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1700947

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Israel and Palestinians: Aid Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the safety of aid workers operating in (a) Israel and (b) Palestine.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	21568
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Foreign Secretary has called on Israel to reform its deconfliction mechanism to ensure the safety of aid workers and to make progress on the UN's minimal operating requirements, including more visas and driver approvals granted, as well as more trucks permitted to cross into Gaza.</p><p>The Prime Minister set out the need for more aid to enter Gaza in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 2 April, and that far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell grouped question UIN 21569 21570 question first answered 18/04/2024 16:18:49 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700948

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps his Department is taking to help implement effective deconfliction in Gaza in order to facilitate the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	21569
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Foreign Secretary has called on Israel to reform its deconfliction mechanism to ensure the safety of aid workers and to make progress on the UN's minimal operating requirements, including more visas and driver approvals granted, as well as more trucks permitted to cross into Gaza.</p><p>The Prime Minister set out the need for more aid to enter Gaza in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 2 April, and that far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell grouped question UIN 21568 21570 question first answered 18/04/2024 16:18:49 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700950

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of reports that a UNICEF humanitarian convoy was hit by live ammunition in northern Gaza on 9 April 2024.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	21570
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Foreign Secretary has called on Israel to reform its deconfliction mechanism to ensure the safety of aid workers and to make progress on the UN's minimal operating requirements, including more visas and driver approvals granted, as well as more trucks permitted to cross into Gaza.</p><p>The Prime Minister set out the need for more aid to enter Gaza in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 2 April, and that far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell grouped question UIN 21568 21569 question first answered 18/04/2024 16:18:49 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700079

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Sales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the enforcement of regulations on the sale of bladed items (a) to and (b) by persons under the age of 18.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	20903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.</p><p>The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&amp;E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.</p><p>We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.</p><p>It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.</p><p>The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.</p><p>Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.</p><p>Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 20904 question first answered 17/04/2024 15:22:25 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1700080

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle (a) knife crime by and (b) the online sale of bladed weapons to people under the age of 18 in Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	20904
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/04/2024 answer text <p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £5 million of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit in Wales (known as the Wales Violence Prevention Unit (VPU)) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. Over the same period, we have invested c.£3.5 million (including c.£535k in 2023/24) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in South Wales. In 24/25, we are providing c.£4.4 million of funding to all force areas in Wales under the Hotspot Response fund to deliver high-visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods worst affected by serious violence and Anti Social Behaviour.</p><p>The Wales VPU is tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the VPU is funding local interventions including A&amp;E Navigators, delivering advice, support and guidance to patients of any age who have experienced violence with injury, with the aim of engaging with those injured whilst they are in hospital to help break the cycle of violence at the point of crisis. The VPU is also funding youth workers to deliver sessions to young people within both education and community settings covering issues such as knife crime. Additionally, just under £1m was awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence Duty across Wales.</p><p>We have also introduced new legislation which, subject to parliamentary approval, will ban zombie-style knives and machetes from 24 September 2024. Through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.</p><p>It is an offence to sell bladed articles to people under the age of 18 and with measures in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we strengthened the requirements for age verification, and made it an offence to send bladed articles to residential addresses after they are bought online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that the product would not be delivered into the hands of a person under 18. This legislation is enforced by Trading Standards and the police. The Home Office does not hold enforcement data in relation to breaches of this legislation.</p><p>The Online Safety Act 2023 has finished its parliamentary passage and received Royal Assent on 26 October 2023. The Government's intention is to have the regime operational as soon as possible.</p><p>Ofcom published the first draft codes of practice on illegal content for consultation on 9 November 2023. The Government expects these to be finalised in late 2024. These codes of practice will set out the steps companies can take to fulfil the duties for illegal content. In scope services will either need to follow these codes, or show their approach is equally effective. Tech companies will need to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. This means less illegal content online and when it does appear it will be removed quicker.</p><p>Schedule 7 of the Act sets out a series of priority offences which includes the sale of weapons. Companies will need to take particularly robust action to prevent the proliferation of this content online and ensure that their services are not used for offending. This means companies will need to proactively mitigate the risk that their services are used for illegal activity or to share this illegal content, to design their services to mitigate the risk of this occurring and to remove any content that does appear as soon as they are made aware of it.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp grouped question UIN 20903 question first answered 17/04/2024 15:22:25 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1698508

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	UNRWA: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether the Government plans to resume funding for UNRWA following the decisions of (a) Canada, (b) Australia, (c) Sweden and (d) Finland to resume their funding for that organisation.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	20201
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>We are appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. We have paused any future funding of UNRWA.</p><p>We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, including through other UN agencies and British charities.</p><p>Our decision to pause future funding to UNRWA has no impact on the UK's contribution to the humanitarian response. We are aware that the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services and Catherine Colonna have now provided their interim reports to the UN Secretary-General. We want UNRWA to give detailed undertakings about changes in personnel, policy and precedents to ensure this can never happen again.</p><p>We are working with allies to try to bring this situation to a rapid conclusion, not least because UNRWA has a vital role to play in providing aid and services in Gaza.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell question first answered 15/04/2024 12:07:11 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1698510

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	Gaza: Humanitarian Aid
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that Israel allows the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to provide humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	20202
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/04/2024 answer text <p>The Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister have underlined the need for Israel to ensure effective deconfliction in Gaza, open a crossing in northern Gaza and increase capacity inside Gaza, as well as fully enable the UN's minimal operating requirements, including by allowing visas, telecommunications equipment, armoured vehicles, trucks and personal protective equipment.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell question first answered 15/04/2024 12:49:41 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1690823

	registered interest
	date	21/02/2024
	answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept id	208
	answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
	hansard heading	UNRWA: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 16 February 2023 to Question 13364 on UNRWA: Finance, what progress his Department has made on its review into the allegations concerning the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	15024
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/02/2024 answer text <p>We are pressing the UN Office of Internal Oversight and Catherine Colonna to produce a rapid interim report. We want UNRWA to give detailed undertakings about changes in personnel, policy and precedents to ensure this can never happen again.</p><p>We are working with allies to try to bring this situation to a rapid conclusion - not least because UNRWA have a vital role to play in providing aid and services in Gaza.</p> answering member constituency Sutton Coldfield answering member printed Mr Andrew Mitchell question first answered 26/02/2024 17:42:20 answering member 1211 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Mitchell
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1688224

	registered interest
	date	07/02/2024
	answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
	answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
	hansard heading	Dental Services: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much Barnett Consequential funding the Welsh Government will receive from spending announced in the NHS Dental Recovery Plan for England.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	13514
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>This is a fully funded £200 million plan, and the National Health Service spending totals will be set at the budget, in the usual way. As with all England-only health funding, anything related to this plan will be subject to Barnett Consequential funding in the usual manner within the block grant.</p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 19/02/2024 14:04:06 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1687921

	registered interest
	date	06/02/2024
	answering body	Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Childcare: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 2098 on Childcare: Finance, how much the Welsh Government will receive in Barnett Formula consequential funding for (a) the roll out 15 hours of free childcare for working parents of two-year-olds from April 2024 in England and (b) extending 15 hours of free childcare to all children from the age of nine months from September 2024 in England.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	13261
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/02/2024 answer text <p>The Barnett formula applies to all increases or decreases to Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL).</p><p /><p>The Department for Education received additional funding for these programmes at Spring Budget 2023, and the Barnett formula was applied in the usual way.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Sevenoaks answering member printed Laura Trott question first answered 19/02/2024 09:28:39 answering member 4780 label Biography information for Laura Trott
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams