Tag: Lord Chadlington

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce regulation for the social gaming industry.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Social gaming is already covered by existing consumer protection legislation and other regulatory bodies. The Gambling Commission published the attached report on social gaming in January 2015. The Commission concluded that there was no compelling reason to impose additional regulation on the social gaming sector given that it is already subject to extensive consumer protection legislation.

The Government will continue to keep this issue under review to ensure that appropriate protections remain in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to publish an updated policy on fixed odds betting terminals.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

On 21 January the Government published its evaluation of the £50 regulations introduced in April 2015, which is attached.

The evaluation indicates that a large proportion of players of FOBTs may now be making a more conscious choice to control their playing behaviour and their stake level. We will now consider the findings of the evaluation before deciding if there is a need for further action.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-01-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the European Court of Human Rights ruling on 12 January in Barbulescu v Romania on an employer’s right to access an employee’s private emails in the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government has made no assessment of the judgment The case raises the important question of whether the Applicant had a reasonable expectation that his communications would not be monitored; and could reasonably expect privacy when communicating from the Yahoo Messenger account that he had registered at his employer’s request, and where there was a strict company policy prohibiting use of work systems for personal purposes. The Applicant alleged interference with his article 8 rights and that the interference was not foreseeable or proportionate. But the Court held that there was nothing to indicate that the domestic authorities failed to strike a fair balance between the applicant’s right to respect for his private life under Article 8 and his employer’s interests, and that there had been no violation of Article 8 of the Convention.

The attached ICO’s employment practices code sets out guidance in relation to workplace monitoring. The code is already clear that employers should have policies in place explaining how they expect their IT systems to be used, including setting out the extent to which, if any, the IT system can be used for personal use. Even where no such policy is in place, it is reasonable in certain circumstances for employers to monitor an employee’s use of the IT systems to ensure compliance with any policy or to ensure that employees are not abusing the use of the system. Such monitoring may include accessing non-work communications but this should only be done in exceptional circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-03-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ alcohol guidelines review, what steps they are taking to educate young people about the dangers of drinking.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England’s Rise Above social marketing programme aims to reduce the uptake of risky behaviours, including alcohol consumption, by young people aged 11-16. It teaches them the skills required to make better decisions in ‘risky’ situations to delay and prevent them from engaging in exploratory behaviours.

Talk to FRANK is a web-based information service that explains the effects and risks of excessive alcohol consumption. It also provides a help service via phone, text, live chat and email for people who are concerned about their own or others’ alcohol consumption. Talk to FRANK is an independent Government funded programme.

The Government also commissions the Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service to enable schools to understand and implement evidence-based approaches to preventing harmful alcohol use by children and young people.

In the new science curriculum, there are opportunities for young people to be taught about the dangers of drinking: for example, at key stage 2, pupils should be taught to “recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function”, or in biology at key stage 3, where pupils will learn about “the effects of recreational drugs (including substance misuse) on behaviour, health and life processes”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-03-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to educate women on alcohol avoidance whilst pregnant.

Lord Prior of Brampton

On 8 January 2016, the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers published a new guideline on pregnancy and drinking – that if a woman is pregnant or planning a pregnancy, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to keep risks to the baby to a minimum. A copy of the guideline is attached. The Department will be working with the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to ensure that their members are fully informed about the content of the guidelines and are able to explain them to the women they care for and help them make informed decisions. Public Health England (PHE) is also working with professional organisations to enhance the awareness and confidence of midwives and health visitors to educate and inform women about avoiding alcohol while pregnant.

PHE’s Start4Life social marketing programme delivers advice and practical guidance to parents and parents to be to help them adopt healthy behaviours and build parenting skills to give their child the best possible start. This includes looking after their own health, and addresses the implications of drinking during pregnancy. Start4Life uses a range of products to inform and influence its audience’s behaviour around alcohol consumption including the Information Service for Parents, Start4Life website, and leaflets and posters.

Through voluntary actions by alcohol producers, independent research showed that in 2014 90.7% of bottles and cans carried warning labels about drinking in pregnancy, compared to just 17.6% of products six years before.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-03-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to educate the 2.5 million people who consume more than the new weekly recommended limit for alcohol in a single day, in the light of the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Public Health England’s ‘One You’ adult health campaign (launched this month) aims to help adults understand their alcohol consumption and take appropriate action. It also focuses on quitting smoking, healthier diets and exercise. The campaign provides information online, including tailored advice and, for example, a Drinks Tracker app.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that women in safe houses and refuges who need to keep their address anonymous are not prevented from voting.

Lord Bridges of Headley

Electors who need to keep their name and address anonymous are able to submit an application for anonymous registration. As part of their application, electors must satisfy the Electoral Registration Officer that their safety, or that of people they live with, would be at risk if the register contained their name and address. For this purpose electors must provide either a court order or an attestation by a “qualifying officer”, which includes senior police officers and chief social workers. The evidential threshold for applications for anonymous electoral registration is to ensure that it is available only to those whose personal safety would genuinely be at risk if their details appeared on the electoral register, rather than for the purpose of gaining additional privacy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the relationship between the inability to pay high rents and the risk of homelessness, what they are doing to ensure access to social housing.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The statutory requirement to consider ‘reasonable preference’ prioritises social housing for those who need it the most. The provisions in the Housing and Planning Act that ensure new tenancies are regularly reviewed will enable councils to get the best use out of their social housing.

To enable local authorities to help claimants affected by changes to Housing Benefit who need extra support, we have also increased the level of funding for Discretionary Housing Payment to £870 million in total across this Parliament – a notional 55 per cent increase compared to the previous Parliament.

Whilst households who face homelessness need suitable, settled accommodation it does not always need to be social housing. That is why we changed the law to allow authorities to make offers of good quality private rented sector accommodation. Since 2010 our homelessness prevention funding has helped local authorities and homelessness charities prevent almost a million households from becoming homeless. We want this work to continue and that is why we have maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding though the local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

The government is also committed to delivering affordable housing. Twice as much council housing has been built since 2010 than in the previous 13 years. The Spending Review in 2016 allocated £8 billion to deliver 400,000 affordable homes this parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-05-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any assessment of the Housing First policy implemented in Utah as a means to tackle homelessness.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

One person without a home is one too many which is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million.

Homelessness is rarely the result of a personal housing crisis alone and we know that many rough sleepers and homeless people have complex needs, such as mental health difficulties or substance misuse, which result in poor life chances.

That is why we announced at Budget 2016 that we are developing a new £10 million national Social Impact Bond programme, to help homeless people with complex needs off the streets. We want to drive innovative ways to support those with the most complex needs, including ‘Housing First’. In doing so, we will look to learn from how other countries have delivered, including the United States and elsewhere.

This work forms part of our wider approach to preventing and reducing homelessness, which also includes a new £10 million rough sleeping programme and an additional £100 million of funding for move-on accommodation for those leaving hostels and refuges.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Chadlington on 2016-06-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to engage with individuals who are aware of having an alcohol problem but have not, because they are too ashamed or frightened, sought help.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Local authorities and their health and wellbeing board partners have responsibility for planning the full range of alcohol services, from early intervention and prevention, through to commissioning alcohol treatment services to meet need in their area and ensure services are accessible to everyone. Furthermore in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) public health guidance (PH 24) Alcohol-use disorders: preventing harmful drinking, Public Health England (PHE) encourages health and social care professionals to carry out Identification and Brief Advice through general practitioners and programmes such as NHS Health Checks and Making Every Contact Count. A copy of the NICE guidance is attached.

The majority of services offer interventions that are non-religious and are based on cognitive behavioural principles with motivational enhancement techniques.

There are a number of online resources to help with alcohol issues, including the One You and NHS Choices websites. One You is an integrated social marketing campaign run by PHE which aims to engage adults in making changes to improve their own health. This includes offering users advice and information about alcohol as well as tools which help monitor their drinking. NHS Choices offers a range of information about alcohol dependence and includes an on online directory of local alcohol services that those worried about their alcohol use can approach for assistance.