International Day of Education 2023
A Westminster Hall debate on the International Day of Education is scheduled for Thursday 26 January 2023, from 1.30pm to 3.00pm. The debate will be led by Vicky Ford MP.

A Backbench Business debate on the ‘Bishop of Truro's Review on Persecution of Christians Overseas’ has been scheduled for Thursday 18 July 2019 in the Main Chamber. The debate has been nominated by the Backbench Business Committee after a representation from Chris Philp MP, Fiona Bruce MP, Jim Shannon MP and David Linden MP.
Bishop of Truro's Review on Persecution of Christians Overseas (254 KB , PDF)
The non-Governmental organisation, Open Doors, estimates that in the top 50 countries on their World Watch List for 2019, 245 million Christians are persecuted for their religious beliefs; while 1 in 9 Christians, worldwide, experience high levels of persecution. In 2014 only one country, North Korea, was ranked as ‘extreme’ for its level of persecution of Christians. In its 2019 report, 11 countries fall into that category.
Indeed, the International Society for Human Rights estimates that, worldwide, Christians are believed to be targets of about 80% of all acts of religious discrimination or persecution.
Acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, in December 2018 the Government asked the Bishop of Truro to conduct an independent review into the Foreign Office’s support for persecuted Christians worldwide, and to recommend improvements. An interim report of that review was published in May 2019, followed by a Final Report in July 2019.
Among its recommendations are:
In response to the Final Report, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief said:
Freedom of Religion or Belief has been a key priority for the FCO within our human rights agenda in recent years. Both strategically and through a focus on priority countries, we have not only raised the profile of religious persecution and abuse, but also acted on the rising tide of Christian persecution across the world with some success.
We therefore note the findings of this independent report and will consider the recommendations carefully and how they may further enhance our work in tackling Christian persecution specifically and in strengthening our work on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Bishop of Truro's Review on Persecution of Christians Overseas (254 KB , PDF)
A Westminster Hall debate on the International Day of Education is scheduled for Thursday 26 January 2023, from 1.30pm to 3.00pm. The debate will be led by Vicky Ford MP.
This House of Commons Briefing Paper analyses the debate over the voting rights of prisoners since May 2015, it also includes a concise summary of the main developments before May 2015.
A Westminster Hall debate on the closure of the Lachin Corridor and the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is scheduled for Tuesday 24 January 2023, from 2:30-4:00pm. The debate will be led by Tim Loughton MP.