Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2024 to Question 25289 on Visual Impairment: Rehabilitation, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) holding and (b) collecting data on the provision of vision rehabilitation support.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is working with local authorities and other organisations to identify the data needed to support the delivery of adult social care, and provide insight into adult social care outcomes. We are committed to reducing the burden of data collection on local authorities and adult social care providers, so the benefits of any new data collection will need to be balanced against the potential burden it would create.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data her Department holds on the provision of vision rehabilitation support services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department does not collect or hold this information. However, the Department is working with local authorities and other organisations to identify the data needed to support the delivery of adult social care, and provide insight into adult social care outcomes.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has shared legal advice from the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law with representatives of her workforce within (a) the Public and Commercial Services Union and (b) other unions.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
FCDO advice informs decisions made by the Department for Business and Trade Secretary of State as the decision-making authority. The content of this advice is confidential. Union membership is a matter for individual staff members and does not alter the manner in which teams work in the Civil Service.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has received reports from the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law since January 29 2024.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government periodically reviews advice on Israel's overall commitment to International Humanitarian Law, and Ministers act in accordance with that advice.
On 8 April 2024, following advice from the Foreign Secretary, the Business and Trade Secretary took the decision that our position on export licences would remain unchanged. This was consistent with the advice Ministers received. We are keeping all licences for Israel under careful review.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2024 to Question 22087 on Elbit Systems UK: Exports, whether she holds information on the type of items approved for export under the temporary Standard Individual Export Licence granted to Elbit Systems Limited in Israel; and whether those items were used in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The items licensed for export under the temporary Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) were intended for flight trials and testing. Items exported under a temporary SIEL must be returned to the UK within 12 months of the date on which the licence was granted.
We are monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza very closely. All licences are kept under careful and continual review, and we are able to amend, suspend, refuse or revoke licences as circumstances require.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2024 to Question 22087 on Elbit Systems UK: Exports, whether the items approved for export under the temporary standard individual export licence granted to Elbit Systems Limited in Israel are used in the Hermes 450 drone.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The items licensed for export under the temporary Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) were intended for flight trials and testing. Items exported under a temporary SIEL must be returned to the UK within 12 months of the date on which the licence was granted.
We are monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza very closely. All licences are kept under careful and continual review, and we are able to amend, suspend, refuse or revoke licences as circumstances require.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend member and trade union representation to the board of the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no legal requirement for the Board of the Pension Protection Fund to include member or trade union representation, and there are no plans to extend representation to these groups.
The Pension Protection Fund does, however, have Member Panels – which Board members are invited to attend – to enable members to feed in views on the service offered and thoughts about changes that could be made in the future.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether an Elbit Systems UK (a) company, (b) subsidiary and (c) agent has been issued with a licence to export aero-engines for military use since 2008.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Our records show that since 2008 and up to 30 June 2023, which is the date of the Government’s most recent Official Statistics release on export licensing decisions, we have not issued an export licence to ‘Elbit Systems UK’ to export aero-engines for military use.
Our records also show that as at 30 June 2023, we had granted one temporary Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) to export military aero-engines to ‘Elbit Systems Limited’ in Israel.
We do not hold a comprehensive list of all of the subsidiaries or companies owned by Elbit Systems Limited.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether military aero-engines have been exported to (a) Elbit subsidiaries and (b) companies owned by Elbit Systems Ltd in Israel.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Our records show that since 2008 and up to 30 June 2023, which is the date of the Government’s most recent Official Statistics release on export licensing decisions, we have not issued an export licence to ‘Elbit Systems UK’ to export aero-engines for military use.
Our records also show that as at 30 June 2023, we had granted one temporary Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) to export military aero-engines to ‘Elbit Systems Limited’ in Israel.
We do not hold a comprehensive list of all of the subsidiaries or companies owned by Elbit Systems Limited.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Canadian counterpart on the reasons for which that country has suspended arms exports to Israel.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We have regular engagement with our allies, including Canada, on the conflict. Canada has made clear that, while it has not approved new licences for military equipment since 8 January of this year, it has not suspended extant licences approved before that date.