The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations his Department has received from families groups on allowing the names of parents and legal guardians to be included on a child’s passport.
Mr Edward Timpson
The Department for Education has no record of family groups (or anyone else) making representations on this matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-03-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2014, Official Report, columns 787-8W, on pupil exclusions: autism, how his Department deals with allegations that schools are disregarding the statutory guidance on exclusion in respect of students with autistic disorders.
Elizabeth Truss
As part of their legal duties in relation to exclusion, schools must have regard to the statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education. Parents approaching the Department with concerns about an exclusion are informed about the formal routes of challenge available to them and directed to sources of free and impartial advice. If the Department identifies that a governing body has acted unlawfully or unreasonably in carrying out its legal duties, and it would be expedient to do so, then the Secretary of State could issue a direction. The Department would also pass to Ofsted any relevant evidence that fell within the inspectorate’s remit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department will provide for NHS staff on whether to share the information on the Child Protection Information Sharing project with relevant local authorities, police forces or care homes.
Dr Daniel Poulter
The Child Protection – Information Sharing (CP-IS) project will allow the sharing of child protection information between National Health Service unscheduled care settings and local authority children’s services staff only. The information will not be shared with care homes or the police.
CP-IS will hold child protection information only for children in England who are subject to a child protection plan or are looked after by a local authority.
When NHS staff submit a query the CP-IS service, the system will electronically share the following information with the local authority responsible for the child: the time and date of the query, the name of the NHS healthcare worker who made the query, and the NHS organisation from within which the query was made.
CP-IS will not introduce information sharing over and beyond what is currently shared by NHS staff and local authorities.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre has published guidance on its website for NHS and local authority staff on how to use the CP-IS system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent on contracts for consultancy groups on the Bost Agri-Business Park and Airfield projects in Afghanistan in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.
Justine Greening
I refer the Hon. member to the answer that I gave to him on 5 March 2013, Official Report, Col 967 – 968W.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, columns 59-61W, on private education: offences against children, how many referrals the National College for Teaching and Leadership has (a) received and (b) acted upon since that body’s establishment.
Mr Edward Timpson
The National College for Teaching and Leadership has received 40 referrals from independent schools in respect of matters outlined in the answer of 6 May 2014, Official Report, columns 59-61W.
All of these referrals have been considered, or are in the course of being considered, in accordance with the procedures outlined in that answer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions his Department has had with other government departments on extending the winter fuel payment to people on the higher rate of disability living allowance for care or mobility and the equivalent enhanced rate of the new personal independence payment; and if he will make a statement.
Gregory Barker
Winter fuel payments is a DWP policy.
However, people with disabilities may be able to access the Warm Home Discount Scheme and receive a rebate off their electricity bill. They may also be able to access the Energy Companies Obligation through which they can get help with insulation and heating measures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons the Contact Point database was discontinued.
Mr Edward Timpson
ContactPoint was discontinued because it was disproportionate.
The Government believes it is unjustifiable to hold information on every child in England and to make it accessible to hundreds of thousands of people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is her Department’s policy to send only departmental development experts to oversee development projects overseas.
Justine Greening
DFID sends a variety of developmental experts to oversee projects overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2014, Official Report, columns 366-7W, on children: databases, what his Department’s policy is on sharing information in respect of vulnerable children and children at risk.
Mr Edward Timpson
The statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2013′, is very clear that the effective sharing of information between professionals and local agencies is essential for accurate identification, assessment and provision of services for vulnerable children. The Department for Education’s policy is clear that fears about sharing information cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the need to promote the welfare and protect the safety of children.
The speech made by Steve McCabe, the Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, in the House of Commons on 30 June 2022.
I thank the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) for securing the debate and congratulate him on an excellent speech. In the interest of transparency, I am the chair of Labour Friends of Israel and a member of the British Committee for Iran Freedom.
I suspect that the outcome of the talks in Vienna will be crucial in shaping the future of the international community’s relations with Iran. Whatever that outcome, however, we must develop a clear-sighted and comprehensive strategy to tackle the challenges we face, including the many that the current talks are unlikely to resolve. As we have heard, the malign activities of those who control the Iranian regime extend far beyond its nuclear ambitions and include: its ballistic missile programme; support for terrorist proxies across the middle east; the dangerous influence and activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Tehran’s insidious disinformation campaigns; its policy of state hostage taking; and the suffering of the Iranian people over four decades.
In the face of those challenges, the JCPOA, which was negotiated in 2015, looks pretty limited. Despite the name, as the right hon. Gentleman pointed out, it is clearly not comprehensive and, as we heard, it actually exacerbated certain problems by freeing up extra resources for the mullahs. The Trump Administration’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 dealt a severe blow to the deal, but Iran’s record of systematically violating the agreement had already highlighted its inadequacy.
Those violations include, as we have heard, the decision to enrich uranium beyond the agreed cap and the deliberate obstruction of the IAEA inspectors. Iran had already made clear its contempt for the agreement by turning off some of the inspectors’ monitoring equipment. Officials said a couple of weeks ago that they expect to lose any continuity of knowledge regarding the progress of Iran’s activity because of the obstruction they are facing from it. Even if we had a deal up and running, the inspectors would not be able to do their job.
Some believe that a new agreement might provide a measure of medium-term restraint on Iran’s nuclear programme; others have their doubts. As we have heard, the Institute for Science and International Security has concluded that it is on the verge of obtaining the bomb. The appointment of Mohammad Eslami, the main liaison with Pakistani freelance nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, as the new head of Tehran’s Atomic Energy Organisation is the clearest signal we could have of Iran’s real intentions. That is why I am sceptical of the idea that those people will negotiate in good faith and keep their word.
As the LFI argues in its recent pamphlet on the subject, the UK needs to develop realistic strategies to address the nuclear threat and the other Iranian issues. Iran’s ballistic missile programme is the biggest in the middle east and makes it the first country to develop a missile with a 2,000 km range without having first developed nuclear capability. It is also the only country that routinely threatens to wipe another nation off the face of the map—the destruction of the state of Israel is the official policy of Iran’s leaders.
As we have heard, as well as threatening Israel’s existence, Iran is responsible for waging war, terrorism and violence—mostly through its proxies—in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. The UK has rightly banned some of those proxies, but not all their front organisations. The Government should do more and look at proscribing Hezbollah and Hamas.
As we have also heard, Iran’s terrorist activities are supported by the regime’s ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which not only leads on meddling in the region but brutally represses ordinary Iranians. Its influence has expanded rapidly in recent years, including over a variety of operations across Europe. I believe, as others do, that the UK should join our allies the United States and proscribe the IRGC for the dangerous terrorist group it is.
Iranian disinformation efforts, run by the IRGC, have significantly expanded since 2015. There is mounting evidence of interference in UK domestic politics, including last year’s Scottish Parliament elections. The UK Government should urgently draw up proposals for how they intend to combat and disrupt that interference.
Iran’s policy of arbitrarily detaining foreign nationals, most prominently Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, demands co-ordinated international action. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office must be bold enough to call this activity what it is—state hostage taking. We should use the UK’s position at the UN to lead and develop a proper response from the international community.
We should also never forget that the Iranian regime’s most long-standing and long-suffering victims are the Iranian people themselves. We can and should do more to support the victims of some of the most unimaginable human rights abuses. I think it is both curious and shocking that, nearly two years since it was established, the Magnitsky Act is yet to be applied to a single Iranian individual or entity. There are many Iranian politicians and officials guilty of human rights abuses, including prison governors, military personnel, regional governors and others. Ebrahim Raisi himself stands accused of being responsible for a programme of mass killings in Iran.
Whatever the outcome of the nuclear talks in Vienna, the threats posed by this regime to the Iranian people, the peoples of the middle east, our own country and democracies around the world will not go away. UK foreign policy should reflect the reality of the situation. Any revived JCPOA that only deals with the nuclear programme is probably not worth the paper it is written on. The desire of those who wish to resurrect the JCPOA should not detract from the urgent need to recognise and develop a smart, proportionate and comprehensive strategy to resist Iran’s terrorist activity around the globe.
Should it prove impossible to secure a satisfactory deal, which I think is pretty inevitable, I concur with the right hon. Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones) that the UK and other western participants should refer the regime’s nuclear activities to the UN Security Council, and we should immediately seek to reinstate the six resolutions that were suspended in good faith because of the JCPOA.