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  • 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 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which plant protection products are banned for use in the UK but are currently being used in other member states of the EU.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    There is a two-step process before a plant protection product can be placed on the market and used. First, the active substance or active substances contained in the product must be approved EU-wide by the European Commission. Second, the product itself must be authorised by the Member State. Authorisations are determined on the basis of an assessment of the risks to people and to the environment. The approach to the assessment is harmonised across the EU, but the outcomes of applications for the same product may differ because of variations in national conditions.

    Companies will decide the Member States from which they wish to seek authorisation and authorisation holders may, at any time, instruct that authorisations are withdrawn.

    Product authorisations may therefore vary between Member States. At present, there is no central database of authorisations which records these differences.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Nigeria on the promotion of freedom of religion and belief in Nigeria.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    This Government is firmly committed to promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief around the world, and to being a strong voice internationally in defence of this fundamental right.

    Religious freedom is protected by the Nigerian Constitution and we regularly discuss with the Nigerian government at the highest levels our concern about threats to this right, including the threat Boko Haram poses to communities of different faiths and ethnicities. Boko Haram seeks to undermine religious freedom by attacking all Nigerians who do not subscribe to its extremist views. It has committed atrocities against people of all faiths, including Christians and Muslims.

    We will continue to work with the Nigerian government, non-governmental organisations and civil society to improve the security situation and human rights for all in Nigeria.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Nigeria regarding the investigation of human rights violations in northern Nigeria.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We welcome President Buhari’s commitment to overhauling Nigeria’s rules of engagement to avoid human rights violations and to investigating credible reports of violations and take appropriate action. We have repeatedly made clear to the Nigerian authorities at all levels that we condemn human rights violations and we stress the importance of protecting civilians in conflict. The support the UK provides to Nigeria is designed not only to counter terrorism, but also to improve human rights standards.

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will increase UK aid to Nigerian international development projects, in particular those affected by recent violence involving Fulani herdsmen.

    Baroness Verma

    The UK is acutely aware of the human suffering caused by inter-communal violence between cattle herders and farmers in Nigeria. Reports of violence involving Fulani herdsmen have increased in recent weeks. The conflicts between herders and farmers are economic in nature and largely driven by competition over land and resources, which is exacerbated by population growth and climate change.

    DFID has set up the £39 million Nigerian Stability and Reconciliation Programme, which works across various conflicts in Nigeria, including herder-farmer tensions. This programme is supporting a number of economic initiatives that bring cattle herder and farmer communities together to work on projects which provide people with livelihoods and better economic opportunities. The programme also enables communities to agree on rules for land and water use, and provide them with mediation skills to prevent violent disputes.

  • Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Cox on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance they are providing for the reconstruction of schools in north-east Nigeria following the destruction of those schools by Boko Haram.

    Baroness Verma

    DFID is supporting the Government of Nigeria’s “Safe Schools Initiative” to help protect children at school in north east Nigeria, provide schooling to children displaced by the violence and support to the school reconstruction efforts of the Government of Nigeria. This includes support to the UN to provide temporary learning spaces for more than 3000 children.

  • The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have carried out research to ascertain the degree of awareness of small businesses about intellectual property rights.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) IP Awareness Survey was first conducted in 2006 and was rerun in 2010 and early 2015. The survey establishes a sense of understanding of IP and IP rights across all sizes of UK firms and all sectors of UK industry. The most recent survey contained 3 sections: an IP knowledge section which tested the respondent’s familiarity with IP, a management section which sought to discover how firms were administering IP within their organisation and a final section which focussed on where IP information and advice was sourced from.

    Key findings include:

    • 94% of respondents thought that it was important for businesses to understand how to protect their IP.
    • 52% of responding firms had protected some sort of IP (either through a single right or a combination).
    • 65% of respondents thought that confidentiality agreements are important to protecting their IP. This method of protection was the most popular.
    • The majority of surveyed firms have not been involved in a dispute around IP, (over 75%).
    • 96% of firms have not valued their IP.
    • 79% of firms did not know that telling people about an invention before applying for a patent could lead to an unsuccessful application.
    • 28% of firms check they are not infringing other people’s IP, the most popular IP management activity amongst respondents.
    • 20% of firms indicated that they license their IP, allowing others to use it for a fee.

    In addition to this formal piece of research the IPO routinely surveys businesses in the course of designing and delivering its business support and outreach activities. This is intended to help to monitor and assess the effectiveness of these activities to ensure they are fit for purpose and if necessary improve, develop and even cease them for alternative approaches.

    The IPO is using findings from its own and other business surveys to inform its approach to business outreach and the creation of IP advisory and support tools.

  • The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The Earl of Clancarty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Clancarty on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to better inform small businesses about all aspects of intellectual property rights, including action that such businesses can take to protect such rights.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) undertakes a wide range of activities to promote understanding of Intellectual Property (IP) amongst Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order that they can make an informed decision on whether and how to protect, commercialise and enforce their IP.

    IPO products and priority activities focus on:

    a) Raising awareness of the importance of IP;

    b) Improving the IP skills of business advisors and intermediaries;

    c) Emphasising that IP is an essential element of an overall business strategy.

    The offerings include online tools, face to face business and adviser training, and partnership delivery.

    The numerous online resources are designed to help businesses to recognise their IP assets, to manage those assets effectively and to help businesses communicate the value of their IP portfolio to lenders or investors when seeking finance.

    The IPO has a small team that runs UK seminars and workshops on IP for businesses and advisors and it also provides an intensive, commercially run training course to improve their understanding of IP.

    It also works with partners within and outside government to ensure that businesses in every part of the UK can access good quality IP advice and understand the importance of managing their IP. Key partnerships include the UK PatLib Network and UK Business & IP Centre Network as well as Business Growth Hubs

    All these support activities provide guidance and information on how businesses may resolve IP disputes or take effective enforcement action. In addition, the UK overseas IP attachés work with local UK Trade and Investment and Foreign and Commonwealth Office leads to provide support for UK businesses seeking advice on local IP matters abroad.

    I will place further information on these resources in the Libraries of the House.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the costs and risks borne by the NHS with regard to multiple births resulting from multiple embryo transfer in private fertility treatment, of whether savings could be made by funding single embryo transfers on the NHS.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has not made an assessment of the potential savings to the National Health Service from the use of single embryo transfer in fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

    Multiple births present significant health risks to mothers and babies. Over recent years, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has worked to drive down multiple birth rates whilst maintaining consistent treatment success rates.

    To minimise the risk of multiple pregnancies, there has been a growing trend for IVF providers to only transfer one embryo, even when more are available, in patients who have a good chance of successful treatment. Elective single embryo transfer is the most effective way of reducing multiple pregnancies. The HFEA has advised that most clinics have shown significant progress in reducing multiple births without compromising pregnancy rates. In 2008 nearly one in four IVF births resulted in a multiple birth but now, with a concerted multiple births reduction policy, this number is one in six.

    Although progress has been made, this number is still higher than the rate in conceptions that do not involve assisted reproduction treatment. The overall goal is to reduce multiple births to one in 10.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to review the laws relating to surrogacy.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has no current plans to review the legislation relating to surrogacy but is keeping this issue under consideration.

  • Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Foulkes of Cumnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the corrected Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 13 April (HL5044), how many of those Writs were sent to Peers in (1) each region of England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland.

    Lord Faulks

    A total of 808 Writs were sent to Life and Hereditary Peers across the regions of England and the counties of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as follows:

    East of England 61; East Midlands 15; North East 19; North West 26; South East 108; South West 49; West Midlands 19; Yorkshire & Humber 27; Central London 164; Greater London 221; Scotland 61; Wales 18; Northern Ireland 20.