Tag: Lord Jones of Cheltenham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support the National Wildlife Crime Unit with further funding and through changes in legislation.

Lord Bates

The Government fully understands the importance of tackling wildlife crime and the important contribution that the National Wildlife Crime Unit makes to this, both here in the UK and internationally.

That is reflected in the fact that the Government is providing over £270,000 worth of specific funding to support the work of the Unit in 2015/16. As far as funding beyond March 2016 is concerned, a decision will be made in due course. The Government has no plans to make changes in legislation to support the Unit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of international scientific evidence showing that moderate alcohol consumption has protective effects to overall mortality compared to either abstinence or heavy consumption.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The alcohol guidelines review was undertaken by a group of independent scientific experts who were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The Guidelines Development Group scrutinised all of the available evidence concerning alcohol consumption including moderate alcohol consumption and the protective effects to overall mortality. They set out their assessment of the systematic reviews in their report.

The Alcohol Guidelines Review – Report from the Guidelines development group to the UK Chief Medical Officers is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research is being carried out into urticaria, and whether they plan to increase funding for research into the condition.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network is recruiting patients to an international dose-finding study of QGE031 as add-on therapy to evaluate efficacy and safety in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including urticaria. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the scientific evidence on which the updated guidance from the Chief Medical Officer concerning alcohol consumption, published in January, was based.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The alcohol guidelines review was undertaken by a group of independent scientific experts who were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The Guidelines Development Group scrutinised all of the available evidence concerning alcohol consumption including moderate alcohol consumption and the protective effects to overall mortality. They set out their assessment of the systematic reviews in their report.

The Alcohol Guidelines Review – Report from the Guidelines development group to the UK Chief Medical Officers is attached.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are monitoring academies and free schools that seek to change their nominal catchment areas in order to ensure that local parents have the final say on such proposals.

Lord Nash

School admission arrangements are set and applied locally. Each school has an admission authority to set its admission arrangements. For academies and free schools, it is the academy trust. Where changes are proposed to admission arrangements, the admission authority must first publicly consult on those arrangements, including with local parents. If no changes are made to admission arrangements, they must be consulted on at least once every seven years to ensure admissions arrangements continue to meet local needs. However, we will shortly be consulting on requiring admission authorities to consult on their admission arrangements at least once every four years.

There is no requirement within the School Admissions Code (‘the Code’) for any school to adopt a catchment area. Where they do, the Code makes it clear that the catchment must be fair and not discriminate against any social or ethnic group, or those with disabilities.

If parents are concerned about changes to a school’s catchment area they can object to the Schools Adjudicator. The Adjudicator can require any state-funded school to amend its admission policy, if it breaches the Code.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria were used in selecting the members of the Guidelines Development Group who advised the Chief Medical Officer on the evidence base for the updated guidelines concerning alcohol consumption.

Lord Prior of Brampton

A group of 13 independent scientific experts were commissioned to report back to the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers and make recommendations on new low risk drinking guidelines. The members of the Guidelines Development Group were chosen according to the type of expertise they had and their individual ability.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take against landlords who fail to maintain their properties in a safe and fit state of repair.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System assesses the health and safety risks in all residential properties. Under the Housing Act 2004, following an Rating System inspection, if a local authority identifies a serious hazard they can take action, including issuing an Improvement Notice or a Hazard Awareness Notice. In extreme circumstances, the local authority may decide to make repairs themselves, or to prohibit that property from being rented out. Where a landlord fails to comply with a statutory notice, this is an offence, and they can be prosecuted by the local authority. From October 2015 we introduced protection for tenants from retaliatory eviction, where they have a legitimate complaint about the condition of the property.

The Housing and Planning Bill will strengthen local authorities’ ability and incentives to tackle rogue landlords by introducing measures including:

• A database of rogue landlords and property agents convicted of certain offences;
• Banning orders for the most serious and prolific offenders;
• Civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution;
• Extension of Rent Repayment Orders to cover illegal eviction, breach of a banning order or failure to comply with a statutory notice;
• A more stringent fit and proper person test for landlords of licensable properties such as Houses in Multiple Occupation.

My Department also recently announced a further £5 million of funding across 48 local authorities to tackle the worst rogue landlords in their areas.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-06-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to tackle the decline in the number of UK citizens moving to live overseas.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government has no legal basis to influence where UK citizens choose to live.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the regulations relating to frozen state pensions.

Baroness Altmann

The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK state pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this.

Details of the numbers of people in receipt of the state pension, and whether they live in countries where the state pension is frozen or uprated, is included at Annex A. Countries where the UK state pension is up-rated are identified by an asterisk by the name of the country.

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people living in each of the Overseas Territories are in receipt of a UK state pension which is (1) frozen, or (2) uprated annually.

Baroness Altmann

The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK state pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this.

Details of the numbers of people in receipt of the state pension, and whether they live in countries where the state pension is frozen or uprated, is included at Annex A. Countries where the UK state pension is up-rated are identified by an asterisk by the name of the country.

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.