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  • Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Northover – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Northover on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential contribution of addressing childhood cancer to the third Sustainable Development Goal.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The third millennium development goal includes the intention to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment by 2030: this includes all forms of cancer. Reporting will be based on data from country health information systems.

    DFID’s health focus is to improve the provision of basic health services for the poorest by strengthening health systems, improving health worker capacity and increasing access to essential medicines and equipment. Increasing coverage, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including childhood cancer. DFID also supports some specific efforts to tackle childhood cancer, such as a project through World Child Cancer in Burma, which seeks to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care for children with cancer.

  • Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Parminter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Parminter on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire after four years of operation.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Government plans to publish a report on the fourth year of licensed badger control operations in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire as it has done for the first three years. The Animal and Plant Health Agency continues to assess annually the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle in areas where badger control is licensed for the purposes of controlling the disease. The analysis after the first two years in Somerset and Gloucestershire is available on the gov.uk website.

  • Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide the names of the receiver organisations currently reported as Supplier Name Withheld” for the £5.49 million in disbursements given to the Norwegian Refugee Council for legal assistance in the West Bank and Gaza from September 2013 to May 2016.”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    All disbursements listed on the Development Tracker for the programme entitled ‘Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Legal Assistance to prevent demolitions and displacement in the OPTs’ have been made directly to the NRC, which is the supplier for this programme. Due to a technical issue inherent in the Development Tracker management information system, some supplier names appear as withheld when in fact they should be published. Our central management information team is working on a solution to this problem.

  • Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the total values of UK aid disbursements in the Palestinian territories given for the purpose of (1) legal assistance, and (2) promoting peaceful co-existence, in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In each of the last five years the UK has provided the following support for legal assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs):

    Year

    Disbursement

    2012/2013

    £340,000

    2013/2014

    £2,011,000

    2014/2015

    £2,550,000

    2015/2016

    £2,655,000

    2016/2017

    £1,000,000*

    Total

    £8,556,000

    *as this is the current financial year, this figure is subject to change.

    The DFID Secretary of State is currently considering options for co-existence programmes as part of a wider examination of DFID’s programme in the OPTs. The FCO has supported several co-existence projects in Israel.

  • Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Polak – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Polak on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the reports of a senior World Vision official in Gaza diverting funds to Hamas, what steps they are taking to ensure that UK aid given to projects in Gaza and the West Bank is not misappropriated.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The recent allegations against the senior World Vision official in Gaza are deeply concerning. DFID does not fund World Vision operations in Gaza or the Occupied Palestinian Territories more widely. DFID’s programmes are subject to stringent safeguards.

  • Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have agreed to accept Syrian refugees.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    More than 170 local authorities have provided firm offers of places and many more have pledged to resettle refugees under this scheme. We continue to work with them all in order to meet our commitment. Progress on resettlement is reported in quarterly immigration statistics, including the local authorities participating in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and how many refugees have been resettled in each area.

  • Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Viscount Waverley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits to the police and intelligence agencies in combatting terrorism and crime of making it mandatory for purchasers of pay-as-you-go SIM cards to produce appropriate forms of identification.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    This issue was considered in detail by an expert group comprising representatives of law enforcement, the security and intelligence agencies and communication service providers following the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005. The experts’ findings remain valid. They concluded that the registration of ownership of mobile telephones would not deliver any significant new benefits to the investigatory process.

    Mobile phones are not the only devices capable of making calls or sending messages. Many laptops, computers, popular MP3 players and games consoles also support the sending of messages and phone calls. These devices are increasingly being used for communications. It would be necessary to include these other devices in any mandatory registration scheme.

    Separately, the person who buys the device is not necessarily the person who will use it. Mobile phones are often sold or given to family members or friends which would mean that such information would quickly become out of date.

    Furthermore, those who were keen to avoid providing details would still find ways to circumvent the scheme, such as purchasing or registering phones under false identities.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 April (HL7139), whether they have published their vision and business case for improved recycling, and if so, what action they are now taking to follow it up with a plan to deliver simplified and consistent recycling collection systems.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The framework for greater consistency in household recycling in England, devised by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and an Advisory Group was published on 13 September. The framework, along with the supporting evidence and case studies, is available on WRAP’s website.

    There are various work streams continuing under the framework WRAP is also working with a number of councils that would like to explore the business case and introduce service changes in line with the consistency framework.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Food Crime Unit’s budget and enforcement powers are being reviewed in the light of Professor Chris Elliott’s recent comments that it does not have enough authority.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In response to Professor Elliott’s 2014 review of the integrity and assurance of food supply networks, the Government established a National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) to give a focus to enforcement efforts against fraud and criminality in the food chain. The Government, in its response to the Elliott review, agreed there should be a review of progress and likely future need after two years. A copy of the Elliot review and the Government’s response is attached.

    The NFCU reaches the two year milestone at the end of December 2016 with the review scheduled to be completed by that time. Work has already begun on the review, which is being carried out within the Food Standards Agency’s resources under the oversight of an independent steering group, made up of three external experts representing law enforcement, consumers and industry. Among other issues the review is considering the resources and enforcement powers available to the NFCU.

  • Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-09-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will pay the outstanding payments to farmers affected by storms Eva and Desmond last December.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    More than 1,000 applications for funding under the Farming Recovery Fund have been approved by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

    Farmers have until the end of December 2016 to carry out the restoration work and then submit a claim for payment to us. RPA aims to process and made payments within a month of receiving a fully completed claim.

    To date the RPA has received 358 claims for payment and 268 of these have been paid.

    RPA is waiting for the remaining 750 claims to be submitted, the majority of which are expected in October and November.