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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their definition of poverty.

Lord Freud

Poverty is complex and affects different people in different ways throughout their lives. As such, the Government does not have one recognised definition, or measure, of poverty which applies to everyone’s stage of someone’s life. Our focus is on ensuring we have measures which drive the right approaches to tackling the root causes of poverty.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the joint investigation by the British Medical Journal and The Times which found that contracts made by the Clinical Commissioning Groups with providers could financially benefit board members of the group.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have legal duties under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to manage conflicts of interests when deciding which health services to procure. CCGs must manage any actual or perceived conflicts in a way that is transparent, fair, and protects the integrity of their decision making.

NHS England publishes guidance for CCGs on their responsibility to manage conflicts of interest. CCGs must have regard to this.

Monitor must ensure that CCGs follow National Health Service regulations on procurement, patient choice and competition, and have powers of investigation if these are not followed.

In their recent report ‘Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups’ (a copy of which is attached) the National Audit Office found that CCGs generally had arrangements in place to manage conflicts of interest to reduce the risk of commissioners’ decisions being improperly influenced.

The NAO made recommendations to the Department, NHS England, Monitor and CCGs to strengthen current arrangements and we would expect the bodies concerned to consider these carefully and take appropriate action in response.

Action is already being taken by NHS England including:

‒ strengthening its CCG assurance processes;

‒ commissioning an independent audit of conflicts of interest management in ten primary care co-commissioning arrangements, with a review to using the learning to strengthen current arrangements;

‒ providing training to CCG lay members on management of conflicts of interest in 2015, with more training planned for next year; and

‒ reviewing its own internal rules on conflicts of interest and the statutory guidance it issues to CCGs on management of conflicts of interest to ensure that arrangements are robust.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 18 November (WS305), whether the assertion that every home and small business will get smart meters means that it will be compulsory to have them installed.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Government has placed an obligation on energy companies to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters at all domestic and smaller non-domestic premises by the end of 2020. However, there is no obligation on customers to accept a smart meter if they do not wish to have one installed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Answer by Baroness Altmann on 19 November (HL Deb, col 265) promising to look at the gender pay gap for older women, whether they will also look into the gender pay gap between men and women under 35 years of age.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

We are pleased with the progress made towards eliminating the gender pay gap women working full time under the age of 40, but we are not complacent. To encourage young women to consider a wide range of career options, we have revised statutory guidance for schools on careers to raise aspirations; established a new Careers and Enterprise Company to encourage greater collaboration between employers and schools to inspire young people; supported the ‘Your Life’ campaign to encourage more young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM); and published the ‘Your Daughter’s Future’ guidance for parents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest projection of the cost of HS2 at completion including motive power units and carriages.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Spending Review 2015 settlement announced by the Chancellor on 25 November sets out an updated funding envelope for delivering the HS2 project in 2015 prices of £55.7bn. This includes provision for rolling stock, including motive power. The underlying budget for this project has not changed. At SR13 we announced that the total budget was £50.1bn in 2011 prices and it has been uprated to 2015 prices.