Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to the government of the Falkland Islands to assist with the provision of mental health services for young people.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care works with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, to provide health system support to all Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands.
The public health programme, led by UKHSA, has undertaken several initiatives related to youth mental health which the Falkland Islands have benefitted from, including: an upcoming project with experts in the United Kingdom to deliver support to Overseas Territories in designing and delivering a campaign to improve awareness and understanding of mental health and reduce stigma and discrimination in the community;regular sharing of the latest public health publications, reports and initiatives from the UK and around the world with colleagues in all Overseas Territories, some of which relate to mental health, such as the Every Mind Matters initiative; and establishing networks of health professionals, including clinical psychologists, health promotion leads, psychiatric nurses and school nurses, across the Overseas Territories.
The networks are a means of peer support for isolated health professionals and an effective approach for sharing good practice in what works in remote island contexts. The Falkland Islands have taken an active role in this network.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the condition of road infrastructure in England and how many potholes they have (1) identified and (2) filled to completion on (a) roads and (b) pedestrian pavements.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. The Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each individual local highway authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based upon their local knowledge and circumstances.
The Department annually collects and publishes information on GOV.UK regarding the condition of roads in England, covering surface condition, skidding resistance, and highway maintenance treatments and expenditure. This information comes from surveys which identify a series of road surface defects, although some of these defects may be related to potholes, the number of potholes cannot be recorded. The most recent release can be read on GOV.UK.
The Department does not hold information on the condition of footpaths, this information will be held by local authorities for their own asset management needs.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they define the term ‘pothole’.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is no nationally agreed definition of a pothole. It is up to local authorities to decide which surface defects on the highway to treat, following a risk-based approach. This is set out in the best practice document “Well Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice”, which is available online.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of progress to prevent attacks on humans by dog breeds such as XL Bully in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is taking urgent action to bring forward a ban on American XL Bully dog types following a concerning rise in attacks and fatalities, which appear to be driven by this type of dog. We intend to have the legislation in place to deliver this by the end of the year.
In the meantime, we have been working hard with the police, local authorities and animal welfare groups to help prevent attacks by encouraging responsible dog ownership, to ensure dog control issues are addressed before they escalate and to make sure the full force of the law is applied across all breeds of dog.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sustainability of UK debt levels.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government is committed to ensuring debt is on a sustainable footing. This is reflected in the Prime Minister’s priority to reduce national debt in the medium term and the legally binding fiscal rule to have debt as a share of GDP to be projected to fall in the fifth year of the forecast horizon.
The independent OBR assesses performance against the fiscal rules twice a year alongside each fiscal event. In March 2023, the OBR confirmed that the fiscal rules had been met with debt falling as a percentage of GDP in 2027-28. The OBR will publish an updated economic and fiscal forecast on 22 November alongside the Autumn Statement
In the Charter for Budget Responsibility, the Government requires the OBR to publish an annual Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report, which includes long-run projections of the Government finances. The government will respond to the latest FRS at a future fiscal event. To manage longer-term spending pressures and maintain high quality public services, the Chancellor has recently announced a major public sector productivity programme.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the value to the UK of its membership of UNESCO.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) operates within a broad remit in culture, education, science and communication, and information. Research by the UK National Commission for UNESCO in 2020, a body funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, found that UNESCO projects in the UK, ranging from World Heritage Sites to Creative Cities, generate an estimated £151 million of financial benefit to local communities each year and help bring them together to protect and conserve some of the most important places across the country.
The financial value of the UK's UNESCO designations is only one measure. As a normative organisation it sets international standards across education, science, culture, information and communication, including in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the non-nuclear ammunition available to UK armed forces.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Defence continually manages and analyses its stocks of non-nuclear ammunition through the Key Munitions Planning process, whilst also reviewing industrial capacity and supply chains, both domestically and internationally. The Department remains fully engaged with industry, allies and partners to ensure that equipment and munitions levels remain under continual review and are subject to adjustment in support of evolving Defence requirements.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the calls by UNESCO to either amend or not proceed with plans for a road tunnel by Stonehenge.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We have been engaging closely with UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre regarding the proposed A303 scheme, and I attended the World Heritage Committee meeting earlier this month where it was considered.
The A303 scheme aims to improve the experience for visitors to Stonehenge and to preserve this important historic site for future generations. The proposed tunnel – which is supported by Historic England, English Heritage and the National Trust, in addition to Wiltshire Council’s Archaeology Service – will reunite and restore tranquillity to this world-renowned landscape by removing the vast majority of the modern road from view. This will significantly improve the area around the World Heritage Site and ensure that it continues to fulfil UNESCO's Outstanding Universal Value criteria.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their definition of the 'Global South' when they use that term.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The term 'Global South' is commonly used to refer to developing countries. However, we recognise that our lower- and middle-income partners are not a homogenous block. As set out in our response to the International Development Committee's report on Racism in the Aid Sector, published in December 2022, we continually review the impact of our language. This is an important part of how we will modernise our long-term partnerships, in line with the ambition set out by the Minister for Development and Africa in his Chatham House speech in April 2023.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of migrants who arrived in the UK via irregular routes from countries in the Sahel during the past 12 months.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK by method of entry and nationality (which may differ from country of origin), in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk. These statistics are published in table Irr_D01 of the irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets, which can be downloaded via the table attached.
The latest data goes up to the end of June 2023.