Tag: Lord Birt

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the drop in the value of sterling in recent months reflects the markets’ view of the likely future health of the UK economy.

Lord Young of Cookham

The UK has an inflation target, not an exchange rate target, and Her Majesty’s Government does not express a view on the level of exchange rates. Instead, the exchange rate is allowed to adjust flexibly in response to economic conditions and movements in sterling are determined by market forces.

This framework means we do not need to introduce exchange rate controls.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 23 November (HL3395), how many breaches of government websites there were in 2014 where no national security considerations apply.

Lord Bridges of Headley

For security reasons we do not comment on specific details of cyber security attacks. GCHQ typically responds to an average of 70 sophisticated attacks on government networks per quarter.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-05-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many midwives in the UK will complete their training in 2016.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is not possible to predict with certainty how many midwives currently studying in the United Kingdom will successfully complete their training in 2016. All students studying midwifery need to successfully complete their course and pass their exams in order to complete their training and graduate from their courses.

Health Education England forecast that the total number of midwives due to complete their training in 2016 is 1,902.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to respond to the Care Quality Commission’s finding that the adult social care sector is approaching tipping point”.”

Lord Prior of Brampton

We welcome The state of health and adult social care in England in 2015/16 report from the Care Quality Commission. The independent regulator was set up to give a single authoritative account to the Department on issues such as this.

The report shows that 70 per cent of adult social care services are rated good or better and that improvement is taking place all over the country.

Social care is critical in enabling older people to retain their independence and dignity. This is why, against the context of tough public sector finances, the Government has taken steps to protect social care services. The Government is giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion of new support for social care by 2019/20. This will increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.

Through the Care Act, we have a reformed care system that means local authorities are in a better position to meet the care needs of people who need them most. Councils now have greater flexibility to arrange care, as well as give greater choice and control to individuals.

The Department will continue to work with providers and their trade bodies, who have come together as a taskforce to understand financial challenges in the sector. The Department is also working to support local authorities meet their Care Act duties to improve commissioning and encourage an effective care market.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many police officers there are in the UK per million of population; and what the comparable figures are for (1) France, (2) Germany, and (3) Italy.

Lord Bates

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers per 100,000 population in England and Wales as part of the annual ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical release. The latest published figures are as at 31 March 2015. These figures can be found in table 4 of the data tables published alongside the release:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444536/police-workforce-tabs-mar15.ods

As at 31 March 2015, there were 223 FTE police officers per 100,000 population in England and Wales. This excludes the British Transport Police and Central Service Secondments.

The Home Office does not hold comparable data for Scotland, Northern Ireland, France, Germany or Italy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 May (HL8238) and the response deposited by Peterborough and Stamford Hospital NHS Trust on 18 May which showed that Peterborough’s City Hospital maternity unit has been closed to women about to give birth 41 times in the past three years, whether they will review the adequacy of the arrangements within the NHS for forecasting and meeting national and local demand for maternity services.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Maternity Transformation Programme (MTP) has been established to drive the implementation of the recommendations of Better Births, the report of the National Maternity Review. A copy of the report is attached. The MTP is overseen by the Maternity Transformation Board which met for the first time on 8 June and is chaired by Sarah-Jane Marsh, Chief Executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

The safety of mother and baby is paramount. We want to ensure that women have as many choices as possible, while minimising any known risk to either themselves or their baby.

Maternity services are unable to plan the exact time and place of birth and there are occasions when a unit cannot safely accept more women into their care. In such cases, the only safe alternative is to close the unit temporarily. It is important of course, that where a unit closes, there are systems and guidelines in place to ensure pregnant women have access to the next closest maternity unit and the type of care they have chosen, including midwifery-led care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Price on 18 October (HL2097), whether they have assessed that the Secretary of State’s curriculum vitae (CV) demonstrates experience of working inside British business; and if so, which part of that CV.

Lord Price

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade’s CV is available on gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek to improve the effectiveness of national and global measures to counter internet fraud and other online crime.

Lord Bates

Cyber Security, including combating cyber crime, is a top priority threat to national security. That is why, through the National Cyber Security Programme, we have invested over £90 million over the last five years to bolster the law enforcement response, and we will continue to invest. As the Chancellor announced on 17 November, we plan to almost double investment in cyber security, including cyber crime, to £1.9 billion over the next five years.

Cyber Crime, including internet enabled fraud will continue to call for a multi layered response from Government, Law Enforcement and Industry to successfully tackle the threat. At the National and International level the National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency (NCA) will continue to lead operations to disrupt serious cyber crime at scale. This includes joint operations with industry and international law enforcement partners across the globe, to disrupt cyber criminals, attack their infrastructure and protect UK businesses and citizens.

Having an accurate national picture of the threat is critical to informing our ongoing response. That is why there has been and will continue to be significant investment in Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which has seen the reporting of fraud and cyber crime trebled, from 72,000 before the centralisation of reporting to over 230,000 reports. As a result of this improvement in reporting we have now got a much improved intelligence picture.

Industry also has a central role in fraud and Cyber Crime prevention. That is why we are working with the banking sector and law enforcement agencies to more effectively disrupt fraudsters and protect victims. The Government also continues to raise awareness of cyber crime and fraud at all levels, through the Cyber Streetwise campaign, while providing advice to help individuals and small businesses adopt safer behaviours online and to be better protected. The third phase, launched in September this year focuses on promoting the adoption of three simple online behaviours: use of three random words to create a strong password; install security software on all devices; and always download the latest software and app updates as soon as they appear.

The UK also leads international efforts to raise global cyber resilience through our work with the National Crime Agency (NCA) and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe and others, to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the threat from Cyber Crime. In the past three years the NCA has used Government funding to increase the investigative capacity of a range of Law Enforcement partners around the World. The projects, which range from ‘on-the-job’ investigative mentoring to legislative and technical training in the UK, focus on supporting the NCA’s priority countries overseas and build capability and mutually beneficial relationships with key partners across the globe.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reduce queuing by motor vehicles for Dover ferries in summer peak periods.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

There are a number of measures currently in place to manage traffic on its approach to Dover port. These include a recently opened extended area within the port that can hold up to 300 lorries, along with the TAP (Traffic Assessment Project) traffic management system that allows port-bound lorries to be held outside the town on the A20 at traffic lights until space at the Port becomes available and to prevent queuing in central Dover during busy periods. The Government also has use of Manston airport as a contingency should the need arise.

A consultation regarding the building of a lorry park next to the M20 at Stanford West started on 12 August and will run until 23 September 2016. Up to £250 million has been committed to this scheme.

The lorry park at Stanford West, on the M20 close to junction 11, was selected as the preferred site last month following a separate consultation between December 2015 and January 2016.

This Government wants to have a country that works for everyone, and we are committed to keeping drivers in Kent moving.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the conclusion by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) that there was no consistent evidence that the Troubled Families Programme had any significant or systematic impact on those families which took part in the programme, what evidence they have for the statement by the Communities Minister, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth, on 17 October that this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families”; and what is their response to the NIESR report National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme.”

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The NIESR Impact Study was just one of 6 reports comprising the independent evaluation of the first Troubled Families Programme. The evaluation found that the programme had many positive achievements. These include:

• Families feeling more confident and optimistic about being able to cope in the future

• Joining up local services for families by encouraging a single keyworker approach to work with the whole family on all of its problems

• Raising the quality and capacity of local data systems

• Better joint working with partners such as Jobcentre Plus

The data shows that nearly 120,000 of the families on this programme saw their lives improve – more children attending school, youth crime and anti-social behaviour significantly cut and, in more than 18,000 families, an adult holding down a job. The evaluation does not dispute this fact.

Unsurprisingly, the ambitious and innovative impact study which used national administrative datasets to track changes in families circumstances over comparatively short time periods, was unable to specifically attribute positive outcomes achieved in employment, youth crime or school attendance to the Troubled Families Programme.

This was because at that time the level of change achieved was not significantly different from that seen in a group of families not on the programme with whom comparisons were made. This is not the same, however, as saying that the evaluation shows family outcomes did not improve, as some have wrongly inferred.

Of course, we will continue to review all evidence of how the programme is working, to learn from it and see if there’s more we can do to help families facing such multiple problems. In fact, we have already adapted the new programme in a number of ways, including extending the length of time over which family outcomes will be tracked – from 12 months to 5 years.