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  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on community cohesion of the introduction of fixed-term local authority tenancies.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Continuing to provide lifetime tenancies to households that may only experience temporary need compounds the situation that sees 1.2 million households on social housing waiting lists, and 236,000 social tenants forced to live in overcrowded conditions due to lack of suitably sized properties, while 380,000 households occupy social housing with two or more spare bedrooms. This is not a good use of scarce social housing and it is not likely to lead to strong and cohesive communities.

    The provisions in the Housing and Planning Bill require that towards the end of the fixed term the landlord must review the tenant’s circumstances. Where they are broadly unchanged, the landlord will be able to grant a further tenancy in the same home.

  • Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Bassam of Brighton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation they have completed on the introduction of fixed-term local authority tenancies.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The previous Coalition Government consulted on proposals to create a new local authority flexible tenancy with a minimum fixed term of two years in November 2010 – in ‘Local decisions: a fairer future for social housing’. The flexible tenancy was introduced by the Localism Act 2011.

    In the Summer Budget 2015, the Government announced the intention to review the use of lifetime tenancies in social housing to limit their use and ensure that households are offered tenancies that match their needs and make best use of the social housing stock.

    Since then DCLG officials have engaged with local authority landlords, through a series of meetings and regionally based focus groups, in developing proposals to introduce a new fixed-term tenancy of between 2 and 5 years.

  • Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will launch an independent inquiry into the reported power failures on Type 45 destroyers, and the case for increasing their power capacity by 50 per cent.

    Earl Howe

    There is currently no plan to launch an independent inquiry into the reported power failures on Type 45 destroyers or the case for increasing their power capacity.

    As announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we have committed to investing in the necessary improvements in the Type 45 power and propulsion systems to address issues and ensure future capability requirements can be met. Decisions will, of course, be fully scrutinised at each of the formal procurement investment decision points as the programme progresses.

  • Lord Bradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Bradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that learning disabilities services are commissioned by the NHS in every prison in England.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England, NHS England and the National Offender Management Service commission individual health and wellbeing needs assessments (HNAs) in all prisons and young offender institutions in England on a regular basis. An HNA identifies the health needs of the population for which health services will be commissioned in that establishment, which includes learning disabilities.

    NHS England commissions health services to standard specifications which ensures that evidence-based clinical standards of care are delivered in individual prisons.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their review into Trading Standards, first announced on 10 July 2015 as part of their report into productivity Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is still considering the issues raised during this review and will respond in due course.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what their reasons are for the delay in publishing their review of Trading Standards, outlined in the report on productivity Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, in the light of the fact that the competition plan A better deal: boosting competition for families and firms published in November 2015 stated that the review had been completed.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is still considering the issues raised during this review and will respond in due course.

  • Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Grey-Thompson on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of operating wheelchair services in England in the last year for which figures are available.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Information on the cost of operating wheelchair services in England is not available centrally. Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services to patients. The total cost of operating wheelchair services reported in 2014-15 reference costs was £143.4 million.

    NHS England advises that as clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning wheelchair services, it does not collect data on how much is spent on the purchase of wheelchairs. NHS England is however supporting improvement in wheelchair services and has just established a new national data collection. This will enable tracking at local and national levels of issues such as the number of wheelchair users, the costs of services and the length of time people have to wait.

  • Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Grey-Thompson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Grey-Thompson on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the responses received on the NHS mandate consultation asked for an improvement in wheelchair services.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    At least 170 responses were received that called for improvements to National Health Service wheelchair services. It should be noted that due to limitations in the analysis of large volumes of unstructured e-mail data received during the consultation it is possible that this is an under-estimate.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will meet the British Red Cross to discuss improvements in the existing processes for the reunion of refugees’ families.

    Lord Bates

    Home Office officials have already met with the British Red Cross to discuss improvements in the existing process for family reunion. We will continue to consult with them to ensure that migrants better understand the process and what is required of them.

  • Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Inglewood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Inglewood on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people in England have been killed or injured during grey squirrel control with guns during the last decade.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    This information is not held centrally. I can confirm that the Forestry Commission in England does not have any record of anyone being killed or injured during grey squirrel control with guns on the Public Forest Estate in the last decade. However, it does not hold any record of incidents elsewhere.