Category: Speeches

  • Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Quirk – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Quirk on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 17 November (HL3221) concerning the use of forensic linguistics by the Home Office in immigration cases, whether they have plans to enable the admittance in court, as in some other European jurisdictions, of evidence derived from forensic linguistics, and if not, what are their reasons.

    Lord Bates

    Evidence derived from language analysis undertaken for immigration purposes is admissible and, in practice, is routinely presented in immigration appeals.

  • 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 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of improvement in the conditions of children in prisons in Israel since the publication in 2012 of the report by British lawyers Children in Military Custody.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) progress report of October 2013 noted that Israel has taken some positive steps towards addressing the recommendations in the 2012 report by updating the existing Standard Operating Procedures and policies in relation to the arrest of minors. These updates included changing the policy on methods of restraint and the use of blindfolds. Israel also increased the age of majority for Palestinian children. The Israeli military committed to conducting a pilot of using written summons instead of night-time arrests.

    We welcome the steps taken to date, but we continue to call for further measures, including the mandatory use of audio-visual recording of interrogations, investigation into continued reports of single-hand ties being used, and an end to solitary confinement for children.

    We are also funding a follow up mission by the British lawyers who conducted the report in February.

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which (a) Israeli and (b) Palestinian non-governmental organisations and projects receiving funding from the Conflict Stability and Security Fund.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We currently fund projects through twelve Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem); ten through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund and two through Bilateral Programme Budgets. All of these NGOs are registered as Israeli. We do not fund NGOs other than for specific projects that support Her Majesty’s Government’s objectives.

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

    Lord Livermore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Livermore on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to respond to the recommendations set out in the State of the Nation report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission published on 17 December 2015.

    Lord Nash

    The Government is grateful to the Commission for its wide-ranging and comprehensive report. We are committed to publishing a new Life Chances Strategy, and the Department for Work and Pensions is leading on this. That Strategy will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity. It will focus on the root causes and human dimensions of child poverty. Our proposals in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill introduce a new duty for the Government to report annually on children in workless households and children’s educational attainment in England. This is because the evidence shows that educational attainment and worklessness are the most significant factors driving children’s life chances. The Strategy will also include a wider set of measures that look at the root causes of poverty, including family breakdown, problem debt and drug and alcohol dependency. These will drive real action to transform the lives of the most disadvantaged children and families.

    The Government looks forward to working with the reformed Social Mobility Commission, which will continue to play a very important role in the drive to promote and increase social mobility in the years to come.

  • Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Andrew Bridgen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the number of child benefit claims made for children living in each other EU member state in each of the last 10 years; and what the estimated cost to the public was of such claims.

    Damian Hinds

    Around 7m people are receiving Child Benefit. To extract and collate the value of all payments made to EU migrants for children living outside the UK in the format requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    Information relating to the number of Child Benefit claims paid to families with children living overseas is available in the Government publication , “The best of both worlds: the United Kingdom’s special status in a reformed European Union”. This publication is available on Gov.uk

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-of-both-worlds-the-united-kingdoms-special-status-in-a-reformed-european-union

    The Government’s new settlement between the UK and the EU means that EU nationals whose children live abroad will ultimately receive Child Benefit at a rate that reflects the conditions – including the standard of living and child benefit paid – of the country where their child lives. This will restore fairness to the system.

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps with the Department of Education to introduce a counselling strategy for schools.

    Alistair Burt

    This is a matter for the Department for Education (DfE).

    Schools can play an important role in supporting pupils with mental health issues. We want them to decide how best to meet the needs of their pupils. DfE has taken a range of actions to help them build a whole-school approach to good mental wellbeing, including the recently revised and updated blueprint for effective school-based counselling. This provides practical, evidence-based advice, informed by experts on how to ensure school based counselling services achieve the best outcomes for all students, including vulnerable children and young people. The weblink to the guidance, Counselling in schools: a blueprint for the future – Departmental advice for school leaders and counsellors is:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/counselling-in-schools

    “

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contingency plans his Department has for the event of the closure of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust’s emergency department.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS England is the responsible organisation for emergency planning and resilience in London. As such, it has well-established contingency plans in place which take effect in the event of emergency departments (EDs) having to temporarily reduce their scope of operations in order to ensure the best standards of patient care, our central concern.

    As the Rt. hon. Member is aware, following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, the CQC issued a Warning Notice. The Warning Notice, published on 6 June 2016, requires the trust to significantly improve the treatment of patients attending its emergency department.

    The CQC is responsible for assessing whether the Trust is providing the right standard of care and ensuring that improvement plans meet the level of improvement required.

    NHS Improvement is working alongside NHS England and the local health and care system to ensure that the Trust has the resources it needs to ensure that patients receive safe, high quality care.

    We are informed by NHS Improvement that, in order to address the poor performance at the Trust’s ED, it has devised a plan titled Safer, Faster, Better. This is a whole system programme with the primary objective of improving performance, patient experience and outcomes for patients.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what impact assessment his Department has conducted on the potential cost of eliminating or reducing prescription charges for people with long-term medical conditions.

    David Mowat

    The Department receives numerous representations on prescription charges for people in England with long-term medical conditions. It is not possible to say how many of these were from clinical experts or health economists, though the independent Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England’s report, A new settlement for health and social care, published in 2014, did have health economist input. There have also been representations from the Prescription Charges Coalition, but it is not certain to what extent these were informed by clinical experts or health economists.

    Arrangements are in place to ensure that prescriptions are affordable for everyone, including those with a long-term condition. There are exemptions from the prescription charge for people with low income, including through receipt of specific benefits and through application to the NHS Low Income Scheme. For those who do not qualify for exemption, prescription prepayment certificates are also available, which allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. To support those with high levels of need, the cost of the 12-month and 3-month certificates have been frozen since 2009 and 2011, respectively.

    The Department has not undertaken a formal impact assessment on the potential cost of eliminating or reducing prescription charges for people with long-term medical conditions. However, the Prescription Charges Review undertaken by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, and published in 2010, estimated that extending exemption to all those with a long-term condition would lead to a loss in revenue of between £360 and £430 million.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of suicides among women with autism.

    David Mowat

    The cross-Government suicide prevention strategy, ‘Preventing suicides in England: a cross-Government outcomes strategy to save lives’ highlights various groups of people for which tailored approaches to meet their mental health needs are required to address risk of suicide. This includes people who are in contact with mental health and/or social care services and people who may experience social factors such as social isolation and social exclusion, which may be experienced by people with autism.

    We are looking at ways to strengthen the cross-Government suicide prevention strategy and will set out details later this year.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a guideline in 2015, ‘Challenging behaviour and learning disabilities: prevention and interventions for people with learning disabilities whose behaviour challenges’ which recommends interventions to mitigate risks, including for people with autism, such as self-harm and suicide.

  • Lord Marlesford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Marlesford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Marlesford on 2015-11-11.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees which peers who were Members of the House of Lords throughout the 2014–15 parliamentary session attended on fewer than 25 per cent of sitting days, indicating in respect of each peer the number of days attended.

    Lord Laming

    The House sat for 126 days in the 2014/15 Session and therefore members needed to attend at least 32 times to reach an attendance rate of 25%. For the purposes of this answer: an attendance is counted as an attendance in the Chamber, in Grand Committee, in a Select Committee or a vote in the division lobbies.

    The following members attended on fewer than 32 days. The figures do not include members who joined part way through the Session, members who died or retired part way through the session, or members who were disqualified or on leave of absence throughout the Session. Some of the Members listed were unwell and have since died, and some took leave of absence in the next Session. In discharging their parliamentary duties members of the House of Lords can draw substantially on experience and expertise gained outside Parliament. Therefore members may devote considerable time to maintaining and increasing that knowledge.

    Members who took leave of absence for part of the Session and attended fewer than 25% of total days that they were eligible to attend:

    Days attended

    Total sitting days that member was eligible to attend.

    Dixon, L.

    0

    32

    Mogg, L.

    0

    35

    Janner of Braunstone, L.

    0

    36

    Hutton, L.

    1

    109

    Brooks of Tremorfa, L.

    2

    27

    Evans of Parkside, L.

    2

    35

    Thomas of Walliswood, B.

    3

    41

    Other members who attended fewer than 32 times:

    Days attended

    Grabiner, L.

    0

    Healey, L.

    0

    Inge, L.

    0

    Mayhew of Twysden, L.

    0

    Neill of Bladen, L.

    0

    Saville of Newdigate, L.

    0

    Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, L.

    0

    Archer of Weston-Super-Mare, L.

    1

    Baldwin of Bewdley, E.

    1

    Browne of Madingley, L.

    1

    Goldie, B.

    1

    King of Lothbury, L.

    1

    Peel, E.

    1

    Weidenfeld, L.

    1

    Williamson of Horton, L.

    1

    Bell, L.

    2

    Cameron of Lochbroom, L.

    2

    Campbell of Loughborough, B.

    2

    Ezra, L.

    2

    Falkender, B.

    2

    Malloch-Brown, L.

    2

    Turner of Ecchinswell, L.

    2

    Wolfson of Aspley Guise, L.

    2

    Alliance, L.

    3

    Burns, L.

    3

    Carter of Barnes, L.

    3

    Heseltine, L.

    3

    Lloyd-Webber, L.

    3

    Sacks, L.

    3

    Tombs, L.

    3

    Sharman, L.

    4

    Parkinson, L.

    4

    Bamford, L.

    5

    Coe, L.

    5

    Feldman, L.

    5

    London, Bp.

    5

    Smith of Kelvin, L.

    5

    Waldegrave of North Hill, L.

    5

    Wilson of Dinton, L.

    5

    York, Abp.

    5

    Collins of Mapesbury, L.

    6

    Freyberg, L.

    6

    Fritchie, B.

    6

    Guthrie of Craigiebank, L.

    6

    Williams of Oystermouth, L.

    6

    Wolfson of Sunningdale, L.

    6

    Haughey, L.

    7

    Rogers of Riverside, L.

    7

    Stevenson of Coddenham, L.

    7

    Winchester, Bp.

    7

    Young of Graffham, L.

    7

    Darzi of Denham, L.

    8

    Kestenbaum, L.

    8

    Nickson, L.

    8

    Rotherwick, L.

    8

    Chelmsford, Bp.

    9

    Hall of Birkenhead, L.

    9

    Myners, L.

    9

    Renwick of Clifton, L.

    9

    Richards of Herstmonceux, L.

    9

    Bristol, Bp.

    10

    Rix, L.

    10

    Browne-Wilkinson, L.

    11

    O’Donnell, L.

    11

    Vallance of Tummel, L.

    12

    Carrington, L.

    12

    Browne of Ladyton, L.

    12

    Drayson, L.

    12

    Glendonbrook, L.

    12

    Green of Hurstpierpoint, L.

    12

    Leach of Fairford, L.

    12

    Sheffield, Bp.

    12

    Currie of Marylebone, L.

    13

    Hattersley, L.

    13

    Macfarlane of Bearsden, L.

    13

    Mandelson, L.

    13

    Ryder of Wensum, L.

    13

    Sassoon, L.

    13

    Truro, Bp.

    13

    Blackwell, L.

    14

    Canterbury, Abp.

    14

    McCluskey, L.

    14

    Tordoff, L.

    14

    Davies of Abersoch, L.

    15

    Hogg, B.

    15

    Leitch, L.

    15

    Neuberger, B.

    15

    Tanlaw, L.

    15

    Willoughby de Broke, L.

    15

    Falconer of Thoroton, L.

    16

    Hardie, L.

    16

    Haskins, L.

    16

    Montagu of Beaulieu, L.

    16

    Palumbo of Southwark, L.

    16

    Saatchi, L.

    16

    Stair, E.

    18

    Levene of Portsoken, L.

    18

    Edmiston, L.

    18

    Imbert, L.

    18

    Joffe, L.

    18

    Worcester, Bp.

    18

    Birmingham, Bp.

    19

    Kalms, L.

    19

    Lichfield, Bp.

    19

    Owen, L.

    19

    Patten of Barnes, L.

    19

    Young of Old Scone, B.

    19

    Feldman of Elstree, L.

    20

    Livingston of Parkhead, L.

    20

    Smith of Leigh, L.

    20

    Allan of Hallam, L.

    21

    Chadlington, L.

    21

    Chandos, V.

    21

    Durham, Bp.

    21

    Leicester, Bp.

    21

    Portsmouth, Bp.

    21

    Greenfield, B.

    22

    Macdonald of River Glaven, L.

    22

    Valentine, B.

    23

    Home, E.

    23

    Howard of Lympne, L.

    23

    Montgomery of Alamein, V.

    23

    Rochester, Bp.

    23

    Richardson of Calow, B.

    24

    Rosslyn, E.

    24

    Stern of Brentford, L.

    24

    Alli, L.

    25

    Magan of Castletown, L.

    25

    Puttnam, L.

    25

    Cullen of Whitekirk, L.

    26

    Levy, L.

    26

    Mar and Kellie, E.

    26

    Moore of Lower Marsh, L.

    26

    Palumbo, L.

    26

    Walker of Gestingthorpe, L.

    26

    Manningham-Buller, B.

    27

    Fellowes of West Stafford, L.

    27

    Turnbull, L.

    28

    Carswell, L.

    29

    Sugar, L.

    29

    Goldsmith, L.

    30

    Coventry, Bp.

    30

    Walker of Aldringham, L.

    30

    Cohen of Pimlico, B.

    31

    Judge, L.

    31

    Krebs, L.

    31

    Shaw of Northstead, L.

    31

    Sheldon, L.

    31