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  • Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord McColl of Dulwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 29 June 2015 (HL541), what action they have taken to make it easier for human trafficking victims whose circumstances make it difficult to provide evidence that they have been habitually resident in the UK for three months to provide such evidence.

    Lord Bates

    A significant number of victims of modern slavery who are identified in the UK are provided support through the government funded victim-care contract for 90 days or longer. Where this is the case, we have ensured that the support provider is able to supply the Department for Work and Pensions with a letter as evidence that the individual has been habitually resident in the UK for more than three months. For the remaining cases where they receive support for less than 90 days, evidence may be provided by the police or other statutory agencies involved in the case confirming the victim has been living in the UK for more than three months, where such evidence exists.

  • Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will respond to the report A Review of Choice at the End of Life, published by the End of Life Coalition in February 2015.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department commissioned the independently-led Review of Choice in End of Life Care which provided advice to Ministers last year. The Review set out a vision for enabling greater choice and improving quality at the end of life for every dying person.

    We want to ensure that patients have greater choice about the care they receive at the end of their life and we are working with NHS England to see how this can best be achieved. We will set out our full response to the Choice Review shortly.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the status of the Sheffield City Region Devolution Deal, in the light of the Leader of Sheffield City Council refusing to accept the current Deal; what the areas of disagreement are; and what their position is on each of those areas.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Sheffield City Region devolution deal is a ground-breaking agreement that will see a major transfer of powers and responsibilities, including over transport. Local councils are in the process of ratifying devolution agreements and are working with the Government to ensure the timely implementation of all commitments.

  • Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Scriven – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Scriven on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current performance and practices of South Yorkshire Police regarding investigations of sexual exploitation of children.

    Lord Bates

    As I set out in response to the Noble Lord on 20 August 2015, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary published a National Child Protection Inspection post-inspection review of South Yorkshire Police in July 2015. The report found that South Yorkshire Police had made child protection a priority and was taking steps to improve its response to child sexual exploitation although areas of poor practice still remained. South Yorkshire Police must continue to work towards implementing Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s recommendations. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary is continuing to monitor South Yorkshire Police’s approach to child protection.

    The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner has commissioned an independent review into the force’s handling of reports of child sexual exploitation. The review, led by Professor John Drew, launched on 30 September and the report will be published this year.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s guidance Overseas Business Risk – The Occupied Palestinian Territories, what advice they have given to local councils and other public bodies on (1) trade with businesses in the state of Israel, (2) trade with businesses in the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), (3) trade with Israeli companies that also work in the Israeli settlements in the OPTs, and (4) trade with any company from the UK that also has contracts in the Israeli settlements in the OPTs.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    On 17 February, the Government published procurement guidance for public authorities that makes clear that boycotts in public procurement are inappropriate and may be illegal outside where formal legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been put in place by the UK Government. It is general guidance for public authorities on contracting with suppliers from WTO countries.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define the word illegal” with reference to the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, to which Israel is a state party, prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into occupied territory. Consequently, settlements are illegal under international law. The UK’s position on the settlements is clear. They are illegal, present an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two-state solution.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that young people gain key transferable skills in order to increase their future employment opportunities.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    This Government is taking a series of important steps to help young people gain a good broad education with transferable skills such as literacy and numeracy, as well as employability skills from work experience.

    This includes our reforms to GCSEs to ensure that they are more stretching and provide greater assurance of core literacy and numeracy than the old GCSEs. We are also reforming Functional Skills to improve the rigour and relevance of these qualifications as well as improving their recognition among employers. The new Functional Skills qualifications will be ready to teach in 2018.

    As of August 2015, the condition of funding has been revised, so all 16-18 year old full-time students starting their study programme who have a grade D GCSE or equivalent in maths or English must be enrolled on a GCSE or approved IGCSE qualification in maths or English to work towards attaining a good pass.

    We have also built English and maths into the heart of traineeships and apprenticeships to ensure that young people have the literacy and numeracy skills needed by employers. Our traineeship programme is supporting 16-24 year olds to gain the skills and work experience they need to be able to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs. In addition, all of the new employer-led apprenticeship standards must demonstrate acquisition of transferable skills and offer more than just training for a single job or employer. Standards must ensure that an apprentice can adapt to a variety of roles, with different employers, developing the ability to progress in their careers.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had about the work of UK Trade and Investment in promoting inward investment in Northern Ireland.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The established relationship between UKTI and Invest Northern Ireland (INI) enables both to support each other’s efforts to achieve the shared ambition to increase trade and investment and in turn jobs and growth, this includes regular engagement at Ministerial, Chief Executive, and operational levels.

    For example, over the last month Lord Maude visited Northern Ireland on 28th and 29th January, including both a meeting with the Chief Executive of INI and a number of company meetings. He has also conducted one overseas visit alongside Northern Ireland Assembly Minister Bell to Canada in February.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken over the past five years to disrupt and intercept the supply of illicit drugs into UK prisons.

    Lord Faulks

    Prisons in England and Wales take a zero tolerance approach to illicit drugs. We have a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques in place to detect drugs, and to prevent smuggling into prisons. We are about to pilot the use of body scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body, we have introduced specific dog training to allow dogs to detect new psychoactive substances (NPS) and will introduce widespread drug testing of prisoners for NPS as part of the national mandatory drug testing programme in April 2016. We have also made it illegal to smuggle NPS into prisons. We are working with the Department of Health and others to improve our understanding of the risks NPS present for offenders and to provide appropriate information, guidance and support to offenders and those working with them in prison. Anyone caught with any drugs in prison will be severely dealt with. Punishments available include closed visits, loss of privileges and up to 42 days added to their time in custody. Where prisoners are caught with controlled drugs, we will work with the police to consider prosecution and a further sentence.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the average change in annual household energy consumption after the installation of a smart meter.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Our central estimate of energy savings to domestic consumers as a result of smart metering is 2.8% for electricity (prepayment and credit) and 2% for gas (credit) and 0.5% for gas (prepayment).