Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Kyrgyzstan about the detention of journalist Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided by the Minister of State, Stephen Doughty, on 31 October 2025 in response to Question 85571, which - for ease of reference - is reproduced below.
The UK regularly engages with Kyrgyzstan both bilaterally and in multilateral settings on a range of issues, including human rights matters. I raised Human rights concerns during our Strategic Dialogue in February 2025. In Kyrgyzstan's most recent UN Universal Periodic Review in April 2025, the UK raised concerns about restrictions on freedom of expression and recommended amending legislation regarding "Incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious interregional hatred". Our Embassy in Kyrgyzstan monitors the human rights in the country and works closely with civil society organisations and multilateral partners.
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 (1) the likelihood of a new conflict in Tigray, and (2) the risk of atrocity crimes in a new conflict in that region.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The Government is deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Tigray and Northern Ethiopia. Recent clashes in disputed areas and reports of Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and Tigrayan Forces preparing for conflict, contribute to an increasingly fragile and unpredictable security environment.
Any conflict would further destabilise the region and have a high risk of human rights abuses and atrocities. We engage regularly with all parties, and support efforts to implement the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, including through funding for monitoring and compliance mechanisms and support for conditions that enable the safe, voluntary and dignified return of Internally Displaced People.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for atrocity crimes during the 2020–22 conflict in Tigray.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
In coordination with international partners, the UK has consistently called for accountability in multilateral fora, including the Human Rights Council. The UK co-sponsored the establishment of the Independent Commission on Human Rights in Ethiopia (ICHREE) and welcomed the 2023 ICHREE report and its recommendations. The UK is financing international monitors from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and helping to strengthen the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission's ability to investigate serious abuses. We welcome the Government of Ethiopia's national Transitional Justice policy. For it to be credible, implementation must deliver meaningful justice and accountability for victims across Ethiopia, including Tigray.
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 are taking to enhance relations and deepen mutual democratic links with Taiwan.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK maintains a strong, unofficial relationship with Taiwan, based on shared democratic values and wide-ranging economic, cultural and people-to-people ties. We engage through regular dialogue and cooperation on trade, education, science and global challenges, and support parliamentary, academic and civil society exchanges that strengthen mutual democratic links.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to ratify the convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine; and what assessment they have made of how that convention will build on the Register of Damage for Ukraine to review, assess and determine compensation for losses caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer provided in the House of Commons on 27 February in response to Question 113024, copied below for ease of reference:
Russia must be held accountable for its illegal actions in Ukraine. The UK is a founding member of the Register of Damage and I signed the Convention to establish an International Claims Commission for Ukraine on 16 December 2025. We expect to lay the treaty before Parliament in the current parliamentary session, with further domestic steps required for ratification to follow in due course.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether officials of the government of China informed the Prime Minister during his recent visit that Jimmy Lai would receive a 20-year prison sentence.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
No. But as I detailed in the Urgent Question debate on 9 December, the Prime Minister raised Mr Lai's case during his visit, and we are continuing to press the Chinese authorities for his release.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people under 25 years old have been prescribed by the NHS selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in each year since 2015, broken down by age and sex.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority publishes statistics on prescriptions for mental health, but the published data does not specifically include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors by age band.
The attached table shows the number of patients aged under 25 years old with one or more National Health Service prescriptions for a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that were prescribed in England and then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands.
The sum of the age groups for each year does not equal the total for all under 25 years olds due to patients with prescriptions spanning two age groups.
Patient counts have been rounded to the nearest 10. A dash ‘-‘ indicates a patient count of between zero and four. Totals may not sum due to rounding and patients with unknown gender.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many NHS prescriptions for antidepressants have been prescribed to patients (1) of all ages, (2) under 25 years old, and (3) under 18 years old, in each year since 2015.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of National Health Service prescription items classified as antidepressants by age group for each year from 2015/16 to 2024/25:
Financial year | All ages | Under 25 years old | Under 18 years old |
2015/16 | 61,903,886 | 2,477,798 | 312,113 |
2016/17 | 65,590,427 | 2,759,953 | 332,706 |
2017/18 | 68,279,423 | 2,910,607 | 346,126 |
2018/19 | 71,765,790 | 3,202,784 | 367,850 |
2019/20 | 76,329,800 | 3,525,602 | 393,762 |
2020/21 | 79,410,554 | 3,890,347 | 406,391 |
2021/22 | 83,438,128 | 4,170,154 | 437,365 |
2022/23 | 86,263,722 | 4,119,463 | 448,515 |
2023/24 | 89,131,582 | 4,033,211 | 435,992 |
2024/25 | 92,642,110 | 4,005,259 | 410,772 |
2025/26 | 47,327,223 | 1,935,508 | 169,147 |
Note: data for 2025/26 is from April to September.
The NHS Business Services Authority does not hold data on the clinical indication of a prescription and therefore does not know which prescriptions were prescribed for depression. Many drugs have multiple uses, for example, some drugs that are classified as antidepressants can be issued to treat migraine, chronic pain, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and a range of other conditions.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having, if any, with major supermarkets about the evidence and findings about production of food in the Uyghur Region in the report Forced Labor, Coercive Land-Use Transfers, and Forced Assimilation in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Production, published on 10 December 2024.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The human rights situation in China, including China's persecution of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities, remains a priority for the government. We are aware of the December 2024 report and have used these findings to inform current policy.
We are committed to tackling Uyghur forced labour in UK and global supply chains. The Government has launched the responsible business conduct review to provide a neutral, objective appraisal of UK policy to tackle forced labour. It will consider the effectiveness of the UK's current regime and alternative measures to support responsible business practices across UK and global supply chains, including human rights and environmental considerations.
We raise our concerns about human rights in Xinjiang at the highest levels: last month, the Prime Minister raised our concerns about Xinjiang directly with President Xi Jinping. We continue to coordinate our efforts with other international partners to hold China to account for their human rights violations.
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 report Forced Labor, Coercive Land-Use Transfers, and Forced Assimilation in Xinjiang’s Agricultural Production, published on 10 December 2024; and what action they plan to take in response to the report's findings on how state-imposed forced labour in the Uyghur Region is embedded in agricultural production and global supply chains.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The human rights situation in China, including China's persecution of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities, remains a priority for the government. We are aware of the December 2024 report and have used these findings to inform current policy.
We are committed to tackling Uyghur forced labour in UK and global supply chains. The Government has launched the responsible business conduct review to provide a neutral, objective appraisal of UK policy to tackle forced labour. It will consider the effectiveness of the UK's current regime and alternative measures to support responsible business practices across UK and global supply chains, including human rights and environmental considerations.
We raise our concerns about human rights in Xinjiang at the highest levels: last month, the Prime Minister raised our concerns about Xinjiang directly with President Xi Jinping. We continue to coordinate our efforts with other international partners to hold China to account for their human rights violations.