Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of sobriety tagging schemes, particularly for those convicted of serious assaults or domestic violence where alcohol was a factor.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In advance of legislating for the introduction of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) for community based sentences to tackle alcohol related offending, the Government contributed to funding for two pilots to ensure robust evaluation of the effectiveness of the measure. The pilots were carried out in London and in the North East of England and findings informed the introduction of AAMR in 2020. AAMR enables courts to impose an alcohol ban of up to 120 days on adult offenders who are not alcohol dependent, compliance is monitored using an alcohol tag.
Alcohol monitoring on licence was introduced in 2021 and enables probation to include an additional licence condition banning or restricting the consumption of alcohol, where a criminogenic need related to alcohol misuse is identified as an increase to risk. Funding has been allocated for evaluation of the processes, impact and value for money. A process and interim impact evaluation are expected to be published by the end of 2025. A full reoffending analysis and value-for-money assessment are expected by the end of 2026.
Evaluations published to date can be accessed via the links below:
MOPAC’s AAMR Final Impact Evaluation Report, December 2020 - aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: A review of process and performance from Year 2, July 2018 - aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement The pan London roll out: A review of process and performance from year 1, July 2017 - AAMR Interim Report (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: South London Pilot Indicative Impact Report, April 2017 - Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (london.gov.uk).
HNLY Pilot Process Evaluation Report, October 2019 - Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk).
The AAMR pilot in the North-East focused on domestic abuse perpetrators, the process evaluation shows that 31% of wearers were convicted of a domestic violence offence. Compliance with the alcohol ban shows that the devices did not register a tamper or alcohol alert on 97.4% of the days worn. The impact evaluation (including for reoffending) is underway for this pilot and is also intended to be published.
The evaluations to date and published statistics have shown a strong uptake of alcohol monitoring by courts and probation. The number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring (AM) device as at 31 March 2024 was 2,862, a 27% increase over the previous 12 months. There were 12,506 new alcohol monitoring orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2024. Overall, 24,305 new alcohol monitoring orders have been imposed since their introduction against an ambition of 12,000 by 2025 and compliance with the alcohol ban has remained consistent at over 97% for the total of days monitored. Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of sobriety tagging schemes.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In advance of legislating for the introduction of the Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (AAMR) for community based sentences to tackle alcohol related offending, the Government contributed to funding for two pilots to ensure robust evaluation of the effectiveness of the measure. The pilots were carried out in London and in the North East of England and findings informed the introduction of AAMR in 2020. AAMR enables courts to impose an alcohol ban of up to 120 days on adult offenders who are not alcohol dependent, compliance is monitored using an alcohol tag.
Alcohol monitoring on licence was introduced in 2021 and enables probation to include an additional licence condition banning or restricting the consumption of alcohol, where a criminogenic need related to alcohol misuse is identified as an increase to risk. Funding has been allocated for evaluation of the processes, impact and value for money. A process and interim impact evaluation are expected to be published by the end of 2025. A full reoffending analysis and value-for-money assessment are expected by the end of 2026.
Evaluations published to date can be accessed via the links below:
MOPAC’s AAMR Final Impact Evaluation Report, December 2020 - aamr_final_impact_report_100521.pdf (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: A review of process and performance from Year 2, July 2018 - aamr_final_process_performance_y2_report_final.pdf (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement The pan London roll out: A review of process and performance from year 1, July 2017 - AAMR Interim Report (london.gov.uk).
Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement: South London Pilot Indicative Impact Report, April 2017 - Alcohol Abstinence Monitoring Requirement (london.gov.uk).
HNLY Pilot Process Evaluation Report, October 2019 - Evaluation-of-the-AAMR-tagging-pilot.pdf (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk).
The AAMR pilot in the North-East focused on domestic abuse perpetrators, the process evaluation shows that 31% of wearers were convicted of a domestic violence offence. Compliance with the alcohol ban shows that the devices did not register a tamper or alcohol alert on 97.4% of the days worn. The impact evaluation (including for reoffending) is underway for this pilot and is also intended to be published.
The evaluations to date and published statistics have shown a strong uptake of alcohol monitoring by courts and probation. The number of individuals fitted with an alcohol monitoring (AM) device as at 31 March 2024 was 2,862, a 27% increase over the previous 12 months. There were 12,506 new alcohol monitoring orders imposed across England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2024. Overall, 24,305 new alcohol monitoring orders have been imposed since their introduction against an ambition of 12,000 by 2025 and compliance with the alcohol ban has remained consistent at over 97% for the total of days monitored. Electronic Monitoring Statistics Publication, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the Food Data Transparency Partnership’s decision not to make reporting on health data mandatory, what steps they are taking to ensure enforcement of and consistency in the voluntary scheme.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Data Transparency Partnership’s (FDTP) Health Working Group (HWG) has been testing the effectiveness and quality of potential standardised metrics that food and drink companies can use to report on the healthiness of their sales. This is an important part of government’s strategy to address poor diet and reduce obesity and was restated in the Major Conditions Strategy interim report August 2023.
Once a recommended set of metrics and reporting guidance has been produced and approved by Ministers, the expectation is that businesses who voluntarily report will all follow this standardised approach.
A key commitment of the HWG is timely and transparent communication so that wider food sector stakeholders can input into each stage of the process in order to ensure recommendations around comparability and enforcement will be as viable and effective as possible. Alongside engagement with industry, the FDTP also regularly engages civil society organisations and investor groups to gather and integrate wider feedback into discussions. Summaries of these HWG discussions are published online on the FDTP GOV.UK page.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle diet-related ill-health, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain committed to promoting a healthy diet for adults and children and are delivering an ambitious programme of work to create a healthier environment to help people make healthy food choices to improve health and to tackle diet related ill health. There are a range of measures in place to support improving diets, promoting physical activity and reducing obesity.
Regulations on out of home calorie labelling for food sold in large businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways, came into force in April 2022. Restrictions on the placement of products high in fat, sugar or salt in key selling locations, came into force on 1 October 2022. We will be implementing restrictions on the sale of less healthy products by volume price such as ‘3 for 2’ and will introduce restrictions on the advertising of less healthy products before 9pm on TV and paid for less healthy product advertising online from 1 October 2025.
We are working with the food industry to make further progress on reformulation and ensure it is easier for the public to make healthier choices. The Food Data Transparency Partnership will help enable and encourage food companies to voluntarily demonstrate progress on the healthiness of their sales.
The Government continues to promote the Eatwell Guide principles through the NHS.UK website and government social marketing campaigns such as Better Health Healthier Families and Start for Life. We are also supporting more than three million children through the Healthy Foods Schemes and helping schools boost physical activity to help children maintain a healthy weight and good overall health through the Primary School PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser Network.
We are continuing to support local authorities to improve the uptake of the NHS Health Check, England's cardiovascular disease prevention programme. The NHS Health Check helps to prevent a range of conditions including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Each year the programme engages over 1 million people and prevents around 400 heart attacks or strokes.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 23 May 2022 (HL67), on what date the Office of Parliamentary Counsel completed updating its drafting guidance on the use of gendered language, and whether they will place a copy in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel’s guidance on legislative drafting, which includes the use of sex-specific references in legislation, was deposited in the Library on Wednesday 27 March and is available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they do not centrally hold data on the number of Parental Orders awarded each year through the Family Court for England and Wales in cases of surrogacy (1) where the child was born abroad through a commercial surrogacy arrangement, and (2) where the child was born in the United Kingdom through a surrogacy arrangement in which the mother uses her own egg.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of these orders is not recorded centrally. The current recording system only collates data on the total number of parental orders made and there is no capability to break the data into further sub-sets of the different types of surrogacy arrangements. Such information can only be obtained through individual analysis of court files at disproportionate cost since they would require a manual search of court records. The Government has no plans to record this information centrally, doing so would require fundamental changes to existing IT systems.
You will be aware that in March 2023 the Law Commission of England and Wales published a joint report with the Scottish Law Commission; “Building families through surrogacy: a new law". The report puts forward recommendations for a robust new system to govern surrogacy in the UK, including recommendations specifically for the family court system.
The Government is currently considering all of the recommendations within the report and will publish a full response in due course. If and when further action is taken in response to the report, we will consider the collection of data in this area rather than risk making piecemeal changes.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to collect and publish data on the number of Parental Orders awarded each year through the Family Court for England and Wales in cases of surrogacy (1) where the child was born through a commercial surrogacy arrangement abroad (2) where the child was born in the United Kingdom through a surrogacy arrangement in which the surrogate mother uses her own egg, and (3) where a child was born through surrogacy in this country using the egg of a third party egg donor, and not the egg of the commissioning female parent.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of these orders is not recorded centrally. The current recording system only collates data on the total number of parental orders made and there is no capability to break the data into further sub-sets of the different types of surrogacy arrangements. Such information can only be obtained through individual analysis of court files at disproportionate cost since they would require a manual search of court records. The Government has no plans to record this information centrally, doing so would require fundamental changes to existing IT systems.
You will be aware that in March 2023 the Law Commission of England and Wales published a joint report with the Scottish Law Commission; “Building families through surrogacy: a new law". The report puts forward recommendations for a robust new system to govern surrogacy in the UK, including recommendations specifically for the family court system.
The Government is currently considering all of the recommendations within the report and will publish a full response in due course. If and when further action is taken in response to the report, we will consider the collection of data in this area rather than risk making piecemeal changes.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total number of Parental Orders granted for surrogacy arrangements in England and Wales in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, (5) 2021, and (6) 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of Parental Orders granted where children were conceived through surrogacy using the surrogate mother’s own egg is not recorded centrally.
The number of Parental Orders granted to couples bringing a child in to England and Wales where the child was conceived and carried through a commercial surrogacy arrangement abroad is not recorded centrally.
Such information could only be obtained through individual analysis of court files, at disproportionate cost.
The total number of Parental Orders granted for surrogacy arrangements in England and Wales between 2017 and 2022 can be found in the table below.
Table 1: Number of total Parental Orders made in Public and Private Law (Children Act) in the Family Courts, England and Wales
Year | Total |
2017 | 332 |
2018 | 375 |
2019 | 445 |
2020 | 425 |
2021 | 437 |
2022 | 449 |
Source: Family Court Statistics Quarterly
Notes:
1) These orders relate to surrogacy and are made under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
2) Please note the 2022 figure only includes Private Law as figures for Public Law are currently unavailable whilst Family Public Law undergoes reform.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Parental Orders were granted to couples in England and Wales bringing a child in to this country conceived and carried through a commercial surrogacy arrangement abroad in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, (5) 2021, and (6) 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of Parental Orders granted where children were conceived through surrogacy using the surrogate mother’s own egg is not recorded centrally.
The number of Parental Orders granted to couples bringing a child in to England and Wales where the child was conceived and carried through a commercial surrogacy arrangement abroad is not recorded centrally.
Such information could only be obtained through individual analysis of court files, at disproportionate cost.
The total number of Parental Orders granted for surrogacy arrangements in England and Wales between 2017 and 2022 can be found in the table below.
Table 1: Number of total Parental Orders made in Public and Private Law (Children Act) in the Family Courts, England and Wales
Year | Total |
2017 | 332 |
2018 | 375 |
2019 | 445 |
2020 | 425 |
2021 | 437 |
2022 | 449 |
Source: Family Court Statistics Quarterly
Notes:
1) These orders relate to surrogacy and are made under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
2) Please note the 2022 figure only includes Private Law as figures for Public Law are currently unavailable whilst Family Public Law undergoes reform.
Asked by: Baroness Jenkin of Kennington (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Parental Orders were granted through the Family Courts in England and Wales about the number of children conceived through surrogacy using the surrogate mother's own egg in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, (5) 2021, and (6) 2022.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of Parental Orders granted where children were conceived through surrogacy using the surrogate mother’s own egg is not recorded centrally.
The number of Parental Orders granted to couples bringing a child in to England and Wales where the child was conceived and carried through a commercial surrogacy arrangement abroad is not recorded centrally.
Such information could only be obtained through individual analysis of court files, at disproportionate cost.
The total number of Parental Orders granted for surrogacy arrangements in England and Wales between 2017 and 2022 can be found in the table below.
Table 1: Number of total Parental Orders made in Public and Private Law (Children Act) in the Family Courts, England and Wales
Year | Total |
2017 | 332 |
2018 | 375 |
2019 | 445 |
2020 | 425 |
2021 | 437 |
2022 | 449 |
Source: Family Court Statistics Quarterly
Notes:
1) These orders relate to surrogacy and are made under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
2) Please note the 2022 figure only includes Private Law as figures for Public Law are currently unavailable whilst Family Public Law undergoes reform.