theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-01 conversation_1
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-01 conversation_1

Baroness Gohir:To ask His Majesty's Government, following the marches in London led by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in September, what assessment they have made of the security concerns and fears experienced by diverse communities, and what specific support and reassurance they are providing to those impacted. \p Baroness Taylor of Stevenage: The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental part of our democratic society. It is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to gather and to demonstrate their views, provided that they do so within the law. However, there is no excuse for violence or abuse driven by hatred and discrimination, and we support the police in taking strong action against those crimes.

The police have a range of powers to deal with any behaviour that causes harassment, alarm or distress to others. They also have the power to impose conditions on protests where they reasonably believe the protest may result in serious disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, or where the purpose of the protest is to intimidate others.

The government continues to work closely with police and community partners to strengthen protections for communities and challenge hatred. This includes providing up to £50.9 million of funding this year to protect faith communities and safeguard places of worship. We also work with the police to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report.

This government is absolutely committed to protecting our communities and making our streets safer, and we refuse to allow the intolerance of a few to impact the lives of our diverse communities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Houchen of High Leven:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to make the frequency of asylum applications from student visa holders at the same student visa sponsor grounds to suspend or revoke a student visa sponsor licence. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office requires sponsors to pass an annual Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) to retain their licence. Additionally, sponsor visiting teams carry out audits to ensure sponsors are fulfilling their duties.

As set out in the Immigration White Paper, we are taking action to drive responsible recruitment by tightening the minimum pass requirement of each BCA metric by five percentage points. Further details will be provided in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of illegal migrants they will return under the returns agreement with France by the end of 2025. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: Returns to France under the UK-France returns agreement commenced on 18 September 2025.

This is a pilot that we want to expand and therefore the numbers will vary. We will not go into the operational details as this would provide criminal smuggling gangs with information that they may use to continue to their vile trade.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Bailey of Paddington:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support the enforcement of their proposed "respect orders" by police forces in England and Wales. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: It is crucial that police have the powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.

New Respect Orders, introduced through the Crime and Policing Bill, will give police stronger powers to enforce against the most persistent adult offenders.

Respect Orders will be behavioural orders, issued by the civil courts. They will enable courts to ban offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviours and can also require perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour.

Failure to comply with a Respect Order will be a criminal offence, enforceable by arrest and tried in the criminal court. Penalty for breach will include community sentences, unlimited fines, and prison time for the most serious breaches.

Updated statutory guidance will be provided to forces on Respect Orders, to ensure they are being used as effectively as possible.

We are also delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, ensuring thousands of additional police officers and police community support officers are out patrolling in our town centres and communities to make our streets safer.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Houchen of High Leven:To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum claims have been submitted by visa holders with a licensed student visa sponsor in the most recent 12-month period. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office publishes data on people claiming asylum by route of entry to the UK in table Asy_D01a of the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release' on GOV.UK. The latest data relates to the year ending June 2025. Between July 2024 and June 2025, 14,800 asylum claims were submitted by those holding a study visa. There is no breakdown by sponsored or non-sponsored study available. This breakdown is not available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Hamwee:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have used, or plan to use, artificial intelligence to assess the age of asylum seekers; if so, from what date; what consultation on its use has been undertaken or is planned; whether the results of such consultation will be published; and whether individuals subject to its use will be given full details without having to request them. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: Assessing age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task. The Home Office is considering whether scientific and technological methods and artificial intelligence tools (such as facial age estimation technology) can improve age assessment methods with facial estimation technology trials due to begin later this year. Subject to the results of further testing and assurance, which has been commissioned, Facial Age Estimation could be introduced into the system in 2026.

We are engaging various stakeholders throughout testing and policy development. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-01 conversation_7

Lord Bailey of Paddington:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data about suicides and attempted suicides by police members across England and Wales. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office does not currently collect data centrally on suicides or attempted suicides by police workers.

Data on suicides by occupation have previously been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

A National Action Plan for Suicide Prevention and Postvention in policing has been launched, which aims to reduce rates among the police workforce as well as enhancing data recording. The plan, which includes ensuring adequate training for the police workforce, emphasises a supportive environment that promotes mental health and combats stigma to ensure that those affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts can access appropriate and timely support.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Pearson of Rannoch:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of risk that Islamism, as portrayed by the religionofpeace.com website, poses to the United Kingdom. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: In the context relevant to the Home Office's responsibility for tackling terrorism, the terrorist threat we see today is more diverse and complex. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, outlines that in the UK the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, with the remainder driven by Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Warsi:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to community cohesion and national security posed by recent attacks on places of worship. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: There is no excuse for violence or threats targeted at places of worship and we support the police in taking strong action against those who carry out these crimes.

The Government is committed to protecting the right of individuals to practise their religion freely at their chosen places of worship and community centres. We regularly work closely with the police to assess threats and review the protections in place for communities.

In 2025/26, up to £50.9 million is available to protect faith communities. This includes £18 million through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, £29.4 million through the Protective Security for Mosques scheme and for security at Muslim faith schools, and £3.5 million for the places of worship and associated faith community centres of all other faiths.

In addition, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is undertaking work to develop a more strategic approach to supporting communities and societal resilience more broadly.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Taylor of Warwick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of multinational companies to the UK's artificial intelligence capacity, and what steps they are taking to balance the role of those companies with the development of UK-owned artificial intelligence capacity. \p Lord Vallance of Balham: The government's sovereignty strategy is pragmatic and focusses on building resilience and strategic advantage, rather than simply self-reliance. We want to ensure that the UK can use the best models in the world while protecting UK interests.

To achieve this, we are establishing strategic partnerships with the leading frontier model developers, for example our Memoranda of Understanding with Anthropic, OpenAI and Cohere, to ensure resilient access to and influence the development of their capabilities. We are also developing sovereign capabilities where it matters most by scaling onshore infrastructure, supporting the emergence of new national champions and increasing the talent pipeline in the UK.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Taylor of Bolton:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the age-related exemption for National Insurance contributions. \p Lord Livermore: Employees and the self-employed make contributions that determine their level of State Pension until State Pension age. Payment of National Insurance contributions (NICs) builds an individual’s entitlement to claim contributory benefits which then replace earnings in certain circumstances, for example if someone is unable to work or is retired. After reaching State Pension age, the liability for employee and self-employed NICs no longer exists.

Employers are able to claim employer NICs reliefs including those for under-21s and under-25 apprentices. This means employers pay no employer NICs for apprentices under 25 or employees under 21 whose annual salaries are below £50,270.

The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Taylor of Bolton:To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated annual cost of the age-related exemption to the payment of National Insurance contributions. \p Lord Livermore: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes the estimated annual cost of exempting individuals over State Pension age from paying National Insurance contributions (NICs) in the National Insurance contributions tab of the Structural Tax Reliefs publication. The estimated annual costs for employer NICs relief for apprentices under 25 and employees under 21 are published by HMRC in the NICs tab of the Non-Structural Tax Reliefs publication. These publications are both available online.

The figures for these three exemptions/reliefs are shown below:

Name

2019 to 2020

2020 to 2021

2021 to 2022

2022 to 2023

2023 to 2024

2024 to 2025

Exemption for individuals over State Pension Age

1,200

840

1,100

1,500*

1,400*

1,100*

Relief on employer National Insurance contributions for apprentices under 25

190

190

230

290

320

340*

Relief on employer National Insurance contributions for employees under 21

630

560

670

850

960

1,000*

Note 1: Figures shown are in £ million.

Note 2: Figures marked with an asterisk (*) are provisional
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Mackinlay of Richborough:To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that support will be provided to taxpayers who (1) are unsure how Making Tax Digital software can best support their needs, and (2) are unable to file their tax return using the software they have selected as a result of a change in their circumstances. \p Lord Livermore: Taxpayers within Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will have one month from the end of each update period to submit their quarterly update. These updates are not the same as tax returns. They are simple, unadjusted summaries of income and expenditure, acting as a snapshot of quarterly trading activity. They will be populated automatically through software and can be submitted easily. This process has been designed to be simple for users and quick to complete.

Although MTD for Income Tax introduces changes to the reporting ofincome and expenditure with quarterly updates, it does not change the frequency or timing of tax payments.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published a suite of guidance including interactive guidance to help taxpayers understand if and when they need to use MTD for Income Tax. This will be supplemented by help provided through a taxpayer’s agent or software provider. HMRC is engaging taxpayers affected by the changes directly and through webinars, industry engagement and marketing activity.

HMRC has published guidance about software on its newly revised Software Choices pages, making it easier for taxpayers to choose the rightsoftware for both their budget and their needs. Free and low-cost software options are already listed. Further products will be added to these pages as they become available. Where a taxpayer needs to change software during the tax year, they will need to import their digital records into the new compatible software. HMRC’s Minimum Functionality Standards for MTD software requires developers to build functionality into their products to enable users to export their data.

The 2024/25 Private Beta testing phase of MTD for Income Tax runs to31 January 2026. 226 individuals signed up for the testing. This enabled HMRC to test a range of core user journeys, identify issues and implement improvements. Currently, there are around 3,500 taxpayers signed up for the public testing phase of MTD for Income Tax in the 2025/26 tax year.

Under the requirements specified in HMRC’s Minimum Functionality Standards for Making Tax Digital (MTD) software, using software that is compatible with MTD for Income Tax should enable users to completethe entirety of their obligations within Income Tax Self-Assessment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Jenkin of Kennington:To ask His Majesty's Government why the Pension Protection Fund's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy 2025–28, published on 12 June, uses the term "gender" rather than "sex", and what plans they have to revise the strategy in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16. \p Baroness Sherlock: The Pension Protection Fund has chosen in its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy to further its core belief of supporting everyone, beyond the protected characteristics as defined by law. The Supreme Court decision has prompted a consultation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on its Code of Practice for services, public functions and associations. Once statutory guidance has been published, we will work with our key stakeholders to inform our ongoing approach.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Pack:To ask His Majesty's Government how many people opted out of receiving the winter fuel payment for 2025–26. \p Baroness Sherlock: Around 50,000 people in England and Wales have opted out of receiving an automatic Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2025/26, although work is still underway to conclude the final position.

The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-10-01 conversation_16

Lord Scriven:To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals have received redundancy or severance payments and been offered a new post in the NHS as part of the reduction in integrated care board staff in this financial year. \p Baroness Merron: Following the announcement of the abolition of NHS England, we are clear on the need for a smaller centre, as well as scaling back integrated care board running costs and National Health Service provider corporate cost reductions in order to reduce waste and bureaucracy.

Good progress is being made with the Department and NHS England having announced voluntary exit and expressions of interes,t respectively. Departmental exits are expected this calendar year so number of exits can be confirmed in the next few months. NHS England is running to a later timeframe, and we do not expect to be able to confirm numbers before the next financial year. No individuals have yet received redundancy or severance payments, and no assessment of an NHS at-risk pool has been made.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Mott:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the results of the "war game" exercise carried out as part of the NHS's winter preparations. \p Baroness Merron: There are no plans to publish individual National Health Service system's plans or the outcomes of stress-testing centrally. System winter plans are locally owned and created in order to meet specific local needs and circumstances and are best communicated by NHS organisations locally. Nationally, the actions being taken to prepare for this coming winter are set out in the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26. A copy of this plan is attached.

Additional document (pdf, 642.3KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the focus in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England on care in the community, what steps they are taking to enable pharmacies to administer all adult NHS vaccinations, including for shingles and pneumococcal disease, to support equitable uptake in all communities. \p Baroness Merron: The Department does not currently have plans to enable community pharmacies to administer all adult National Health Service vaccinations. To take forward our commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to give community pharmacy a bigger role in prevention by expanding their role in vaccine delivery, we are piloting the use of community pharmacy across several routine vaccination programmes including respiratory syncytial virus for older adults.

In addition, the national booking service opened on 1 September 2025, allowing all eligible adults the opportunity to book their seasonal flu and/or COVID-19 vaccination appointments from 1 October 2025.

We will continue to work with NHS England to explore and evaluate opportunities to expand the role of community pharmacy in vaccination delivery where this may support our efforts to improve uptake.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the focus on care in the community in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England, what steps they are considering to enable pharmacies to administer all adult NHS vaccinations, including for shingles and pneumococcal, to support equitable uptake from all communities. \p Baroness Merron: The Department does not currently have plans to enable community pharmacies to administer all National Health Service adult vaccinations. To take forward our commitment to give community pharmacy a bigger role in prevention by expanding their role in vaccine delivery, as set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are piloting the use of community pharmacy across several routine vaccination programmes, including respiratory syncytial virus for older adults.

In addition, the national booking service opened on 1 September 2025, allowing all eligible adults the opportunity to book their seasonal flu and/or COVID-19 vaccination appointments from 1 October 2025.

We will continue to work with NHS England to explore and evaluate opportunities to expand the role of community pharmacy in vaccination delivery where this may support our efforts to improve uptake.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Smith of Llanfaes:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of labour market statistics up to July, and what plans they have to target industrial development investment in areas where employment rates are lowest. \p Lord Leong: This Government assesses the labour market as resilient and strong by historic standards, with high employment and falling inactivity. However, we recognise ongoing challenges, particularly for young people and those with health conditions. The Employment Rights Bill will support improvements by enhancing protections, expanding flexible working, and tackling insecure contracts. These reforms are central to our Plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring a fairer, more inclusive labour market that supports both economic growth and individual opportunity.

The Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to back our strengths and realise Britain’s potential. Through the Industrial Strategy we are targeting investment towards our eight-growth driving sectors (IS-8). All regions benefit from the Industrial Strategy’s national policy offer – there are clusters of the IS-8 sectors across the whole country, and our package addresses the biggest constraints to growth highlighted by businesses in these sectors. Regions across the UK will also benefit from a targeted and ambitious place policy package, focussing our efforts on the city regions and clusters where the IS8 concentrate.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Berkeley:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will list the allocation of responsibilities of Ministers in the Department for Transport. \p Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill: The responsibilities of Ministers in the Department for Transport can be found below:

The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for all Department for Transport business, including:

The Minister for Rail is responsible for:

The Minister for Roads and Buses is responsible for:

The Minister for Local Transport is responsible for:

The Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation is responsible for:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the capability of the Harland and Wolff shipyard to construct Royal Navy defence warships before the contract for that project was awarded. \p Lord Coaker: Building on the success of the Type 31 Frigate competition, one of the main aims of the programme was to see British shipbuilders play a key role in the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ship competition and for companies, including British firms, to tender for the design and build of the FSS ships. The competition sought to maximise the economic and social contribution shipbuilding can make in the UK, including encouraging investment in domestic shipyards, whilst balancing the need to deliver value for money and an overall compliant solution to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s needs.

The FSS ship contract was awarded to Navantia UK (NUK), with Harland & Wolff (H&W) as a strategic subcontractor and part of the winning consortium. The build strategy was, and remains, that all three ships will be assembled from blocks manufactured in H&W’s shipyards in the UK and Navantia's shipyards in Spain. Final assembly, systems integration and testing of the ships is planned to take place in Belfast.

In order to deliver this build strategy, the contract required an investment of approximately £100 million in Belfast for recapitalisation of production facilities and investment in skills transfer, knowledge and technology.

Throughout the FSS ship’s competition procurement process all bidders were subject to economic and financial standing tests consistent with the relevant UK public procurement legislation and rules. On contract award, the Ministry of Defence’s assessment was that H&W were able to deliver their part of the programme. NUK are responsible for managing their subcontractors, including H&W, with protections ensured through the prime contractual arrangements.

Following H&W’s insolvency and NUK’s acquisition of the four H&W yards in January 2025, the works to recapitalise the Belfast shipyard have restarted; this investment will further strengthen UK capability, modernising the shipbuilding facilities in Belfast and leading to increased productivity and capacity.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government why military personnel from (1) China, and (2) Qatar, are not banned from attending the Royal College of Defence Studies. \p Lord Coaker: The provision of professional military education or training to a foreign military is dependent on a number of factors, including the nature of our partnerships and course availability, and is kept under regular review. Any decision is made on a case-by-case basis and is underpinned by a robust assessment as to the benefits, risks, and compliance with international human rights law.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Kempsell:To ask His Majesty's Government how much the continuity of education allowance has increased since January and whether they plan to increase it further. \p Lord Coaker: Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) helps Service families to provide stability in their children’s schooling where mobility might otherwise cause disruption. The Ministry of Defence engages with Service families through the Families Federations, the chain of command and Pay Colonel teams, who ensure that their views are represented in policy discussions.

With regards to allowance calculations, I refer the Noble Lord to the answer given by the then Minister for Veterans on 9 July 2025 to question 66168.

Armed Forces: Private Education (docx, 16.5KB)
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Redfern:To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing a two-way contract for difference to provide competitive wholesale electricity prices to the steel industry. \p Lord Wilson of Sedgefield: We recognise the importance of competitive electricity prices in enabling the UK steel sector to thrive.

We are developing a comprehensive steel strategy, to be published this year, which will set out the conditions needed to create a competitive business environment in the UK. This strategy aims to attract new private investment and expand UK steelmaking capability in alignment with our Net Zero goals. As part of this, we launched the Plan for Steel Consultation in March to examine long-term challenges facing the industry, including how domestic producers can meet more UK demand.

To support decarbonisation and growth, the Government will renew the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, providing long-term confidence for industry to invest in low-carbon technologies. We remain committed to our manifesto pledge to invest up to £2.5 billion in steel through the National Wealth Fund and other routes.

The UK steel industry has a long-term future under this Government. We are determined to work towards a bright future for steel—protecting jobs, driving growth, and ensuring our industrial heartlands remain at the forefront of a competitive, low-carbon economy.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Lord Kempsell:To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they will provide for the Emergency Alerts service once its initial three-year funding comes to an end. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: As set out in the 2025 Resilience Action Plan, the Emergency Alerts system is one of many public warning and informing capabilities that the UK Government, Devolved Governments and Category 1 responders have at their disposal. It is an integral part of keeping the public safe as it allows for quick sharing of life-saving information.

Since the launch of Emergency Alerts in 2023, the system has been activated five times, in conjunction with other local warning methods, during emergencies to minimise risk to life.

On Sunday 7th September at around 3pm tens of millions of phones across the country received the test message, marking the largest simultaneous public communications event since the Second World War.

The UK Government will continue to ensure that Emergency Alerts capability is maintained and it is expected that the funding of the system will continue through routine departmental spend.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-01)

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Baroness Smith of Llanfaes:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 1 August 2024 (HL318), what progress they have made to devolve employment support to Wales. \p Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent: The UK Government is committed to devolving non-Jobcentre Plus employment support funding to the Welsh Government.

DWP and Welsh Government officials are working closely to progress this commitment, which will support our joint efforts to help people back into secure, well-paid jobs.

To date, DWP has devolved funding for a Get Britain Working economic inactivity Trailblazer in Wales, providing £10 million to the Welsh Government to deliver tailored support where it is most needed. This includes help with CV writing and job searching, one-to-one mentoring, counselling, wellbeing services, and condition management for those with health conditions.
lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_1
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

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Lord Crisp:To ask His Majesty's Government how they are working with international partners to provide support for the population in Myanmar affected by the earthquake. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: On 29 March the UK announced up to £10 million worth of life saving support to Myanmar in response to the earthquake. As well as delivering the humanitarian assistance via local partners, the package includes support in conjunction with other international partners to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). This will fund life-saving support to some of the most urgent humanitarian needs. On 4 April, we announced a further £10 million of funding, bringing our total response to up to £25 million.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

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Lord Jamieson:To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total budget for the new British embassy development in China; what is the target date for the planning permission to be granted; and what is the target date for the final completion of the embassy. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: We continue to work on the details of the timetable and budget for the new British embassy in Beijing. We have submitted our planning application for the new embassy and as with any project, this would be subject to due consideration by Chinese authorities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_3

Baroness Helic:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report “More than a human can bear”: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive, and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023 published by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel on 13 March, and what representations they have made as a result to (1) the government of Israel, and (2) the United Nations and other international organisations and officials. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We are deeply concerned by multiple allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians by Israeli forces. We are also appalled by reports of sexual violence being perpetrated against hostages. These reports are horrifying.

The use of sexual violence in conflict is a breach of international law. We unequivocally condemn sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in Israel, and wherever it occurs in the world.

The UK has consistently called for all reports, to be fully investigated to ensure justice for victims and survivors, including during a session of the UN Security Council on 20 March. We have also raised strong concerns around treatment of detainees and International Humanitarian Law compliance with the Government of Israel.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_4

Lord Roberts of Llandudno:To ask His Majesty's Government when they last assessed whether Israel has breached the humanitarian criteria for arms sales from the UK to that country. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We regularly assess Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and our assessments continue to raise concerns about possible breaches of IHL in the areas of humanitarian access and treatment of detainees.

The UK's robust export licensing criteria state that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. On 2 September 2024 we took decisive action, suspending relevant licences for the Israeli Defense Forces that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL in Gaza. Further to the suspension decision in respect of the Gaza conflict, there are no extant licences for items that might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian law. Our International Humanitarian Law assessments continue.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_5

Baroness Deech:To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 26 March (HL5769), what assessment they have made of the implications for the reliability of the death statistics of the Gazan Ministry of Health reportedly removing from their March figures 3,400 deaths which it had previously listed in August and October 2024, including 1080 children. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We are aware of a correction to the Gaza Ministry of Health's (MoH) data after a number of deaths were incorrectly reported. Producing reliable casualty statistics in contexts of violent conflict is often difficult. For example, prior to October 7th 2023, the MoH collected mortality figures from 8 sentinel hospitals across Gaza. Unfortunately, many of these hospitals were struck in the conflict and the capacity to collect the data was reduced. After consulting experts, we believe the MoH data to be largely accurate. Some experts have reached the view that the MoH may have underestimated the numbers of injured and dead.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_6

Lord Wharton of Yarm:To ask His Majesty's Government whether they support calls for a federal Syrian constitution in order to protect minority communities in that country. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: The UK fully supports a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political transition process leading to an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government. We welcome provisions within the Constitutional Declaration on freedom of expression, freedom of belief and women's rights. Further consultation of key groups across Syria is essential as the constitutional drafting process takes place.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_7

Lord Wharton of Yarm:To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office are based in Damascus. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: There are currently no Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff permanently based in Damascus. However, FCDO staff, including our UK Special Representative for Syria, undertake visits to Damascus.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_8

Lord Wharton of Yarm:To ask His Majesty's Government what meetings they have held with the new government of Syria and what steps they have taken to raise human rights concerns. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: The UK engages regularly with the Syrian government to support them in taking steps that will deliver a more stable, free and prosperous future for the Syrian people. We have been clear that we expect those appointed to the new Syrian government to demonstrate a commitment to the protection of human rights. We will continue to judge them by their actions.

The Minister for the Middle East raised the importance of an inclusive political transition and the need to protect all civilians with the Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shaibani most recently when they met in Brussels on 17 March.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_9

Lord Wharton of Yarm:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the treatment of minorities under the new government of Syria. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We welcome the announcement on the formation of a new Syrian government and the provisions in the Constitutional Declaration on freedom of expression and freedom of belief. We expect those appointed to demonstrate a commitment to protect the rights of all Syrians. We will continue to encourage inclusive governance and will work with the Syrian government to this end.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_10

Lord Wharton of Yarm:To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to imposing sanctions and other measures against those found to be party to the persecution of minority groups in the new government of Syria. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We do not comment on future designations as to do so lessens their potential impact. We keep our sanctions regime under close review and we will continue to judge the Syrian government by their actions.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_11

Lord Weir of Ballyholme:To ask His Majesty's Government what meetings they have planned with Chagossians to discuss the proposed Chagos Islands deal. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: The Minister of State, Stephen Doughty, has met with members of the Chagossian community, and officials have also been in regular contact with Chagossians on a range of issues. We will continue to engage with Chagossians in the UK and around the world on the implementation of the agreement at both an official and Ministerial level.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_12

Lord Alton of Liverpool:To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address the illegal extraction of minerals in Tigray; and what assessment they have made of the environmental destruction and harm to livestock caused by these activities. \p Lord Collins of Highbury: We are monitoring reports of the illegal extraction of minerals in Tigray. It is important that all such activity is conducted legally and with the appropriate approvals from the relevant government authorities in Ethiopia and is done in a way that protects the local environment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_13

Lord Crisp:To ask His Majesty's Government what response they are making to the appeal to the international community regarding the Myanmar earthquake by the Interim National Unity Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. \p Baroness Chapman of Darlington: On 29 March the UK announced up to £10 million worth of life saving support to Myanmar in response to the earthquake. As well as delivering the humanitarian assistance via local partners, the package includes support in conjunction with other international partners to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). This will fund life-saving support to some of the most urgent humanitarian needs. On 4 April, we announced a further £10 million of funding, bringing our total response to up to £25 million.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_14

Lord Jamieson:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the net cost of supporting (1) asylum seekers and (2) their children, to local authorities in England across all public services, including schooling and housing. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Home Office does not hold an assessment of the kind requested, but we regularly publish details of the costs of the asylum system in our departmental annual reports.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_15

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough:To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement an entry/exit border control system to aid the identification and removal of individuals who have overstayed across all visa types. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The UK has introduced Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) to enhance our ability to screen travellers upstream, and improve the customer experience. The introduction of the ETA scheme is in line with the approach many of the UK’s international partners have already taken to border security, including the European Union’s forthcoming ETIAS and EES. The UK’s scheme was extended to eligible European nationals on 5 March 2025, and will be a requirement for this cohort for travel from 2 April 2025.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-04-15)

UK Parliament Hansard data: lordswrans/lordswrans2025-04-15 conversation_16

The Lord Bishop of Manchester:To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, and (2) the Public Order Act 2023, on the right to peaceful protest. \p Lord Hanson of Flint: The Government published a report in December 2024 on how police forces had used their protest powers under the Police, Crime and Sentencing Act 2022 from June 2022 to March 2024. In that period,10 police forces used the amended Public Order Act powers on 473 protests with 95 percent by the Met and 277 arrests for breaches.

Expedited post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 will begin in May 2025, assessing its enforcement and impact, including arrest numbers.

Accompanying report (pdf, 344.4KB)