The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2015-12-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the freedom of Christian worship by British citizens visiting the Maldives.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Maldives is an Islamic country. Under its laws public observance of any religion other than Islam is prohibited. We state this in our Travel Advice and advise UK tourists to respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 8 January (HL4766), what is their assessment of the adequacy of railway links between London and South-West England.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The National Infrastructure Commission is not currently undertaking work on railway links between London and South West England.
Network Rail assessed the adequacy of the rail links between London and the South West as part of the rail industry’s Long Term Planning Process. The Western & Wessex Route Studies form part of this process and develop options for future services and for investment in the rail network up to 2043.
The options set out in the Route Studies are based on a regional and route based interpretation of the outputs and demand forecasts from previous market studies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the trend in the size of the hedgehog population in England since 2000; and what is the reason for that trend.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ State of Britain’s Hedgehogs Report 2015 estimated a population of 1.55 million hedgehogs in England, Wales and Scotland in the 1990s. Since 2000, rural populations are thought to have declined by at least a half and urban populations by up to a third. The current population is estimated at around 1 million.
The reasons for their decline are complex and include a number of factors including intensive agricultural practices (including loss of hedgerows), use of pesticides reducing availability of food, roads, a lack of available shelter in urban areas and restriction of movement and badgers which predate on hedgehogs and compete for their food.
The Government supports efforts to encourage local communities to work together in supporting the hedgehog such as making our gardens more hedgehog friendly and more welcoming to wildlife in general.
Working with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and People’s Trust for Endangered Species the Government has recently published advice for homeowners in the form of five simple steps to make gardens more hedgehog friendly, from letting grassy areas grow wild to providing food and shelter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the effect on bovine health in Exmoor of the National Trust’s advice to their tenant farmers not to participate in badger culls.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Alongside strengthening cattle testing and movement controls and improving biosecurity on farm and when trading, licensed badger control in areas where bovine TB is rife, like Exmoor, is an essential part of the Government’s 25-year strategy to eradicate the disease in England.
Badger control licence applications from groups of local farmers and landowners are assessed against criteria that include the area of accessible land. Provided that enough land is accessible to achieve an effective badger population reduction across the wider area, Natural England can issue a licence. Thus, even if some local landowners do not participate, long term disease reduction benefits can still be realised across the wider area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-09-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 July (HL761), by what date they expect the draft regulations seeking to amend the Local Authorities (Recovery of Costs for Public Path Orders) Regulations 1993 to be laid before Parliament.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
I am unable to confirm a precise date at present but I expect to publish the draft regulations later in the session.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2015-12-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the freedom of Christian worship afforded to British citizens visiting Turkey.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
It is our understanding that British citizens are not hindered from Christian worship in Turkey. As stated in the EU Commission’s Annual Progress Report on Turkey released on 10 November, freedom of worship continues to be generally respected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-01-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent deaths of Kurdish men and youths in Van and other parts of south-east Turkey since 1 January; and whether they have made representations to the government of Turkey about that matter.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The ongoing violence in the predominantly Kurdish areas of south east Turkey, including Van, is extremely concerning. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continues to kill members of the Turkish police service and security forces in violent terrorist attacks. We believe Turkey has a legitimate right to defend itself against the PKK, whose attacks we condemn as we condemn all terrorism. Our thoughts are with the victims of these attacks, and the civilians who have been caught up in the violence. We have been clear, in public and private, that PKK violence must end and we support a return to the peace process, in the interests of Turkey and the region. We stand ready to help in any way we can. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and our Ambassador to Turkey have emphasised the need to respect human rights and the importance of avoiding civilian casualties to the Government of Turkey.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current state of Anglo-Polish relations.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The UK has a strong bilateral relationship with Poland, one that the Government is committed to strengthening even further. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has agreed with his Polish counterpart to work more closely together to enhance the relationship towards a more strategic partnership. The UK and Poland share a vision for the future of the EU and of European security including many foreign, defence and security policy priorities. We are partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and share a commitment to the security of our allies and ensuring that NATO continuously adapts to changing threats. We continue to work together to deliver the outcomes of the Wales NATO Summit as we look forward to the Warsaw Summit in July. The UK and Poland are also partners in trade; the UK is Poland’s second largest export market. There are also close historical links between our countries. Together with the President of Poland the Prime Minister was honoured to attend the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral last September to pay tribute to those who fought, including the brave Polish pilots who played a crucial role in standing up for freedom.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the comments by the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, quoted in The Sunday Times on 8 May, that the Zionist bashing” at universities “has gone unchallenged”.”
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government is clear that there is absolutely no place in higher education or anywhere else in society for bigotry, hatred or any form of racism such as anti-Semitism.
Recent reports of anti-Semitism are extremely concerning and must be met with a decisive response. We expect all universities and all bodies with a role in English higher education to be absolutely clear in their opposition to racism in all its forms, and to have robust policies in place to tackle such hatred and support victims.
At the Government’s request, Universities UK has set up a taskforce to examine what more can be done to tackle harassment and hate crime on campus, and this includes anti-Semitism within its remit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-09-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress of badger culls in England and the effects of those culls on the welfare of cattle.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government plans to publish a report on this year’s licensed badger control operations as it has done for the first three years of the programme. The Animal and Plant Health Agency continues to assess annually the incidence of tuberculosis in cattle in areas where badger control is licensed for the purposes of controlling the disease. The analysis of the first two years impact is available on the GOV.UK website.