Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making it easier to migrate between the UK and Canada.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK and Canada's deep and broad relationship is strengthened by the large diaspora of each nation's citizens present in both countries. The existing UK immigration offer supports migration through a variety of different routes which enable Canadian individuals to live, work and study in the UK. Canadian visa applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis as long as they meet the specific visa requirements and eligibility requirements for the route. However, the migration of UK citizens to Canada is a matter for the Canadian government.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the treatment of Maternity Allowance as unearned income when calculating means-tested benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth, in the interests of their own and their baby’s health and wellbeing.
Maternity Allowance is a benefit paid by the State, for those who cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay, and is classed as unearned income for Universal Credit purposes. As such, in determining the entitlement to Universal Credit, Maternity Allowance is deducted pound for pound from the total value of the award.
Where an individual claims Universal Credit, their award is adjusted to take account of other financial support that the customer is already receiving – including earnings, other income and benefits. This principle applies to other benefits: for example, the same approach is applied to new style Jobseeker’s Allowance and new style Employment and Support Allowance.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to help increase (a) trade and (b) trading opportunities between the UK and Canada.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
Canada is one of the UK’s closest allies and we are taking various steps to increase UK-Canada trade. Our trading relationship was worth £28 billion in 2024, up 10% in current prices on 2023, and is underpinned by the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement.
The Prime Minister spoke to Prime Minister Carney on 12th May and discussed ways to increase cooperation further to deliver for working people in both the UK and Canada. This includes our discussions with Canada on their ratification of the UK’s membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Once ratified, this will provide additional benefits for UK firms seeking to do business in Canada, building on our existing bilateral trade agreement with Canada which already supports trade between our two countries.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the findings of her Department's call for evidence entitled Decapods: Call for Evidence, published on 5 July 2023.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government is carefully considering the results from the call for evidence regarding the use of decapods in science to inform future policy options. The Home Office will be guided by decisions made under the Animal Welfare Act regarding any consideration as to whether Decapods are regulated under the Animals (Scientific Procures) Act 1986. There are currently no plans to publish the results from the Call for Evidence.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many animal welfare inspections of game bird farms were undertaken in (a) England and (b) Wales in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023 and (iii) 2024; how many and what proportion of those visits identified the use of barren cages for breeding birds; and whether follow up inspections were carried out in those circumstances.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
The total number of inspections carried out in gamebirds premises are included in the table below; of those, a total of 5 inspections disclosed non-compliances with welfare legislation however none of the non-compliances identified were due to the use of barren cages for breeding birds. There have been no gamebird inspections in Wales according to the data extrapolated for the years 2023 and 2024.
Country | Year | Total | Compliant with AW legislation |
England | 2022 | 9 | 8 |
2023 | 12 | 10 | |
2024 | 17 | 15 | |
Wales | 2022 | 3 | 3 |
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the use of cages for (a) pheasants and (b) partridges for breeding.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.
The use of cages and other close confinement systems for farmed animals, including for gamebirds, is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.
Defra’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes provides keepers with guidance on how to meet the welfare needs of their gamebirds as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006. It recommends that barren cages for breeding pheasants and small barren cages for breeding partridges should not be used, and that any system should be appropriately enriched.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to ensure that media literacy is a core component of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, in the context of increases in the use of generative AI.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s interim report notes the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information and that it is necessary that the curriculum keep pace with these changes, including a renewed focus on digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills. The interim report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to provide (a) additional resources, (b) teacher training and (c) additional curriculum support on media literacy in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
Media literacy is covered in the citizenship, relationships, sex and health education and computing curriculums.
The department funds the National Centre for Computing Education, which provides teachers with continuing professional development and resources to support the teaching of computing. This includes units on messaging in digital media, the credibility of sources, and identifying ‘fake’ news and edited images, supporting the teaching of artificial intelligence (AI) and media literacy.
In 2024, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) provided £0.5 million to scale up two programmes, to provide media literacy support to teachers, children aged 11 to 16, parents/carers and other professionals working with families.
The Educate against Hate website also hosts a series of online media literacy resources which seek to help young people evaluate the validity of information. This can be accessed at: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review’s interim report notes the rise of AI and trends in digital information and that it is necessary that the curriculum keep pace with these changes, including a renewed focus on digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills. The interim report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report. The Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn with the government’s response.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS 10-Year Plan will include specific measures to provide health and care staff with full access to integrated patient records.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to develop a 10 Year Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future. While it is too soon to say exactly what will be in the plan, it will set out how we shift health and care systems in England from analogue to digital systems. Subject to Parliamentary approval, new laws are set to be introduced to make NHS patient health records available across all NHS trusts, general practice surgeries, and ambulance services in England, speeding up patient care, reducing repeat medical tests, and minimising medication errors.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)
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 encourage the adoption of (a) AI and (b) other digital technologies to support the healthcare transition from treatment to prevention.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is already home to world-first digital innovation, with NHS England supporting the rollout of key products, many of which support the shift to prevention and early diagnosis. Examples include the world's first certified autonomous artificially intelligent (AI) diagnostic tool, which can triage patients with suspected skin cancer, as well as digital innovations supporting people struggling with mental health and musculoskeletal issues to gain or remain in employment.
NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and the Department are developing a rules based pathway (RBP) for medical technology in the NHS. The RBP aims to create a clear, consistent, and efficient process for evaluating and adopting medical technologies, including digital technologies, in the NHS.
The Early Detection using Information Technology in Health, or EDITH trial, announced in February 2025, is backed by £11 million of Government support via the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It is the latest example of how British scientists are transforming cancer care, building on the promising potential of cutting-edge innovations to tackle one of the United Kingdom’s biggest killers.
Between October 2021 and May 2023 funding was invested in a risk-stratification tool to identify women who are at most risk of developing life-threatening and life-altering complications of pre-eclampsia.
Between October 2020 and September 2023, the Department invested £1.9 million in an AI stroke technology, capable of automatically processing acute stroke computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans, which can provide real-time, clinically useful information in the acute stroke setting, leading to faster decisions.
Between October 2020 and September 2021 funding was invested towards generating a toolkit prototype which can automatically generate placental metrics from a 3D-US scan. These can be combined with other known risk factors and blood results to generate a multi-factorial screening test for fetal growth restriction, which is the single most common cause of stillbirth.
The deployment of AI in the NHS is still at a relatively early stage, with many AI tools being used in a research capacity. To address this, the Department is carrying out work, with NHS England, to assess the barriers of safe, ethical, and effective adoption, and improve the way AI tools are deployed and used in the NHS across England.