Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Royal College of Physicians on the administrative error in the 2023 Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK part two examinations.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We recognise that this will be a concerning time for those doctors affected. We have asked the UK Statutory Education Bodies, which is NHS England in the case of England, to work with the Royal College of Physicians and the General Medical Council to ensure this issue is rectified as a matter of urgency.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard applications are processed within 21 days.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Processing Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS) applications is the responsibility of local authorities. There is considerable variation in how local authorities process and complete their DoLS applications with some areas successfully processing applications within 21 days. It is the responsibility of local authorities to make sure their systems for managing DoLS are informed by best practice.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the number of local authority employees working with home educating families that are only employed during school term time; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on the working hours these staff will need to undertake in the future.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The department does not hold information on the number of local authority employees working with home-educating families that are only employed during term time. Local authorities determine their own approaches to staffing.

Additional local authority resource will be required to undertake the new duties created by the Children Not in School measures detailed in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We are considering these additional requirements and will conduct a full new burdens assessment as is required.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress he has made on the Development Review; and how he plans to use that review to inform the planned reduction in UK aid spending.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Development Review considered how to maximise the UK's combined diplomatic and development expertise in its international development work. Reducing the overall size of our Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will necessarily have an impact on the scale and shape of the work we do. The recommendations of the Development Review, alongside the Global Impact and Economic Diplomacy reviews, are now being considered as part of the Foreign Secretary's wider work to reform the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and will also inform decisions on the ODA budget.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many School Attendance Order (a) prosecutions and (b) fines there were under section 443 of the Education Act 1996 in each of the last 10 years.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The volume of defendants prosecuted and fined for offences under 443 of the Education Act 1996 from 2015 - 2024 (January to September) is provided in the attached table 1.

Note that that this is an additional breakdown of statistics published by the Ministry of Justice on volumes of criminal proceedings.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has instructed Official Development Assistance programme teams to pause new (a) business cases, (b) contracts, and (c) funding for programmes supporting women, peace, and security; whether any reductions or cancellations have been made to existing programmes in these areas; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of such actions.

Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The transition to spending 0.3 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance (ODA) demands significant shifts in the scale and shape of our ODA spending. To enable us to deliver this change effectively, we are prioritising meeting legally binding commitments and delivering work already underway, and planned humanitarian spend. Further detail is set out in Baroness Chapman's 27 March letter to the International Development Committee [https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47275/documents/245059/default/].

The UK is committed to empowering women and girls around the world through our international work.

One million visitors to ScottishPower Renewables’ Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre

Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919

Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

Proposals to forcibly displace and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza

Humanitarian situation in Sudan (No. 2)

Humanitarian situation in Sudan

Fee waivers for ILR applications

Benefit reforms and Personal Independence Payment consultation

Found: Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth; Phil Brickell; Dan Carden; Richard Foord; Blair McDougall; Abtisam Mohamed

Found: Moran Dame Karen Bradley Rebecca Smith Paul Holmes Sarah Owen Carla Denyer Irene Campbell Abtisam Mohamed

Found: Moran Dame Karen Bradley Rebecca Smith Paul Holmes Sarah Owen Carla Denyer Irene Campbell Abtisam Mohamed

Found: Not called_4 Abtisam Mohamed .

Found: Not moved_NC7 Ms Stella Creasy Charlotte Nichols Sorcha Eastwood Christine Jardine Abtisam Mohamed

Found: Not moved_NC7 Ms Stella Creasy Charlotte Nichols Sorcha Eastwood Christine Jardine Abtisam Mohamed

Submit Evidence (by 5 May 2025)

Although China is the UK’s fifth largest trading partner, the UK Government has, in recent years, described China as an “epoch-defining and systemic challenge”. Last November, the Foreign Secretary told the Committee that we need a consistent approach to China.