Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department holds information on the quantity of UK-supplied aid which has been distributed in Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK provides humanitarian aid to Gaza through trusted partners, via Untied Nations agencies and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), delivering food, healthcare and shelter. A significant portion of our Financial Year 2024/25 funding has already reached Gaza, including life-saving medical supplies. Some remains prepositioned at border crossings or in regional warehouses. Due to the complex operating environment and limited real-time data, it is difficult to quantify the volume of aid currently awaiting entry. However, partners provide regular updates. On 19 May, the UK issued a joint statement calling for full aid resumption and for Israel to allow UN and NGO partners to operate independently.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he will consider enabling medical evacuations in Gaza for children (a) with life-threatening injuries and (b) with family resident in the UK.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has supported Project Pure Hope's initiative to bring a small number of children from Gaza to the UK for privately funded specialist care. On 1 May, I confirmed that two children had arrived for treatment and also announced a £7.5 million package to strengthen medical care in Gaza and the region, including support for UK-Med, World Health Organization Egypt and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Occupied Palestinian Territories Humanitarian Fund. The UK's Immigration Rules allow entry for private medical treatment, with further requests considered case by case. The Government continues to assess support for Palestinians and urges Israel to allow urgent medical evacuations.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the forceful closure of schools administered by UNRWA.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We were dismayed to hear of the forcible closure of six United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools in East Jerusalem on 8 May. These closures will deny 800 Palestinian children their right to education. We stated our strong opposition to the closure jointly with 16 other diplomatic missions, in a statement issued on X. The UK is clear that Palestinian children, like all children, deserve safe, uninterrupted access to school. The Israeli order to close these schools is deeply worrying. The vital work of UNRWA in ensuring that Palestinians have access to education and healthcare must be protected in East Jerusalem, as well as in Gaza and the West Bank. The Foreign Secretary continues to raise these issues with his Israeli counterpart.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of applying home tuition fee status to students who hold a British National (Overseas) visa.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Higher education institutions in England are autonomous bodies and it is for them to assess whether the fees for students who do not meet the criteria for automatic home fee status should be reduced or waived in line with individual circumstances.
To qualify for automatic home fee status in England, a person must have settled status or a ‘recognised connection’ to the UK. A recognised connection includes persons who are covered by the EU Withdrawal Agreement, have long residence in this country, or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office. There are also requirements associated with ordinary residence in the UK.
The British National (Overseas) immigration route reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to those people of Hong Kong. Subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders will be able to qualify for student finance and home fee status once they have acquired settled status in the UK.
There are no plans to amend the eligibility requirements for Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders as these are in line with those that apply to most other persons on routes to settlement.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of her Department's White Paper entitled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, published on 12 May 2025, on the status of British Nationals Overseas visa holders.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future. The reforms set out in the White Paper will be delivered across this Parliament. Some measures will require primary legislation and further consultation, while others will be brought in more swiftly. There will be consultation on new earned settlement and citizenship rules later this year
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her plans to increase the qualifying period for settled status will apply to British National (Overseas) visa holders.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future. The reforms set out in the White Paper will be delivered across this Parliament. Some measures will require primary legislation and further consultation, while others will be brought in more swiftly. There will be consultation on new earned settlement and citizenship rules later this year
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she had made of the potential impact of changes to the Adoption and Guardianship Support Fund on of the adequacy of mental health support for children in care who have been victims of abuse.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides funds to local authorities and regional adoption agencies to pay for essential therapeutic services for adoptive, special guardianship order and child arrangement order children who were previously in care. It is not available for children who remain in care. This year the £50 million fund will enable eligible adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support, tailored to meet their individual needs, including for those children who have experienced abuse, amounting to £3,000 per child. Where needed, local authorities and regional adoption agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
While the department does collect and publish annual data on the demand for ASGSF services, no wider information about demand for adoption services is currently collected. The latest publicly available ASGSF data covering the period 2023/24 can be found here: https://www.coram.org.uk/resource/asgsf_2024_data_insights/.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the variation in demand for adoption services across local authorities.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) provides funds to local authorities and regional adoption agencies to pay for essential therapeutic services for adoptive, special guardianship order and child arrangement order children who were previously in care. It is not available for children who remain in care. This year the £50 million fund will enable eligible adoptive and kinship families to access a significant package of therapeutic support, tailored to meet their individual needs, including for those children who have experienced abuse, amounting to £3,000 per child. Where needed, local authorities and regional adoption agencies can use their own funding to increase the amount of therapy.
While the department does collect and publish annual data on the demand for ASGSF services, no wider information about demand for adoption services is currently collected. The latest publicly available ASGSF data covering the period 2023/24 can be found here: https://www.coram.org.uk/resource/asgsf_2024_data_insights/.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 improve (a) maternal and (b) post-natal care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to work with NHS England as it delivers its three-year maternity and neonatal plan to grow the workforce, develop a culture of safety, and ensure women and babies receive safe, personalised, and compassionate care. We know there is much more we need to do, however good progress has been made, including:
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to women who have suffered from post-birth trauma.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises the significant physical and psychological consequences of birth trauma and the devastating impact this can have on some women. We are fully committed to improving the quality and consistency of care for women throughout pregnancy, birth, and the critical months that follow, and ensuring that when a woman experiences a traumatic birth, there is a broad range of support available.
The National Health Service is in its final year of implementing the Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services. As part of this plan, there is a commitment to improving postnatal care for all women and babies, including those affected by birth trauma. This includes ensuring the provision of high-quality, personalised, and joined-up care throughout the postnatal period.
NHS England has published guidance, written in collaboration with the Royal College of General Practitioners, on the six-to-eight-week postnatal check-up for all women who have given birth. This provides an important opportunity for general practitioners to listen to women in a discreet, supportive environment, to provide personalised postnatal care for their physical and mental health, and to support them with family planning. This includes an explicit reference to birth trauma for the first time. Additionally, a range of specialist mental health services have been made available to women during the perinatal period, as well as physical health services like Perinatal Pelvic Health Services. As of April 2025, 25 of the 42 local systems have perinatal pelvic health services in place, and NHS England is working closely with the remaining areas who are not compliant.