Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, have they made of the cultural and economic welfare of the permanent residents of the Scilly Isles.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is committed to levelling up all parts of our country. We have also recognised the unique circumstances and needs of island communities and their residents, including by establishing the Islands Forum. The Forum is a mechanism for discussing the challenges and opportunities faced by island communities, and for considering how by working together local government and the UK Government (and where relevant the devolved administrations) can support the people of islands across the UK.
The Isles of Scilly has been awarded up to £6 million to fund a museum and cultural centre on St Mary’s. In addition, the final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 makes available up to £6.8 million to the Council of the Isles of Scilly, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £0.5 million or 8% in cash terms on 2023-24. This includes an additional £150,000 in funding in recognition of the unique circumstances facing our island authorities, and their physical separation from the mainland.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what capacity assistance they are providing to Burundi in support of efforts to ensure justice and accountability for past atrocities, including support for the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission and efforts to strengthen the rule of law.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK welcomes the Government of Burundi's stated commitment to strengthening the rule of law. Between 2019 and 2022, the UK's Peace Direct programme delivered £1 million of development assistance to Burundi targeted at building community resilience and strengthening social networks, to consolidate progress that Burundi has made towards reconciliation. We continue to call on the Government of Burundi to implement fully the recommendations made in last year's Universal Periodic Review. We will continue to monitor developments and advocate for improved transparency and accountability in Burundi through the British Embassy Office in Bujumbura and through our network of partners.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on immediately rehabilitating (a) horticulture, (b) livestock farming, (c) fishing and (d) other food production systems in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The international community will need to make a massive effort to deliver a reconstruction plan for Gaza.
The UK is doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible. We recently announced that more than 2,000 tonnes of UK-funded food aid are being distributed by the World Food Programme on the ground. This is our largest delivery of aid to Gaza in this crisis. This follows 750 tonnes of UK funded food aid arriving in Gaza in December, delivered through the World Food Programme, followed by a second delivery of 315 tonnes in January. Last month the UK and Jordan also air-dropped life-saving food and medicines directly to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza.
Asked by: Gen Kitchen (Labour - Wellingborough)
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 reduce waiting time for elective surgeries for people in Wellingborough constituency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Cutting waiting lists is one of the Prime Minister’s top priorities. To reduce the National Health Service’s waitlist, the Department plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25. This funding will expand capacity by creating a new network of community diagnostic centres, and maximising all available independent sector capacity. In addition, we are managing demand through specialised advice in primary care, and giving patients more control over where they receive their care.
To reduce waiting times for elective surgeries specifically, we are transforming the way the NHS provides elective surgeries, by increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs. £1.5 billion of funding has been awarded for the development of new surgical hubs and the expansion of surgical hub sites, as well as increased bed capacity and equipment, to help elective services recover. The hubs will focus on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 100 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England, as of March 2024. These surgical hubs help to separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero during Consideration of Lords message on the Energy Bill [Lords] on 18 October 2023, Official Report, column 352, when she plans to publish the consultation on barriers to developing community energy projects.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We have been codesigning the consultation on the barriers to community energy schemes with the Community Energy Contact Group. We intend to publish the consultation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Fabian Hamilton (Labour - Leeds North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support his Department provides for the survivors of rape and sexual abuse by Arab militias in West Darfur.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Since the outbreak of conflict in April 2023, there has been a significant escalation of gender-based violence (GBV) in Sudan. The UK has pivoted our programme delivery to focus on GBV prevention, and protection and care for rape survivors. We have also integrated specific measures to address conflict-related sexual violence into the humanitarian system, making use of Women's Centres, mobile clinics and internally displaced person's gathering points, for community engagement and service provision. In 2023, over 83,399 consultation providing sexual and reproductive health services were delivered, over 104,225 people were given mental health and psychological support, and over 9,000 people benefitted from risk mitigation and response services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his European Union counterparts on the July 2023 summit declaration between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States that referred to the Falklands Islands as Islas Malvinas.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We engage in multilateral and bilateral fora, including with the European Union and its Member States, in support of the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination. Following publication of the EU - Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit communiqué, the EU publicly clarified their position has not changed. We will, in all fora at which the UK is present, continue to insist on the use of the name that the Islanders recognise and wish to use: the Falkland Islands. This reflects the UK's unequivocal commitment to upholding the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination, including in our discussions with the EU and its Member States.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 ensure effective collaboration between early intervention services for babies with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Healthy Child Programme is the national public prevention and early intervention health framework for babies, children, and young people. Health visitors are specialist community public health nurses who lead the Healthy Child Programme from preconception to five years old. They deliver evidence-based interventions, which include five mandated reviews: antenatal; approximately two weeks after birth; six to eight weeks after birth; at one years old; and at two to two and a half years old. These include reviews of development and growth. Where a baby or child has special education needs or vulnerabilities, health visitors work in partnership with other professionals and families, to respond to health and care needs.
The Government is also investing approximately £300 million to improve support for families though the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. The programme is implementing many elements of the Government’s Best Start for Life Vision which was published in March 2021, and is delivering a step change in outcomes for babies, children, and their parents and carers in 75 local authorities in England, including those with high levels of deprivation. Many local authorities without funding have also chosen to implement elements of the vision.
Family hubs offer support to families from conception to two years old, and provide services for children of all ages, from zero to 19 years old, or zero to 25 years old for families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities. Family hubs are a way of joining up locally to improve access to services, the connections between families, professionals, services, and providers, and prioritise strengthening the relationships that carry us all through life. They bring together services for children of all ages, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West she expects to offer A-Levels in modern foreign languages in the next five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce projections of future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages became non-mandatory at GCSE in 2004. The recently launched Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools from across England, including a hub based in the North West. The lead hub schools will work with other schools in their areas to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 ‘Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review’.
Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of (a) recent violence in the Abyei Administrative Area and (b) the capacity of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA ) to protect civilians affected by that violence; and what recent discussions he has had with (i) UNISFA , (ii) the authorities in South Sudan, (iii) the African Union and (iv) the Intergovernmental Authority on Development on the situation in Abyei.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK condemns the recent escalation of violence in Abyei. We released a statement alongside Troika (US, Norway) partners on January 29, to condemn the armed attacks in Abyei and urge the Government of South Sudan to urgently withdraw its troops in line with its commitments under the 2011 Status of Forces Agreement. The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei's (UNISFA) mandate was renewed in November 2023 and amended to better equip the mission to respond quickly to security incidents and to place greater emphasis on community engagement. The UK is using its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to urge both the government of South Sudan and the de facto Sudanese authorities to ensure UNISFA can fully and effectively implement its mandate. We echo the UN Secretary-General's encouragement for the African Union to intensify its mediation efforts to help reach a political solution for Abyei and we encourage The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to engage in this process.