Tag: Lord Alton of Liverpool

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of North Korea about the comments by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea that each year more than 50,000 North Koreans are sent abroad to work in conditions that amount to slavery.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We fully support the work of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). On 29 October, we delivered a statement in the UN which welcomed his efforts to improve the lives of ordinary North Koreans while also urging the DPRK authorities to grant him immediate and unhindered access to their country. We will continue to deliver these messages.

The Special Rapporteur’s comments on forced labour are deeply concerning and, if accurate, appear to provide further evidence of the DPRK’s lack of respect for international norms. It is important that any country hosting North Korean workers respect their rights. We continue to press the DPRK to make tangible progress on improving its appalling human rights record, most recently in meetings in October between senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and DPRK counterparts in London and Pyongyang.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK troops will be deployed to the UN Mission in Sudan and South Sudan; what is the timeline for their deployment; and what will be the distribution of their roles and responsibilities.

Earl Howe

At the UN General Assembly in September, the Prime Minister offered increased UK military support to UN peacekeeping activity in Africa. This offer includes episodic deployment of up to three hundred personnel to conduct key tasks to support the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Indicative tasks might include engineering, combat and advisory support. Planning is in hand now, in consultation with the UN, to determine the precise requirements and how we may best respond. We expect to deploy the first troops in mid-2016. We currently have three personnel deployed to UNMISS; two at the Force Headquarters in the capital, Juba, and one at Malakal, in the north of the country. UK has no plans to deploy troops to the UN (and African Union) Missions in Sudan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-12-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps will be taken to improve attitudes of hospital staff in NHS trusts towards patients with Down’s syndrome.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government’s response to the recommendations in the report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry included a wide range of measures aimed at improving safety and quality as well as ensuring compassionate care for everyone who uses National Health Service services, including people with disabilities.

NHS organisations should comply with existing legislation, frameworks and guidance aimed at ensuring they identify and meet the needs of people with learning disabilities in commissioning and delivering safe, high quality care to all individuals, groups and communities of their populations.

From June 2016, the Department will publish independently assured, ratings of the quality of healthcare offered to people with learning disabilities in all clinical commissioning group areas, to highlight variations and to allow rapid action to be taken when improvement is needed.

NHS England continues to work to improve access to good quality healthcare for people with learning disabilities, including:

‒ improving identification of people with learning disabilities in health care records to ensure that reasonable adjustments can be made, communication needs addressed and crisis plans developed;

‒ encouraging the use of health passports when people access services so that professionals and staff are aware of their needs;

‒ improving identification on cancer screening information systems;

‒ ensuring that people with learning disabilities are identified as a priority group to receive flu vaccinations;

‒ improving access to NHS 111, Accident and Emergency and other services; and

‒ increasing the number of people who are eligible getting an annual learning disability health check from their general practitioner.

NHS England has also commissioned a learning disabilities Premature Mortality Review programme led by the University of Bristol from June 2015 to review and learn from deaths of people with a learning disability with the aim of improving services, care and support nationally.

These initiatives will help to raise awareness and to tackle the inequalities experienced by those with learning disability, including where associated with Down’s syndrome.

In addition, the Care Certificate, which was introduced in April 2015, is helping NHS service providers to ensure that their new healthcare assistants have the right fundamental skills and knowledge, including in communication and awareness of learning disability.

Health Education England will work with healthcare providers to ensure that the continuing personal and professional development of staff continues beyond the end of formal training to enable staff to deliver safe and high quality healthcare and public health services both now and in the future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they provided financial support to the exhibition Sand in My Eyes: Sudanese Moments at the Brunei Gallery, and what assessment they have made of whether that exhibition received funding from the government of Sudan or the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We did not provide financial support to the exhibition Sand in My Eyes: Sudanese Moments at the Brunei Gallery, which is co-presented by the Brunei Gallery, SOAS and the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan.

We are aware that the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs are supporting the exhibition, however no formal assessment has been made whether the exhibition has received funding from the Government of Sudan or the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Services.

The human rights situation in Sudan remains of serious concern; HMG consistently raise our concerns with the Government of Sudan and armed opposition groups and, where relevant, in the UN.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to prevent hostels requiring asylum seekers to wear red wristbands before providing food and to stop property companies singling out the accommodation used by asylum seekers by having their doors painted red.

Lord Bates

On 20 January my Rt. Hon. Friend the Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire), in response to the articles in the press regarding asylum seeker accommodation in Middlesbrough, announced an audit of asylum accommodation as a result of the allegations made (regarding the use of a single paint colour on asylum seeker properties).

The Home Office has asked for assurance from all accommodation providers that there are no further policies or practices that allow asylum seekers to be identified as such by the public.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5039), whether they will place in the Library of the House a full copy of the responses to peer reviewers by the person responsible for the recently approved licence application submitted to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9; to what extent the HFEA’s Executive followed the recommendations raised by both of their peer reviewers; and on how many occasions the HFEA’s Executive have made decisions against the recommendations of all appointed peer reviewers.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes on its website the inspection report relating to a licence renewal application and the minutes of the Licence Committee’s decision. It does not publish other information associated with a licence application.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) permits the genetic modification of embryos in research, subject to an HFEA licence. As the regulator, the HFEA’s responsibility is to apply the test in the legislation, namely that the research is necessary or desirable for any of the purposes specified in the Act and that the use of embryos is necessary. The Licence Committee has added a condition to the licence that no research using genome editing may take place until it has received approval from an NHS Research Ethics Committee.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-02-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 February (HL5646), when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority changed its practice; what the reasons were for doing so; and how that change in practice had previously been communicated publicly.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) cannot confirm when this practice changed. Making provision for interested members of the public to make their views known, whilst not a legal requirement under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, was part of the HFEA’s past practice although very few applications attracted a response. This change was not communicated publicly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 2 February (HL5773) and 7 March (HL6225), whether the previously licensed research to perform genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 has commenced; if so, when that research actually commenced and when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) received evidence of ethics approval; if not, how the HFEA has confirmed that the newly approved activities have not already commenced prior to receipt of evidence of ethics approval; and whether the delay due to the absence of evidence of ethics approval has applied only to genome editing or also to all activities previously covered by the same licence.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the research referred to by the Noble Lord has not commenced. When ethics approval has been received, the person responsible is required to provide evidence of this to the HFEA. The ethics approval applies to new activities in the research project, including the use of CRISPR-Cas9.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 March (HL6930 and HL6954), how the patient information and consent forms originally submitted to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) explicitly described the process of genome editing in human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9; whether such previously licensed research has now commenced; if so, when the HFEA received evidence of ethics approval; and what have been the reasons for the further delay in commencing such research in the light of previous complaints about delays by the person responsible in her correspondence to the HFEA dated 15 December 2015 and 12 January 2016.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the original patient information is part of the information presented to the Licence Committee and this was sent to the noble Lord on 7 March 2016. The research involving gene editing has not yet started. The HFEA is awaiting final confirmation that the changes to the patient information and consent forms requested by the research ethics committee have been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-04-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by Baroness Anelay of St Johns to the private notice question from Lord Alton of Liverpool on 21 April, which members of the United Nations Security Council they believe would veto a referral to the International Criminal Court of evidence of genocide against Christian, Yazidi and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her press statement of 8 April 2015. It is not possible to refer Daesh itself to the ICC. Any referral would cover ALL potential crimes against international humanitarian law within a specified geographic area, rather than a specified organisation or set of actors.

When efforts were made to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We expect that any Security Council resolution at this time seeking to refer the situations in Iraq or Syria to the ICC would likewise be blocked.