Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to remove his Department's advice against travelling on cruises for countries that are given green status under the covid-19 traffic light system.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Global Travel Taskforce (GTT) report confirms that international cruises will restart alongside the wider restart of international travel in line with the “traffic light” system. Operators will need to take account of the country traffic light system when planning itineraries. The restart of international cruises will be subject to continued satisfactory evidence from domestic restart and cruising in other countries. This will be considered at each of the GTT checkpoint reviews, with the next taking place on 28 June. International restart is also subject to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UK government and industry covering the cost and liabilities of repatriation.
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) travel advice is a separate matter for the Foreign Secretary. My officials and I continue to work closely with the cruise industry, the FCDO, UK Health Security Agency and across Government to ensure a safe restart of international cruises from the UK.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of amending his Department's covid-19 advice on travel for cruising so that it aligns with advice for the aviation sector.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Global Travel Taskforce (GTT) report confirms that international cruises will restart alongside the wider restart of international travel in line with the “traffic light” system. Operators will need to take account of the country traffic light system when planning itineraries. The restart of international cruises will be subject to continued satisfactory evidence from domestic restart and cruising in other countries. This will be considered at each of the GTT checkpoint reviews, with the next taking place on 28 June. International restart is also subject to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UK government and industry covering the cost and liabilities of repatriation.
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) travel advice is a separate matter for the Foreign Secretary. My officials and I continue to work closely with the cruise industry, the FCDO, UK Health Security Agency and across Government to ensure a safe restart of international cruises from the UK.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what evidential threshold will be used when reviewing the travel status of foreign countries under the covid-19 traffic light system.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Decisions on red, amber and green list countries are taken by Ministers, who take into account risk assessments produced by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), alongside wider public health factors.
Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include:
A summary of the JBC methodology used to produce risk assessments is published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which police forces record the (a) sex and (b) gender of perpetrators of sex offences.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It is an operational matter for the police to determine what relevant information should be recorded to assist in their investigation of individual crimes.
Home Office statisticians work with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) on the quality of data from the police. The OSR have issued guidance on the collection and reporting of data about sex in official statistics which informs on-going conversations the Department has with policing partners on the issue of data:
Information is not held centrally on which police forces record both the sex and gender identity of the perpetrators of sexual offences.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of recording the (a) sex and (b) gender of perpetrators of sex offences; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It is an operational matter for the police to determine what relevant information should be recorded to assist in their investigation of individual crimes.
Home Office statisticians work with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) on the quality of data from the police. The OSR have issued guidance on the collection and reporting of data about sex in official statistics which informs on-going conversations the Department has with policing partners on the issue of data:
Information is not held centrally on which police forces record both the sex and gender identity of the perpetrators of sexual offences.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether guidance has been issued to police forces on recording data when a transwoman is arrested for a violent or sexual offence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office does not issue guidance on the recording of sex or gender to police forces.
It is down to individual police forces and the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College for policing to make decisions on how this information is captured.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving sentences for sex offences are (a) women and (b) transwomen; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information regarding the number of prisoners serving sentences in the women’s prison estate who are women is published as part of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly and can be found in Table 1.1 (here).
We are not able to release the requested information in respect of the number of transwomen across the women’s prison estate. This is because the number is five or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998. This applies to values of five or fewer or other values which would allow values of five or fewer to be derived by subtraction. This is to prevent the identification of individuals. The Ministry of Justice is fully mindful of the need to balance the rights of individuals within the women’s estate with risk management.
The information regarding the number of prisoners serving sentences for sex offences who are women is also published as part of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly and can be found in Table 1.2b (here). An ad hoc data collection exercise in 2019 revealed that there were 54 legally male prisoners who identified as female (transwomen), whose principal offence for which they were serving an immediate custodial sentence was a sexual offence, across all establishments in England and Wales.
Details of transgender individuals were provided by men’s and women’s public and private prisons in England and Wales in March-April 2019 following an exercise to gather information from transgender individuals in custody. Individuals are not obliged to share data on their identity, so we consider the figures to provide an estimate of the number of transgender individuals in prison. We are committed to mitigating some of the challenges around data collection, and ultimately improving the process to ensure data is reliable.
We are committed to ensuring that transgender individuals are treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights and safety properly respected. Regardless of where a transgender individual is being held, we expect that they will be respected and that their needs will be addressed in accordance with the gender with which they identify.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving sentences in the women's prison estate are (a) women and (b) transwomen.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information regarding the number of prisoners serving sentences in the women’s prison estate who are women is published as part of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly and can be found in Table 1.1 (here).
We are not able to release the requested information in respect of the number of transwomen across the women’s prison estate. This is because the number is five or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed to prevent disclosure in accordance with the Data Protection Act, 1998. This applies to values of five or fewer or other values which would allow values of five or fewer to be derived by subtraction. This is to prevent the identification of individuals. The Ministry of Justice is fully mindful of the need to balance the rights of individuals within the women’s estate with risk management.
The information regarding the number of prisoners serving sentences for sex offences who are women is also published as part of the Offender Management Statistics quarterly and can be found in Table 1.2b (here). An ad hoc data collection exercise in 2019 revealed that there were 54 legally male prisoners who identified as female (transwomen), whose principal offence for which they were serving an immediate custodial sentence was a sexual offence, across all establishments in England and Wales.
Details of transgender individuals were provided by men’s and women’s public and private prisons in England and Wales in March-April 2019 following an exercise to gather information from transgender individuals in custody. Individuals are not obliged to share data on their identity, so we consider the figures to provide an estimate of the number of transgender individuals in prison. We are committed to mitigating some of the challenges around data collection, and ultimately improving the process to ensure data is reliable.
We are committed to ensuring that transgender individuals are treated fairly, lawfully and decently, with their rights and safety properly respected. Regardless of where a transgender individual is being held, we expect that they will be respected and that their needs will be addressed in accordance with the gender with which they identify.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to prevent the unlawful prescription of puberty suppressants from GPs based overseas.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The United Kingdom currently recognises prescriptions from countries on an approved list. A prescription from a country not on the list would not be recognised. We will only recognise prescriptions issued by prescribers of equivalent professional status to those eligible to prescribe in the UK.
We would expect all registered pharmacies and pharmacists to meet the regulatory standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council or the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland when considering dispensing any lawfully valid prescription.
Asked by: Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative - Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the rate of maternity deaths among Black, Asian and minority ethnic women.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The NHS Long Term Plan outlines plans to reduce health inequalities and address unwarranted variation in maternity care. This work is led by NHS England through the Maternity Transformation Programme. Targeted and enhanced continuity of care from the same midwife, or group of midwives can significantly improve outcomes for women. The NHS Long-Term plan sets out that 75% of black women will receive continuity of carer from midwives by 2024.
Work to reduce health inequalities around maternal mortality rates is being led by Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, Chief Midwifery Officer. This includes understanding why mortality rates are higher, considering evidence about what will reduce mortality rates and taking action.