Tag: Lord Browne of Belmont

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to protect members of the public from unsolicited telephone calls.

Lord Ashton of Hyde

The Government is determined to tackle the problem of nuisance calls, and is considering implementing a number of legislative measures to provide better consumer protection, from unsolicited telephone calls. These measures include; extending the Information Commissioner’s powers of compulsory audit to organisations that generate nuisance calls and holding company directors to account for breaches of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The Government introduced a new requirement for all direct marketing callers to provide caller line identification, which came into effect on 16 May. More recently we introduced a measure in the Digital Economy Bill, making it a requirement for the Information Commissioner to issue a statutory code of practice on direct marketing, which will support a reduction in the number of unwanted direct marketing calls.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of road safety awareness educational programmes in reducing accidents.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Road safety education includes a range of interventions including educational courses and publicity campaigns.

The Department funds the THINK! road safety publicity campaign. We evaluate the campaign to ensure it is effective, that we continually improve performance; and that we ultimately deliver value for money for the taxpayer.

Prior to each campaign we set communication objectives and key performance indicators. We measure progress against these by running surveys with our target audience before and immediately after the campaign. We have seen positive shifts in key performance indicators for the majority of our campaigns. All of our recent campaign evaluation reports are published on gov.uk^[1].

In the long run, positive changes in key performance indicators on campaigns such as speeding, drink driving and seatbelts have correlated with fewer drivers exceeding the speed limit, fewer accidents involving drink driving and higher seatbelt wearing rates; and ultimately to fewer road casualties.

Publicity campaigns are part of the solution to reduce road casualties and work best when used alongside enforcement and engineering interventions. Due to the multiple factors affecting casualties (weather, road conditions, traffic levels, the economy etc.) it is difficult to demonstrate a causal relationship with a specific intervention. However, in 2012 the department commissioned an independent agency to evaluate the impact drink drive campaigns have had on casualties. They used econometric modelling to estimate that over a 30 year period, drink drive communication campaigns have saved almost 2,000 lives and prevented over 10,000 serious injuries^[2].

In 2013, the Transport Research Laboratory published^[3] a review and synthesis of evidence on the effectiveness of pre-driver education and training for those under 17 years of age which was undertaken for the Coalition Government. The findings showed that very few interventions had been robustly evaluated and that the evidence base around pre-driver interventions was weak. The Government recently commissioned an evidence base review, to build on existing work, to help us to understand the effectiveness of a range of pre- and post-test behavioural and technological interventions for young drivers. The Government is currently also funding an evaluation of the effectiveness of speed awareness courses.

^[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/think-communication-activity

^[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drink-drive-30-years-of-communication

^[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249282/novice-driver-research-findings.pdf

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential impact on Northern Ireland of the UK leaving the EU.

Lord Dunlop

UK Government Ministers have regular contact with the Northern Ireland Executive to discuss a range of issues, including matters relating to the EU.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the estimated (1) numeracy, and (2) literacy, rate among prisoners in each of the last three years.

Lord Keen of Elie

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. I am determined to make sure that we achieve better outcomes for all prisoners including in education, and I want to see much clearer accountability for prison governors for the education delivered in prison and the results prisoners achieve. Mandatory education assessments were introduced for the first time in August 2014, for all new receptions to custody in England. This shows that in the year to September 2015 fewer than half the people entering prisons had basic standards of English and maths, and around a third had identified learning difficulties or disabilities. Data prior to August 2014 is not available.

Prison education is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to help home owners in negative equity.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

If homeowners are in negative equity, or worried about meeting payments in the future, it is vital to make early contact with their lender.

There are a number of organisations available that provide free, impartial advice on money and debt management, including the Money Advice Service, which Government has set up to promote understanding of Financial Systems.

The Government is working to mitigate the impact of Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) activity on those in negative equity and following consultation government released a response document on the 29^th October, which is available on the gov.uk website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what fines have been levied on the UK for non-compliance with EU directives from 2010 to date.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

From 2010 to date no fines have been levied on the UK for non-compliance with EU directives.

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