The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-07-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to suspend immediately the implementation of all pending and future judgments of the European Court of Justice.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The UK remains a member of the EU until our withdrawal is completed. We will exercise our rights and meet our obligations as a member of the EU accordingly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in conjunction with UK allies, they plan to increase the level of military activity against British jihadis fighting for ISIL in Iraq and Syria; and whether their objective is to kill such individuals on the battlefield before they return to the UK as potential terrorists.
Earl Howe
UK military action in Syria and Iraq is against Daesh targets, regardless of nationality, as December’s Parliamentary motion made clear. As part of the global coalition, the UK is making a substantial air contribution to the campaign to defeat Daesh in both countries and providing training to Iraqi (including Kurdish) security forces taking the fight to Daesh on the ground. The Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) announced in June that we would deploy up to 250 personnel to the Al Asad Air Base in Iraq to increase our training contribution.
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 Baroness Verma on 18 February (HL5913), which 17 countries their Flagship female genital mutilation (FGM) programme supports, how much aid each of those countries receives annually from the UK, and how much aid from the UK is spent annually on programmes to end female genital mutilation in those countries.
Baroness Verma
DFID’s regional FGM programme is providing up to £35 million in funding to end FGM in 17 high prevalence countries: Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.
This funding is apportioned over a five year period from 2013-2018 and the breakdown by country is not readily available. Six of these countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Uganda) have DFID country programmes. Information on the budget allocated to each of these countries is published on our Development Tracker online.
In Sudan, DFID’s regional programme to end FGM is complemented by a country programme providing £12m over five years to support the scale up of initiatives to end FGM across the country.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what warnings and advice they intend to give to the public, in the light of research on the severity of community-onset boils and abscesses in the UK, published in Epidemiology and Infection in December 2014 by Laura Shallcross et al.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Public Health England (PHE) is not planning to launch any new guidance or introduce warnings in light of the study referred to in the question and any public advice now falls within the remit of NHS Choices.
PHE published national guidance for the diagnosis, treatment and management of PVL-positive strains of S Aureus (PVL-SA) infections, an element of this includes the management of skin boils and abscesses caused by PVL-SA. PVL-SA are strains of a bacterium called Staphylococcus aureus that can produce a particular toxin (Panton-Valentine Luekocidin or PVL). Such strains are strongly associated with skin boils and abscesses which can be aggressive and recurrent in nature. A copy of the Guidance on the diagnosis and management of PVL-associated Staphylococcus aureus infections (PVL-SA) in England is attached.
PHE produced two leaflets called Patient Information Sheet – Staphylococcus aureus and Boils and Skin Infections: Information for the Public advising individuals on boils and abscesses caused by PVL-SA in response to particular “at risk” local environments and scenarios including schools, sporting groups and military recruits. The main advice in these leaflets is information as to where PVL-SA bacteria can be found, the infections it can cause and practical advice on how patients can minimise the risk of transferring the bacteria to others and experiencing repeated infections. Copies of both leaflets are attached.
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.