It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Graham, and also to follow a very knowledgeable former Public Health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine). I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) for securing this debate and...
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Graham, and also to follow a very knowledgeable former Public Health Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine). I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price) for securing this debate and...
My Lords, I will not detain the Committee long. I would not normally be seen near a finance Bill, largely because I do not have and do not ever expect to have any finance to bother me. Nor would I presume to discuss mortgage payments, since I do not have...
My Lords, I will not detain the Committee long. I would not normally be seen near a finance Bill, largely because I do not have and do not ever expect to have any finance to bother me. Nor would I presume to discuss mortgage payments, since I do not have...
My Lords, I too support the intent of the Bill and certainly wish the Attorney-General well. As other noble Lords have said, it is disappointing that the Bill provides for only a small number of what might be described as very privileged women when we know that in the workplace...
My Lords, I too support the intent of the Bill and certainly wish the Attorney-General well. As other noble Lords have said, it is disappointing that the Bill provides for only a small number of what might be described as very privileged women when we know that in the workplace...
I thank the Leader of the House for the business and for the recess dates, which I think I had not known previously. He did not mention Westminster Hall and the important debates listed there. I know the Chair of the Petitions Committee has quite a few petitions, and we...
I thank the Leader of the House for the business and for the recess dates, which I think I had not known previously. He did not mention Westminster Hall and the important debates listed there. I know the Chair of the Petitions Committee has quite a few petitions, and we...
Among the many acts of heroism that we have seen over the past year, the quiet dedication, hard work and compassion shown by all who serve their communities in local government has truly shone through. I am sincerely thankful for their efforts. I am grateful to them for protecting the...
Among the many acts of heroism that we have seen over the past year, the quiet dedication, hard work and compassion shown by all who serve their communities in local government has truly shone through. I am sincerely thankful for their efforts. I am grateful to them for protecting the...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the range of milks covered by the Nursery Milk Scheme to include plant-based and other non-dairy milks.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the range of milks covered by the Nursery Milk Scheme to include plant-based and other non-dairy milks.
At present the legislation governing the Nursery Milk Scheme allows for the reimbursement of the cost of cow’s milk and infant formula based on cow’s milk. The Department is currently considering this position.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission Farming for Change—Mapping a route to 2030, published on 7 January.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission Farming for Change—Mapping a route to 2030, published on 7 January.
Defra has not yet assessed the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission's report in detail. However, we will certainly digest it fully in due course and consider the impact on our work of its findings and recommendations.
Our future policy will help farmers continue to provide a supply of healthy, home-grown produce to high environmental and animal welfare standards. Furthermore, our plans for future farming must tackle climate change. This is one of the most urgent challenges facing the world. So, as we design our future agricultural policy, we can deliver the pace of change on land management for environmental benefits that the EU has never managed to achieve. Our farmers and land managers will play a crucial role in the national effort to reach Net Zero and our policies will help them do that.
Domestically, reaching our Net Zero target is one of this Government's top priorities. We know that reaching Net Zero will be a challenge, requiring action across the economy. This will mean changes to the way land is managed to reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. We will support the sector to make these changes through the schemes set out in this plan. Simultaneously, we need to protect and increase our carbon stores, increasing afforestation and peat restoration rates across England, whilst supporting the adaptiveness and resilience of these ecosystems to risks which may arise under a changing climate. All three components of our new Environmental Land Management scheme will help deliver on this.
Our Environmental Land Management scheme is the cornerstone of our new agricultural policy. It is intended to provide a powerful vehicle for achieving the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting our rural economy. Farmers and land managers will be paid to improve the environment, improve animal health and welfare, and reduce carbon emissions.
The Government is committed to taking action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impact. Defra is looking at ways to reduce agricultural emissions controlled directly within the farm boundary, considering a broad range of measures including improvements in on-farm efficiency. Improvements in agricultural practice mean that since 1990 we are producing a kilo of pork with 37% less emissions. Efficiency gains in dairy farming mean that we are now producing 9% more milk than we were in 2000 with 23% fewer cows. The Government recognises the importance of reducing emissions further in these sectors.
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This briefing paper was last updated in January 2021 and will no longer be updated. For information on the broad subject area see the paper Student Accommodation FAQs |
The coronavirus pandemic has raised a number of issues relating to student accommodation.
Most students live away from home during term time in university provided accommodation such as halls of residence, or in private purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), or in private rented accommodation.
Since the pandemic Government lockdowns and coronavirus measures have impacted on student living arrangements in several ways. In March 2020 when the first lockdown was imposed many students chose to move home and leave their term-time accommodation early when teaching moved on-line. In many cases this left accommodation empty and students still liable for rent payments.
In September 2020 most students returned to university and their term-time accommodation, but many found that their living arrangements were restricted due to providers following Government guidance on Covid management. Furthermore, outbreaks of Covid-19 in a number of universities put many students in self-isolation and caused unexpected difficulties. Subsequently at the end of term the Government issued guidance which resulted in most students leaving their accommodation early to return home for the Christmas break.
In January 2021 a further national lockdown has meant face-to-face teaching is restricted to students on future critical worker courses, such as nursing, medicine education and social work. This has left many students continuing with online learning, unable to return to university or their term-time accommodation and paying for accommodation that they are unable to use.
Overall, compliance with Covid measures has caused many students to be unable to live in their term-time accommodation for significant periods and many have had a poorer experience than expected due to Covid outbreaks and restrictions. This has led to students demanding rent refunds or discounts.
Universities and accommodation providers have responded to demand for rebates in different ways.
This paper outlines some to the issues with student accommodation during the crisis and discusses rent rebates.
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This briefing paper was last updated in January 2021 and will no longer be updated. For information on the broad subject area see the paper Student Accommodation FAQs |
The coronavirus pandemic has raised a number of issues relating to...
This Opposition debate is a purely political stunt and Opposition Members should look a little closer to home, where their party is in government in Wales. Welsh Labour has presided over more than two decades of council tax rises, with further rises planned this year. What is more, on average,...
This Opposition debate is a purely political stunt and Opposition Members should look a little closer to home, where their party is in government in Wales. Welsh Labour has presided over more than two decades of council tax rises, with further rises planned this year. What is more, on average,...
I shall refer to the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks later, but at this point I will continue to make some progress. I represent the constituency of Brent North, which only Newham, which includes the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), might be able...
I shall refer to the right hon. Gentleman’s remarks later, but at this point I will continue to make some progress. I represent the constituency of Brent North, which only Newham, which includes the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), might be able...
India is a multi-faith democracy, with a majority Hindu population. According to 2011 census data, 79.80% of the population of India is Hindu, 14.23% Muslim, 2.30% Christian, 1.72% Sikh, 0.70% Buddhist, and 0.37% Jain.
India’s constitution defines the nation as secular and protects freedom of religion or belief. However, there are concerns that religious minorities and other minority groups are suffering from persecution and discrimination, and that conditions have deteriorated in recent years.
Human rights groups have criticised the Government, which has been led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2014, for not doing enough to protect minorities. Human Rights Watch, in its 2019 report on India claimed that “the government failed to properly enforce Supreme Court directives to prevent and investigate mob attacks, often led by BJP supporters, on religious minorities and other vulnerable communities”.
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who has led the BJP Government since it came to power, has defended its record on religious freedom. Mr Modi in an address to the US Congress in 2016, said:
For my government, the Constitution is its real holy book. And, in that holy book, freedom of faith, speech and franchise, and equality of all citizens, regardless of background, are enshrined as fundamental rights. [1]
India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), passed by its Parliament in December 2019, has been a particular cause for concern for those worried about religious freedom in the country. BBC News outlined the purpose and effects of the law
The act offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three countries - Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan
It amends India's 64-year-old citizenship law, which currently prohibits illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens.
It also expedites the path to Indian citizenship for members of six religious minority communities - Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian - if they can prove that they are from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Afghanistan or Bangladesh.
They will now only have to live or work in India for six years - instead of 11 years - before becoming eligible to apply for citizenship.
The government says this will give sanctuary to people fleeing religious persecution, but critics argue that it will marginalise India's Muslim minority.[2]
In a press release Amnesty International stated that the law “legitimises discrimination on the basis of religion and stands in clear violation of both the constitution of India and international human rights law”.[3]
That same month as protests against the law sparked violent clashes, the Indian Prime Minister defended the law saying "we passed this bill to help the persecuted”. Mr Modi said the law would have "no effect on citizens of India, including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists". He also blamed the opposition for the protests, accusing them of "spreading lies and rumours" and "instigating violence" and "creating an atmosphere of illusion and falsehood".[4]
Other causes for concern for India’s Muslims include mob violence against Muslims accused of killing cows, animals that are sacred to Hindus.
According to a 2018 briefing by the Library of Congress, eight out of India’s twenty-nine states have Freedom of Religion Acts often called “anti-conversion” laws, that regulate religious conversions. These laws are seen to in particular target Christian groups. However, it is reported that there have been very few arrests or prosecutions under these laws.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) an independent U.S. federal government commission that reports on religious freedom, the right to proselytize is protected alongside freedom of religion or belief in India’s constitution. However, religious freedom is “subject to public order,” a “vague phrase allowing the suspension of rights to protect social “tranquillity””.[5]
In its 2020 report the Commission reported that violence against Christians also increased:
With at least 328 violent incidents, often under accusations of forced conversions. These attacks frequently targeted prayer services and led to the widespread shuttering or destruction of churches.[6]
The Commission’s report recommended that the US State Department designate India as a “country of particular concern,” citing the Citizenship Amendment Act as part of its justification for the recommendation.
The Washington Post reported that Anurag Srivastava, the spokesman for India’s ministry of external affairs, rejected the conclusions in the report. The commission’s “biased and tendentious comments against India are not new,” he said. “On this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels.”[7]
Human Rights Watch’s 2019 report on India, suggested that Dalits and tribal communities continue to face discrimination:
Dalits, formerly “Untouchables,” faced violent attacks and discrimination. In September, the Supreme Court issued notices to authorities to examine caste-based exclusion at universities across India following a petition filed by mothers of two students—one Dalit and one from a tribal community—who committed suicide allegedly due to discrimination.
Nearly 2 million people from tribal communities and forest-dwellers remained at risk of forced displacement and loss of livelihoods after a February Supreme Court ruling to evict all those whose claims under the Forest Rights Act were rejected. Amid concerns over flaws in the claim process, the court stayed the eviction temporarily. In July, three UN human rights experts urged the government to conduct a transparent and independent review of the rejected claims, and evict only after it exhausted all options, ensuring redress and compensation.
Caste-based discrimination is banned under India’s constitution. On independence the Indian Government introduced quotas in government jobs and educational institutions for scheduled castes and tribes. Successive Governments have attempted to tackle caste-based discrimination.
[1] ‘Freedom of speech and religion enshrined in constitution: PM Modi’, Economic Times, 8 June 2016.
[2] ‘Citizenship Amendment Act: Court refuses to put controversial law on hold’, BBC News, 22 January 2020.
[3] Amnesty International, ‘India: New Citizenship Amendment Bill 'reeks of fear-mongering and bigotry', 12 December 2019.
[4] ‘India protests: PM Modi defends citizenship bill amid clashes’, BBC News, 22 December 2019
[5] United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2020 Annual Report, pp 21.
[6] United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2020 Annual Report, pp 20.
[7] ‘Religious freedoms in India deteriorated last year, U.S. government watchdog says’, The Washington Post, 28 April 2020
India is a multi-faith democracy, with a majority Hindu population. According to 2011 census data, 79.80% of the population of India is Hindu, 14.23% Muslim, 2.30% Christian, 1.72% Sikh, 0.70% Buddhist, and 0.37% Jain.
India’s constitution defines the nation as secular and protects freedom of religion or belief....
My Lords, when vaccines are developed, they go through clinical trials to check on efficacy and any damaging side-effects. What would happen if the same process were applied to lockdowns and other draconian measures? We would have to ask: do they work? Do the serious side-effects outweigh the alleged benefits...
My Lords, when vaccines are developed, they go through clinical trials to check on efficacy and any damaging side-effects. What would happen if the same process were applied to lockdowns and other draconian measures? We would have to ask: do they work? Do the serious side-effects outweigh the alleged benefits...
My Lords, the draconian limitation of our scrutiny of this Bill—with no Committee stage, no Report stage, no amendments and three minutes each to speak—flows directly from the Government being too cowed by the ERG to seek to extend the transition period beyond tomorrow. So we have a disgraceful Hobson’s...
My Lords, the draconian limitation of our scrutiny of this Bill—with no Committee stage, no Report stage, no amendments and three minutes each to speak—flows directly from the Government being too cowed by the ERG to seek to extend the transition period beyond tomorrow. So we have a disgraceful Hobson’s...
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for what turned out to be a very spirited debate on the Bill. I will try to respond in as detailed a way as I can, although, as my noble friend Lord Lansley recognised, some of the points that have been raised are very...
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for what turned out to be a very spirited debate on the Bill. I will try to respond in as detailed a way as I can, although, as my noble friend Lord Lansley recognised, some of the points that have been raised are very...
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) on securing the debate. I am the parliamentary species champion for swifts, so I am in the slightly unusual position of campaigning for swift bricks, rather...
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Hollobone. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) on securing the debate. I am the parliamentary species champion for swifts, so I am in the slightly unusual position of campaigning for swift bricks, rather...
| Current data for England can be found on our constituency dashboard, GPs and GP practices. This page is no longer being updated. |
The downloadable files on this page give a list of GP practices in each UK Parliamentary Constituency with addresses and contact details (where available).
Sources:
MPs and their staff can contact specialists in the House of Commons Library to obtain further data about GP practices in their constituencies. Examples of available data include demographic data about patient registers, disease prevalence, and statistics on prescriptions.
More information about specific GP practices can be found using Public Health England's National General Practice Profiles website.
| Current data for England can be found on our constituency dashboard, GPs and GP practices. This page is no longer being updated. |
The downloadable files on this page give a list of GP practices in...
I want to make it clear that the work that the National Trust has done around west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly—Cornwall in particular—is hugely important and valued.
In April 2020 I set up, with a councillor from Cornwall Council, a tourism recovery group, and the National Trust took part...
I want to make it clear that the work that the National Trust has done around west Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly—Cornwall in particular—is hugely important and valued.
In April 2020 I set up, with a councillor from Cornwall Council, a tourism recovery group, and the National Trust took part...
I declare an interest, as my husband is a medical director for NHS England, but not in the region where this hospital is located.
From these Benches, I want to start by sending our heartfelt love and admiration—as, I am sure, do many across the House—to those parents and families who...
I declare an interest, as my husband is a medical director for NHS England, but not in the region where this hospital is located.
From these Benches, I want to start by sending our heartfelt love and admiration—as, I am sure, do many across the House—to those parents and families who...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to provide greater access to NHS dental care on the Isle of Wight.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to provide greater access to NHS dental care on the Isle of Wight.
Dental practices were required to close for face to face care on 26 March 2020 due to COVID-19. Urgent care continued to be provided by practices, restricted to remote triage, advice, analgesia and antibiotics where appropriate. In April, urgent dental care (UDC) hubs were established in Cowes for patients who were at greater risk or shielding as well as Ryde for all other patients. In July a further UDC hub was established in Bembridge.
Since 8 June, practices have been able to see patients for face-to-face care. The pace of restoration of dental services is limited by public health measures on social distancing and the infection prevention control guidance. All National Health Service dental practices on the Isle of Wight are open and seeing patients who require urgent dental care which cannot be controlled by pain relief or assisted by antibiotics, those who were in a course of treatment that was not completed prior to the lockdown, and those who may be at greater risk of oral disease. Dental clinicians should identify and recall patients according to their clinical and professional judgement.
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