Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their response to recommendation 18 of the Infected Blood Inquiry's second interim report, published on 5 April, that a compensation scheme should be set up now and it should begin work this year.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government continues to make progress with the work necessary to enable a response to the full report when it is published in March next year. It is only reasonable that the Inquiry, whose work is in train, concludes and provides their final recommendations before the Government takes action. The Government recognises that there is interest in pre-registration for compensation ahead of its response to the Inquiry’s final report. However, as the Minister for the Cabinet Office set out to the Inquiry in July, opening registration for compensation before the Government has finalised its response would be a difficult step to take.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to page 60 of the Infected Blood Inquiry's second interim report, published on 5 April, what work they have been done to register those eligible for interim compensation payments with existing support schemes, before the final report is published.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government continues to make progress with the work necessary to enable a response to the full report when it is published in March next year. It is only reasonable that the Inquiry, whose work is in train, concludes and provides their final recommendations before the Government takes action. The Government recognises that there is interest in pre-registration for compensation ahead of its response to the Inquiry’s final report. However, as the Minister for the Cabinet Office set out to the Inquiry in July, opening registration for compensation before the Government has finalised its response would be a difficult step to take.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps, if any, they plan to take to ask Haringey London Borough Council to conform with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity in the regularity of its magazine publications.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Publicity Code is statutory guidance that local authorities must have regard to when producing publicity, defined as 'any communication in whatever form, addressed to the public at large or a section of the public'. The Secretary of State has the power to direct local authorities to comply with the Code if needed.
My officials are looking into concerns regarding Haringey Council's magazine publications, and a senior official will take up the matter directly with the Council's Chief Executive in the first instance.
We will keep this matter under review.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether UK residents who have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produced in India will be prevented from using the digital COVID-19 passport to travel to Europe without tests and quarantine; and what steps they plan to take to help anyone so affected.
Answered by Lord Bethell
All University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines administered in the United Kingdom are the same product and appear on the NHS COVID Pass as ‘Vaxzevria’. The European Medicines Agency has authorised Vaxzevria and it is recognised by the European Union for the purpose of travel.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they have undertaken interim civil marriage reform to legislate for outdoor weddings but have not done the same for humanist marriages.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Marriage (Same Sex) Couples Act 2013 enables same-sex couples to have a civil marriage and also allows religious organisations to opt in to marry same-sex couples, should they wish to do so. Separately, Government consulted in 2014 on marriages by non-religious belief organisations. A summary assessment of costs and benefits was published in the response, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/marriages-by-non-religious-belief-organisations.
The Government in 2019 committed to accelerate plans to allow civil weddings and civil partnerships to be held outside and said it would look to implement these changes through secondary legislation, subject to any necessary consultation. On 1 July, time limited amending regulations came into force to allow couples who can already legally marry to have their civil wedding ceremony in the linked outdoor areas of Approved Premises. The Government will undertake a public consultation on these measures and intends to produce an Impact Assessment. A further instrument will be laid in Spring 2022.
A Law Commission project on marriage and civil partnership is due to report later this year and is expected to present recommendations for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission as part of their review include offering couples greater flexibility over the form of their ceremony, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations and to provide a framework that could allow non-religious belief organisations, such as Humanists and independent celebrants, to conduct legally binding weddings. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of legally recognising humanist marriages on choice for same-sex couples wanting to get married.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Marriage (Same Sex) Couples Act 2013 enables same-sex couples to have a civil marriage and also allows religious organisations to opt in to marry same-sex couples, should they wish to do so. Separately, Government consulted in 2014 on marriages by non-religious belief organisations. A summary assessment of costs and benefits was published in the response, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/marriages-by-non-religious-belief-organisations.
The Government in 2019 committed to accelerate plans to allow civil weddings and civil partnerships to be held outside and said it would look to implement these changes through secondary legislation, subject to any necessary consultation. On 1 July, time limited amending regulations came into force to allow couples who can already legally marry to have their civil wedding ceremony in the linked outdoor areas of Approved Premises. The Government will undertake a public consultation on these measures and intends to produce an Impact Assessment. A further instrument will be laid in Spring 2022.
A Law Commission project on marriage and civil partnership is due to report later this year and is expected to present recommendations for wholesale reform to the law governing marriage ceremonies, which the Government will consider carefully. Options being explored by the Law Commission as part of their review include offering couples greater flexibility over the form of their ceremony, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations and to provide a framework that could allow non-religious belief organisations, such as Humanists and independent celebrants, to conduct legally binding weddings. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the (1) safety, and (2) effectiveness, of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The vaccines approved for use in the United Kingdom, including the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Any vaccine that is approved must go through the same clinical trials and safety checks as other licensed medicines. The MHRA follows international standards of safety. So far, millions of people have been given a COVID-19 vaccine and reports of serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, have been very rare. No long-term complications have been reported. Preliminary results showing that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might reduce the spread of COVID-19 are hugely encouraging.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of current age verification tools in protecting children from seeing adult content online; and what plans they have to ensure that the efficacy of such tools are addressed as part of the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Although the government will not be mandating the use of specific technologies through the legislation, we do expect that the regulatory framework will drive innovation and take-up of age assurance solutions, where some in-scope companies will be required to identify child users and provide them with a higher level of protection. This includes the use of age verification technologies to prevent children from accessing high-risk content such as online pornography.
We are continually assessing the benefits of technical measures while developing online safety policy. We are also working closely with stakeholders across industry to establish the right conditions for the market to deliver robust and effective age assurance solutions ahead of the legislative requirements coming into force. This includes working with regulators and industry to deliver transparency on the efficacy of solutions.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the announcement by the government of the United States that foreign students will not be able to stay in that country if universities have moved classes fully online, what steps they are taking (1) to protect, and (2) to support, British students planning on studying in the United States in the autumn.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On 14 July, the government of the United States of America confirmed that it will not require international students to leave the country if they are unable to continue their studies in-person because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The government welcomes this decision.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require GP surgeries in England to put in place a call and recall procedure to require them to follow up patients in the shingles vaccination cohort who have not yet availed themselves of the vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As outlined in both the NHS Long Term Plan and Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently undertaking a review of vaccinations and immunisations. The Department would not wish to pre-empt the outcome of this review. Investment and Evolution states that the purpose of the review as being to:
- Ensure the system incentivises achievement of appropriate uptake rates for immunisations in line with national public health uptake rates;
- Reduce the administrative burden on general practices by simplifying the system if possible;
- Clarify what is expected on call/recall for immunisations delivered through the GP contract;
- Address anomalies in the system that directly incentivise some vaccines but not others;
- Look at how we deal with outbreaks and catch-up programmes; and
- Consider whether we extend the list of chargeable travel vaccines.
A copy of Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan is attached.