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  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) EU students, and (2) students of other nationalities, remain in the UK after completing their university courses in the UK; and in each case for how long on average.

    Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply. What happens in terms of the migration system that will be established as we leave the EU is a matter that will be very closely scrutinised and looked at in great detail by the government and within the government.

  • Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place between the Home Office and the Department of Health in relation to the increase in the use by the police of powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act; and with what result.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Home Office and Department of Health have been working to increase the use of alternative joint health and policing approaches and interventions that reduce the need for the police to use their formal powers of detention under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. Whilst overall police use of section 136 has increased, from just under 15,000 in 2011/12 to 19,410 in 2014/15, the use of police cells has reduced from just under 9,000 in 2011/12 to 2,100 in 2015/16.

    As a result of joint work with the Department of Health those suffering a mental health crisis are more likely to be offered alternative support. The introduction of initiatives such as street triage schemes and community based places of safety provide an alternative to the use of police cells. These types of interventions are proving successful and the Home Office is seeking to promote their use nationally using the £15m funding made available by the Department of Health to increase the availability of alternative places of safety.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what experience the Secretary of State for International Trade has had of working inside British business.

    Lord Price

    My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade’s CV is available on gov.uk.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the dynamism and capability of the UK business sector.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The UK is one of the most dynamic and competitive economies in the world, as borne out by measures of the effectiveness of UK competition policy and regulation, for example:

    •The UK is ranked 2nd in the OECD for the pro-competition stance of its regulatory policies

    •The World Economic Forum rated the UK 3rd (out of 138) for the intensity of local competition, 12th for the extent of market dominance, and 10th for the effectiveness of our anti-monopoly policies.

    As a result, we are ranked 6th out of 189 countries in the World Bank Doing Business Index; and 7th out of 138 countries (improving our ranking from 10th last year) in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to raise the level of the maximum fine that can be imposed by the Information Commissioner.

    Lord Ashton of Hyde

    The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will come into force in all EU Member States on 25 May 2018, establishes a tiered approach to penalties for breaches which enables Data Protection Authorities to impose fines for the most serious infringements of up to the higher of 4% of annual worldwide turnover or EUR20 million. Other specified infringements would attract a fine of up to the higher of 2% of annual worldwide turnover or EUR10m.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what obligations they intend to place on companies to list their foreign workers.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Office.

    The Government will shortly be consulting on proposals to tighten the Resident Labour Market Test, which businesses have to undertake before sponsoring individuals under Tier 2 (General), the skilled work route for non-EEA nationals.

    This is not about listing foreign workers or so-called “naming and shaming” of companies. This information will not be published. The proportion of international workers in a company is one of the pieces of information that we might decide to take into account, as part of our work to ensure that companies take reasonable steps to recruit at home before looking to bring in workers from abroad.

    We will listen to businesses throughout the consultation and use that feedback to inform our decisions.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to publish a consultation paper setting out and assessing the different routes to Brexit.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Government is consulting widely through meetings all over the country with academics, think tanks, businesses, charities, universities and more to ensure that all views can be reflected in our analysis of the options for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.

  • Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Birt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the drop in the value of sterling in recent months reflects the markets’ view of the likely future health of the UK economy.

    Lord Young of Cookham

    The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and Her Majesty’s Government does not express a view on the level of exchange rates. Instead, the exchange rate is allowed to adjust flexibly in response to economic conditions and movements in sterling are determined by market forces.

    This framework means we do not need to introduce exchange rate controls.

  • Baroness Eaton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Eaton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Eaton on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation in the recent report from the charity Sense, Realising Aspirations for All, to break the link between welfare benefits and access to employment by making support voluntary and available to all disabled people, regardless of the benefits they claim.

    Lord Freud

    We welcome the Sense report, Realising Aspirations for All and its findings. We want all disabled and people with a long term health condition to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations.

    We will soon publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation to understand how every individual can have the opportunity to work and share in the economic and health benefits that work brings, regardless of their health condition or disability. We will continue to engage with Sense and other key stakeholders as part of the Green Paper consultation.

  • Baroness Eaton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Baroness Eaton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Eaton on 2016-10-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to trialling the introduction of personal budgets for employment support in order to support more disabled people into work.

    Lord Freud

    The Government recognises that people need support that is tailored to their needs. Personal Budgets are currently being trialled in Access to Work to offer customers greater flexibility to manage their Travel to Work or Support Worker costs. Initial findings from the trial are expected in early 2017.

    The Work and Health Unit, in partnership with NHS England, are also exploring options for trialling the expansion of personal health budgets to include employment support through the work and health Innovation Fund. This is being considered as part of a small number of health-led employment support trials that we hope to set up with devolution areas and as part of the ongoing development of Integrated Personal Commissioning where employment could be considered as part of a wider conversation to support the roll out of personal health budgets.

    A Personal Budgets model was previously tested in the Right to Control Trailblazers, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Disabled people taking part in the trailblazers were offered greater choice and control over the support they received, as well as the option to take a direct payment and arrange their own support. The final evaluation report did not find any evidence that the Right to Control Trailblazers had a significant positive impact on customers, both overall and by subgroup.