Tag: Lord Blencathra

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 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), 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 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.

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.