan. To that end, I raised human rights issues on several occasions with Pakistan's Interior and Human Rights Ministers and Deputy Prime Minister last year. Our High Commission in Islamabad also regularly engages on these issues with the Government of Pakistan at the highest levels, as well as supporting a variety of UK-funded programmes promoting human rights in Pakistan. We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the rights of all people in Pakistan in accordance with its constitution and international standards.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Taliban's decision to permanently ban women and girls from education.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 January in response to Question 103187.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 17 September 2025 (HL10206) and 23 September 2025 (HL10204), what definition of a woman they use when engaging in joint UK-EU programmes relating to women; whether it differs from the self-identification policy adopted by the European Institute for Gender Equality; and whether they plan to change the UK definition in light of the Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Supreme Court decision concerned the definition of a woman in the context of the UK Equality Act 2010.
If the Noble Baroness wishes to specify the UK-EU programmes that she has in mind, I will be happy to examine whether her question arises in relation to those programmes.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of allegations of sexual and gender based violence against women and girls from ethnic minority groups in Syria, including abduction as sex slaves, and how the UK is supporting documentation, survivor assistance, and accountability in the context of those allegations, including in remote areas.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer given on 1 August 2025 to the question HL9684.
Asked by: Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat - Wimbledon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of reported incidents of violence against women and girls in England and Wales.
Answered by Josh Simons - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 28th January is attached.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had on the potential merits of producing a National Maternity Strategy.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
The taskforce will address the recommendations that are expected this Spring from the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation through the development of a new national action plan that will drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care. The taskforce will also hold the system to account for the delivery of this plan, as well as improving outcomes and experiences for women and babies.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many civil service jobs the Office for Women and Equalities has advertised in the last 12 months which have only been listed on the internal civil service jobs website.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
All vacancies for OEO are advertised via Civil Service Jobs, ensuring the recruitment process is appropriately followed.
Recruitment is by exception where there is a clear business critical need or specialism that can not be found within the Department.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to the Government of Iran concerning the disproportionate arrests and harsh interrogations of Jews, Christians, and Baha’is in that country.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 12 January, the Foreign Secretary told Foreign Minister Araghchi directly that the Iranian Government must immediately end the violence carried out against peaceful protestors in Iran, and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms.
We subsequently led the call, alongside international partners, for a Special Session of the Human Rights Council on 23 January to address the ongoing abuses in Iran, and we were pleased that the Council voted to extend the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to collect evidence of the authorities' human rights violations, including in relation to religion or belief.
At the Council, UK Human Rights Ambassador Eleanor Sanders, highlighted the bravery of protesters, especially women and members of religious and ethnic minority groups, who faced severe repression in their daily lives. We will continue to work with international partners to hold Iran to account for its repression of Freedom of Religion or Belief.
For further background, I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 6 August 2025 to Question 67802.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Islamic State-linked a) men, b) women and c) children have been allowed to return to the UK following detention in camps within Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the written ministerial statement I made on 28 January on the situation in North-East Syria, and I will provide further updates to the House in due course as the situation evolves.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his statement on Pensions on 29 of January 2026, what new evidence did his Department's officials present to him in his re-consideration of the decision regarding state pension age changes that was not considered on or before 11 of November 2025.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State has taken a new decision, and the process has been thorough. We have looked at information previously considered and conducted new searches as part of an extensive review of relevant historical documents.
In addition to the 2007 Automatic Pension Forecast Evaluation, other evidence relating to letter effectiveness and State Pension age awareness was provided to the Secretary of State.
This included survey evidence on Combined Pension Forecasts, and additional State Pension age awareness evidence from the late 2000s. The decision document, which is available on gov.uk, includes some references to the evidence that was considered. The DWP research reports referenced are also publicly available in the National Archive.