Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Iranian authorities on the treatment of Christians in that country.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Iran's human rights record continues to be of serious concern to the UK, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has designated it as one of its Human Rights Priority Countries. We regularly raise the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Iran with the Iranian Government, and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record on all human rights issues. At the UN General Assembly in September, we brought the international community together at a UK-hosted event to shine a spotlight on Iran's human rights abuses. We will also be using Iran's forthcoming Universal Periodic Review in November, to raise concerns about the ongoing discrimination and targeting of religious minority groups, including the Christian community.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what monitoring his Department has undertaken of prison sentences imposed on Christian ministers and other religious figures by the Government of Iran on the basis of that people in those positions present a risk to national security.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We are aware of reports about the continued harassment and mistreatment that the Christian and other minority groups face. The continued restrictions on freedoms of expression, religion and belief are deeply worrying. While some religious minorities are formally protected in the constitution, the reality is that many non-Muslims face discrimination. Despite constitutional recognition, the persecution of Christians has been continuous, systemic, and institutionalised.
We support the assessment of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights that discrimination against the Christians in Iran is sanctioned by a lack of constitutional recognition and the absence of other legal protections for adherents of this faith. We regularly call upon Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to protect freedom of religion or belief. Work has begun to implement the recommendations from the Bishop of Truro’s Review in a way that will bring real improvements in the lives of those persecuted because of their faith or belief.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received on the merits of mandatory installation of fire sprinklers in all (a) new and (b) refurbished schools in England; and if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make such installation mandatory.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Earlier this year, a Call for Evidence was held on the review of the Department’s Building Bulletin 100: ‘Design for Fire Safety in Schools’. This included questions on fire suppression systems, such as sprinklers. The responses have been analysed and follow up technical studies are being carried out by consultants. Until this work is completed, the Department’s policy on installing sprinklers in schools remains unchanged.
As part of this review, Department officials will be liaising further with their counterparts in Scotland and Wales on the impact of requiring sprinkler installation in new and refurbished school buildings.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will request assessments from the (a) Scottish and (b) Welsh governments on the potential effect of requiring compulsory installation of fire sprinklers in (i) new and (ii) refurbished schools in Scotland and Wales; and if he will publish an assessment of the potential benefits of such legislation in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Earlier this year, a Call for Evidence was held on the review of the Department’s Building Bulletin 100: ‘Design for Fire Safety in Schools’. This included questions on fire suppression systems, such as sprinklers. The responses have been analysed and follow up technical studies are being carried out by consultants. Until this work is completed, the Department’s policy on installing sprinklers in schools remains unchanged.
As part of this review, Department officials will be liaising further with their counterparts in Scotland and Wales on the impact of requiring sprinkler installation in new and refurbished school buildings.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 Question 290620 on Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect on research outcomes of the culling of animals that are part of that research programme.
Answered by George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s ongoing study of the wild badger population at Woodchester Park can adapt to assess any new impacts on the badger population, including from licensed badger culling taking place across Gloucestershire, which is in the Bovine TB High Risk Area of England. Woodchester Park’s work will continue to support policy and research in line with our TB strategy’s adaptive and evidence-based approach.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 to Question 290620 on Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control, what steps she is taking to ensure that badgers from the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s Woodchester Park research centre are not inadvertently killed in surrounding cull zones.
Answered by George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s ongoing study of the wild badger population at Woodchester Park can adapt to assess any new impacts on the badger population, including from licensed badger culling taking place across Gloucestershire, which is in the Bovine TB High Risk Area of England. Woodchester Park’s work will continue to support policy and research in line with our TB strategy’s adaptive and evidence-based approach.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 to Question 290620 on Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control, whether it is her Department's policy that a marked badger from the Woodchester study area found in a cull zone would be shot.
Answered by George Eustice
The Animal and Plant Health Agency’s ongoing study of the wild badger population at Woodchester Park can adapt to assess any new impacts on the badger population, including from licensed badger culling taking place across Gloucestershire, which is in the Bovine TB High Risk Area of England. Woodchester Park’s work will continue to support policy and research in line with our TB strategy’s adaptive and evidence-based approach.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of cases heard by the Grocery Code Adjudicator (a) were successfully proven (b) were unsuccessfully proven and (c) dropped before a decision could be made in each years since the establishment of the Adjudicator.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Groceries Code Adjudicator’s (GCA) remit is set out in the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013. The GCA’s statutory functions are to investigate suspected breaches of the Code based on issues raised and information received and to arbitrate, where requested, in disputes between suppliers and designated retailers. Since June 2013 the GCA has concluded two investigations and seven arbitrations. In each investigation the GCA found the relevant designated retailer had breached the Groceries Supply Code of Practice. The outcome of arbitrations is confidential.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the 10 most frequent causes of admission to an NHS hospital; were in the most recent 12 month period for and how many people were admitted for each of those causes, in that time period which data is available.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This information is not collected in the format requested.
NHS Digital published its Hospital Admitted Patient Care Activity for 2018-19 on 19 September 2019.
Data are set out in the following table.
Patient admission - sub-chapter description | Number of Finished Admissions Episodes |
Complications of labour and delivery | 1,056,809 |
Other diseases of intestines | 646,953 |
Arthropathies | 609,032 |
Symptoms and signs involving the digestive system and abdomen | 554,882 |
Health services in circumstances related to reproduction | 539,391 |
Disorders of lens (including cataracts) | 456,184 |
Symptoms and signs involving the circulatory/respiratory system | 440,918 |
Diseases of oesophagus, stomach and duodenum | 430,757 |
In situ and benign neoplasms and others of uncertainty | 430,698 |
Malignant neoplasms of lymphoid, haematopoietic and related tissue | 387,191 |
Further information is available at the following link:
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the age profile is of NHS midwives, and how many NHS midwives in each age category are (a) UK nationals and (b) nationals of EU member states other than the UK.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.
The following table shows the number of midwives as at June 2019, the latest available data broken down by age and nationality. The data is headcount because nationality data relates to individuals.
Age band | All nationalities | United Kingdom | European Union | European Economic Area | Rest of World | Unknown |
All age bands | 26,192 | 23,177 | 1,344 | 11 | 447 | 1,213 |
Under 25 | 1,394 | 1,327 | 37 | 2 | 2 | 26 |
25 to 29 | 3,569 | 3,156 | 324 | - | 14 | 75 |
30 to 34 | 3,523 | 3,132 | 293 | 2 | 13 | 83 |
35 to 39 | 3,382 | 3,030 | 177 | 2 | 39 | 134 |
40 to 44 | 3,097 | 2,728 | 156 | 2 | 79 | 132 |
45 to 49 | 3,079 | 2,694 | 117 | 1 | 96 | 171 |
50 to 54 | 3,923 | 3,473 | 75 | 1 | 86 | 288 |
55 to 59 | 2,886 | 2,515 | 83 | - | 57 | 231 |
60 to 64 | 1,132 | 956 | 66 | - | 45 | 65 |
65 and over | 207 | 166 | 16 | 1 | 16 | 8 |