Tag: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that migrant workers are not exploited or paid less than the minimum wage.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The appointment of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, due shortly, will strengthen our ability to find and stop exploitative employers. We are currently consulting on proposals to create a new offence of an aggravated breach of labour market legislation and to widen the remit and strengthen the powers of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to enable it to tackle serious exploitation.

Migrant workers who are entitled to other employment rights in UK law are also entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rate relevant to their age. Anyone concerned about underpayment of the NMW should call Acas’s confidential helpline on 0300 123 1100 or visit http://www.acas.org.uk/nmw. HMRC will investigate every complaint it receives.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the Department for International Development plays in monitoring how international aid is spent by other government departments.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Departments are responsible for ensuring their Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget offers high value for money.

DFID is committed to supporting other government departments to help them ensure that all their ODA spend is value for money for the UK tax payer. We provide advice and training to other departments on the international definition of ODA, we co-chair a cross-government senior officials’ group with HM Treasury, whose role is to ensure value for money of all UK ODA, and we work with other government departments to support them in setting up their systems of programme management.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the rates of flu vaccination so far this winter, and how that compares to previous years.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Flu vaccine uptake rates for groups recommended to be immunised as part of the national flu immunisation programme as at 26 November are shown in the table below for this season and the two previous years. The figures for 2015/16 are provisional and from a sample of about three-quarters of participating general practitioner practices in England.

Flu vaccine uptake rates

Eligible groups	2015/16 (%)	2014/15 (%)	2013/14 (%)
Adults aged 65 years or older	64.6	66.7	67.0
At risk groups aged six months to under 65 years (excluding pregnant women without other risk factors)	36.4	42.4	43.6
Pregnant women (including those in risk groups)	35.6	36.6	34.0
Children aged two years old (including those in risk groups)	25.9	28.5	34.1
Children aged three years old (including those in risk groups)	26.9	30.5	30.6
Children aged four years old (including those in risk groups)	21.9	23.9	N/A

Data source: PHE ImmForm weekly sentinel influenza vaccine uptake data collection.

For two to four year olds, vaccine was available about one week later than last year and this seems to be the main explanation for the apparent lower uptake. Communications activity to promote flu immunisation continues – this includes Stay Well This Winter roadshows visiting 67 locations across the country providing advice on flu vaccinations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the procedures and priorities to agree the spending of public money on international aid are the same across all government departments, and if there are differences, what they are.

Lord Young of Cookham

The allocation of Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding was agreed at the 2015 Spending Review in line with the strategic objectives set out in the UK aid strategy. Departments spending ODA are required to demonstrate how they are using rigorous evidence to underpin spending decisions. There must be clear lines of accountability for all ODA projects, and project performance must be regularly assessed. Poor performing programmes will be closed and funds redeployed. In addition, all ODA spend is subject to scrutiny by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.

Spending on ODA is also subject to the principles of sound financial management set out in ‘Managing Public Money’. Within these constraints departments have discretion over how they organise, direct and manage the resources at their disposal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to avoid bed shortages due to delayed discharges from hospital.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Since April, local projects across the country have been using the Government’s £5.3 billion Better Care Fund in an effort to reduce non-elective admissions and move people out of hospital more quickly, as part of on-going work to bring health and social care services together.

In addition, the Government has made £400 million available to the National Health Service specifically to help with winter pressures in 2015/16. This money has been made available from the start of the financial year, enabling the health and care system to prepare more effectively than in previous years.

The Department of Health is also working closely with NHS England and local government to develop a package of support to help local areas reduce delays in hospital discharge. This includes tailored support from the new Emergency Care Improvement Programme to help make improvement in the systems under the most pressure, and local government’s Sector Led Improvement Plan to drive improvement in social care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Since the election of President Sirisena in January 2015 the Sri Lankan Government has taken a number of positive steps to improve the human rights situation in the country. Although much remains to be done, it is clear that Sri Lanka is moving in the right direction.

We welcomed the historic co-sponsorship by Sri Lanka of Resolution 30/1 at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 1 October 2015 committing it to reconciliation, accountability and the protection of human rights. Since then, the Sri Lankan Government has made encouraging progress against its commitments including the return of some military-held civilian land, the passing of legislation to establish an Office of Missing Persons and the ratification of the Convention on Enforced Disappearances.

We will continue to work with the UN, Sri Lanka and our other international partners to ensure full implementation of the UNHRC resolution, while recognising the scale of the challenge this represents and allowing time for credible, well thought out transitional justice mechanisms to be developed and implemented.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 November (HL3659), why no national assessment has been made of the effect of hospital trusts charging disabled people to park their cars, and whether they have made any regional or local assessments about that issue.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS trusts have the power to charge for car parking under paragraph 20 of Schedule 4 of the National Health Service Act 2006. Foundation Trusts (FTs) have similar general powers under section 43(3) of the NHS Act 2006. Individual NHS organisations decide locally whether or not to institute charges and they also carry out any assessment of the impact of such charges.

As part of an assessment, trusts consider a range of factors, including the availability of parking spaces, the existence of alternative transport options and the cost of providing car parking. Such matters vary from place to place and therefore cannot be centrally assessed.

In addition, as public bodies, NHS organisations must ensure they are compliant with the public sector equality duty at Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The conduct of equality assessments is a local matter and the outcomes are not collected centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Fair Tax Mark for businesses.

Lord Young of Cookham

The Government has recently legislated for the publication of tax strategy by the largest businesses; promoting board accountability for tax, and encouraging transparency on approach to tax planning. In this context, the Government welcomes all business moves to improve transparency over their own tax affairs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2015-11-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that tunnelling engineering skills in the UK are not lost.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

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In 2012, the Government published “Tunnelling: A Capability Analysis” which identified the tunnelling skills essential to deliver key projects, including Crossrail, HS2 and the Thames Tideway Tunnel.

To help meet this demand and maintain the UK’s skills base, the National Construction College delivers training at a purpose-built facility: the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in East London.

In September, the Government published the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills, to ensure the UK has the right skills base to deliver and maintain world-class infrastructure. This report sets out the scale of the challenge and is just the first step. The Government is now consulting with stakeholders across industry, academia and training providers to build a series of detailed actions to address the skills challenge.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries UK aid is being used to fund private healthcare provision.

Lord Bates

The UK supports developing countries across Africa and Asia to make faster progress towards universal health coverage, with a focus on ensuring that poor people can use the health services they need without the risk of financial hardship associated with direct out-of-pocket payments. Poor people often rely on non-state service providers for much of their health care. The UK therefore supports private providers where this offers the best value for money in reaching the poor with good quality services.