Tag: Lord Browne of Belmont

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specific steps they are taking to help SMEs to move online.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

As part of our wider support for small businesses, Government has provided funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships to extend the reach of their digital support for small firms. We are also increasing the number of Digital Trade Advisors working around the country to help small businesses expand into new overseas markets.

Government supports the extensive range of private sector-led activity to help small businesses improve their digital skills. We particularly welcome the work that Go ON UK does to encourage and join up this activity.

In addition to this, Government’s Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme allowed businesses to apply for grants of up to £3,000 to help them move to a faster digital market and connect to superfast broadband. The initiative has now allocated all of the £40m available funding since April 2015, with more than 55,000 small businesses across the UK taking up the offer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to improve support for children and young people with mental health problems.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Children and young people’s mental health is a priority area for this Government and it is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in Mind, the report published jointly by the Department and NHS England in March 2015. This is supported by an additional investment of £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament. A copy of Future in Mind is attached.

Progress has been made on many of the key ambitions set out in Future in Mind. One significant development being that Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing have been produced covering the full spectrum of mental health issues, from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems. LTPs also address the full spectrum of need, for every clinical commissioning group (CCG) in the country. The Local Government Association have produced a spreadsheet giving details of LTPs. A copy of this spreadsheet is attached.

Work is in progress to strengthen the capacity and capability of the workforce and to improve data and information in order to deliver the vision set out in Future in Mind by 2020. In addition, the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme is continuing to be rolled out across the country.

Progress has also been made on making help and support to children and young people available online through the launch of an online hub for children and young people on the NHS Choices website and further investment made into a campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination as proposed in Future in Mind.

All CCGs, working closely with their partners, have developed and submitted LTPs to transform their local offer for children and young people’s mental health. Plans cover the whole spectrum of services from prevention to intervention for emerging or existing mental health problems and address the full spectrum of need.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many GPs, broken down by region, are trained mental health specialists.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The information is not collected by the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-11-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK emergency travel documents were issued to overseas applicants in each month since January 2013.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The table below provides the total number of UK Emergency Travel Documents issued to overseas applicants from January 2013 to October 2015.

MONTH	2013	2014	2015
JANUARY	1,809	2,036	1,687
FEBRUARY	1,735	2,030	1,727
MARCH	2,078	2,638	2,138
APRIL	2,417	3,961	2,237
MAY	2,557	3,947	2,470
JUNE	2,885	5,238	3,208
JULY	3,654	5,351	3,647
AUGUST	3,493	3,970	3,542
SEPTEMBER	2,808	3,346	3,207
OCTOBER	2,262	2,458	2,520
NOVEMBER	1,842	1,766
DECEMBER	2,451	2,429

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in reducing the levels of youth unemployment in Northern Ireland over the last three years.

Lord Dunlop

The Government is reducing the largest structural deficit in UK peacetime history and this more than anything will help deliver a sustainable economic recovery and so directly assist young people get into employment.

The Government has also abolished employer National Insurance Contributions for under-21 year olds from April 2015 making it cheaper for businesses in Northern Ireland to employ young people.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds in Northern Ireland has fallen by 5 per cent in the last three years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent assessment they have made of the extent of human trafficking in Northern Ireland.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

An in depth assessment of the scale and nature of modern slavery and human trafficking across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, can be found in the recently published Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) report on modern slavery, available via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-of-the-inter-departmental-ministerial-group-on-modern-slavery-2016.

The latest published figures from the National Crime Agency reveal that in 2015, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the framework which identifies and supports potential human trafficking victims – received 53 referrals of potential victims first encountered in Northern Ireland. This represents a 17% increase on 2014 referrals and 1.6% of UK referrals to the NRM.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of young people considered not to be in education, employment or training (1) have a disability, or (2) are carers, broken down by region.

Lord Nash

Official data covering young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England is regularly published by the Department for Education. This data cannot, however, be broken down by individual characteristics.

Local authorities collect data on the proportion of 16-18 year olds known by their local authority to be NEET, and who have a learning difficulty or disability, or who are carers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what programmes are currently in place to help homeless veterans sleeping rough in the United Kingdom; and what plans they have (1) to help such individuals into permanent housing, and (2) to prevent veterans becoming homeless in the first instance.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

This Government is committed to preventing and tackling homelessness and protecting the most vulnerable in society, including veterans.

We have changed the law so that former service men and women with urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing, and cannot be disqualified from social housing because of a local connection requirement.

Since 2010, we have invested over £500 million to prevent homelessness among the most vulnerable. Our £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund has supported the roll-out of No Second Night Out across England ensuring more rough sleepers, including veterans, are found and helped quickly so that they do not spend more than one night on the street.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what opportunities are available through the European Social Fund for young people who are not in education, employment or training to study for additional qualifications.

Lord Freud

Young people who are not in education, employment or training are a priority in the 2014-20 European Social Fund programme in England. This programme was agreed by the European Commission in September, and sets aside €340m specifically to help this group. The most disadvantaged young people will also be helped through the €650m provided for activities to address social exclusion.

The Managing Authority, based in DWP, launched calls for applications in March 2015 and expects operations to begin in 2016. Final bids are currently being appraised.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance is provided to magistrates and judges about when it is appropriate to apply the maximum tariff available in cases of animal cruelty.

Lord Faulks

Animal cruelty is a summary offence with a maximum penalty of a level 5 (unlimited) fine and/or 6 months’ imprisonment. The maximum penalty for any offence is set by Parliament to deal with the most serious possible cases. Guidance on sentencing for this offence is contained in the Magistrates’ Courts Sentencing Guidelines, which are published by the independent Sentencing Council.

These are the sentencing starting points from the guidelines for animal cruelty, based on a first time offender pleading not guilty:

Examples of nature of activity	Starting point Range	Range
One impulsive act causing little or no injury;	short term neglect	Band C fine Band B fine to medium level community
Several incidents of deliberate ill-treatment/frightening	High level community order	Medium level community order to 12 weeks custody
Attempt to kill/torture; animal baiting/conducting or permitting cock-fighting etc.; prolonged neglect	18 weeks custody	12 to 26 weeks custody