Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Departments plans to implement transitional arrangements for people impacted by the proposals outlined in her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published on 12 May 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues.
We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year. Further details will be set out in the normal way in due course, and where necessary, will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of regulating the level of charges levied by online image rights holders in cases of copyright infringement.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The unauthorised use of copyright material is an infringement. The terms on which permission is granted, including any payments that may be made, is a private commercial matter.
The Government would encourage parties involved in potential litigation proceedings to seek a negotiated settlement and the IPO offers a mediation service which employs accredited mediators who are qualified to mediate across a range of IP rights.
There are also many other individuals and organisations who mediate IP disputes, and the IPO has published a list of providers on its website. Further information regarding mediation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/intellectual-property-mediation
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that home delivery drivers are protected from abuse within the Crime and Policing Bill.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to tackle all forms of hate crime.
We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity, and we back the police in taking strong action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
The Government funds an online hate crime reporting portal, True Vision, designed so victims of all types of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We are also continuing to fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, which supports individual local police forces in dealing specifically with online hate crime, providing expert advice to police to support them in investigating these abhorrent offences.
The Government is carefully considering how best to strengthen the response to hate crime going forward so we can continue to tackle this offending head on.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 8 April 2025 to Question 42191 on University of Sussex: Disciplinary Proceedings and with reference to her oral statement of 15 January 2025 on Higher Education Regulatory Approach, Official Report, column 379-382, when the parts of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 not being amended will come into force; and when she plans to introduce legislation to amend that Act.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On Monday 28 April, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education signed commencement regulations for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. These regulations commence the following provisions in the Act from 1 August 2025:
We are seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal the remaining elements of the Act in due course.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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.