Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK nationals have returned from Syria in the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Since the beginning of the conflict around 900 people of national security concern have travelled from the UK to Syria and Iraq, against the advice of the Foreign Office. Of these, around 40% have returned to the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide for the prescription of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy as part of NHS treatment.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
There are no current plans to make bio-identical hormone replacement therapy routinely available on National Health Service prescription. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the Agency responsible for the regulation of medicines used in the United Kingdom. There is a clear regime in place, administered by the MHRA, to enable medicines to be developed, authorised (licensed) and made available to patients in the UK. It is important that authorised medicines meet rigorous standards so that doctors and patients are sure of their quality, efficacy and safety.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research is being conducted in the UK into the use of phages as a response to antibiotic resistance.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government continues to invest in research into new and alternative treatments. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is currently funding 12 projects across three of its councils (BBSRC, EPSRC and MRC) that relate to the use of phages as a response to antibiotic resistance. This represents a commitment of over £6m.
Additionally the Department of Health and Social Care and Wellcome sponsored a strategic pipeline briefing into alternatives to antibiotics in 2015. The briefing reviewed the feasibility and potential clinical impact of alternatives to antibiotics, including bacteriophages, and considered approaches that were most likely to deliver new treatments in the next ten years.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many babies have been born in England with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, in the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
Public Health England contributes to the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT), which reports on congenital anomaly statistics by country.
The numbers of babies born with neural tube defects from 2012 to 2016 are displayed in the attached table, due to the size of the data. Data for 2017 and 2018 are not currently available. Validated data for 2017 will be available from April 2019.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women have appeared as defendants before (1) judges, and (2) magistrates, in the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Ministry of Justice does not hold the data for how many women have appeared as defendants before judges or magistrates, but the department does hold data on how many women were proceeded against at Magistrates Courts and Crown Courts. This data is set out in the table below.
Table 1: Number of female defendants dealt with at magistrates' court and Crown Court, 2013 to 2017 (a)(b)(c) |
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| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
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Number of prosecutions at magistrates' court (d) | 340,603 | 360,830 | 368,580 | 359,036 |
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Number dealt with at Crown Court (e)(f) | 10,454 | 10,804 | 11,393 | 9,899 |
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Source: Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database |
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(a) Defendants committed for trial or sentencing from the magistrates' to the Crown Court and dealt with within the same year will be counted twice. |
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(b) If an individual is proceeded against on separate occasions within a year they will be counted twice. |
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(c) A defendant who is committed from magistrates’ courts to the Crown Court may not have both courts' processes complete within the same year, in which case they would be counted for each stage in the year that the court where it took place completed. Defendants who appear before both courts may also be convicted at the Crown Court for a different offence to that for which they are counted as having been originally proceeded against at magistrates’ court, where the offence is changed after committal. |
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(d) The proportion of defendants who appear in person before a Magistrate is unknown, as some cases can be dealt with dealt with remotely such as Single Justice Procedure cases. | ||||||||
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(e) Includes total for trial at Crown Court and Convicted at magistrates' courts (committed for sentencing). |
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(f) Figures for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court include individuals who were not tried. |
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Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the premises at Eden House, Bristol have been sold by the National Probation Service; and if so, when they were sold and to whom.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Eden House was placed on the open market in June 2016 and sold at auction on 28 February 2017. The sale to Says Court Properties Limited was completed on 12 May 2017.
The property was sold subject to the existing Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) lease which runs until 2022. This protects the CRC’s interest in this property until the end of their contract.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when it is anticipated that the Mother and Baby Unit at Eastwood Park Prison will re-open.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The mother and baby unit (MBU) at Eastwood Park has been out of commission since October 2016, owing to flooding caused by a burst pipe. We are planning to complete refurbishment by May, with re-occupation in late June/early July.
While the MBU remains out of use, any women at the prison whose application for a MBU place is accepted can be accommodated in one of the other five units within the women’s prison estate.
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Mother and Baby Unit at Eastwood Park Prison was closed.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The mother and baby unit (MBU) at Eastwood Park has been out of commission since October 2016, owing to flooding caused by a burst pipe. We are planning to complete refurbishment by May, with re-occupation in late June/early July.
While the MBU remains out of use, any women at the prison whose application for a MBU place is accepted can be accommodated in one of the other five units within the women’s prison estate.
We are committed to doing all we can to address the issues around female offending so we can better protect the public and deliver more effective rehabilitation.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what dates the Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention met in the last five years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Meetings of the Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention held over the last five years are shown in the following table.
Year | Date | Type of meeting |
2013 | 30 January 2013 | Full Committee Meeting |
15 May 2013 | Country Recommendations Meeting | |
8 November 2013 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting (Methodology) | |
11 December 2013 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting | |
2014 | 4 March 2014 | Treatment Guidelines Meeting |
2 June 2014 | Country Recommendations Meeting | |
2015 | 12 January 2015 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting |
5 March 2015 | Treatment Guidelines Meeting | |
24 June 2015 | Full Committee Meeting | |
24 November 2015 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting | |
2016 | 7 June 2016 | Country Recommendations Meeting |
16 September 2016 | Country Recommendations Working Group | |
22 November 2016 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting | |
2017 | 10 August 2017 | Country Recommendations Meeting |
14 September 2017 | Personal protection issues Meeting | |
2018 | 2 February 2018 | Prevention Guidelines Meeting |
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the report in the Sunday Times on 14 January that the Ministry of Defence had stated that respected health bodies continued to recommend Lariam "as a safe and effective form of malaria prevention", which bodies provide such a recommendation.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Mefloquine is effective in the prevention and treatment of malaria and is licensed for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates medication in the United Kingdom. As with all medicines, the MHRA keeps the safety of mefloquine under continual review.
Bodies such as the Advisory Committee on Malaria Prevention, the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to include mefloquine as an option for malaria chemoprophylaxis.