Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to educate pupils on the potential danger of open water swimming.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Water safety is a vital life skill, which is why swimming and water safety is a compulsory part of the PE and Sport National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. Pupils should be taught how to perform safe self rescue in a variety of water based situations, including open water.
Schools can also use the Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge necessary to make safe and informed decisions, which is a vital part of water safety.
The Department is working in partnership with members of the National Water Safety Forum, in particular the Royal Life Saving Society UK, Swim England, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Together with the Department, these organisations are supporting more schools to teach primary and secondary pupils important aspects of water safety, such as cold water shock, rip tides and keeping safe near frozen water. New resources for pupils in Key Stages 1 to 3 have been provided by the National Water Safety Forum, supporting teachers to deliver water safety in a classroom environment.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating protections for landscapes featured in classic works of literature under planning rules.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
While literary landscapes are not subject to a separate designation within the planning system, they are protected more generally through the National Planning Policy Framework. For example, the Framework states that planning policies and decisions should recognise the character and beauty of the countryside, and local authorities are expected to protect heritage assets which can include landscapes.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
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 waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In February 2022, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services as part of its clinically-led review of NHS Access Standards. This included one for children, young people and their families or carers presenting to community-based mental health services to start receiving care within four weeks from referral. We are now working with NHS England and NHS Improvement on the next steps.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to introduce Magnitsky-style sanctions against Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in Tibet.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of human rights violations in Tibet, including restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of assembly and association, and reports of forced labour. We coordinate with partners to draw international attention to the human rights situation in Tibet, most recently on 20 May 2023 in the G7 Leaders' Communique, and in March 2023, as part of our Item 4 statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is not appropriate to speculate on who may be sanctioned in the future, as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department plans to publish a response to its consultation entitled Good Work Plan: Proposals to support families, published on 19 July 2019.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In 2019, the Government consulted on high-level options for reforming parental leave and pay. The Government is currently considering responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether there is a set amount of match funding needed for charities and organisations to access Community Ownership Fund support.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Information on the fund is set out in the COF prospectus published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to revoke existing licences for testing cosmetics ingredients on animals issued between 2019 and 2022.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is engaging with the relevant companies to urgently determine a way forward on legacy licences.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has allocated funding to flood defences on Riverside Drive in Bolton South East constituency.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The River Irwell at Kearsley Flood Risk Management Scheme remains a priority project for the Environment Agency and its partners, given the devastating floods which affected the lives of residents in 2015 and 2020. The Environment Agency is working hard with consultants and contractors to identify a viable engineering option to reduce the risk of flooding in Kearsley.
£2.3 million in contributions have been identified. The breakdown of funding to date is a mix of Defra Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid (GiA), £750,000 Local Levy, £350,000 from the Department for Education and £1.2 million in Defra Other Government Departments GiA funding. However, full costs and funding cannot be confirmed until the preferred option is understood and costed. Discussions with the local authority, Bolton Council, regarding support for the project are ongoing.
The Environment Agency will continue to explore other potential sources of partnership funding.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) help tackle high rates of Group B Strep infection and (b) improve access to (i) screening, (ii) diagnosis and (iii) treatment for Group B Strep infections in (A) Black and (B) Asian (1) women and (2) babies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Midwives are a key source of information for new and expectant parents on group B strep (GBS), so it is critical that they are well-informed and this awareness will help eliminate these serious, yet often avoidable, infections in new-born babies. Group B Strep Support and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have an evidence-based i-learn module on GBS that is freely available to RCM members. It would be beneficial for as many midwives as possible to take the training to increase awareness of GBS.
Public Health England’s national programme Start4Life provides advice and practical guidance to parents-to-be and families with babies and under five years old, to help them adopt healthy behaviours and build parenting skills. The Start4Life website offers guidance for pregnant mothers on GBS which is available at the following link:
Screening for GBS is not routinely offered to all pregnant women in the United Kingdom. A risk-based approach has been adopted, whereby those women identified as at risk of having a baby affected by GBS are offered antibiotics in labour.
The GBS carriage rate varies among racial groups, however the highest rates occur within people of black African ancestry and the lowest in people of South Asian ancestry. Evidence shows that continuity of carer can significantly improve outcomes for women and their babies from ethnic minorities and those living in deprived areas. NHS England wrote to all trusts regarding the Midwifery Continuity of Carer (MCoC) stating that where locally it is decided that provision of MCoC can continue, NHS England continues to encourage prioritised rollout to areas with a high proportion of Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women, as well as areas of high deprivation.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to ensure that healthcare providers receive adequate (a) training and (b) resources to (i) diagnose and (ii) treat Group B Streptococcus infections.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Midwives are a key source of information for new and expectant parents on group B strep (GBS), so it is critical that they are well-informed and this awareness will help eliminate these serious, yet often avoidable, infections in new-born babies. Group B Strep Support and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) have an evidence-based i-learn module on GBS that is freely available to RCM members. It would be beneficial for as many midwives as possible to take the training to increase awareness of GBS.
Public Health England’s national programme Start4Life provides advice and practical guidance to parents-to-be and families with babies and under five years old, to help them adopt healthy behaviours and build parenting skills. The Start4Life website offers guidance for pregnant mothers on GBS which is available at the following link:
Screening for GBS is not routinely offered to all pregnant women in the United Kingdom. A risk-based approach has been adopted, whereby those women identified as at risk of having a baby affected by GBS are offered antibiotics in labour.
The GBS carriage rate varies among racial groups, however the highest rates occur within people of black African ancestry and the lowest in people of South Asian ancestry. Evidence shows that continuity of carer can significantly improve outcomes for women and their babies from ethnic minorities and those living in deprived areas. NHS England wrote to all trusts regarding the Midwifery Continuity of Carer (MCoC) stating that where locally it is decided that provision of MCoC can continue, NHS England continues to encourage prioritised rollout to areas with a high proportion of Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity women, as well as areas of high deprivation.