On Wednesday 16 March 2022 we received the fantastic news that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will be returning home to the UK, after years of baseless detention by Iran. I first raised Nazanin's imprisonment by Iran at Business Questions on 8 December 2016. I asked the Leader of the House "Given that it is soon

On Wednesday 16 March 2022 I met the Ambassadors to the UK from Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan at a roundtable event hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union British Group. The Ambassadors made presentations, which were followed by a question and answer session. His Excellency Hayashi Hajime has been the Japanese Ambassador since December 2020. He

The EU Treaty of Lisbon recognised animal sentience. After the UK left the European Union and ceased to be a party to that Treaty, the Government did not transpose that recognition into UK law. The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill recognises all vertebrate animals and some invertebrate animals such as octopi, lobsters and crabs as sentient beings. Sentience

In the UK, more than 200 professions are regulated by law, and regulators have established processes to recognise credentials gained overseas. These rules help determine whether qualifications acquired abroad include an adequate level of skill and training for the professionals to practice in the UK, and sometimes whether they can use a professional title.  The UK’s current system

The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill is designed to repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA) and would make the maximum term of a Parliament (rather than the period between general elections) five years. This would enable Governments, within the life of a Parliament, to call a general election at the time of their choosing.

On Monday 14 March 2022, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities made a statement to the House on the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme. Excerpts from the statement are below. "The Home Secretary has already expanded the family route. She has also confirmed that from tomorrow Ukrainians with passports will be able to

Joseph Leckie Academy was awarded £17 million for major refurbishment through the Building Schools for the Future Programme under the last Labour Government, but did not receive the majority of the funding after the BSF Programme was cancelled by David Cameron in 2010. 

On Monday 14 March 2022 I answered questions from Year 4 and Year 6 pupils at St Joseph's Catholic Primary as part of an online session organised through the Parliamentary Education Service. During the session, the pupils learnt about Government and Parliament the work of MPs and members of the House of Lords, how laws