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 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the obstacles people will encounter when searching for company statements on supply chains, which are required to be produced by all companies that have a turnover of £36 million or more.

Lord Bates

The Government wants to ensure that ‘slavery and human trafficking statements’ are accessible and easy to find. That is why the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires organisations to place a link to their statement in a prominent place on their website. This should ensure that people do not encounter undue obstacles when searching for company statements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more are ready to comply with the obligations of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) Regulations 2015.

Lord Bates

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is now in force. Many businesses called for this provision, we consulted on the turnover threshold, and then involved businesses in drafting associated guidance. Therefore, the Government is confident businesses will be ready.

We have also included a transition provision so that organisations will have time to consider the guidance before the first statements are due on or after 31 March 2016.