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  • Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the national consultation on the future of children’s centres will be launched, and what is the timetable for responses to be received and for them to announce their proposals following the consultation.

    Lord Nash

    The government is considering its future policy on children’s centres as part of the development of the cross-Government Life Chances Strategy, and plans to publish details in the summer. At that point we will make it clear how stakeholders and members of the public can contribute.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of UK liquid milk has been sold by the 10 leading supermarkets over each of the past five years.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Virtually all liquid milk sold at retail in the UK is UK produced, since imports account for less than 1% of the total UK supply. We do not hold any data on milk sales provided by retailers.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Earl of Courtown on 26 January (HL4975), whether there has been an occasion on which they have not been satisfied with the annual performance report of a charity receiving Programme Partnership Arrangement funding; whether financial penalties were imposed as a result; and whether they publish criteria about when such penalties will be imposed.

    Baroness Verma

    All Programme Partnerships Arrangement are reviewed on an annual basis, providing an assessment of performance, ongoing relevance, value for money and any remedial action required. We have not to date imposed financial penalties on any Programme Partnership Arrangement recipient. All Annual Reviews are published on DFID’s Development Tracker which is available online.

  • – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the anonymous evidence given to the Public Accounts Committee to the effect that national regulators are pressuring NHS providers to potentially mislead the public and Government departments over their true

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    From 1 April this year NHS Improvement will be the operational name for the national regulator for National Health Service providers, replacing Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority.

    NHS Improvement have asked finance directors to review the accuracy of accounting entries and scrutinise estimates as far as possible to ensure they are a true and accurate reflection of the financial position of each trust. All financial statements for individual providers will be prepared in line with international Financial Reporting Standards and Government budgeting rules and are subject to independent, external audit. The Department is therefore satisfied that the current NHS Improvement approach is entirely appropriate and would be so in any financial year.

    NHS Improvement representatives have committed to address this point with the Public Accounts Committee at the earliest opportunity and have written directly to the chair.

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

    Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made representations to the governments of France and Norway about their discontinuing the transmission of Enhanced Loran signals on 31 December 2015, and if not, why not.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Officials continue to discuss with their counterparts in France and Norway the decision by those countries to discontinue Loran transmissions, to understand their reasoning and plans for the disused transmitters.

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

    Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessments they have carried out on the future of resilient position, navigation and timing systems and the vulnerability of the global navigation satellite system to intentional and unintentional jamming.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government recognises the strengths and limitations of global navigation satellite systems such as GPS and Galileo, and the importance of the position, navigation and timing services that they provide.

    The issue of the vulnerability of satellite based navigation systems has been addressed in the National Space Security Policy, which notes that the signals received from satellite navigation systems are inherently weak. The policy recognises that a proportionate approach is needed to ensure that space infrastructures are resilient to threats, including for instance the use of alternative or fall-back methods of providing the necessary services in the event of an interruption.

    Responsibility for determining alternative methods will rest largely with owners and operators of space services or with infrastructure owners and operators, with oversight provided by lead Government departments. UK industry has well recognised capability in developing systems that identify and mitigate intentional and unintentional interference to GNSS.

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

    Lord MacKenzie of Culkein – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord MacKenzie of Culkein on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are funding research into terrestrial enhanced position navigation and timing systems.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Her Majesty’s Government is researching terrestrial technology that could supply positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) needs. For example, Innovate UK is working with other agencies to research the use of quantum technology for PNT applications. In addition, there is research into technologies that supply only some elements of PNT, including ranging mode and radar absolute positioning.

  • The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the British Medical Association’s report Prescribed drugs associated with dependence and withdrawal: building a consensus for action published in October 2015 on the effects of sudden withdrawal from prescribed drugs that have been over-prescribed; and (2) the need for more training on those effects; and whether they have plans to take any action as a result of that report.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We welcome the British Medical Association’s report and its contribution to addressing this serious issue.

    It is the responsibility of local areas to plan, develop and improve health services according to the healthcare needs of the local population, including services for people dependent on prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

    The Department, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England (NHSE) are responsible for helping local areas to understand how they can best support people dependent on prescribed or over-the-counter medicines and have undertaken a number of initiatives. These include:

    – supporting a project by St George’s University of London to strengthen the training of medical students in relation to substance misuse;

    – supporting the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education, Royal College of General Practitioners and others to develop information and educational materials, and training on addiction to medicines for General Practitioners and other healthcare professionals;

    – the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency publishing a learning module on benzodiazepines in April 2013;

    – PHE supported an expert group led by the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA) to develop an online only core resource on opioid pain medicines that can be used as a source of consistent information by any medical body developing its own materials, and are working with RCOA colleagues to support the widespread dissemination and implementation of this online only resource;

    – in June 2013, PHE published a commissioning guide for the NHS and local authorities, ‘Commissioning treatment for dependence on prescription and over-the-counter medicines: a guide for NHS and local authority commissioners’, which sets out their expectation that support should be available in every area for people with a dependency on prescription or over-the-counter medicines, based on a full assessment of local need. A copy of this guidance is attached;

    – PHE supporting a small number of local areas to pilot improvements in their commissioning of responses to dependence on prescribed or over-the-counter medicines; and

    – Commissioning research into prescribing patterns of dependence forming medicines in primary care.

  • Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how often they hold community engagement forum meetings, and what the criteria are for selecting participants.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Community Engagement Forums are regularly hosted by the Prime Minister and are attended by different members of communities from across the country. The Forums focus on different themes and therefore participants are invited who have backgrounds in the relevant subject of the meeting.

  • Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-02-24.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 28 January (HL5141), who the sixteen influential Muslim Women” were who met the Prime Minister on 14 January at a Community Engagement Forum.”

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Those who attended were:

    Sajda Mughal OBE, Managing Director at JAN Trust

    Syima Aslam, Organiser of Bradford Literary Festival

    Sara Khan, Director and co-founder of Inspire

    Diana Nammi, Executive Director of Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation

    Aysha and Kiran Iqbal Patel, Directors of Odara

    Fahma Mohamed, FGM activist and Trustee of Integrate Bristol

    Faeeza Vaid, Chair of ‘Sister 2 Sister’ in Birmingham and Executive Director of the Muslim Women’s Network

    Henna Rai, Director for the Association of British Muslims

    Yasmin Khan, Director of Staying Put and Aspire-I

    Hasina Khan, Chair and founder of Saheliyaan Asian Women’s Forum and Councillor on Chorley Council

    Nahid Rasool, Director of Shantona Women’s Centre

    Farmida Bi, Head of Islamic Finance and a partner at Norton Rose.

    Zahra Al-Alawi, Presenter of Woman’s View on Ahlulbayt TV

    Farah Mirza, TV Presenter and previous UN representative for Islamic Human Rights Commission

    Sarah Joseph OBE, Chief Executive and Editor of emel magazine