Category: Questions

Oral & written questions in the Lords and Commons

Bishop of Leicester asks about free school meals

The Bishop of Leicester received the following written answer on 4th November 2025:

The Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address the under[1]registration of eligible children for free school meals following the extension of entitlement to all children in households receiving Universal Credit; and whether they plan to introduce free school meal auto-enrolment to ensure all eligible children receive the support to which they are entitled.

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Bishop of Manchester asks about protection of health services in Gaza

The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on ensuring protection of health services in Gaza, following a government statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip on 3rd November 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, the last three functioning ICU beds in Gaza are in the Al-Ahli Anglican Hospital. In a time of transition, as we see, I hope, the elimination of Hamas, that will of course get rid of the Hamas-run health ministry. How can we ensure that health services are protected and indeed improved during any transition?

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Bishop of Manchester asks about resourcing for prison chaplains

The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on better resourcing of prison chaplains during a discussion on the transition from youth to adult custody for prisoners on 3rd November 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, the age when young people transfer from the youth system to the adult system is precisely the age when they are most trying to identify themselves and understand their faith and spirituality. Prison chaplains do an excellent job across the youth estate. Could the Minister give us some hints as to how they might be better supported and resourced to prepare young people at that time of transition, both in their lives and in the prison estate?

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Bishop of Winchester asks about importance of religious literacy for young people

The Bishop of Winchester asked a question on the role of religious literacy in promoting freedom of religion and belief on 30th October 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Winchester: My Lords, I was pleased to hear the Second Church Estates Commissioner confirm recently in another place that the Government are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Truro review, which I wrote several years ago at the invitation of the then Foreign Secretary. I have to say that that came as a pleasant surprise to me. In view of the significant and egregious growth in international violations of freedom of religion or belief in the intervening years, does the Minister agree with me that we need to ensure a high level of religious literacy among our young people and that professionally delivered RE is critical to that end?

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Bishop of Winchester asks about access to youth mobility schemes

The Bishop of Winchester asked a question on encouraging participation in youth mobility schemes for UK students and young people on 29th October 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Winchester: I am very grateful to the Minister for her Answer. For understandable reasons, His Majesty’s Government are very concerned at the moment to prevent people crossing the channel in one direction. However, it seems to me that we should be positively encouraging our young people to cross the channel in the other direction to take advantage of the very real opportunities a youth mobility scheme would offer, not simply for their own sake—although that is really important, as we have heard—but because, in an increasingly fractious and dangerous world, we sorely need young people with a broad, informed international perspective. Can the Minister confirm that—as well as, I hope, allowing such mobility—the Government will actually encourage such participation?

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Bishop of Norwich asks about methods of monitoring methane gas leakage during oil and gas extraction

The Bishop of Norwich asked a question on monitoring methane leakage in the UK during a discussion on ending non-routine offshore oil and gas venting and flaring on 28th October 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, the Minister mentioned our ageing infrastructure. We have become a global outlier in leak detection and repair to stop methane leakages. Norway has monthly checks, the US has quarterly checks and Canada is bringing in monthly checks. What is our policy, and will it mandate these leak detection and repair testing regimes?

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Church Commissioners Written Questions: Churches (Aerials)

On 28th October 2025, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Marsha De Cordova MP, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:

Churches: Aerials

Rebecca Smith MP (Con, South West Devon): To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment the Commissioners have made of the potential impact of the implementation of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 on revenue to churches.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about staffing levels in Jobcentres

The Bishop of Leicester tabled a question on staffing levels within Jobcentres on 23rd October 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the staffing levels within Job Centres.

Baroness Sherlock (Lab, DWP): My Lords, DWP monitors demand for jobcentre support on an ongoing basis and has well-established workforce planning systems to make sure that we have the right people in the right place at the right time. These systems help us to prioritise jobcentre activities where needed, protecting our most effective interventions and making sure that we maintain a constant focus on getting people into work, while remaining within funding limits and providing value for money.

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Bishop of Winchester asks about freedom of religion provisions in trade agreements

The Bishop of Winchester received the following written answer on 23rd October 2025:

The Lord Bishop of Winchester asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure human rights provisions on freedom of religion or belief have been included in the Free Trade Agreement with India.

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Bishop of Leicester asks about support for faith communities addressing safeguarding concerns

The Bishop of Leicester asked a question on government support for faith communities in addressing safeguarding concerns on 22nd October 2025, during a discussion on a Commons Urgent Question on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse:

The Lord Bishop of Leicester: My Lords, the Church of England has in recent years been forced to face up to our own, significant failures in the areas of safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. We were far too slow to realise the devastating impact of safeguarding when it goes wrong, and we are even now struggling to put in place appropriate ways of ensuring accountability and of being led by survivors. Can the Minister therefore tell me what the Government are doing to support all faith communities in addressing safeguarding, to go beyond simply the requirements of the Charity Commission and to show that no group is above the law when it comes to safeguarding?

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