Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the inclusion of women and girls in the development of global climate resilience (a) policies and (b) programmes.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
To ensure gender equality and inclusion characteristics are a key part of UK International Climate Finance (ICF) funded programmes including on resilience, in May 2025 we published Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Guidance for ICF delivery partners. The guidance provides a common framework to integrate gender equality, disability and social inclusion into ICF programme design and delivery and outlines minimum standards and ambitions on GEDSI. The guidance supports our ambition to ensure all new ICF programmes are designed to be 'GEDSI empowering', delivering positive and equitable outcomes for all people.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the meeting held between the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and the Leader of the Israeli Opposition on 10 July 2025, whether the matter of Mr Golan's support for starving the Palestinian population of Gaza was raised.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I met with leader of the Israeli Democrat party Yair Golan to discuss the need for an immediate ceasefire and a plan for the future of Gaza which would ensure long term security for both Israelis and Palestinians. This is in line with Ministers continued engagement with a range of Israeli political figures.
Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee Central)
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 adequacy of the Government's policy on the 2030 roadmap for UK-Israel bilateral relations.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary said in his statement to the house on 20 May, the UK will be reviewing our cooperation with Israel on the UK-Israel 2030 Bilateral roadmap. The continued actions of this Israeli Government mean that it is necessary for the UK Government to take this step. We have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of all hostages and significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a social energy tariff for community organisations.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.
The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
In the short-term, the Government wants to provide businesses and community organisations with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers. The Government published a summary of consultation responses earlier this month, and a Government response will follow in due course.
Since 19 December 2024, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees have been able to access free support to resolve issues with their energy supplier through the Energy Ombudsman. This means that 99% of British businesses can now access this service with outcomes ranging up to £20,000 in financial awards.
For domestic customers, we recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. On 19 June we announced that we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. This means that from next winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support will be available to schools to decarbonise following the closure of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
More than £1 billion in public sector decarbonisation funding is still being invested through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and Integrated Settlements with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities through to 2028. Additionally, the government and Great British Energy committed approximately £80 million to support around 200 schools in England to install rooftop solar panels and complementary technologies. Each school on average could save up to an estimated £25 000 per year.
11 schools have already installed solar panels which is estimated to save £175 000 on their total energy bills. Great British Energy also awarded £10 million in grant funding to mayoral strategic authorities to roll out clean energy projects at the centre of communities. A significant proportion of this will be used for solar panels for schools across England.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the barriers faced by charitable organisations, financial or otherwise, when looking to join heat networks; and whether they will provide support to charitable organisations to overcome these barriers.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Charitable organisations use a diverse range of buildings, thus there is no one-size-fits-all solution for how they decarbonise their buildings. In high-density urban areas, heat networks are often the lowest-cost, low-carbon heating solution.
The Government has a number of schemes to support the development and growth of heat networks, including the Green Heat Network Fund, which provides funding to develop new and existing low carbon heat networks across England.
We are working across Government and with the National Wealth Fund to explore further funding opportunities for the heat networks sector that will catalyse more private investment and support more connections.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial barriers faced by charitable organisations when looking to change the heating in their buildings from oil and gas systems to renewable systems; and whether they will provide support to charitable organisations to overcome these barriers.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Charities may access various forms of energy efficiency support, including funding for energy-saving upgrades, tailored advice. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) continues to provide grants up to £7,500, to encourage property owners to replace existing fossil fuel heating with more efficient, low carbon heating systems for domestic and small non-domestic buildings, including charitable organisations. The maximum capacity for a single system installation under the BUS remains 45kWh.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the reported naturalisation of former members of (a) Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and (b) other extremist groups into the Syrian armed forces on the UK's national security.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome the Government of Syria's announcement on 30 May introducing a new Code of Conduct for Syria's armed forces and expect all those serving to abide by it. The UK Defence Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa travelled to Damascus on 9 July to discuss defence, security and areas for future cooperation with the Chief of Defence. A stable Syria is in the UK's interests and we are pressing the Syrian Government to make progress in combatting terrorism and extremism.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with international partners to help ensure an adequate supply of fuel to Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No fuel has entered Gaza for over four months, putting vital services such as water supply, hospitals and ambulances at imminent risk of shutting down. This is unacceptable. We continue to be in regular contact with the Government of Israel about the importance of allowing fuel to reach Gaza. In our statement to the UN Security Council on 13 May, we called on Israel to allow the full resumption of aid into Gaza, including fuel. We reiterated this in our joint donor's statement with 26 other signatories on 19 May.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the entry of fuel into Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No fuel has entered Gaza for over four months, putting vital services such as water supply, hospitals and ambulances at imminent risk of shutting down. This is unacceptable. We continue to be in regular contact with the Government of Israel about the importance of allowing fuel to reach Gaza. In our statement to the UN Security Council on 13 May, we called on Israel to allow the full resumption of aid into Gaza, including fuel. We reiterated this in our joint donor's statement with 26 other signatories on 19 May.