Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure more widespread availability of the drug 2-HDP.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are pleased to see promising results from the Queen's University Belfast study into the novel drug known as 2-Hydrazino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidine (2-HDP). This demonstrates the strength of the United Kingdom’s clinical research environment and the important role played by patient organisations such as Diabetes UK.
This is early-stage research and further studies, including clinical trials, are required before it can be made available to patients. We look forward to seeing how it progresses.
In the UK, medicines need to have a licence before they can be marketed. These are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Licences confirm the health condition the medicine should be used for and the recommended dosage. To get a licence, the manufacturer of the medicine has to provide evidence which shows that the medicine is safe and effective enough to be used for a specific condition and for a specific group of patients, and that they can manufacture the medicine to the required quality.
The anticipated licensing timelines for 2-HDP are currently unknown, but the MHRA and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence liaise closely with pharmaceutical companies on their plans with respect to regulatory approval in the UK to support timely access to clinically and cost-effective licensed medicines for National Health Service patients.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2025 to Question 84157 on Immigration Controls: Northern Ireland, what information her Department holds on the outcomes of Operation Gull; and what criteria she uses to evaluate the success of that operation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office prefers to refer to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication. Information about outcomes and criteria to evaluate the success of Operation Gull is not available in our published data.
Our published national data on enforcement activity is available at the following link and includes data on detected irregular arrivals to the UK: Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Illegal working and enforcement activity to the end of September 2025, published on 28 October 2025, how many of people arrested under suspicion of working illegally in Northern Ireland within the past twelve months arrived illegally into the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not routinely publish the information you have requested. We are unable to provide this information, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 July 2025 to Question 67823 on Overseas Trade: Germany, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the lighthouse projects agreed with Germany on economic growth in the UK in the next 12 months.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Kensington Treaty signed between the UK and Germany commits the parties to mutually supporting economic growth, job creation, digital transition and innovation, working with our businesses and mobilising investment to grow our economies. As part of implementation, DBT is leading on the planned UK-Germany Business-Government Forum, which will draw on business insights to identify growth-driving opportunities.
DBT is also supporting projects led by other Departments. A Strategic Science and Technology Partnership will create a framework to support the development of cutting-edge critical technology in areas including quantum, AI, space and clean energy. We will also work towards expanding North Sea Energy cooperation and developing infrastructure to generate greener, cheaper, more secure energy. Finally, we will move towards strengthening collaboration between UK and German public financial institutions to contribute to boosting investment in growth-driving sectors.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 77468 on Contactless Payments, if she will have discussions with the FCA on extending the closing deadline for responses to the consultation on unlimited contactless card payments.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On September 10, the FCA launched a consultation on its proposals to introduce a new risk-based approach to contactless payments, allowing payment service providers greater flexibility to determine their approach to contactless payments where they identify there is a low risk of fraud. This consultation closed on 15 October. Decisions on the consultation process on changes to the contactless limits are a matter for the FCA, which is independent of the Government.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 51813 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Department of Infrastructure in Northern Ireland on the number of additional publicly available EV charging points that are due to be delivered following the extra funding provided in 2025.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the 2025 Spending Review £400 million of capital funding was allocated to support the rollout of charging infrastructure in the four financial years from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Under prior On Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) funding, 127 chargepoints are due to be installed across Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2025 to Question 84146 on Women against State Pension Inequality, whether he plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign within the next six months.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There are no plans to meet with any campaign groups.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for responding to Question 76810 of 12 September 2025 on Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The response to Written Parliamentary Question 76810 was published on 15 October 2025.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she expects to receive the Payments Forward Plan under the National Payments Vision.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Terms of Reference for the Payments Vision Delivery Committee set out the Payments Forward Plan will be published by the end of this year. This will set out a sequenced plan of initiatives across the wider UK payments ecosystem.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to review the National Road Traffic Projection before the end of 2026.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We continue to update our Transport Analysis Guidance at 6 month intervals for those preparing business cases; this includes regular updates to some of the parameters that affect transport including GDP and fuel prices. We will consider reviewing the NRTPs in the near future.