The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-03-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is being done to reduce the number of cyclist deaths on United Kingdom roads.
Baroness Kramer
I refer the Noble Lord to my answer of 24 Feb 2014, Official Report, column WA170 (HL5360). Since my answer we have launched the THINK! campaign on 24 March 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of sex education in schools for life in the 21st century.
Lord Nash
Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory in maintained secondary schools, and academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. When teaching SRE, all schools must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory guidance.
Schools are encouraged to develop their SRE practice with the support of specialist organisations and expert professionals who are best placed to provide schools with up-to-date materials and advice on changing technologies that fit within the framework of our sex and relationship education guidance. ‘Sex and relationships education (SRE) for the 21st century’, recently published by the PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum, and Brook addresses changes in technology and legislation since 2000.
We believe that headteachers and their staff are best-placed to decide what resources, including help from outside organisations, are needed to support excellent teaching of SRE. We have recently extended the grant funding to the PSHE Association until 2015 and we have commissioned them to develop a set of exemplar case studies of high quality teaching on key issues in PSHE and SRE.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the resources and support available to teachers to help equip students for adult life.
Lord Nash
The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child that provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.
Programmes of study for citizenship, which is statutory at key stages 3 and 4, include a clear focus on democracy, government and how laws are upheld and made. For the first time, they include a requirement for pupils to be taught to manage their money well and make sound financial decisions. Citizenship education helps to prepare pupils to play a full and active part in society. In addition, personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that equips pupils with the knowledge and skills to make safe and informed decisions and to prepare for adult life.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to support elderly people who live secluded lives.
Earl Howe
The Department is raising awareness of the issue and helping local health and wellbeing boards and commissioners to get better at measuring the issue in their local communities. This will help them come up with the right targeted solutions, and drive local improvements that really make a difference.
A measure of social isolation will be published this year as part of the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework to raise visibility and to support local authorities to address the issue of social isolation in their local communities. This measure will be shared with the Public Health Outcomes Framework.
The Department is also working with a number of organisations including the Campaign to End Loneliness and the Royal Voluntary Service to promote ways to tackle loneliness, and the Silverline who provide a helpline offering support to older people.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to protect vulnerable people from radicalisation.
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Prevent, which is a key strand of the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy, aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Prevent strategy, which was revised in 2011, now covers all forms of extremism where it creates an environment conducive to terrorism.
The Prevent strategy has three objectives: respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat we face from those who promote it; prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensuring that they are given appropriate advice and support; and work with sectors and institutions where there are risks of radicalisation that we need to address.
Frontline staff have a significant role to play. We have produced a training tool, ‘Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent’ (WRAP), which teaches staff how to recognise people who may be vulnerable to radicalisation and how to refer people who may need support to our Channel programme.
Channel is a key element of the Prevent strategy, and was rolled out nationally in April 2012. It uses existing collaboration between local authorities, the police, the local community and statutory partners (such as the education and health sectors, social services, children’s and youth services, and offender management services), to identify individuals at risk of being drawn into terrorism, assess the nature and extent of that risk; and develop the most appropriate support plan for the individuals concerned.
Since roll-out, over 2000 Channel referrals have been received, and over 300 people offered support. We are working to increase awareness of Channel, particularly among public sector frontline staff, in order to maximise the number of appropriate referrals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact of air pollution on the development of an irregular heartbeat and blood clots in the lung.
Earl Howe
In 2010, the Department’s expert advisory Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) published an estimate of the mortality effect in 2008 of long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities. The mortality burden for the United Kingdom was estimated as an effect equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths.
Air pollution has been linked with effects on the cardiovascular system. However, it has not been extensively and consistently linked to an increased risk of developing an irregular heartbeat and there are few studies investigating whether it raises the risk of blood clots in thelung.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the availability of beds for accident and emergency patients.
Earl Howe
Not all patients who attend accident and emergency departments are admitted into hospital and require a bed. In 2013-14, 24% of 21.8 million accident and emergency attendances resulted in an emergency admission. Information is collected every quarter on bed availability and occupancy, including general and acute beds. In 2013-14 there were, on average, 135,964 general and acute beds open overnight, of which 88.0% were occupied. Information is collected every month on critical care bed availability and occupancy. In 2013-14 there were, on average, 4,274 adult and paediatric critical care beds, of which 82.9% were occupied. This information does not separately identify bed availability or occupancy for patients admitted via accident and emergency or any other admission method.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to reduce the number of children living in poverty.
Lord Freud
This Government remains committed to ending child poverty by 2020. Our approach, based on our published Evidence Review , is to tackle the root causes of child poverty, both now and in the future, by focussing on worklessness, low pay and raising educational attainment. This approach and the actions we propose to take are set out in full in our draft Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17. We will shortly publish the final version of the Strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been spent in each of the last five years to adapt National Health Service hospitals for obese people.
Earl Howe
This information is not collected centrally. Decisions on spending are a matter for local National Health Service organisations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2014-06-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support autistic adults receive to protect them from abuse and neglect; and whether they have any plans to increase that support.
Earl Howe
The Care Act 2014 sets out the local authority’s responsibility for adult safeguarding for the first time in primary legislation. This is vital to ensure clear accountability, roles and responsibilities for helping and protecting adults with care and support needs, including autistic adults, who are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect.
The Act requires local authorities to carry out a safeguarding enquiry where they have reasonable cause to expect a person is at risk of abuse or neglect. Authorities must consider what if any actions are needed, and who should carry these out, to stop abuse and neglect taking place. The draft guidance clarifies that where a local authority has started a safeguarding enquiry it should continue the needs assessment for care and support in parallel, and determine whether the person has eligible needs which it must meet.
The Act places the establishment of Safeguarding Adults Boards on a statutory footing, so as to ensure local authorities, National Health Service and police (as well as any other agency deemed appropriate) work together to develop and implement adult safeguarding strategies and conduct safeguarding adult reviews in serious cases to ensure lessons are learnt and applied. This will better equip local agencies with relevant care and support functions both to prevent abuse and to respond when it occurs.
Transforming care, the Government’s programme to address issues identified by the abuse of people at Winterbourne View hospital aims to ensure that people with learning disabilities and autism are safe and get good quality care when they are in hospital, and where appropriate following an assessment of their care and needs, they are able to live with support in the community.