Tag: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that tunnelling engineering skills in the UK are not lost.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

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In 2012, the Government published “Tunnelling: A Capability Analysis” which identified the tunnelling skills essential to deliver key projects, including Crossrail, HS2 and the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

To help meet this demand and maintain the UK’s skills base, the National Construction College delivers training at a purpose-built facility: the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in East London.

In September, the Government published the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills, to ensure the UK has the right skills base to deliver and maintain world-class infrastructure. This report sets out the scale of the challenge and is just the first step. The Government is now consulting with stakeholders across industry, academia and training providers to build a series of detailed actions to address the skills challenge.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries UK aid is being used to fund private healthcare provision.

Lord Bates

The UK supports developing countries across Africa and Asia to make faster progress towards universal health coverage, with a focus on ensuring that poor people can use the health services they need without the risk of financial hardship associated with direct out-of-pocket payments. Poor people often rely on non-state service providers for much of their health care. The UK therefore supports private providers where this offers the best value for money in reaching the poor with good quality services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners are presently held at HMP Holloway.

Lord Faulks

As published on the MOJs website, on Friday 30 October 2015 there were 544 prisoners held in HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Holloway.

A figure for Friday 27 November 2015 will be published on the 11 December 2015 on the Ministry of Justice website.

Individual prison population and capacity information for every prison in England and Wales, as well as the total population and useable operational capacity of the prison estate is published monthly on the Ministry of Justice website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of private healthcare providers in delivering government aid programmes.

Lord Bates

In most low income countries the non-state sector delivers a substantial share of healthcare, with poorer people often relying on informal providers. This is usually in response to insufficient, poor quality or inaccessible state provision.

However, informal and unregulated private providers can sometime provide low quality health services and commodities, and out-of-pocket payments can contribute to further impoverishing low income groups. Ensuring that services are accessible and affordable to the poor usually requires government or external funding arrangements.

The UK Government uses its aid programmes to support the strengthening of mixed public and private health systems to deliver quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to the poor and uses thorough monitoring and evaluation processes to ensure that results are achieved and lessons learned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what effect the UK’s opting out of the Prüm Decision has had on solving crime.

Lord Bates

The Government opted out of the Prüm decisions in December 2014 because we were not then in a position to implement it and could have been subject to substantial fines from the European Court of Justice for our non-implementation had we stayed in. On 26 November the Government issued Command Paper 9149 which recommended rejoining Prüm and set out a clear timeframe for implementation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the law to protect vulnerable people from phone phishing and other communication scams.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government is cracking down on nuisance calls. Over the last five years the average fine issued has increased from around £5000 to £85000, we have strengthened the law to make it easier to clamp down on companies who break the rules and have increased the maximum fine to £500,000.

The Government takes all types of fraud extremely seriously. We are working closely with the City of London Police (CoLP), the national lead force for fraud, to help local forces and partners deliver protective advice to the public on fraud, including phone scams. CoLP operates Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, to ensure that the public has the information they need to protect themselves from telephone fraud. Action Fraud, for example, places an alert on its website when a serious threat or new type of fraud is identified – which members of the public can sign up to receive by email.

We are also working with Financial Fraud Action UK and the British Bankers’ Association who issue advice to consumers on how to protect themselves from phone scammers. Ofcom work with the Metropolitan Police Service, Action Fraud and landline providers to prevent criminals exploiting phone lines to defraud members of the public.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of driverless car technology.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government recognises the transformative potential that Connected and Automated Vehicles technologies have for mobility and our transport system, and the significant opportunities that exist for UK industry in their development and commercialisation. The Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles was established in July 2015 between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Transport, to lead on this agenda.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of GCSE and A-level exams that were changed after challenges this summer.

Lord Nash

This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and I have asked its Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey to write directly to the noble Baroness. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Lords Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the Department for International Development aid budget will be spent by other departments.

Baroness Verma

As part of the 2015/16 Main Estimate process the Department for International Development transferred £258m of its International Aid budget to other Government Departments.

This figure excludes the Conflict Security and Stability Fund, which is a £1.033bn cross departmental fund, £883m of which sits on the Department for International Developments baseline. £823m of this was then transferred to other government departments as directed by the National Security Council.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that apprenticeships deliver the skills that are needed in the current world of work.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We are committed to delivering employer-led apprenticeship reforms, which continue to improve the ability of apprenticeships to provide the skills that employers need.

Employers are designing high quality apprenticeships – including Degree Apprenticeships -that are more responsive to the needs of business. They are deciding the skills, knowledge and behaviour required in each apprenticeship and how those skills should be assessed at the end of the programme. Through this process employers can be confident that completing an apprenticeship signals a genuine ability to do the job.