Tag: Lord Blencathra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the costs of Larry the 10 Downing Street cat’s veterinary treatment in July were met by donations from staff, and whether they plan to refund those staff.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The costs were met by staff through voluntary staff donations due to their affection for Larry. There was no compulsion to donate and no refunds have been requested. The remaining funds will contribute towards the future upkeep of the Chief Mouser.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are putting in place any additional positive vetting and security measures to ensure that the Government’s Brexit strategy and tactics are not leaked by FCO civil servants to the EU or other European governments; and if so, what those measures are.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Under the HMG Security Policy Framework all government departments are required to ensure that their staff have the appropriate level of security clearance for the work they are doing. The FCO is working closely with the Department for Exiting the European Union, which leads on our withdrawal negotiations with the EU. Both departments have ensured that all relevant staff are properly security-vetted. Both departments have reminded their staff of the need to deal with all sensitive information on restricted channels of distribution, and at the appropriate levels of security.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 19 February (HL5998), whether there are any circumstances under which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may alter the speed at which video evidence is shown in court, and if so, whether the CPS is obliged to inform the court that the speed of the video evidence has been altered.

Lord Keen of Elie

Video evidence is routinely examined in court during criminal trials either frame by frame or at different speeds in order to aid the court’s understanding. In the case of image stills, time stamps can be used to indicate the passage of time between images. Both defence and prosecution lawyers are under a professional duty not to mislead the court.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider nominating Mr Kevin Vickers, the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, for an honour to mark his action in tackling terrorists in the Canadian Parliament and a protestor at the ceremony marking the Easter Rising of 2016.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We do not comment on honours nominations in order to maintain the integrity of the honours system and the privacy of the individuals concerned.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce criminal sanctions against social media companies and their managers in the UK who refuse to take down tweets, pages or other content supporting terrorism, hate crime or radical Islam.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

HMG has developed strong collaborative relationships with Communications Service Providers (CSPs) which has led to the voluntary removal of over 200,000 pieces of terrorist-related content via referrals from the police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) since 2010. The government continue to work with CSPs to encourage them to take more responsibility voluntarily for tackling terrorist and extremist content on their own platforms and, in certain circumstances, reporting terrorist content (for example, where there may be an imminent threat to life) to UK law enforcement when they become aware of it.

As most CSPs are international organisations based outside the UK and most online material is hosted outside the UK, national legislation has little application hence our focus on voluntary removals through companies’ terms and conditions. These arrangements mean that where companies take action this removes access to the content from the whole platform world-wide, not just for users accessing it from within a particular jurisdiction.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the paper presented to members of the Ethical Medicines Industry Group on 5 September, stating that new drugs and treatments can be made available to UK patients more quickly once the UK has left the EU; and what preparations they are making to ensure that the UK can more rapidly approve medicines once the UK has left the EU.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Nothing will change overnight as a result of the European Union referendum decision.

The United Kingdom remains a member of the EU until Article 50 negotiations have concluded. EU law continues to apply and ongoing compliance with EU law is considered important in facilitating orderly transition, for negotiating purposes, and to offer certainty in the meantime. As long as the UK is subject to EU law, the present arrangements remain in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 19 February (HL5998) regarding the case of Mark Pearson, who in the Crown Prosecution Service made the decision to present to the court a video that was run at half the normal speed.

Lord Keen of Elie

In the case concerned there was no video evidence. The police created a disc containing a series of still images with gaps of around a second in time. The timing of each image was clearly shown. The disc was served on the defence but was not played in court by the prosecution. The defence adduced their own disc as part of their case. The prosecution did not rely on the still images because at the trial the identification of the defendant was not in issue.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to implement the suggested changes to the Tata pensioners pension fund to all public sector pensions.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

In response to proposals put forward by the British Steel Pension Scheme and supported by Tata Steel UK, the Government is consulting on options to enable a potential restructuring of the British Steel Pension Scheme to deliver a scheme that is sustainable and provides clarity and security to scheme members. The consultation closes on 23 June 2016.

In the last Parliament the Government took action to secure the long term sustainability of public service pensions, by changing the indexation of pensions in payment to the Consumer Prices Index, increasing member contributions by 3.2 percentage points on average, and introducing new career average pensions schemes with higher normal pension ages and a cost control mechanism.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what warnings they are giving to prospective UK visitors to the USA about the dangers of contracting Zika virus, and whether they will highlight the most dangerous areas in the USA.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England (PHE) and the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) introduced a risk-based approach for countries reporting Zika infection ahead of cases reported from Florida in the United States of America. PHE and NaTHNaC issued travel guidance about Florida as soon as cases were announced. A copy of this guidance is attached. The first locally acquired cases of Zika were reported from Florida on 29 July 2016. The guidance advised pregnant women to consider postponing non-essential travel to Florida. Links to NaTHNaC’s detailed, site-specific advice allowed clinicians to have in-depth discussions of the transmission risks in Florida with potential travellers.

A high risk alert was issued as more information became available stating: “The risk in Miami-Dade county is considered high and pregnant women are advised to postpone non-essential travel to Miami-Dade county until after their pregnancy.” Advice on reducing the risk of sexual transmission of Zika infection was also issued, which is included within the attached guidance.

The situation is constantly under review and assessment, and travel and sexual transmission guidance is updated regularly as new information emerges from Florida.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to replace the permanent secretary to the Treasury or the permanent representative at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

There are no plans to replace the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury or the Permanent Representative at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU.