Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor the treatment of UK citizens detained at foreign airports.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is contactable 24/7 to provide consular assistance to British nationals abroad. Our assistance services are set out on gov.uk, including the help we can give when a British national is detained overseas. We take all reports of mistreatment seriously, and with the individual's consent we raise such incidents with the local authorities.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the likely readiness of hydrogen-powered aircrafts for commercial use at the planned completion of the expansion of Heathrow Airport; and what steps her Department is taking to align aviation decarbonisation initiatives with future airport infrastructure developments.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government recognises the potential decarbonisation and growth benefits that new forms of zero-emission aircraft using hydrogen could provide. However, construction and operational timelines of any Heathrow Airport expansion remain a matter for the scheme promoter.
The government has been clear that any airport expansion proposals must be delivered in line with the UK’s legal, climate and environmental obligations. The government will set out detail on plans for meeting legislated carbon budgets later this year, including for aviation.
Also, the Jet Zero Taskforce, convening representatives from government, industry, and academia, has established a dedicated Task and Finish Group to review barriers to the commercial operation of zero-carbon hydrogen aircraft.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's planned timeline is for the (a) launch and (b) operational availability of non-government pensions dashboards.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private sector (non-government) dashboards will be launched when the Secretary of State is satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority. Insights gained from the launch and operation of the MoneyHelper will help inform this.
The Secretary of State will announce the date for the public availability of private sector dashboards at least six months in advance, in line with the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) protect and (b) maintain water supply infrastructure from hostile actors.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is the Lead Government Department (LGD) in England with responsibility for the Water Sector, including as a Critical National Infrastructure sector. The equivalent bodies in the Devolved Governments are responsible for water, including Critical National Infrastructure in their respective nations.
Defra’s work to deter, detect and counter threats from hostile actors includes developing, maintaining and implementing legislation, including the Security and Emergency Measures Direction (SEMD) 2022 and the Network Information Systems (NIS) regulations (2018) (UK). The SEMD sets out legal responsibilities for the Water Sector in England on matters such as security and emergency planning.
Defra also works with other government departments and water companies to understand risks from hostile actors and develop mitigations. Water companies are Category Two Responders under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) and as such have legal duties to assess, plan and advise on risks. They work with partner organisations through Local Resilience Forums to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on the provision of independent travel training for young people with SEND.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes statutory guidance to assist local authorities in meeting their home to school travel duties. The guidance says that wherever possible, local authorities should offer independent travel training to children with special educational needs or disabilities who are eligible for free travel to school and who they think will be able to complete the programme. This guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.
Departmental officials engage regularly with local authorities and host bi-monthly online meetings, to which all local authority school travel officers are invited, to share good practice and seek advice from one another and the department.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the BBC World Service is able to continue broadcasting to audiences in regions impacted by censorship and media regulations.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The BBC are operationally and editorially independent and decide the most effective and efficient way to deliver the BBC World Service.
At a time where media freedom is under threat across the world, the World Service provides impartial accurate news to a global audience of 320 million.
It reaches audiences living in authoritarian and conflict-affected states, where accurate information is most restricted. 75 per cent of its audience are based in countries with low or no media freedom.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the BBC on the long-term sustainability of the BBC World Service’s operations.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Ministers engage routinely with the BBC on a range of issues relating to the BBC World Service, including funding.
The Government is committed to determining a long-term sustainable funding model for the World Service. This will be done through Charter Review.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve access to therapy services for children in care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Children in care and care leavers are significantly more likely to have poor mental health. The department’s latest data shows that two thirds of children become looked after due to abuse or neglect and we know that care experienced adults are at 4 to 5 times greater risk of suicide attempt than their peers. Providing effective support is crucial given the significant trauma that many of these children and young people have experienced and its lasting impact.
To support looked after children, looked after children attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,570 per year. This is managed by the local authority’s virtual school head and can be used to facilitate a wide range of educational support including additional mentoring, tuition, and therapeutic services.
Given our significant concerns for the health and wellbeing of children in care and care leavers, the department is working alongside the Department of Health and Social Care to review and update current statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of looked-after children. This guidance sets expectations on local authorities, Directors of Public Health, commissioners of health services for children, NHS England and others, for the promotion of physical, emotional and mental health.
Regulations require an assessment of physical, emotional and mental health needs for every child when they enter care and a plan to be developed to address their needs.
As part of the department’s statutory guidance review, we will consider what changes are needed to further ensure that children in care and care leavers receive the support they need for their physical and mental health and wellbeing, including access to any needed treatment or therapy.
In addition to the statutory guidance review, the department is also undertaking a programme of work specific to children with complex needs. Children with complex needs and multiple needs are some of our most vulnerable children in the care system. The outcomes for these children can often be very poor, with neither children’s social care nor health services alone capable of meeting their needs, and services not working effectively together for these children.
Since July 2023, the department and NHS England have jointly led a Task and Finish Group to consider how to improve the way system partners work together to support and improve outcomes for children and young people who are deprived of their liberty and who are in the most complex situations.
Drawing on the best evidence, including the voice of children, input from professionals and commissioned research, the department will, in collaboration with NHS England, test a new, community-based approach to pathways and provision which provides treatment and care, bringing in professionals from children’s social care, health, justice and education. This will enable the system to deliver specialist care and accommodation for children who have complex needs.
We have also recently commissioned independent research on how the system works, its current impacts and how we could do things differently to achieve better outcomes for children and young people. We plan to publish this research in summer 2025. We will draw on these reports to support the development and testing of evidence-based models of safe, therapeutic care that delivers integrated, consistent, and collaborative practices for these children and young people.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
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 introducing stricter regulations on UK-licenced satellite operators to ensure the safe deorbiting of satellites at the end of their operational life.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is taking forward a wide package of space regulatory reforms to drive growth and innovation, which includes working to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable space environment. As part of this work, the UK Space Agency is undertaking research into the impact of options such as reducing post-mission disposal timelines. The timelines are currently set at 25 years in the UK. Additionally, they have commissioned studies on atmospheric ablation to understand the impact of deorbiting spacecraft on the Earth’s atmosphere. The Government will consider the outcomes of this research to determine if regulatory actions are appropriate and necessary.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of trends in the levels of teacher recruitment and retention.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Bristol North East, to the answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 35471.