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  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of international scientific evidence concerning moderate alcohol consumption as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The alcohol guidelines review was undertaken by a group of independent scientific experts who were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The Guidelines Development Group scrutinised all of the available evidence concerning alcohol consumption including moderate alcohol consumption and the protective effects to overall mortality. They set out their assessment of the systematic reviews in their report.

    The Alcohol Guidelines Review – Report from the Guidelines development group to the UK Chief Medical Officers is attached.

  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of international scientific evidence showing that moderate alcohol consumption has protective effects to overall mortality compared to either abstinence or heavy consumption.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The alcohol guidelines review was undertaken by a group of independent scientific experts who were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The Guidelines Development Group scrutinised all of the available evidence concerning alcohol consumption including moderate alcohol consumption and the protective effects to overall mortality. They set out their assessment of the systematic reviews in their report.

    The Alcohol Guidelines Review – Report from the Guidelines development group to the UK Chief Medical Officers is attached.

  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the scientific evidence on which the updated guidance from the Chief Medical Officer concerning alcohol consumption, published in January, was based.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The alcohol guidelines review was undertaken by a group of independent scientific experts who were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The Guidelines Development Group scrutinised all of the available evidence concerning alcohol consumption including moderate alcohol consumption and the protective effects to overall mortality. They set out their assessment of the systematic reviews in their report.

    The Alcohol Guidelines Review – Report from the Guidelines development group to the UK Chief Medical Officers is attached.

  • Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Jones of Cheltenham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria were used in selecting the members of the Guidelines Development Group who advised the Chief Medical Officer on the evidence base for the updated guidelines concerning alcohol consumption.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    A group of 13 independent scientific experts were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The members of the Guidelines Development Group were chosen according to the type of expertise they had and their individual ability.

  • Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether waste operators can distribute Landfill Communities Fund monies directly to projects, or must do so through an environmental body.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Landfill operators can only distribute monies from the Landfilll Communities Fund to environmental bodies. In order to receive money directly from a landfill operator, a project would have to register as an environmental body with the scheme’s regulator, ENTRUST.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the importance of play as a key element of policy on parenting and life chances, and what consequential action they are taking.

    Lord Nash

    The Department for Education recognises that play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning.

    Play is integral in the early years and is covered in the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage framework which states: “Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others.”

    The Government’s forthcoming Life Chances Strategy will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity. Within this, we are considering how we can support early years and parenting to give children the best start in life.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ring-fence special education funding within their new national funding formula.

    Lord Nash

    We are currently consulting on arrangements for new national formulae for schools and high needs funding (funding to provide high cost support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities). Both funding streams, along with early years funding, make up the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is ring-fenced so that local authorities can only spend it on specified elements of education. The DSG will continue to be ring-fenced when the national funding formulae are in place. We have also protected the schools and high needs budgets in this Parliament. This year we are adding £92.5 million to local authorities’ 2016-17 high needs allocations.

    At the Budget we also announced that we will provide £500 million over the Spending Review period, on top of per pupil protection, to speed up implementation of the national funding formula for schools and get extra funding quicker to those schools that need it most.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that developmental play services, including Portage, are a statutory service for disabled children under the age of two.

    Lord Nash

    The Government recognises that play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning and a child’s experiences in their first five years have a major impact on their future life chances. This is covered in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework for children from birth to five years of age.

    The commissioning of support services for disabled children, such as Portage, is a decision for local authorities. Each local authority should consider the needs of its population, in collaboration with parent carers and early years providers, to ensure that support services in the area reflect local circumstances and need. The Children and Families Act requires all local authorities to publish a ‘local offer’, setting out in one place information about provision they expect to be available in their area across education, health and social care for children in their area who are disabled or have SEN, including those who do not have EHC plans. This should include details of any Portage services that are available for children aged 0 to 5 years.

    The Department recognises the importance of Portage and has provided £150,000 to the National Portage Association through the voluntary and community sector (VCS) grants for 2015-16. The National Portage Association has been using their funding to build on existing grant-funded work to support and develop Portage services.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is both their short and long term policy towards support for, and participation in, UN Peace Operations and how much priority they are giving to its implementation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As set out in the Strategic Security and Defence Review, the UK attaches great importance to UN Peacekeeping Operations. The Government is committed to working with partners to further strengthen the UN’s capability to support global stability and end conflict. In the Security Council, we champion reforms that increase the efficiency and impact of UN engagement on conflict prevention and mediation, peace building and human rights.

    The Government plans to double the number of military personnel that we contribute to UN peacekeeping operations, increase UK law enforcement and civilian experts on UN peacekeeping operations and in UN headquarters, and continue to train international peacekeepers. The UK will be hosting an international conference on UN peacekeeping, which is part of a sustained effort to increase the capabilities available to UN peacekeeping. The Government is also in the process of forming a cross-Whitehall joint UN Peacekeeping Policy Unit to bring further focus to our efforts and coordination on peacekeeping.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their plans to strengthen UK contributions of military, police and civilian personnel both in operational activities and at headquarters level of the UN.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Strategic Security and Defence Review sets out the Government’s plan to: double the number of military personnel the UK contribute to UN peacekeeping operations; increase UK law enforcement and civilian experts on UN peace operations and in UN headquarters; and continue to train international peacekeepers.

    We are working with the UN to finalise the new military deployments announced in September 2015 by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Member for Witney (Mr Cameron). The UK will deploy up to 70 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in Somalia, and 250-300 to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. We will continue to identify and offer policing expertise where UK skills match UN missions’ requirements, with the objective of steadily increasing the number of officers the UK deploys. We will also continue to support British candidates for senior positions in the UN, and deploy civilian staff with relevant expertise to key roles in UN missions and at UN headquarters.