The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Prior of Brampton on 9 February (HL5598 and HL5599), whether they intend to reject calls to impose a sugar tax.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched shortly, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese including sugar.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-05-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 24 March (HL6984) concerning Hinkley Point nuclear power station, what effect the delay by the government of France will have on the project and its projected completion date.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Both the French Government and EDF have restated their support for the Hinkley Point C project. After addressing the financing of the company and its investment plans, the chairman of EDF has begun a non-binding consultation with the company council ahead of a final investment decision. In the meantime, EDF has maintained development work in order to secure the overall schedule of the project. EDF has not changed the planned date for first operation in 2025.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the widening of the M4 motorway between junctions 3 and 12 will commence, when it is likely to be completed, and what measures they will put in place to avoid delays to traffic during the construction period.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Highways England’s latest Delivery Plan states that the start of works for the M4 Junction 3-12 scheme is the fourth quarter of 2016/2017 and it will open to traffic in 2021/22.
Measures to avoid delays to traffic during the construction period include:
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the construction of four commercial nuclear power reactors for the United Arab Emirates by a South Korean consortium with a total capacity of 5.6 GWe at cost of £14 billion, in the light of their plans for nuclear generation at Hinkley Point.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government does not make direct comparisons between projects in different circumstances that have different contracts and are situated in different markets.
There has been a thorough review of the costs of the Hinkley Point C project to ensure that the contract represents value for money. Hinkley will provide reliable low carbon energy for around 60 years and offer 25,000 jobs during construction. My rt. hon Friend the Secretary of State expects to be in a position to take her final decision on the Contract for Difference and associated agreements for Hinkley Point C once the documentation relating to equity investment into the project is finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 18 November (WS305), whether the assertion that every home and small business will get smart meters means that it will be compulsory to have them installed.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Government has placed an obligation on energy companies to take all reasonable steps to install smart meters at all domestic and smaller non-domestic premises by the end of 2020. However, there is no obligation on customers to accept a smart meter if they do not wish to have one installed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Earl Howe on 18 January concerning a gifting package to Ukraine (HLWS463), whether this gift will be financed from the overseas aid budget, the defence budget, or another source.
Earl Howe
The gift of 3,500 first aid kits will be purchased using funds from Her Majesty’s Government’s Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund (CSSF). The CSSF is a cross-Whitehall fund. As well as defence reform, the CSSF Ukraine programme supports a number of interventions including strategic communications, peace-building activities and support to international organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-03-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 10 February (HL5715), whether they now intend to legislate to allow heterosexuals to form civil partnerships, and if not, why not.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Noble Lord wrote to me on this topic previously (HL5715). As I previously said:
In 2014, after the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was passed, the government carried out a review of the operation and future of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, including a thorough public consultation on potential changes to civil partnership. Views were invited on three options: Abolishing, or phasing out civil partnerships; or extending them to opposite sex couples.
The review found that there was no clear consensus on the future of civil partnerships. A majority of respondents to the consultation were against extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples and several important organisations thought it was too soon to consider making changes to civil partnerships until the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples is known. Given the lack of any consensus the Government has no current plans to make changes to the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
On 29 January 2016 the High Court dismissed a legal challenge to the lack of availability of civil partnerships to opposite sex couples. The Court ruled unequivocally that the current regime of marriage and civil partnership does not disadvantage anyone nor does it infringe anyone’s right to family or private life. We also welcome the Court’s view that it is entirely reasonable for the Government to wait to see the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples before deciding on the way forward.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-05-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to take action against hospital trusts which continue to breach mixed-sex accommodation guidance.
Lord Prior of Brampton
All patients deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and the Government has made it clear that providers of National Health Service funded care are expected to eliminate mixed-sex accommodation, except where this is in the overall best interest of the patient, or reflects their personal choice.
Since 2010, there has been a fall from almost 12,000 patients in mixed-sex accommodation to 753 reported in March 2016. We will continue to monitor monthly breach data and performance across the NHS in partnership with NHS England. The financial penalty for non-delivery of the operational standard is mandated through the NHS Standard Contract 2016/17, and applies to all providers of acute, cancer and mental health services.
Under the terms of the Contract, where a breach occurs, the commissioner whose patient is affected must levy the financial sanction specified by the Contract. That sanction is £250 for each day that patient is affected by the breach.
Delivering zero breaches for every trust, every month, is unlikely. This is because there will be some occasions where patients are mixed appropriately, even when their clinical care needs do not demand it (for example if a patient is admitted in the middle of the night and the only way to release an appropriate bed is to awaken and move other patients).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-09-13.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of users of the M4 motorway following the removal of the hard shoulders, and what arrangements will be made for the emergency services to have urgent and easy access to the motorway in the event of accidents and other incidents.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The M4 Junctions 3 to 12 smart motorway scheme incorporates the following features to ensure safety is maintained:
This allows Highways England to create an emergency lane or lanes on any lane on the motorway, with signs and signals to provide access for the emergency services or traffic officers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 21 July (HL1392), whether, in the light of the collapse of Kids Company, they will now publish a list of charities receiving significant donations from government departments or the National Health Service.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The 2014/15 government Grants Register will be published in the coming months by the Grants Efficiency Programme in the Cabinet Office. The Register includes high level details on all central government grant schemes, not just those to charities. It does not include details of all recipients or grants made by the NHS or local authorities. To improve sharing of information on grant awards, the Grants Efficiency Programme is developing a grants data repository.