Tag: Lord McColl of Dulwich

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will lay before Parliament a report setting out their plans in relation to independent child trafficking advocates, in accordance with section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Lord Bates

Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act requires the Government to lay before Parliament a report setting out the steps it proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates within nine months of Royal Assent of the Modern Slavery Act. The Government will publish this report by 16 December, whilst Parliament is sitting. The evaluation report will be published by 16 December and set out the number of children referred into the trial and their countries of origin.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children who received a child trafficking advocate under the trials conducted in 2014–15 were (1) UK nationals, (2) nationals of the EU or EEA excluding UK nationals, and (3) nationals of countries not in the EU or EEA.

Lord Bates

Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act requires the Government to lay before Parliament a report setting out the steps it proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates within nine months of Royal Assent of the Modern Slavery Act. The Government will publish this report by 16 December, whilst Parliament is sitting. The evaluation report will be published by 16 December and set out the number of children referred into the trial and their countries of origin.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children were referred to the child trafficking advocate trials from each of the 23 participating local authorities.

Lord Bates

Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act requires the Government to lay before Parliament a report setting out the steps it proposes to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates within nine months of Royal Assent of the Modern Slavery Act. The Government will publish this report by 16 December, whilst Parliament is sitting. The evaluation report will be published by 16 December and set out the number of children referred into the trial and their countries of origin.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of people being killed by buildings collapsing as a result of subterranean excavations carried out in order to increase accommodation.

Baroness Altmann

In the last 10 years, no people have been killed by buildings collapsing during subterranean excavation work to increase accommodation. Subterranean excavation to increase accommodation involves significant health and safety risks, including the potential for the collapse of both excavated ground and buildings. There have been two deaths caused by collapsing excavated ground during construction of subterranean accommodation. The Health and Safety Executive’s construction programme has initiatives aimed at improving standards in this type of construction work, including targeted inspection and enforcement campaigns.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between malnutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene.

Baroness Verma

DFID commissioned the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to undertake a review of the evidence on the links between water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and nutrition in 2012. The review concluded that there was good evidence that WASH has an impact on under-nutrition. At the very basic level, the act of infant and child feeding needs good personal hygiene – hand washing with soap and water, plus good food hygiene. In addition, water is important in that it is generally required to prepare complementary foods. It needs to come from a safe source and then be collected, transported and stored safely. The living environment of infants has to be free from faecal contamination to minimise the risk of ingesting pathogens or coming into contact with intestinal worms.

This review is currently being updated drawing on a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2014 which estimated that 50% of child under-nutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections as a result of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene. There is increasing evidence that chronic diarrheal disease may inhibit nutrient absorption even if sufficient food is consumed. This latter condition referred to as Environmental Enteropathy is currently one of the subjects of a large randomised control trial being conducted in Zimbabwe with DFID support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that water, sanitation and hygiene are considered in all plans to tackle malnutrition.

Baroness Verma

All DFID nutrition programmes are based on an assessment of the causes of malnutrition, in line with the UNICEF conceptual framework. These include the role that lack of clean water and poor sanitation and hygiene plays in making children ill and therefore increasing the risk of malnutrition. DFID is already integrating water, sanitation and hygiene activities into nutrition programmes in a number of countries and we are actively looking for opportunities to do so in other places where we are addressing malnutrition.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been charged under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 by each police force in England and Wales in each year since 2012.

Lord Bates

This information is not held by the Home Office. The Home Office receives data from police forces in England and Wales which show offences recorded by the police that resulted in one or more people being charged or summonsed. It is not possible to determine either the number of people charged for each offence or what section of an act someone was charged under for each offence or what specific section of an act somebody was charged under for some offences.

The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been (1) arrested, (2) charged, and (3) convicted, under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in each year since the provision came into force, and what penalty was imposed in cases of conviction.

Lord Faulks

The attached table shows, for the years 2010-2014, the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates’ courts and the number of offenders found guilty and sentenced at all courts, with sentencing outcomes, for offences relating to paying or promising to pay a person to provide sexual services, where that person is subject to exploitative conduct to induce or encourage them to provide those services.

Court proceeding data for calendar year 2015 is planned for publication in May 2016.

The Home Office collects data on arrests at offence group level (for example, “sexual offences”), but the data is unavailable in relation to more specific offences, such as those under section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-02-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 29 June 2015 (HL541), what action they have taken to make it easier for human trafficking victims whose circumstances make it difficult to provide evidence that they have been habitually resident in the UK for three months to provide such evidence.

Lord Bates

A significant number of victims of modern slavery who are identified in the UK are provided support through the government funded victim-care contract for 90 days or longer. Where this is the case, we have ensured that the support provider is able to supply the Department for Work and Pensions with a letter as evidence that the individual has been habitually resident in the UK for more than three months. For the remaining cases where they receive support for less than 90 days, evidence may be provided by the police or other statutory agencies involved in the case confirming the victim has been living in the UK for more than three months, where such evidence exists.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McColl of Dulwich on 2016-02-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many EEA nationals with ongoing applications for discretionary leave to remain as victims of human trafficking have been issued with minded to remove” letters or administrative removal papers since 1 January 2014.”

Lord Bates

Since 01 January 2014, no EEA Nationals with ongoing applications for Discretionary Leave to Remain in the United Kingdom as victims of human trafficking have been served with ‘minded to remove’ letters or administrative removal papers whilst their applications were being considered.

In the same time period,fewer than five applicants were served with papers before they made an application for Discretionary Leave to Remain.