Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of covid-19 vaccines procured by the UK Government have reached their expiry date without being used as of 13 June 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
As of 13 June 2022, 929,040 doses or 11,613 packs of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have reached the expiry date without being used. This accounts for 1.62% of the total AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine volume procured by the Government and held by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for storage and distribution. No other COVID-19 vaccine has expired whilst under the ownership of the UKHSA.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many doses of covid-19 vaccine has the Government provided to other countries as international aid as of 13 June 2022.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As of 13 June 2022, the UK has donated 84.1 million COVID-19 vaccines. Of these, approximately 76.5 million have been donated to COVAX, and 7.6 million donated bilaterally to countries in need.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring all those who are permitted to design buildings to be a regulated architect.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On 16 August 2021 my Department launched the Review of Architects Regulation with a Call for Evidence. This Review considered the current form of regulation for architects and the architectural sector in the UK and sought views on a range of topics including forms of regulation, access to the architectural profession, sustainability and innovation. The Call for Evidence included a section on 'Functions of an Architect,' which sought views on protected functions and a workshop on this matter, led by my officials, was undertaken on February 2022. The responses to the Review are currently being considered.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
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 her (a) Turkish and (b) Iraqi counterpart on Turkey's Operation Claw Lock.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We are following closely the situation in northern Iraq, including monitoring of Turkey's Operation Claw Lock. We reiterate to all parties the need for dialogue and cooperation between Turkey and Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to combat terrorism, ensure regional security, and protect civilians. Our diplomatic missions are in regular contact with Turkish and Iraqi authorities.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Government's announcement on 23 September 2019 to commit £11.6 billion to international climate finance over the next five years, whether the Government still plans to commit that amount to international climate finance; and if she will set out how much of that funding has been allocated to date.
Answered by Vicky Ford
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will reconsider her plans to close 41 of her Department's processing sites, as announced in March 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has too much estate. There is currently capacity for over 158,000 people across the Department’s estate, against a requirement for space for approximately 90,000. We therefore need to reduce our estates capacity, while retaining our national footprint. The Department’s plans for transformational change will support delivery of the Government priorities for getting people back into employment, deliver long-term savings and meet Government modernisation commitments. Reshaping how, when and where the Department works, will result in a smaller, greener and better estate.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to introduce legislation to hold companies liable when they fail to prevent human rights abuses and environmental harms in overseas supply chains.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. In response to the Guidelines, the UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan and we continue to develop our approach in line with Modern Slavery Act 2015. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act places a requirement on businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more, to publish an annual modern slavery statement setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. To further bolster our commitment to tackle modern slavery, in January 2021, the UK government announced that financial penalties will be introduced for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. We have also enhanced Companies Act reporting (2013, 2016) and the UK is signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multi-National Enterprises, which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The UK has also introduced due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. This is one part of a wider package of measures to improve the sustainability of our supply chains and will contribute to global efforts to protect forests and other ecosystems.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the policy intention of the proscription of Hamas was to leave unrestricted the scope for public bodies to support UK-based civil society organisations to conduct (a) cultural, (b) educational, (c) commercial or (d) humanitarian work in Gaza.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Hamas’ proscription was extended to cover the organisation in its entirety in November 2021 because it was assessed that the distinction previously maintained between the military and political wings could no longer be maintained. Hamas is a single, complex organisation which commits and participates in acts of, prepares for, and promotes terrorism.
Hamas is designated in its entirety by a number of the UK’s international partners, including the EU, US, Canada and Australia.
The Terrorism Act (TACT) 2000 does not prevent organisations operating overseas in high-risk jurisdictions from carrying out legitimate activities. In October 2020, the Government published on GOV.UK an information note on operating within counter-terrorism legislation, sanctions and export controls. The note directs users to the guidance available to support the delivery of legitimate activities and addresses concerns about the risk of prosecution.
The note provides information on the defence provided by section 12(4) of TACT 2000, which is intended to permit the arrangement of genuinely benign meetings with a proscribed organisation; and information on section 21ZA of TACT 2000, which allows organisations to seek a defence to carry out a transaction that would otherwise be a terrorist financing offence by seeking prior consent from the National Crime Agency.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding UK Research & Innovation (a) has allocated to work on long covid by financial year to date and (b) will allocate to that matter in the next five financial years.
Answered by George Freeman
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have funded around £31 million in long Covid awards to date.
Detailed allocations for specific programmes for this Spending Review period will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Tommy Sheppard (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated through UK Research and Innovation to research into cholangiocarcinoma.
Answered by George Freeman
Funding into cholangiocarcinoma has been allocated through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction in Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and Innovate UK.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has allocated £1.8 million of funding to research related to the understanding, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of Cholangiocarcinoma since 2018/19.