Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timeframe for considering improvements to east-west rail links; what progress they have made in providing a regular passenger service on the Hellifield Link between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
In May 2024 Northern Trains launched the Yorkshire Dales Explorer, which links Manchester and Ribblehead, restoring passenger services to the line between Clitheroe and Hellifield for the first time in more than two decades. Northern has worked with local bus providers to co-ordinate services and with stakeholders including the Yorkshire Dales National Park and rambling groups, who organised walks around the timetable. This service has been a great success and won a silver award in the tourism category at the 2025 Community Rail Awards.
Rail North Partnership and Northern are now working with stakeholders including Lancashire County Council and York & North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority to assess whether additional services on this line could be operationally practical and offer value for money.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the volume of munitions North Korea has sent to Russia in its war against Ukraine; and whether they plan to engage with the International Criminal Court to ensure that the involvement of North Korea is considered as part of its investigations into crimes in Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Russia's increasing reliance on support from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) to help wage its illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates its underlying weakness. As we have said publicly, the DPRK is believed to have supplied 20,000 containers of munitions to Russia, and its artillery and mortar shells account for 60% of those used in Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. DPRK must immediately withdraw its troops and stop its provision of thousands of munitions, arms and other materiel. Together with our partners, we are taking action against those who enable Russia's war, including through sanctions.
The UK is fully committed to holding Russia to account for its illegal and barbaric actions in Ukraine. We welcome the progress the International Criminal Court (ICC) is making in its investigation, including the issuing of arrest warrants. The ICC is an independent judicial institution, and it is for the ICC Prosecutor to determine who should be prosecuted.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current human rights situation in North Korea; and how they are planning to respond to the recommendations of the APPG on North Korea's report Inquiry into Human Rights Violations in North Korea 2014-2020/1, published on 20 July 2021.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains deeply concerned by unacceptable reports of ongoing, widespread, and systematic human rights violations in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). The UK remains active in many of the APPG's 2021 report recommendations and regularly calls on the DPRK government, through multilateral and bilateral channels, to address its appalling human rights record. Most recently, in April 2025, the UK co-sponsored a UN Human Right Council resolution renewing the UN Special Rapporteur mandate for a further year and requesting that the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) provide updates to the UN Human Right Council to include options for strengthening accountability.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to contribute to the initiative at the UN Security Council to refer the human rights situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains committed to working with international partners to hold the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) to account for their human rights violations. We hold regular meetings with other UN Security Council member states to identify ways in which we can improve the DPRK's human rights record. The UK also regularly cosponsors resolutions on the human rights situation in DPRK at the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly Third Committee. We will continue to engage with key partners and allies to ensure the need for accountability remains at the heart of the international community's work to improve the human rights situation in the DPRK.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of prospects for removing the UN Security Council P5 veto right in cases of genocide and other atrocity crimes.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The veto rights of the permanent members of the UN Security Council are set out in the UN Charter. Removing those rights would require amending the Charter. As specified in Articles 108 and 109 of the Charter, any such amendments would ultimately require ratification by all the permanent members of the Security Council.
The UK Government supports responsible use of the veto. The veto is a great responsibility, which should be used to preserve global peace. The UK is a proud supporter of the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) Code of Conduct, through which we have committed not to vote against - and therefore not to veto - a credible draft Security Council resolution which would end or prevent a mass atrocity. We continue to encourage other members of the Security Council, and the wider UN membership, to become signatories to the ACT Code of Conduct.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the finding in the report Safety and Survival by Women for Refugee Women that women banned from working are being forced into abusive and exploitative situations and relationships.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compatibility of policies banning women seeking asylum from working and their objective of preventing violence against women and girls.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the impact of the work ban for people seeking asylum upon levels of violence against women and girls is being monitored.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration and asylum system under regular review, and recently published a White Paper setting out the Government’s plans for reform in relation to the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers, and a wide range of other areas.
The Government provides support to migrant victims of VAWG through the Migrant Victims Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and works with sector leads on this group to ensure they are part of the broader strategy on VAWG.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the finding in Women for Refugee Women's report that 71 per cent of women were under supervision by male staff despite the requirement under the Detention Services Order 06/2016 that detained women should wherever possible be supervised by female staff.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There is detailed published guidance for all staff working in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). Detention Services Order (DSO) 06/2016 'Women in the immigration removal estate' sets out the processes that are undertaken in IRCs to ensure that the needs of women are identified and appropriately met and their rights to dignity and privacy are upheld. In addition, DSO 09/2012 ‘Searching Policy’ sets out the requirements for searching women in detention, providing clear guidance that women must only be searched by members of the same sex.
All staff working with women receive appropriate gender specific training (such as the protocol for entry to bedrooms), in addition to any generic training they receive when they undergo initial training or undertake appropriate refresher training. This includes equality and diversity, human trafficking and modern slavery.
The constant supervision of women who are subject to an Assessment Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) plan, should wherever possible, be undertaken by a female detainee custody officer (DCO). In the unlikely event that this is not operationally possible for reasons of safety and security, the details for this decision must be fully documented by the duty manager on the ACDT plan.