Tag: Baroness Jowell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what dedicated and expert resources they have in each department to support bereaved families and survivors in the event of a terrorist attack.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government, law enforcement, and the security and intelligence agencies work tirelessly to prevent terrorist attacks wherever possible. Resources are in place for the provision of general and specialist support for those affected by terrorist attacks either in the UK or abroad, including bereaved families and survivors.

A range of medical, psychological, liaison, and compensation support arrangements can be provided suited to the specific circumstances.

Our approach is set out below.

Support for victims of terrorism overseas

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provides support during any crisis overseas, including a terrorist attack, ensuring that the government responds effectively to deliver rapid and professional assistance to British nationals affected. The crisis centre in London can bring together teams of more than a hundred people from across government to coordinate a response and can call on trained staff to both bolster the team in London and be deployed to the country affected. This includes consular support to survivors and to families of victims, working with police family liaison officers and overseas authorities to provide support, assistance and information.

Immediately after the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse, the Prime Minister established an ad hoc Ministerial Committee to coordinate support from across government to all British Nationals that were affected. The Committee has oversight of arrangements for the memorial service (which took place on 12 April), a physical memorial, compensation and a programme to provide support for those experiencing mental health difficulties.

Support for victims of terrorism in the United Kingdom

In the event that an attack were to take place in the UK, bereaved families and survivors are entitled to support and services under the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime; this is published by the Ministry of Justice and can be accessed online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/476900/code-of-practice-for-victims-of-crime.PDF. This includes access to medical support and any specialist support such as psychological support. Families and victims are able to access these directly without a referral.

The Victim Information Service provides advice for victims of terrorism. This can be accessed online at www.victimsinformationservice.org.uk/im-victim-terrorist-attack/ or by phone on 0808 168 9293.

Government funding is also provided for the national Homicide Service and a number of smaller organisations to support those living in England and Wales bereaved by murder or manslaughter, whether committed here or abroad which includes those bereaved by terrorism.

Compensation

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority administers both the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and Victim of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme, which provide compensation to victims of terrorist attacks in the UK and of designated terrorist attacks overseas.

Northern Ireland-related terrorism

Responsibility for dealing with Northern Ireland-related terrorism rests with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and, for that reason, this answer does not cover Northern Ireland-related terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland. The response does however, cover any Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of community cohesion in view of the reduction in discretionary spending available to local authorities in London.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Britain has a claim to be the most successful multi-faith, multi-racial democracy in the world. Nowhere exemplifies this more than London – a thriving global city with a

diverse population.

It is up to the councils in London to decide what to spend their money on and reforms are giving them more powers over their budgets than ever before.

The Community Life Survey 2014/15 reports that 89 per cent of people in London feel that their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on

well together. Full data is available (attached) from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447015/Community_Life_Survey_2014-2015_csv.csv/preview

But we are not complacent. The Prime Minister has asked Louise Casey to carry out a review on how to boost opportunity and integration in the most isolated

communities in Britain, the findings of which will inform a new Cohesive Communities programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they estimate will be the net gain in social housing from the planned route for HS2.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

For Phase One the Government has committed to work with local authorities, housing associations, tenants and other key stakeholders in order to ensure that lost social rented housing is replaced in a manner sympathetic to local needs and reflective of the strategic approach to social housing driven by local authorities. Naturally the approach adopted for Phase One will inform that for Phase Two.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of people who are street homeless in London for each year since 2010.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to doing all we can to prevent homelessness. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million.

This will include a new national £10 million programme to support innovative ways to tackle rough sleeping, and will build on the success of our No Second Night Out initiative, which saw two-thirds of rough sleepers in London come off the streets after a single night.

DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping. These are available (the latest figures are attached) at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2015

The GLA collects more detailed statistics on rough sleeping in London. These are available at: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the Cabinet Office intends to take to increase the number of profit-with-purpose businesses in the UK.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government is committed to growing the social investment market, as shown through initiatives like Big Society Capital and the Social Investment Tax Relief. Cabinet Office recognises that “profit with purpose” businesses are a growing and important part of the social economy. Cabinet Office is engaging with stakeholders to better identify, support and promote this sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the potential contribution of profit-with-purpose companies to UK gross value added.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Non-profit institutions accounted for 3.1 per cent of real GDP in 2014, with the output of this sector increasing 0.9 per cent over the same period. ONS data do not produce statistics for ‘profit-with-purpose’ companies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies they intend to implement in recognition of the contribution of the first 1,000 days of a child’s life to its subsequent academic and other attainment.

Lord Nash

As the Prime Minister made clear in his speech on 11 January 2016, the government understands the importance of those first crucial years of life and that we need to get parenting and the early years right if we are to improve children’s life chances. The government will be publishing a Life Chances strategy in the spring which will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity, including policies to give children the best start in life.

The government is already implementing a range of policies which recognise the contribution of the first 1001 days of a child’s life to its subsequent academic and other attainment, which are detailed below.

Healthy Child Programme

The evidence based Healthy Child Programme is the universal service offered to every family. Delivered by health visitors, the programme centres on a series of screening tests, immunisations, developmental reviews, and information and guidance to support families of children aged 0-5 years. Since October 2015 there have been five mandated child development reviews, to provide a national standard format to ensure universal coverage and ongoing improvements in public health. Effective implementation of the Healthy Child Programme should lead to readiness for school and improved learning.

Best Start in Life programme

One of Public Health England’s (PHE) national priorities is to ensure that every child has the best start in life, so that they are ready to learn at age two and ready for school at five. The Best Start in Life programme provides national leadership to support local areas to take a whole system approach to commission and provide evidence based services and interventions which improve child health outcomes and reduce inequalities. PHE also has has also published a range of professional guidance for best practice to support families in the first 1001 days.

Integrated Review (IR)

In 2013, DfE ran a joint Integrated Review pilot with the Department of Health (DH) which focused on two-year-olds in registered childcare settings. This was to test out the most effective way of undertaking the early years progress check with the universal DH Healthy Child Programme and providing parents with a holistic review of their child’s development. In 2015, we provided funding to support the roll out of the IR by all local authorities in England. We are currently piloting the second phase of the IR with eight local authority pilot areas to test different local models of how early years practitioners can collaborate with health professionals to identify parents of two year-olds not in registered childcare settings, so that their children can also benefit from an Integrated Review.

Early Learning for Two Year Olds

There is a strong body of evidence that shows good quality childcare and pre-school provision, especially from age two and upwards, has positive benefits on children’s all round attainment and behaviour. For this reason the government introduced the early learning for two-year-olds programme in September 2013 for 130,000 of the most disadvantaged children in England. In September 2014, the programme was later expanded to 260,000 of the most disadvantaged children in England. The programme is becoming increasingly popular amongst eligible parents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many hours per week (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school pupils spent participating in sport in 2015 compared to 2010.

Lord Nash

In both 2014/15 and 2009/10, primary schools reported spending around 2 hours per week on Physical Education.

In 2009/10, secondary school pupils spent on average around 1 hour and 45 minutes in PE each week. No equivalent figures are available for secondary school pupils for 2014/15.

Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have received over £450m of ring-fenced funding to improve PE and sport. We have committed to continue this funding until 2020. In December 2015, we published a research report looking at how schools used the primary PE and sport premium and the impact of the fund on PE and sports provision. The findings show that 87% of schools reported that the quality of PE teaching had increased since the introduction of the premium. 84% of schools reported an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, 70% of schools reported that participation in inter-school competitions had increased and over half of schools reported an increase in intra-school competitions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many take charge requests the UK has received from each EU country per year since Dublin III came into force; how many of those were successful; how many involved minors; and how many of those requests involving minors were successful.

Lord Keen of Elie

Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jowell on 2016-03-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the most common three grounds for refusing a take charge request since Dublin III came into force.

Lord Bates

The Dublin III Regulation came into force on 1 January 2014. The 3 most common reasons for the refusal of take charge requests by the UK have been Articles 6.5 and 8 (both of which relate to the legal presence of a qualified relative of the minor in another Member State) and Article12.4 (which requires the Member State to take charge following the expiry of certain residence and entry visas).