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Written Question
Gender Recognition
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the Department for Health and Social Care’s publication of the updated Notification of Child Death Form, whether the new questions on gender identity are voluntary for (1) NHS staff to ask, and (2) parents to answer.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following the death of a child, it may not always be a healthcare professional making the notification and therefore these questions may be answered by a range of different professionals, for instance those in healthcare, police, or social care. The questions will be answered based on what the professional knows at the time when they are making the notification of death. Therefore, if they do not hold any information on the gender identity of the child, this question will not be answered.

Parents would not be completing these forms. The purpose of the notification form is to give the basic information on what is known about the child by the professional at the time of death.


Written Question
Female Genital Mutilation: Prosecutions
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the imprisonment of a UK resident for conspiring to commit female genital mutilation against a young girl after the first conviction of its kind in England and Wales, what assessment they have made of their approach to investigating and prosecuting such cases.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is an abhorrent crime, and tackling FGM is an important part of this Government’s mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. We are focused on preventing these crimes from happening, supporting and protecting survivors and those at risk, and bringing perpetrators to justice.

A range of criminal offences and preventative tools are available in this space.

To support the police in investigating this crime, the College of Policing has published Authorised Professional Practice. This sets out the action the police should take, including: working with local organisations to raise awareness of FGM, taking immediate steps to safeguard individuals at risk, (including through FGM Protection Orders), and securing evidence.

We know that the familial and hidden nature of FGM, and the fact victims are often relatively young, can present challenges in bringing a prosecution. That is why the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have put in place a Joint Protocol on the Investigation and Prosecution of FGM. That encourages the police to refer every FGM case to the CPS at the earliest stage and sets out that the CPS will provide early investigative advice in all cases. In addition, every CPS area has a dedicated FGM Lead, and they have introduced guidance for prosecutors, which addresses common areas of challenge, including the need for expert evidence.

More broadly, the Government’s statutory guidance on FGM sets out the responsibilities of police and other statutory agencies in supporting and safeguarding women and girls affected by FGM, and the Home Office has made available free e-learning on FGM for frontline professionals which was completed by over 54,300 professionals in 2023.

Of course, we will look at the success of this case and ensure what worked is reflected in any review of the guidance.


Written Question
FP2030: Expenditure
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding they gave to Family Planning 2030 in each year since 2021.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office publishes all programmatic spend data on the Devtracker website https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/. The Programme code for support to the FP2030 Family Planning Partnership is '301361.'

The data requested is as follows:

2021/2

2022/3

2023/4

2024/5

Total

Nil

£2.4m

£1.2m

£2.4m

£6m


Written Question
Civil Servants: Clothing
Friday 25th October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 18 September (HL1037), whether the attire described in the Daily Telegraph article “Transgender civil servant wearing ‘fetish gear’ sparks Whitehall row”, published on 4 August, accords with the Department for Work and Pensions’ interpretation of professional and business-like clothing.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the noble Baroness to the answer I gave to question HL1037 on 18 September.

The DWP’s standards of behaviour statement requires employees to dress in a professional and business-like way. Professional and business-like has a normal, everyday meaning.


Written Question
Bilateral Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine
Monday 21st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was their bilateral expenditure on programmes targeting reproductive health in 2022 and 2023, through Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development input sector codes 13010, 13021/22, 13030 and 13081.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annually reports on Official Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure via the Statistics on International Development publications (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development) and are reported in line with OECD Development and Assistance Committee sector codes. The Government's bilateral expenditure on programmes targeting reproductive health for 2022 and 2023 is as follows:

Sector Code

2022

2023

13010

3,240,180

4,129,156

13020*

87,467,594

88,259,600

13030

107,578,220

132,481,923

13081

4,121,363

3,565,689

Total

202,407,357

228,436,369

*Please note "13020 - Reproductive Health Care" is the official OECD DAC code for both "13021" and "13022".


Written Question
Bilateral Aid: HIV Infection
Monday 21st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was their bilateral expenditure on programmes targeting HIV and AIDS in 2022 and 2023, through Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development input sector codes 13041 and 13042.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK remains a significant funder of the HIV response. In (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023 total bilateral expenditure for HIV and AIDS was (i) £7,928,506 and (ii) £10,311,308 respectively. This includes our funding to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to further improve access to essential HIV medicines and our funding to the Robert Carr Fund to support initiatives with grassroots organisations, including key populations, as part of the global HIV response.


Written Question
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Non-governmental Organisations
Monday 21st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what contributions they made to (1) core, (2) non-core, and (3) other funding, for (a) the United Nations Population Fund, (b) the World Health Organization, (c) the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, (d) the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS, (e) the International Planned Parenthood Federation, (f) Women and Children First UK, (g) the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and (h) the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in (i) 2022, and (ii) 2023.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)

Based on FCDO "Statistics on International Development: final UK aid spend 2023", the total amount of UK ODA financial contributions was:

2022

2023

1.a United Nations Population Fund - Core

8,000,000

8,000,000

2.a United Nations Population Fund - Non-core

88,510,000

93,222,000

1.b World Health Organization - Core

97,750,000

112,000,000

2.b World Health Organization - Non-core

42,029,000

41,996,000

3.b World Health Organization - Assessed contribution (DHSC)

17,629,000

20,241,000

1.c UNICEF - Core

8,000,000

40,018,000

2.c UNICEF - Non-core

174,240,000

183,342,000

1.d UNAIDS - Core

8,000,000

8,000,000

2.e International Planned Parenthood Federation - Non-core

2,250,000

21,336,000

1.g Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - Core

434,000,000

958,076,000

1.f Women and Children First UK - Core

0

0

2.f Women and Children First UK - Non-core

0

0

1.h UN Women - Core

0

3,378,000

2.h UN Women - Non-core

4,704,000

2,750,000

Note omitted rows are a null answer, and figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.


Written Question
Stonewall: Arms Length Bodies
Monday 21st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Twycross on 16 September (HL694), which arm's-length bodies pay for an affiliation to Stonewall using public money.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

Information on how issued funding is spent by arms length bodies, including payments to third party organisations, is not gathered centrally.


Written Question
Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine
Monday 21st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of total United Kingdom Overseas Development Assistance was allocated to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in 2022 and 2023.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annually reports on Official Development Assistance (ODA) expenditure via the Statistics on International Development publications (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-on-international-development). We report spend in line with OECD Development and Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) sector codes and do not publish Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) spend as it is not defined by the OECD DAC and spans across multiple OECD sector codes.

However, you may find the analysis published in the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) annual "Donor Delivering for SRHR" report of interest (https://donorsdelivering.report/all-editions/). Their latest report shows the UK allocated 4.38% of Official Development Assistance to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in 2022. Estimates for 2023 are not available yet.


Written Question
Civil Service: Equality
Tuesday 1st October 2024

Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office on 30 July (HC936), whether they now intend to publish the data gathered from the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

We are currently considering the Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review commissioned by the previous Government.