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Written Question
Agnes Wanjiru
Thursday 28th October 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support the Government is providing to the Kenyan police in their investigation into the 2012 death of Agnes Wanjiru; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)

At the heart of the hon. Member's questions is the murder of a young Kenyan woman. Justice must be foremost in our minds. Therefore, you will appreciate that I can say nothing here which may jeopardise any future legal process in Kenya.

This issue is sub judice, in another Country's jurisdiction, and there is a significant risk that further public discussion would undermine the investigation into this murder and prejudice their inquiries and any trial.

Whilst the Kenyan police do have the lead for this investigation, I can assure you that the Royal Military Police are fully engaged in assisting them.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Monday 26th July 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on covid-19 risk for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covid-19 restrictions on July 19 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

While no specific assessment has been made, a recent study from Public Health England looked at more than one million people in at-risk groups, which found that people who are immunosuppressed are significantly better protected from symptomatic infection following the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Studies are also underway looking at which groups are less protected through vaccination, which may include groups with weakened immune systems and those with cancers of the blood. The findings will improve our knowledge of the levels of risk. We also recognise that there is a very small group of people who cannot receive the Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Monday 26th July 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to help reduce the risk of contracting covid-19 for immunocompromised people after the planned easing of covod-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable individuals was published on 12 July including those who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

Following the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the Government offered the household contacts aged over 16 years old of severely immunosuppressed individuals priority access to vaccination from COVID-19, to help reduce the risk of the immunosuppressed individual catching COVID-19 from a member of their household. This recommendation has now been extended to household contacts aged 12 to 15 years old.

The JCVI has provided interim advice is that booster vaccines should first be offered in a two staged approach, with individuals in stage one offered a booster and flu vaccine as soon as possible from September, which includes adults aged 16 years old and over who are immunosuppressed. Those in stage two should be offered a booster vaccine as soon as practicable after stage one, with equal emphasis on deployment of the flu vaccine where eligible. This includes adult household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals. General practitioner practices or specialists can also provide personalised support and advice on any additional precautions.


Written Question
Sleeping Rough: Housing
Tuesday 20th July 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department plans to put in place to ensure effective future accommodation pathways can be offered to all rough sleepers currently in emergency accommodation.

Answered by Eddie Hughes

We have taken huge steps working with local authorities and their partners to protect rough sleepers during the pandemic. This work has not stopped, and by the end of January, we had supported over 37,000 people with over 11,000 in emergency accommodation and over 26,000 already moved on into longer-term accommodation.

We are committed to ending rough sleeping within this parliament, and that means making sure as few people supported return to the streets as possible.

Our work focuses on helping people find longer term accommodation, as well as supporting those new to the street. Our work includes:

  • The £433 million Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme to provide 6,000 move-on homes, available as long-term assets, and accompanying support services to those who are rough sleeping or who have a history of sleeping rough.
  • £203 million investment through the Rough Sleeping Initiative this year (2021-2022) - an 81% increase from the £112 million provided last year - funding up to 14,500 bed spaces and 2,700 support staff across England. This includes immediate work to support people off the street as well as longer-term housing-led solutions.

Written Question
Conversion Therapy
Friday 9th July 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what discussions she has had with her counterparts in Canada and Australian on the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban conversion therapy.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

Officials in the Equality Hub are in discussion with international policy counterparts, to fully understand the detail and impact of other jurisdictions’ measures and to inform the Government’s next steps. However, we must ensure a ban on conversion therapy works here and that is why we have committed to launching a consultation in September. We want to hear from a wide range of voices on how best to protect people from conversion therapy while ensuring the medical profession can continue to work in line with best practice, defending freedom of speech, and upholding religious freedom. This will be vital for ensuring the action we take is informed, effective and proportionate.


Written Question
Hospitals: Greater London
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will ring-fence funding for the Palliative Care Unit at the Whipps Cross Hospital.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The proposed redevelopment of Whipps Cross does not involve the reconfiguration of services and envisages the new hospital providing the same core services as today, including the continued provision of high-quality specialist palliative and end of life care. A clinically led review of the model of care for the provision of specialist palliative care and end-of-life care in the new hospital is being undertaken by Barts Health NHS Trust, working closely with local partners and informed by engagement with patients and local interest groups.


Written Question
Counter-terrorism: Children
Wednesday 2nd June 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, , how many children under the age of 18 were adopted as a Channel Case in each year between April 2015 and April by (a) gender, (b) ethnicity and (c) religion of the individual referred.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Since 2012, 2,897 people have been adopted to Prevent’s voluntary and confidential multi-agency Channel programme, which supports people who are vulnerable to exploitation from terrorist influences.

Below is data on the gender and age of those under the age of 18 who were referred to Prevent and adopted to Channel. Please note the ‘-‘ symbol has been used where the number of individuals in a category is less than 10.

Gender of those under the age of 18 referred to Prevent, 2015/16 to 2019/20

Year

Gender

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

Male

2,799

2,367

3,116

2,495

2,532

Female

829

550

436

382

373

Other

-

-

-

-

10

Unknown

-

-

-

-

0

Total

3,630

2,918

3,556

2,879

2,915

Gender of those under the age of 18 adopted as a Channel case, 2015/16 to 2019/20

Year

Gender

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

Male

191

176

200

282

320

Female

39

23

13

34

38

Other

0

0

0

0

-

Unknown

0

0

0

0

-

Total

230

199

213

316

360

The Channel process is entirely voluntary and those under-18 must have the consent of their parent/guardian to be adopted as a Channel case.

Recording the ethnicity and religion of individuals who have been considered as a Channel case is not mandatory on the Home Office Case Management Information System. We therefore only hold partial data on the ethnicity or religion of Prevent referrals and Channel cases. This partial data cannot be released as it would create a misleading and inaccurate picture of the ethnic/religious make-up of Channel referrals aged under 18.


Written Question
Counter-terrorism: Children
Wednesday 2nd June 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children under the age of 18 were referred to Prevent in each year between April 2015 and April 2020 by (a) gender, (b) ethnicity and (c) religion of the individual referred.

Answered by Kevin Foster

Since 2012, 2,897 people have been adopted to Prevent’s voluntary and confidential multi-agency Channel programme, which supports people who are vulnerable to exploitation from terrorist influences.

Below is data on the gender and age of those under the age of 18 who were referred to Prevent and adopted to Channel. Please note the ‘-‘ symbol has been used where the number of individuals in a category is less than 10.

Gender of those under the age of 18 referred to Prevent, 2015/16 to 2019/20

Year

Gender

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

Male

2,799

2,367

3,116

2,495

2,532

Female

829

550

436

382

373

Other

-

-

-

-

10

Unknown

-

-

-

-

0

Total

3,630

2,918

3,556

2,879

2,915

Gender of those under the age of 18 adopted as a Channel case, 2015/16 to 2019/20

Year

Gender

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

Male

191

176

200

282

320

Female

39

23

13

34

38

Other

0

0

0

0

-

Unknown

0

0

0

0

-

Total

230

199

213

316

360

The Channel process is entirely voluntary and those under-18 must have the consent of their parent/guardian to be adopted as a Channel case.

Recording the ethnicity and religion of individuals who have been considered as a Channel case is not mandatory on the Home Office Case Management Information System. We therefore only hold partial data on the ethnicity or religion of Prevent referrals and Channel cases. This partial data cannot be released as it would create a misleading and inaccurate picture of the ethnic/religious make-up of Channel referrals aged under 18.


Written Question
Hospitals: Greater London
Thursday 27th May 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

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 impact of the reduction in bed capacity at the proposed new hospital at Whipps Cross on bed capacity at (a) Homerton hospital and (b) other local hospitals.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The Whipps Cross redevelopment plans have continued to be tested with North East London Health and Care Partnership Integrated Care System as part of the development of the redevelopment’s outline business case, to ensure the demand and capacity assumptions are aligned with both the local and wider system assumptions.

The new development does not impact bed capacity at Homerton Hospital or other local hospitals. The number of beds in any hospital is not fixed and the way in which the hospital is designed will give greater flexibility to respond to changes in operational pressures, with an appropriate number of beds. The new hospital will have more clinical space than the current hospital, with new clinical departments, increased diagnostic and day case capacity and more single rooms, improving patient experience, privacy and dignity.


Written Question
Teachers: Ethnic Groups
Monday 24th May 2021

Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to (a) support, (b) retain and (c) support the promotion of Black and Asian teachers.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Apply for Teacher Training is a new application service for initial teacher training (ITT). To support recruitment, Apply has been designed to be as simple and user friendly as possible and it has been extensively tested with a diverse range of potential applicants. Currently, Apply is in public beta, running alongside the existing application service for teacher training. As we roll the service out further, we will continue to develop and test interventions to support people from diverse backgrounds to become teachers.

The Department’s ‘Teaching – Every Lesson Shapes A Life’ recruitment campaign is targeted at audiences of students/recent graduates and potential career changers of all races and backgrounds, and we take every effort to ensure that our advertising is fully reflective of this across the full range of marketing materials we use.

Alongside a focus on recruitment, it is important we retain people from diverse backgrounds. From September 2021, all new trainee teachers will be entitled to at least three years of evidence-based professional development and support. This starts with ITT, based on the new ITT Core Content Framework, which sets out a core minimum entitlement for all trainees, describing the fundamental knowledge and skills that ITT providers must draw upon when designing and delivering their programmes.

Following on from their training, all new teachers will be entitled to two years of funded high quality professional development, including the support of a dedicated mentor, through the Early Career Framework reforms. Schools will receive additional funding so new teachers can spend time away from the classroom for this extra training and mentoring. Together, these reforms will ensure that all new teachers will develop the expertise and confidence they need to thrive in the classroom.

Our new suite of National Professional Qualifications, available from September 2021, will make sure that we continue to develop our best teaching and leadership talent, whatever their background.