Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the report by the CPRE State of Brownfield Report 2020, published in October 2020.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We will consider CPRE’s recommendations as we take forward our reforms of the planning system, including those proposed in our Planning for the future consultation. This White Paper made clear that, alongside our ambition to build the homes we need and make the planning process more effective, we will promote the stewardship and improvement of our precious countryside and environment. It is our firm intention to preserve and enhance important natural assets, to encourage provision of new green infrastructure, and to maximise the development potential of suitable brownfield land.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the review by the Royal Society Vitamin D and COVID-19, published on 18 June, which noted both the high levels of Vitamin D deficiency in the UK’s population and its important regulatory role in the human immune system, what steps they are taking to prevent vitamin D deficiency as a public health measure.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Between October and March, the United Kingdom population does not get enough vitamin D from sunlight. Vitamin D can be found in a small number of foods. However, since it is difficult for people to get enough vitamin D from food alone, Public Health England (PHE) recommends that all adults and children over four years old (including pregnant and breastfeeding women) should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D, especially during winter. This advice is on the National Health Service website online and comes from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s 2016 report Vitamin D and Health.
PHE re-issued this advice in April 2020 which reminded people to consider taking vitamin D supplements, especially if they were not going outdoors during lockdown. This advice emphasised the importance of vitamin D for bone and muscle health.
We continue to consider what additional communication messages might be needed to ensure this information remains accessible to the public and health professionals as we move into the winter months.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Royal National Institute of Blind People Turned Out 2019, published on 13 October; and what steps they are taking to address the findings of that report.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the electoral process for voters with sight loss and other disabilities, and is already in the process of taking forward some of the recommendations made in the report while considering other measures.
The Government is looking at trialling ways to provide blind and partially sighted voters with electoral information in more accessible formats and is working with electoral partners, including the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators to ensure the support available to voters with disabilities is effectively publicised.
We will continue working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to improve processes and will review what additional support might be provided to help voters with sight loss to vote by post.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has been invited to attend a session of the House of Commons International Development Committee; if so, whether any such invitation has been accepted; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs has been invited to attend a session of the House of Commons International Development Committee. He has informed the Committee of his intention to give evidence at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to propose urgent action nationwide to combat childhood obesity.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We published Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives in July. The strategy demonstrates an overarching campaign to reduce obesity, takes forward actions from previous chapters of the childhood obesity plan, including our ambition to halve the number of children living with obesity by 2030, and sets our measures to get the nation fit and healthy, protect against COVID-19 and protect the National Health Service.
In addition, Public Health England launched the Better Health campaign, which calls on people to embrace a healthier lifestyle and to lose weight if they need to, supported by a range of evidence-based tools and apps providing advice on how to reduce the waistline.
A copy of Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives is attached.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the Domestic Abuse Bill includes a requirement that data on domestic abuse is gathered on those aged 74 years old and over.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government fully recognises that those aged 74 and over can be victims of domestic abuse, and we are committed to protecting and supporting all victims of this devastating crime. The new statutory definition of domestic abuse in Part 1 of the Domestic Abuse Bill does not contain an upper age limit.
Testing carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) supported raising the upper age limit of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) from 59 to 74 years, which was implemented from April 2017.
However, this testing also showed that self-completion (whereby the respondent completes the survey questions on a tablet computer) declined as age increased, with the proportion of people completing the modules being much lower for those aged 75 and over. The ONS concluded that the lower response rate for those aged 75 and over would prevent the production of sufficiently robust data, while increasing the burden on respondents.
The methodology used by the CSEW is not a matter for legislation. That is why ministers have raised this issue directly with the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, Professor Sir Ian Diamond. The ONS Centre for Crime and Justice has committed to test whether it is possible to further increase the upper age limit in a future review. We welcome this commitment.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that child victims of criminal exploitation are not excluded from school.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is critical for schools to be calm and disciplined environments, for pupils and teaching staff, and it is important that they remain as such.
There is no right number of exclusions, but we are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort. Exclusion from school should not mean exclusion from good quality education or from support needed to reduce risk and vulnerability.
We are taking forward an ambitious programme of work on school behaviour and are working to rapidly improve the availability of good alternative provision, so that permanently excluded children and children at risk of exclusion receive high-quality education and support suited to their individual needs. We are also working with Ofsted to clamp down on off-rolling, which is never acceptable.
We will also revise guidance on exclusions to make it clearer and more consistent, so that head teachers have the information they need to use exclusion properly and proportionately. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders including Just for Kids Law when revising guidance.
Schools must have due regard to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) statutory guidance, when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This guidance already provides information for all staff as to what abuse, sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse look like, indicators to be aware of, what to do and who to report to, if they have a concern about a child.
On 1 September 2020, a revised version of KCSIE was published. This includes more detail regarding child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation in part one, which all staff should read. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
It is right that, where it comes to individual cases, local professionals are best placed to decide on the measures to support victims and child perpetrators.
In addition, the department provided £7 million to the See, Hear, Respond service led by Barnardo’s which will deliver, among other things, street-based youth work to identify and support children at risk of harm outside of the home, including criminal exploitation. Additionally, the £13 million Trusted Relationships Fund (2018-22) funds 11 different local authorities across England delivering innovative approaches to supporting children and young people, aged 10-17 years, at risk of child sexual exploitation or abuse, criminal exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse.
The department is also funding a £2 million Tackling Child Exploitation support programme to help safeguarding partners in local areas develop an effective response to extra-familial harms such as child sexual and child criminal exploitation.
The Home Office has invested £70 million into Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) to help tackle serious violence in the 18 worst affected areas. VRUs are non-statutory partnerships which offer leadership and strategic coordination of the local response to serious violence by bringing together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them.
This government is also investing £20 million this year to crack down on the county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and having a devastating impact on our communities. This includes investment to significantly uplift the law enforcement response to county lines, develop several wider national capabilities, and increase specialist support for young people and their families who are affected by county lines exploitation.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Just for Kids Law, Excluded, exploited, forgotten: Childhood criminal exploitation and school exclusions, published on 26 August; and what plans they have to include new provisions to protect children vulnerable to exploitation in their forthcoming guidance on exclusions.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is critical for schools to be calm and disciplined environments, for pupils and teaching staff, and it is important that they remain as such.
There is no right number of exclusions, but we are clear that permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort. Exclusion from school should not mean exclusion from good quality education or from support needed to reduce risk and vulnerability.
We are taking forward an ambitious programme of work on school behaviour and are working to rapidly improve the availability of good alternative provision, so that permanently excluded children and children at risk of exclusion receive high-quality education and support suited to their individual needs. We are also working with Ofsted to clamp down on off-rolling, which is never acceptable.
We will also revise guidance on exclusions to make it clearer and more consistent, so that head teachers have the information they need to use exclusion properly and proportionately. We will continue to engage with key stakeholders including Just for Kids Law when revising guidance.
Schools must have due regard to the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) statutory guidance, when carrying out their duties, to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This guidance already provides information for all staff as to what abuse, sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse look like, indicators to be aware of, what to do and who to report to, if they have a concern about a child.
On 1 September 2020, a revised version of KCSIE was published. This includes more detail regarding child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation in part one, which all staff should read. The guidance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.
It is right that, where it comes to individual cases, local professionals are best placed to decide on the measures to support victims and child perpetrators.
In addition, the department provided £7 million to the See, Hear, Respond service led by Barnardo’s which will deliver, among other things, street-based youth work to identify and support children at risk of harm outside of the home, including criminal exploitation. Additionally, the £13 million Trusted Relationships Fund (2018-22) funds 11 different local authorities across England delivering innovative approaches to supporting children and young people, aged 10-17 years, at risk of child sexual exploitation or abuse, criminal exploitation and peer-on-peer abuse.
The department is also funding a £2 million Tackling Child Exploitation support programme to help safeguarding partners in local areas develop an effective response to extra-familial harms such as child sexual and child criminal exploitation.
The Home Office has invested £70 million into Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) to help tackle serious violence in the 18 worst affected areas. VRUs are non-statutory partnerships which offer leadership and strategic coordination of the local response to serious violence by bringing together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them.
This government is also investing £20 million this year to crack down on the county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and having a devastating impact on our communities. This includes investment to significantly uplift the law enforcement response to county lines, develop several wider national capabilities, and increase specialist support for young people and their families who are affected by county lines exploitation.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking (1) unilaterally, and (2) multilaterally, to protect lower and middle income countries from adverse impacts of COVID-19 on literacy rates.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Education is a top priority for this Government and FCDO is taking decisive steps internationally to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on learning. We have adapted our bilateral education programmes in 18 countries to provide child protection, continuity of learning (e.g. through radio and home learning kits) and are helping schools prepare to re-open safely. Improving foundational skills, especially getting more children reading by the age of ten, is central to our plan to ensure more girls benefit from 12 years of quality education.
Multilaterally, we are also leading efforts to build back better in education and protect learning. The UK is partnering with Kenya to co-host the 2021 Global Partnership for Education (GPE) financing summit, and as the largest donor, supported establishment of a dedicated $500 million COVID-19 accelerated funding window to maintain basic education. We topped up our contribution to the global fund Education Cannot Wait, to which we are the also the largest donor, and provided funding to support an additional 5,500 teachers in refugee camps via the UN refugee agency.
Asked by: Lord Judd (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the findings of the report by Julian Glover Landscapes Review, published on 21 September 2019; and what assessment they have made of the response to those findings by civil society organisations.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is committed to ensuring our Protected Landscapes flourish as havens for nature and are places that everyone can visit and enjoy.
The Glover Landscapes Review set out a compelling vision for more beautiful, more biodiverse and more accessible National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We welcome this ambition and recognise the importance of actively engaging with civil society organisations and the Landscape organisations to inform and develop our response
We have therefore established the ‘National Landscapes Stakeholder Reference Group’ and have been working closely with them to help shape our response to the Review, with a focus on those recommendations requiring collective action and new ways of working nationally.
The Government will come forward with firm proposals for implementing the Glover Landscapes Review in due course.