Tag: Lord Pendry

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the work of the World Anti-Doping Agency, in particular in setting regulatory standards against doping and educating athletes and coaches to shift the culture against cheating.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has improved its compliance and reporting processes, resulting in the recent suspension of six countries for non-compliance and a further six countries placed on its watch-list. Last week, WADA’s Foundation Board increased its scope to conduct internal investigations and strengthen its whistleblowing process. WADA President Craig Reedie’s statement that values-based education is the best weapon for clean sport is a view shared by UK Anti-Doping and implemented through its successful 100% Me education programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-04-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that physical activity is an integral part of tackling obesity in the forthcoming childhood obesity strategy, in the light of the correlation between inactivity and childhood obesity.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese including inactivity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support and promote the Erasmus+ programme, which aims to boost skills and employability through education, training and sport.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

The Erasmus+ programme enables organisations and citizens to achieve their potential through international education, training and sport opportunities.

A body called the National Agency (a consortium of the British Council and Ecorys UK) deliver the Erasmus+ programme in the UK. The Government supports the National Agency’s delivery, aligns the programme with Government objectives, and represents the UK in European meetings on Erasmus+. The National Agency has a communications team that is dedicated to raising awareness of the Erasmus+ programme. The Government does not duplicate this work.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what ways they are targeting the entire population to encourage them to take up physical activity, and not just those who are overweight or obese.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England may be damaging their health through a lack of physical activity. Ministers across government continue to work together to identify opportunities to get people active in a range of ways including active travel, health initiatives, planning and sport.

In December 2015 Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ – the first comprehensive government strategy for sport for 13 years – it sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation. It has a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.

Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, states that tackling inactivity is a major priority for the organisation, it is tripling its current investment to over £250 million over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding they provide for (1) research and development in new technologies to monitor inactivity, and (2) evaluating the impact of local programmes to tackle inactivity.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The usual practice of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council (MRC) is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available.

Public funders including the NIHR, the MRC, other Research Councils and Innovate UK fund a wide range of research relating to monitoring of physical activity/inactivity and the development and evaluation of interventions to support and encourage healthy behaviours including physical activity.

For example, the NIHR has recently funded a £0.8 million trial to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Football Fans in Training (FFIT) – a group-based, weight management and healthy living programme delivered by community coaches. The report of the study has been published in the NIHR Journals Library and is attached.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research that shows that lack of physical activity is negatively affecting more people than obesity, whether they have a strategy on how to support grassroots attempts at getting citizens to take part in more and sustained physical activity.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Government is determined to tackle physical inactivity. Around one in two women and a third of men in England may be damaging their health through a lack of physical activity. Ministers across government continue to work together to identify opportunities to get people active in a range of ways including active travel, health initiatives, planning and sport.

In December 2015 Government published ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ – the first comprehensive government strategy for sport for 13 years – it sets out a new vision for a successful and active sporting nation. It has a strong focus on reaching inactive people and helping them to get moving in ways that suit them.

Sport England’s new strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’, published on 19 May, states that tackling inactivity is a major priority for the organisation, it is tripling its current investment to over £250 million over 4 years, making it the largest single national investor in tackling inactivity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent allegations of match-fixing in top-level tennis, including at Wimbledon.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

These are serious accusations and they need to be looked into quickly.

The Secretary of State has spoken to the tennis authorities and we ar determined to do all we can to support them in ensuring that the game is absolutely clean, and we are assured they are committed to this aim too. We welcome the news that the Association of Tennis Professionals have announced a thorough independent review into the accusations and that they will be implementing its recommendations.

Primary responsibility for monitoring betting markets or sporting events rest with the betting operators and sports governing bodies respectively.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what step they are taking to ensure that British businesses in Colombia do not contribute to human rights abuses there.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Encouraging businesses to respect human rights is a global priority for this Government. We recognise that communities such as indigenous and afro-descendant people and those in isolated rural areas are particularly vulnerable.

The UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights sets out how the Government is implementing the UN Guiding Principles. British firms are expected to uphold these principles in their overseas operations, as well as in the UK. It is for each country to implement a National Action Plan to ensure compliance with the Guiding Principles.

We worked closely with the Colombian authorities to develop their National Action Plan, published in December. All companies operating in Colombia, including British ones, should comply with the requirements and guidelines set out in that National Action Plan.

The Minister for Trade and Investment, my noble Friend, the Lord Price of Sturminster Newton, launched a campaign for British businesses to support peace, primarily through respect for human rights, during his visit to Colombia last month. Twenty of the largest British companies operating in Colombia subsequently agreed to align themselves to the Colombian National Action Plan for business and human rights.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-01-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support policing bodies such as the Tennis Integrity Unit to investigate allegations of match-fixing in top-level tennis.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

These are serious accusations and they need to be looked into quickly.

The Secretary of State has spoken to the tennis authorities and we ar determined to do all we can to support them in ensuring that the game is absolutely clean, and we are assured they are committed to this aim too. We welcome the news that the Association of Tennis Professionals have announced a thorough independent review into the accusations and that they will be implementing its recommendations.

Primary responsibility for monitoring betting markets or sporting events rest with the betting operators and sports governing bodies respectively.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-06-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are supporting British businesses in Colombia so that they do not contribute to the human rights violations against, in particular, the indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Encouraging businesses to respect human rights is a global priority for this Government. We recognise that communities such as indigenous and afro-descendant people and those in isolated rural areas are particularly vulnerable.

The UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights sets out how the Government is implementing the UN Guiding Principles. British firms are expected to uphold these principles in their overseas operations, as well as in the UK. It is for each country to implement a National Action Plan to ensure compliance with the Guiding Principles.

We worked closely with the Colombian authorities to develop their National Action Plan, published in December. All companies operating in Colombia, including British ones, should comply with the requirements and guidelines set out in that National Action Plan.

The Minister for Trade and Investment, my noble Friend, the Lord Price of Sturminster Newton, launched a campaign for British businesses to support peace, primarily through respect for human rights, during his visit to Colombia last month. Twenty of the largest British companies operating in Colombia subsequently agreed to align themselves to the Colombian National Action Plan for business and human rights.