Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the sexual assaults in women's prisons since 2016 recorded in the Safety in Custody statistics published on 30 April were carried out by transgender prisoners.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
There were 97 sexual assaults in female establishments between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019 and 7 of these assaults involved a transgender prisoner. Of those, 6 were assaults where a transgender individual was identified as the assailant or suspected assailant. One incident was recorded as a transgender prisoner having ‘active involvement’, which means they did not necessarily start the assault.
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level.
All sexual assaults in prison are referred to the police and HMPPS have strong safeguards in place to manage risks to all those in custody, regardless of their gender. HMPPS has robust processes in place to care for and manage transgender individuals in custody. The safety of all those in our care is of paramount importance. All known risks, both towards or presented by a transgender person in prison, will always be taken into account in their care and management. Individuals will be cared for and managed in the gender with which they identify, regardless of their location in a male or female prison.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the ability of supermarkets to identify vulnerable people to ensure that they are able to arrange food deliveries, and (2) the concerns raised by many disabled people that personal information may be sold on via marketing companies.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Defra works closely with supermarkets to ensure that people who have registered with the Government as extremely clinically vulnerable, and have indicated that they need help to access food, are supported by offering them emergency food parcels provided by the Government.
Supermarkets have been working at pace to expand the total number of delivery and click and collect slots for people in the wider non-shielded vulnerable category.
Data has been made available to supermarkets on a strictly limited and controlled basis for the purpose of helping vulnerable people; supermarkets cannot contact anyone who does not have an account with them and individuals’ data will not be passed anywhere apart from to participating supermarkets. We have written agreements in place governing the sharing, use and retention of data. This precludes the sale of data that has been shared with them, or its use in any way contrary to the purpose under which it is shared.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for International Development's disability strategy will require their water, sanitation and hygiene partners to be disability inclusive.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID’s future work on disability inclusion will set an expectation on DFID’s partners, including its water, sanitation and hygiene partners, to demonstrate their technical understanding of, and commitment to, disability inclusion.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for International Development's disability strategy will include the involvement of girls with disabilities in menstrual hygiene related work.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID’s future work on disability inclusion will involve girls with disabilities in DFID’s menstrual hygiene related work.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for International Development's disability strategy will include investment in menstrual hygiene management.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK is committed to enabling all girls, women and people who menstruate to manage their periods safely, hygienically and with dignity, allowing them to stay in school and fully participate in society. DFID’s future work on disability inclusion will look at how its investments in menstrual hygiene management can be more disability inclusive.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for International Development's disability strategy will include the provision of accessible and safe water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in public places and workplaces.
Answered by Lord Bates
DFID’s future work on disability inclusion will support people with disabilities to access water, sanitation and hygiene services, including in public places and workplaces such as schools and health care facilities.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase (1) the number of opportunities for children to be active outdoors during the school day, and (2) the range of activities available to them when outdoors; and whether such plans include the introduction of active mile schemes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £600 million of ring-fenced funding has been invested in primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. The government doubled the premium to £320 million per year from September 2017, using revenue from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. The premium should be used to develop or add to the PE and sport activities that a school already offers to provide more opportunities for their pupils to be active throughout the school day.
We know that schools across the country have signed up to an active mile programme. The Daily Mile’s website reports that over 900 schools in England are signed up to The Daily Mile. Active Miles can help pupils to achieve the 60 active minutes each day recommended by the UK chief medical officers. They are simple, inclusive and can successfully engage the least active children in physical activity. In December 2017, the department brought together active mile providers to discuss opportunities to engage more schools to take part in active mile initiatives
Sport England supports children and young people in England by ensuring there is a good sports and activity offer before and after the school day. This includes investing £28 million into Satellite Clubs between 2017-2021. Satellite Clubs provide opportunities to take part regularly in sport and activity through the creation of enjoyable, appealing and convenient opportunities for young people that are based around their needs.
The government also continues to invest around £17.5 million per annum in the School Games, an Olympic/Paralympic style competition, so that all children and young people, particularly those who are currently least active or from under-represented groups, have the best opportunities to engage in sport and physical activity. Inclusive sports formats are included to provide opportunities for disabled pupils and those with special educational needs to participate.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what involvement the Department for Work and Pensions has had with disabled people and their families to inform their thinking on the forthcoming white paper on improving support for disabled people and people with health conditions.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The department regularly engages with disability charities and organisations, as well as disabled people and their families and carers, at both Ministerial and official level. We proactively seek stakeholder views on current health, care and employment services to understand what works and where improvements can be made through roundtables, focus groups and face-to-face meetings. These discussions inform and provide the opportunity to test our thinking as we being to develop proposals for the forthcoming White Paper, and we will continue to engage at all levels over the coming months.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much NHS England spent on the purchase of wheelchairs in England in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Information on the cost of operating wheelchair services in England is not available centrally. Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services to patients. The total cost of operating wheelchair services reported in 2014-15 reference costs was £143.4 million.
NHS England advises that as clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning wheelchair services, it does not collect data on how much is spent on the purchase of wheelchairs. NHS England is however supporting improvement in wheelchair services and has just established a new national data collection. This will enable tracking at local and national levels of issues such as the number of wheelchair users, the costs of services and the length of time people have to wait.
Asked by: Baroness Grey-Thompson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of operating wheelchair services in England in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Information on the cost of operating wheelchair services in England is not available centrally. Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average unit costs to National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts of providing defined services to patients. The total cost of operating wheelchair services reported in 2014-15 reference costs was £143.4 million.
NHS England advises that as clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning wheelchair services, it does not collect data on how much is spent on the purchase of wheelchairs. NHS England is however supporting improvement in wheelchair services and has just established a new national data collection. This will enable tracking at local and national levels of issues such as the number of wheelchair users, the costs of services and the length of time people have to wait.