Tag: Lord Sharkey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which commercial organisations are permitted to promote or distribute their products or the products of other organisations in NHS maternity wards; what revenues accrue to the Government or the NHS from that activity; and what evidence there is that patients welcome such activity.

Lord Prior of Brampton

National Health Service trusts may negotiate locally with commercial organisations to distribute advice, information and ‘try before you buy’ samples that they think would be useful for pregnant women.

Neither the Department nor NHS England centrally have any contracts with Bounty or influence over the contents of the packs nor does the Department benefit financially from such arrangements. We do not have any information about what contracts might exist between Bounty and individual NHS trusts.

Although we are aware of Bounty distributing their packs on maternity wards, we have no evidence of whether or not this is welcomed by parents.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use the services of Bounty to help distribute Child Benefit claim packs to new mothers in NHS hospitals. The contract for this service is held by HMRC’s Print Vendor Provider, Williams Lea. Using the Bounty pack as one channel for distributing Child Benefit forms has proved efficient and cost effective. The Child Benefit form can also be obtained through other channels, notably the HMRC website.

In 2012-13, HMRC paid £85,990.27 (excluding VAT) for Bounty to distribute a total of 857,939 English and Welsh language claim forms.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the nature and extent of the relationship, including financial arrangements, between HMRC and Bounty, between NHS England and Bounty, and between NHS Foundation Trusts and NHS Trusts and Bounty.

Lord Prior of Brampton

National Health Service trusts may negotiate locally with commercial organisations to distribute advice, information and ‘try before you buy’ samples that they think would be useful for pregnant women.

Neither the Department nor NHS England centrally have any contracts with Bounty or influence over the contents of the packs nor does the Department benefit financially from such arrangements. We do not have any information about what contracts might exist between Bounty and individual NHS trusts.

Although we are aware of Bounty distributing their packs on maternity wards, we have no evidence of whether or not this is welcomed by parents.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) use the services of Bounty to help distribute Child Benefit claim packs to new mothers in NHS hospitals. The contract for this service is held by HMRC’s Print Vendor Provider, Williams Lea. Using the Bounty pack as one channel for distributing Child Benefit forms has proved efficient and cost effective. The Child Benefit form can also be obtained through other channels, notably the HMRC website.

In 2012-13, HMRC paid £85,990.27 (excluding VAT) for Bounty to distribute a total of 857,939 English and Welsh language claim forms.

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

To ask the Leader of the House what was the average time in (1) the 2015–16 Session, and (2) each of the last five Sessions before that, between the publication of a select committee report and its being debated; and how many select committee reports published in the 2015–16 Session and the previous five Sessions were undebated (1) 12 months, and (2) six months, after publication.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

My office does not hold the information requested.

My Noble Friend the Government Chief Whip makes regular offers of time for debates on Select Committee reports to the Committee Office. The Committee Office then coordinate among Chairmen to determine which reports are debated on such occasions and in what order.

Sixteen select committee reports were debated in the last session and debates on nine reports have been arranged thus far this session.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much public funding was involved, and on what terms, in the purchase by Greybull Capital of Tata Steel’s Long Products Europe business.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The transaction was a private commercial deal, supported by financing from commercial lenders. Her Majesty’s Government did not participate in the funding of the transaction.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the poor performance of Isle of Wight secondary schools, and in particular the level of fixed-term exclusions, as reported in the latest Ofsted Annual Report; and what measures are being taken to increase the rate of improvement in those schools.

Lord Nash

Secondary schools on the Isle of Wight face a range of complex and longstanding challenges similar to those faced by schools in other coastal areas. For example, they face difficulties in recruiting high quality teachers, particularly at senior levels. Inadequate school improvement support provided by the local authority in the past compounded further the difficulties faced by schools on the island.

The Department for Education’s latest data (2013/14) shows that the main specific reasons for fixed term exclusions in secondary schools on the Isle of Wight are: persistent disruptive behaviour; verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult; and physical assault against a pupil.

This government has acted decisively to improve educational performance on the island. In July 2013 the Department for Education directed the Isle of Wight Council to enter into a five year strategic partnership with Hampshire County Council which has a sound track record of educational performance. Under this arrangement the proportion of pupils achieving five A*-C GCSEs including English and mathematics has increased at two maintained secondary schools since 2014.

To help bring talented new teachers onto the island, Teach First has commenced a pilot in three secondary schools on the Isle of Wight which they intend to expand next year.

The Regional Schools Commissioner for the South East and South London is working to support and challenge the island’s academies and academy sponsors, particularly the Academies Enterprise Trust, to ensure improvements in their performance continue, and that recent changes in school leadership lead to sustained progress.

Fixed-term exclusions in Isle of Wight secondary schools have fallen faster than the national average, from 1,136 (14.1% of the school population) in 2012/13 to 898 (11.8%of the school population) in 2013/14.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-06-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received about the summary and non-appealable closure by UK-based banks of accounts belonging to Muslims or Muslim organisations; from whom they received those representations, if any; and what response they made.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The withdrawal of banking services from certain sectors, including NGOs and community-based organisations, is unfortunately one instance of a global problem of de-risking affecting many countries and a number of sectors. The Government is concerned about the growth of this trend and the implications it has for NGOs, economic growth, financial inclusion and financial stability. That is why the Government continues to work closely with those affected in the UK to better understand their experiences and encourage dialogue with the banking sector. The Government also encourages banks to take a risk-based approach in their activities, to ensure that the measures they take are effective and proportionate, and that they mitigate the risks they face.

Treasury Ministers and officials receive representations and have meetings with a wide variety of organisations and individuals as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available on the gov.uk website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what mechanisms exist to scrutinise the Channel programme and Prevent strategy, and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of those mechanisms.

Lord Bates

The Government has developed a dual approach to assessing the effectiveness of initiatives funded by the Prevent strategy, including the Channel programme. It is based on comprehensive monitoring systems which track outcomes over time and robust evaluation techniques.

In addition, the Prevent Oversight Board, chaired by the Minister for Security, has responsibility to oversee the delivery of the Prevent Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 12 July (HL883), which Muslim organisations affected by the withdrawal of banking services they continue to work closely with…to better understand their experiences and encourage dialogue with the banking sector”; how that working closely manifests itself; and what is their assessment of the outcomes of that close working.”

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Ministers and officials have received representations from a wide range of organisations and individuals who have been affected by account closure. Officials have discussed the issue of access to banking with individual Muslim organisations as well as representative groups such as the Muslim Charities Forum and Bond.

The Government remains concerned about the growth of de-risking and the implications it has for NGOs, economic growth, financial inclusion and financial stability. We recognise that this trend remains a global problem, and have taken concrete steps to address this. We put the issue on the G20 agenda in 2015 and, closer to home, we have encouraged the banking sector to produce new guidance to help those affected by de-risking to open a UK bank account, by setting out what information banks will require in order to comply with relevant regulation and the questions they will need to ask. We have encouraged those affected to consider using their bank’s formal complaint service or, if they believe they have been treated unfairly or unreasonably, to consider referring the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service. We have also encouraged those affected to use the Business Account Finder provided by MoneyFacts to locate an alternative account provider.

In order to continue dialogue with the NGO community on these matters, a Government-NGO Working Group will shortly be convened to explore concerns and identify solutions on the impact of regulation and banking practices on NGO operations in fragile states. The group will examine the specific challenges faced in getting aid into hard-to-reach communities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2015-12-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cases are currently being dealt with by the Channel programme, and how many of those have been because of suspected vulnerability to extremist Islamist views, and how many for other reasons.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Since Channel was rolled out nationally in 2012, over 4000 people have been referred to the programme, and hundreds successfully supported. National Counter Terrorism Policing has published its own data on Channel at the following URL:

http://www.acpo.police.uk/ACPOBusinessAreas/PREVENT/NationalChannelReferralFigures.aspx

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Sharkey on 2016-07-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 12 July (HL883), what steps they are taking with regard to the withdrawal of banking services to encourage banks to take a risk-based approach and to ensure that the measures they take are effective and proportionate; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which that encouragement has been effective.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The government engages regularly with the banking industry and those affected by de-risking in order to facilitate communication. The aim of this is to improve banks’ understanding of how affected sectors work and to improve affected sectors’ understanding of how they can best meet the banks’ requirements for providing services. This process has led to the British Bankers’ Association developing tailored ‘access to banking’ guidance for affected sectors.

The government continues to work with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who recently published research into the withdrawal of banking services. The FCA are also working with the banking industry to lessen the damaging effects of de-risking without constraining banks’ commercial freedom.

Internationally, the UK has been instrumental in making de-risking a priority for the G20 and the Financial Stability Board. The government is working with the Bank of England and the FCA on internationally agreed guidance to financial institutions that will clarify regulatory expectations, making their responsibilities clearer to allow a more risk-based approach and better appraisal of risks.