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Written Question
Mali: Religious Freedom
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of violence in central Mali on religious minority groups.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK is closely monitoring rising instability in Mali. There has been an increase in human rights abuses and violations, including on religious minority groups. The violence is sadly widespread but does not appear to be religiously motivated. Following the recent withdrawal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), it is essential that the authorities in Mali deliver on their commitment to a political transition, with free, fair, transparent and inclusive presidential elections. The UK is committed to working with our partners to support initiatives to protect human rights in Mali.


Written Question
Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
Monday 4th December 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount of deductions made under the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy to (a) Housing Benefit and (b) Universal Credit claimants in each year since 2013.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Information on the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) sufficient to produce such an estimate can be found on Stat-Xplore. Stat-Xplore includes the mean of RSRS reduction, the number subject to the RSRS and the number of spare rooms for both Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Element Claimants.

Stat-Xplore can be found here.


Written Question
Unpaid Work
Monday 4th December 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what data her Department holds on the number of people who have undertaken unpaid trial shifts in (a) England and Wales and (b) Scotland in each of the last five years.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Minimum wage legislation prohibits unpaid work trials that are excessive and not part of a genuine recruitment process. An unpaid trial work period lasting a few hours may be reasonable and legal. This is because the main purpose would be to test the individual, and what is done would probably have little or no other value to the employer. However, an unpaid trial lasting more than one day is probably illegal in all but exceptional circumstances.

DBT does not hold information about the number of people who have undertaken unpaid trial shifts in England, Wales and Scotland in each of the last five years.

If someone has undertaken an unpaid work trial and thinks they should have been paid NMW, they can call the ACAS helpline or make a complaint to HMRC.


Written Question
Methylphenidate: Shortages
Thursday 30th November 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Patient Safety Alert entitled Shortage of methylphenidate prolonged-release capsules and tablets, lisdexamfetamine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets, issued on 27 September 2023, alert reference NatPSA/2023/011/DHSC, what progress she has made on tackling supply disruptions affecting Xaggitin XL 18 and 36 mg prolonged-release tablets.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), primarily driven by issues which have resulted in capacity constraints at key manufacturing sites.

The National Patient Safety Alert to the National Health Service advises healthcare professionals on the management of patients during this time. We have well-established processes for managing and mitigating medicine supply issues, which involve working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.

The Department has been working closely with the respective manufacturers and some issues have now been resolved. However, we know that there continue to be disruptions to the supply of some other medicines, including Xaggitin XL 18 and 36 milligrams, which are expected to resolve in early 2024.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Tuesday 21st November 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was for his Department to respond to enquiries about Personal Independence Payments in the period between June 2023 and September 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Enquiries relating to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can come through various channels and relate to many different areas of work. An enquiry could be made for a range of reasons and could involve several contacts or multiple requests. For these reasons we are unable to provide an average response time.

For telephony enquiries we operate a service where most enquiries are handled at the point of contact in real time by our Case Workers on the PIP enquiry line. Some enquiries will be forwarded (transferred) to more experienced colleagues or specialists, and in a very small number of cases a call back may be needed.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Women
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of payband SCS2 civil servants in his Department on full-time equivalent contracts are women as of 18 October 2023.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP Paid Staff Only September 2023 data

Full-time SCS2 that are Female is 35%

DWP encourages temporary promotion opportunities (known as Temporary Duties Allowance in DWP) to be filled fairly and transparently. Temporary promotions for a duration of more than one month require authorisation from an HR Business Partner and a leader of an appropriate senior grade.

Temporary promotions (known as Temporary Duties Allowance in DWP) for a duration of more than 6 months from the outset should be decided through a formal selection exercise, either through a fair and transparent Expressions of Interest exercise or advertised on Civil Service Jobs.


Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Women
Wednesday 25th October 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of civil servants in his Department on temporary contracts are women as of 18 October 2023.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP Paid Staff Only September 2023 data.

There was a total of 345 Temporary contracts of those 48% were women.

The department is committed to increase the diversity of our workforce. Recruitment guidance encourages vacancy holders to advertise widely and all DWP’s vacancies are advertised on VERCIDA an inclusive jobs platform, that specifically promotes our diversity networks activities, inclusive culture and employer awards. These are also promoted our Civil Service Careers Website page.

DWP uses a name-blind approach at application and sift stage as standard including at SCS level where feasible. Guidance encourages the use gender-neutral language and online tools to check readability and inclusive language in job adverts and other recruitment materials. In SCS recruitment the department takes proactive steps to improve the diversity of candidates progressed to interview including readvertising on occasion to increase the diversity and gender balance of shortlists.

Our recruitment guidance is clear that restricted working patterns can only be advertised when supported by justifiable business objectives. For some roles we run engagement sessions where candidates can ask questions about working patterns and flexibility at the earliest stages. DWP is also a Career Confident Ambassador and has achieved level 3, the highest level of accreditation.

Roles are designed against the full range of Success Profiles. As such all elements are valued equally, and candidates can succeed in our recruitment and selection processes in the absence of formal qualifications.

DWP workforce diversity statistics are monitored and published internally each quarter. Annual Diversity statistics are monitored and published in the Department for Work and Pensions Annual report and Accounts.


Written Question
Animal Welfare: Fish Farming
Wednesday 6th September 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2023 to Question 158986 on Animal Welfare: Fish Farming, if she will provide an update on the progress made by her Department on studying the recommendations of the Animal Welfare Committee; and if she will publish the (a) recommendations and (b) Government response.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We will publish AWC’s updated Opinion on the Welfare of Farmed Fish at the Time of Killing. The Government does not respond to AWC advice but their advice and recommendations are used extensively in policy development.


Written Question
Home Office: Correspondence
Monday 10th July 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence of 9 May, 7 and 21 June 2023 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference DL15425.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

An official response was dispatched on 5 July 2023.


Written Question
Asylum: Applications
Monday 12th June 2023

Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many decisions made during the first quarter of 2023 by her Department on legacy asylum applications made before 28 June 2022 resulted in a (a) Grant of Protection and (b) Grant of Other Leave; and how many such applications were (i) refused and (ii) withdrawn.

Answered by Robert Jenrick

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on initial decisions made on legacy asylum applications made before 28 June 2022 can be found in table Asy_10 of the ‘asylum and resettlement summary tables’. The latest data relates to as at 31 March 2023. Data for as at 30 June 2023 will be published on 24 August 2023. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.