Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether payments received by a surrogate mother in the UK are treated as income for the purposes of benefits assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Surrogacy payments in the United Kingdom should only be for reasonable expenses. They are not taken into account as income for Universal Credit purposes. If any of the surrogacy payment is unspent in the period it is paid for, then this can be treated as capital if not spent by the end of the next assessment period. The normal capital rules apply to the build-up of unspent income if capital exceeds £6,000.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in the number of children entering the UK who have been born through surrogacy in countries where commercial surrogacy operates on the UK's not-for-profit surrogacy framework.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in the number of children entering the United Kingdom who have been born through surrogacy in countries where commercial surrogacy operates, on the UK's not-for-profit surrogacy framework.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have published advice for those considering surrogacy overseas, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/surrogacy-overseas/surrogacy-overseas
This clearly sets out the possible risks and the processes for returning to the UK with a child born through an international surrogacy arrangement.
The Department Health and Social Care does not hold any information on trends in the number of children born via surrogacy abroad, in particular in Kazakhstan and Nigeria.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on trends in the number of children born via surrogacy abroad, in particular in (a) Kazakhstan and (b) Nigeria.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of the increase in the number of children entering the United Kingdom who have been born through surrogacy in countries where commercial surrogacy operates, on the UK's not-for-profit surrogacy framework.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have published advice for those considering surrogacy overseas, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/surrogacy-overseas/surrogacy-overseas
This clearly sets out the possible risks and the processes for returning to the UK with a child born through an international surrogacy arrangement.
The Department Health and Social Care does not hold any information on trends in the number of children born via surrogacy abroad, in particular in Kazakhstan and Nigeria.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the role that small, high‑harm online platforms play in hosting antisemitic content that is subsequently amplified by larger platforms.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Antisemitic content is divisive, hateful and has no place online. The government expects Ofcom to use its full powers in the Online Safety Act to tackle it.
Antisemitic material that meets the criminal threshold is illegal content, and the Act’s duties apply to all regulated services, regardless of size.
To address risks from smaller platforms, Ofcom has established a ‘small but risky’ supervision taskforce. This focuses on identifying smaller services posing severe risks, engaging with them, assessing compliance and escalating concerns to Ofcom’s Enforcement team.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have reported adverse outcomes following rectopexy mesh procedures in the last ten years; and whether his Department has considered those cases in determining eligibility for mesh-related redress schemes.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Up to and including the 16 March 2026, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has received a total of 3,303 adverse incident reports. Please note that this search was conducted across all relevant brands, models, and manufacturers associated with the Global Medical Device Nomenclature CT codes listed above and the data is not linked to specific procedures. As such, the data provided will include reports concerning mesh used in a range of different surgical applications, not limited to rectopexy. It is important to note that this data does not directly correlate to the number of United Kingdom procedures undertaken in the UK.
Adverse incident reports are not a direct measure of the number of individual patients affected, as the same incident, or user, may be reported multiple times and duplicates cannot always be reliably linked, and figures may also include cases drawn from published literature and may change slightly as further details are received. Reports may describe recognised complications, and their inclusion does not establish causation or fault with any particular device, so the data should not be interpreted as a summary of known or proven adverse reactions.
The Government is carefully considering the work by the Patient Safety Commissioner and her report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. The abovementioned data will form part of the Department’s considerations regarding a redress scheme.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her polices of reports that religious centres in the UK are being used to (a) promote and (b) support the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Charity Commission to discuss a range of issues relating to the regulation of charities.
The Charity Commission is alive to the risks of state threats to the charity sector and works with other agencies to protect the sector from the risks of being exploited. The Charity Commission has consistently been clear that it will respond robustly where there proves to have been wrongdoing.
We work closely with a range of partners to tackle malign state-backed influence in our society. Where there is clear evidence that Iranian-linked or aligned organisations are undertaking unacceptable activity, the Government will respond accordingly.
We continue to take strong action and hold the Iranian regime to account. This includes placing Iran – including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme to bolster our oversight of Iran’s influence activities. The UK has already also imposed more than 550 sanctions on Iranian individuals and organisations. This includes the IRGC in its entirety. Most recently, this month we sanctioned prolific IRGC members for their role in recent brutality against protestors.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Charity Commission on the potential use of religious charities by networks aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Ministers and officials regularly meet with the Charity Commission to discuss a range of issues relating to the regulation of charities.
The Charity Commission is alive to the risks of state threats to the charity sector and works with other agencies to protect the sector from the risks of being exploited. The Charity Commission has consistently been clear that it will respond robustly where there proves to have been wrongdoing.
We work closely with a range of partners to tackle malign state-backed influence in our society. Where there is clear evidence that Iranian-linked or aligned organisations are undertaking unacceptable activity, the Government will respond accordingly.
We continue to take strong action and hold the Iranian regime to account. This includes placing Iran – including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme to bolster our oversight of Iran’s influence activities. The UK has already also imposed more than 550 sanctions on Iranian individuals and organisations. This includes the IRGC in its entirety. Most recently, this month we sanctioned prolific IRGC members for their role in recent brutality against protestors.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to support improved educational outcomes across the UK; and what specific areas of collaboration are being prioritised.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is devolved, but the department collaborates with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to share learning and improve standards. Ministers and officials meet throughout the year, including at the UK Education Ministers Council (UKEMC). My noble friend, the Minister for Skills, attended the last UKEMC in November 2025, which was attended by the Northern Ireland Minister of Education and focussed on curriculum reform, behaviour in schools and the use of artificial intelligence in schools.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to require abortion providers to provide clear guidance regarding the legality of procuring a termination on the basis of sex.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There is no policy requirement for abortion providers to provide guidance regarding the legality of procuring a termination on the basis of sex, as all abortion providers must comply with the legal requirements set out in the Abortion Act 1967. The Department’s guidance is clear that sex is not itself a lawful ground for termination of pregnancy in England and Wales under the Abortion Act 1967 and it is illegal for a practitioner to carry out an abortion for that reason alone.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his polices on the care of gender distressed children of the US judgment in the case of Fox Varian.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. Surgical interventions for gender dysphoria are not performed on patients under 18 years old on the National Health Service. In line with NHS England’s national service specification, surgical interventions on the NHS are only available to adult patients who have a clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a specialist adult gender clinic, and who meet strict clinical criteria.
The Government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement all the recommendations in the Cass Review’s final report. NHS England’s ambitious action plan sets out how it will continue to transform and improve services, helping to tackle waiting lists while ensuring safe and holistic care.