Topical Questions - 5th January
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): Will
Ministers make it a priority to introduce mandatory reporting of female genital
mutilation and to strengthen policies and procedures to provide victims of FGM
with much-needed appropriate support?
Lynne Featherstone: My hon. Friend will be aware
that at the Girl Summit in July the Prime Minister announced our intention to
introduce mandatory reporting for this unacceptable practice. We are consulting
on how best to introduce the new duty. Alerting the police to cases of FGM will
allow them to investigate the facts and increase the number of perpetrators
apprehended. The NHS will support anyone affected by FGM and will offer
appropriate advice and procedures when needed.
Topical Questions - 6th January
T5.
[906812] Fiona Bruce
(Congleton) (Con): Across the world hundreds of thousands of Christians are
being perniciously persecuted for their faith, beaten with nail-studded wooden
clubs in Sri Lanka, abducted and killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria and Cameroon,
burned to death, forcibly married and on death row in Pakistan, and children are
chopped in half or sold into slavery by IS in Iraq. We know of this in this
House, and of much more. What are the Government doing about it? Is it not time
for this country to appoint a global ambassador for religious freedom?
6 Jan 2015 : Column 144
The Deputy Prime Minister: I am sure everybody is
shocked not only by the news but by the litany of abuse, persecution and
violence that is inflicted on Christians and all religious denominations that
are persecuted minorities around the world. The Government, through bilateral
engagement and working with partners in international organisations, funding
projects, and providing religious literacy training for Foreign and Commonwealth
Office staff, do a lot to counter this. There is also, as the hon. Lady will
know, an active advisory group on international freedom of religion or belief,
which we strongly support. The question whether we should go further—of course,
we should always keep an open mind on this—and create an envoy or an ambassador
on religious freedom is not quite as straightforward as she implies. Other
countries that have taken that step have found that those ambassadors and envoys
are excluded from visiting certain countries. That is why the best course of
action at present is for each of the Foreign Office Ministers to retain the
responsibility for promoting freedom of religion and belief in the areas of the
world which they cover.
A and E (Major Incidents) - 7th January
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): My
constituent, Mr J. Hollinshead, rang Ashfields surgery, Alsager, for an
appointment at 8.30 am on 2 January. He was given one for 10.30 am, when his
doctor referred him for three tests to be done with the practice nurse at 11.30
am, then on to Leighton hospital for an X-ray, and he was home by 1.30 pm. His
response: “How good is that?” Is not that a truer picture of the NHS under this
Government than the negative messages coming out from Labour Members?
Mr Hunt: I agree that we need to recognise the
successes of the NHS, and there are many of those successes. The reason we need
to do that—I urge Labour Members to remember this—is that it is very important
for the morale of people working in the NHS that we publicly recognise where
they are being successful.
Business of the House - 15th January
Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con): Will the
Leader of the House please confirm that, as indicated by the Under-Secretary of
State for Health (Jane Ellison) last March, there will be a debate on the
Government’s proposed mitochondrial donation regulations before Members are
asked to vote on them?
Mr Hague: Regulations to allow the clinical use
of those techniques for the first time were laid in Parliament on 17 December,
as my hon. Friend knows. The regulations are affirmative and therefore subject
to a debate in both Houses of Parliament. We are working on how to schedule that
debate and where it will take place, and I hope to update the House soon.
