Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle homophobia in the Metropolitan Police force.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Any form of discrimination in policing is completely unacceptable.
Since the publication of Louise Casey’s 2023 review the MPS has taken action through its ‘New Met for London Plan’. In December 2025 the MPS and Mayor of London announced an independent review of the force’s progress against Baroness Casey’s 2023 report, chaired by Dr Gillian Fairfield.
The Government also supports the aims of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing’s ‘National policing culture and inclusion strategy’ which aims to tackle discrimination within policing.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help improve safety for the LGBT+ community.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that LGBT+ people are safe, supported and able to live their lives free from discrimination, prejudice and hate.
As set out in our manifesto, we are expanding the aggravated offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 so that crimes motivated by hostility towards a person’s sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability attract tougher penalties, in line with existing aggravated offences for race and religion.
As my Hon. friend Dame Diana Johnson confirmed at Commons Report Stage on 18 June, the Government will implement this through an amendment in the Lords to the Crime and Policing Bill.
Through the Sentencing Act 2020, courts already apply enhanced sentencing where there is evidence of hostility based on sexual orientation or transgender identity. The expansion of aggravated offences will further reinforce the seriousness with which these crimes are treated, ensuring perpetrators face longer sentences and communities are better protected.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the National Cancer Plan will support people with secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan, published 4 February 2026, will transform outcomes for people with secondary breast cancer.
The National Health Service is piloting the use of self-referral breast cancer pathways to streamline diagnostic pathways using the NHS App and NHS 111 online service. This is in addition to the Government’s commitment for the NHS to deliver 9.5 million additional tests by 2029 through a £2.3 billion investment in diagnostics. We are also ensuring as many community diagnostic centres as possible are fully operational and open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
To improve the diagnosis of breast cancer, the NHS will harness 'circulating tumour DNA' tests for breast cancer, which can pick up relapse months earlier. This will accelerate clinical decisions and allow patients to start the most effective treatment faster.
The NHS will monitor the emerging evidence from the BRAID trial, which aims to determine whether additional imaging with one of several types of scans, is helpful in diagnosing breast cancer in women with dense breast tissue. This will target screening programmes at women who are at greater risk of cancer.
The NHS is also improving the experience of those with a cancer diagnosis. Every patient diagnosed with cancer will be supported through a full neighbourhood-level personalised care package, covering mental and physical health as well as any practical or financial concerns. For people with secondary breast cancer, this will be a step forward in building care around them, their needs, their lives, and their families.
We will harness data, as we begin counting metastatic disease, starting with breast cancer, so that people living with incurable cancer are properly recognised and better supported.
Through these National Cancer Plan actions, we will ensure that people with secondary breast cancer have faster diagnoses and treatment, access to the latest treatments and technology, and high-quality support throughout their journey, while we work to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with international partners on supporting de-escalation and ceasefire negotiations in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made to the House on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her department is taking to ensure access to humanitarian aid in Syria.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I made to the House on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what data her Department holds on the allocation of Overseas Development Aid by country.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
If my Hon Friend is seeking a breakdown by country of Official Development Assistance funding allocated by the UK, the latest published data - for Calendar Year 2024 - can be found at this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statistics-on-international-development
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that early years staff have access to adequate safety training; and what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of safety requirements within the Ofsted framework.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure that children are kept healthy and safe. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf. In September 2025, changes were introduced to strengthen safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including clearer expectations on safeguarding training.
A new safeguarding training annex now sets out clearly what safeguarding training must cover and to support providers, a free online safeguarding training package is being developed by the department with the NSPCC, aligned to the updated requirements.
Ofsted inspects early years providers under the Education Inspection Framework against the full range of EYFS requirements. Inspectors assess whether providers are meeting statutory requirements and taking appropriate action to keep children safe.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a minimum age to access social media of 16 years.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 20 January, the government announced a short, swift consultation on further measures to keep children safe online, building on the Online Safety Act. While there is consensus that more action is needed, there is not yet consensus on what form that action should take.
The consultation will be accompanied by a national conversation, putting children and parents at the heart of this issue. It will seek views on a range of measures, including what the right minimum age for children to access social media is, as well as explore a ban for children under a certain age. We will also look closely at Australia and their ban on social media for under 16s.
The government is clear that it will act quickly and robustly to deal with concerns that are being raised.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of the patent box tax relief on levels of private sector (a) investment and (b) innovation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC published an evaluation of the Patent Box in 2020. The evaluation concludes that the Patent Box has had a positive impact on investment by companies, with an increase of around 10% in assets held by companies that use the Patent Box compared to similar companies that do not use the Patent Box since it was introduced.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 11 of the Bank of England's report entitled Financial Stability Report - December 2025, published on 2 December 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the concentration of net borrowers in the gilt repurchase agreements market on the economy.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK gilt market is deep and liquid, with a well-diversified investor base. Gilt repo markets play an important role in supporting the functioning, liquidity and resilience of the wider gilt market.
We work closely with the Debt Management Office, the Bank of England and financial regulators, to monitor developments in the gilt and gilt repo markets.
Most recently, in September 2025 the Bank of England, with input from HM Treasury and the UK Debt Management Office, published an exploratory discussion paper evaluating the effectiveness and impact of a range of potential reforms to enhance the resilience of the gilt repo market.