Tag: Lord Blencathra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any grant has been provided to Action on Smoking and Health in the last five years other than through grants under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968, and if so, what was the nature and value of each grant.

Lord Prior of Brampton

All grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the last five years have been awarded under Section 64 powers. There are a range of different circumstances under which it would not be appropriate or represent best value for money to run a competed scheme. The grants awarded to ASH have been assessed as most appropriate for the non-competed route.

The assessment of any grant application for funding from ASH is undertaken by members of the Tobacco Control policy team. Following this assessment, the Grants Hub makes a decision regarding whether or not to approve the application. These policy assessments contain policy advice to Ministers and so are not made public. Approvals are required from Ministers and from HM Treasury or are subject to a Departmental approval process that has been agreed with HM Treasury.

To identify relevant representations the Department has received would result in disproportionate cost.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential for the reintroduction of pine martens into areas of the UK that are infested with grey squirrels.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Forestry Commission is involved in the Vincent Wildlife Trust’s pine marten recovery project in mid and north Wales. The Forestry Commission in England is supporting a project in the Forest of Dean with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Forest Research and others to pursue a pine marten restoration project. This project includes studies into impacts of pine martens including on trees and other wildlife. Natural England is also working with the Trust to restore viable populations of pine martens to northern England.

The Forestry Commission is also working closely with one of the authors of the paper that identified the decline in grey squirrel populations in the Irish midlands, which may be associated with the abundance of pine martens. The work with the author and others will further explore the relationship between red squirrels, grey squirrels and pine martens in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to (1) review the long-standing advice by the Department of Health against eating fatty foods, and (2) publish revised advice.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Government advice is that people should base meals on starchy carbohydrates, especially wholegrain; eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables each day; and cut back on food and drinks high in saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) is currently reviewing evidence on saturated fat and health. A draft report is planned for public consultation at the end of 2017. Current advice will remain in place until the SACN has completed its review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance the MoD will give to serving and ex-service personnel to sue Public Interest Lawyers and their individual partners for the stress caused by pursuing compensation claims.

Earl Howe

Although we are deeply concerned about the stress which can be caused to members of the Armed Forces by false allegations, we are not aware of any legal actions of the kind referred to. We welcome the decision of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal to call members of Public Interest Lawyers, which has now closed, to account for their conduct while pursuing allegations against members of the Armed Forces.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 18 July (HL1279) and in the light of the recent report by NHS Digital concerning social media pressure and mental health, whether they will now conduct that research.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health Research and the Department’s Policy Research Programme have no current plans to commission research into the possible mental and psychological impact on children of using Twitter and Facebook.

In their report, the Mental Health Taskforce recommended that the United Kingdom should aspire to be a world leader in the development and application of new mental health research. The Taskforce asked specifically that the Department, working with relevant partners, should publish a report by February 2017 setting out a ten year strategy for mental health research. The final ten-year strategy is planned for publication in February 2017 and will identify future needs in mental health research. This will include a specific focus on the mental health of children and young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2015-11-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House the assessment by the Department of Health’s Voluntary Sector Grants Hub of the grant applications made by Action on Smoking and Health in each of the last five years.

Lord Prior of Brampton

All grants awarded to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in the last five years have been awarded under Section 64 powers. There are a range of different circumstances under which it would not be appropriate or represent best value for money to run a competed scheme. The grants awarded to ASH have been assessed as most appropriate for the non-competed route.

The assessment of any grant application for funding from ASH is undertaken by members of the Tobacco Control policy team. Following this assessment, the Grants Hub makes a decision regarding whether or not to approve the application. These policy assessments contain policy advice to Ministers and so are not made public. Approvals are required from Ministers and from HM Treasury or are subject to a Departmental approval process that has been agreed with HM Treasury.

To identify relevant representations the Department has received would result in disproportionate cost.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have gathered on the reported decline of grey squirrels in areas with pine marten populations.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Forestry Commission is involved in the Vincent Wildlife Trust’s pine marten recovery project in mid and north Wales. The Forestry Commission in England is supporting a project in the Forest of Dean with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Forest Research and others to pursue a pine marten restoration project. This project includes studies into impacts of pine martens including on trees and other wildlife. Natural England is also working with the Trust to restore viable populations of pine martens to northern England.

The Forestry Commission is also working closely with one of the authors of the paper that identified the decline in grey squirrel populations in the Irish midlands, which may be associated with the abundance of pine martens. The work with the author and others will further explore the relationship between red squirrels, grey squirrels and pine martens in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to (1) change the colour of the current British passport from maroon to dark blue, and (2) remove the words European Union” from British passports.”

Baroness Williams of Trafford

There are no immediate plans for changes to the format or colour of the UK passport. Parliament will be informed of any changes to the passport following UK withdrawal from the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Offender Management Service plan to adopt a regime based on isolation and solitary confinement for all those Muslim prisoners who are assessed as posing a risk of encouraging Islamic radicalisation whilst in prison.

Lord Keen of Elie

The government is committed to tackling all forms of extremism. Keeping the most dangerous extremists away from other prisoners is essential to the safe running of our prisons and fundamental to public protection. Planning is under way to create specialist units within the high security estate to allow greater separation and specialised management of extremists who pose the highest risk to other prisoners. The regime of the new units will not be based on isolation or solitary confinement but on removing a small subset of the most dangerous and subversive radicalisers from the mainstream prisoner population.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 17 June (HL475), what is the justification for requiring self-employed vehicle courier drivers to have third party insurance but not cyclist couriers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Current legislation requires the use of motor vehicles to be covered by third party liability insurance. Compulsory insurance only applies to motor vehicles because the average speed and construction of motor vehicles means that they are much more likely than a pedal cycle to cause serious property damage or personal injury to a third party.

We have no plans to make insurance compulsory for cyclists. However, all cyclists are encouraged to take out liability insurance and a range of products are available on the market.