Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Baroness Fox of Buckley, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Baroness Fox of Buckley has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Baroness Fox of Buckley has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
Further to my answer given to PQ HL10099 on 23 November, the Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliamentary elections are the responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish Governments respectively. However, all three governments continue to communicate regularly on the delivery of the polls. We are also working with postal vote suppliers, electoral sector partners and election teams to ensure capacity for printing and administering postal votes.
Further to my answer given to PQ HL10099 on 23 November, the Senedd Cymru and Scottish Parliamentary elections are the responsibility of the Welsh and Scottish Governments respectively. However, all three governments continue to communicate regularly on the delivery of the polls. We are also working with postal vote suppliers, electoral sector partners and election teams to ensure capacity for printing and administering postal votes.
From the start of the pandemic, the higher education (HE) sector has put in significant resources and worked hard to provide learning materials and minimise the disruption to students. There have been some innovative and resourceful approaches to deliver high-quality learning online, and we welcome the huge amount of time and resources universities and other HE providers have devoted to ensuring that online teaching is of the high quality expected by students, Her Majesty's Government, and the Office for Students (OfS). Since early January, we estimate that 19% of students were on courses in scope for a return to face-to-face learning, and from 8 March 2021 this proportion increased to 49%. From 17 May 2021, all students have been able to return to in-person learning.
As autonomous institutions with a range of specific circumstances, we expect HE providers to make their own judgments to facilitate the return of students for face-to-face teaching, whilst following the latest public health guidance. We expect providers to continue work alongside local authorities and other agencies to put appropriate plans in place to control and manage any local outbreaks and to minimise transmission of COVID-19.
If students have concerns about their tuition, including the return to in-person teaching, there is a process in place. They should first raise their concerns with their university. If their concerns remain unresolved, students at providers in England or Wales can ask the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education to consider their complaint. We expect providers to ensure that continuing and prospective students receive the clear, accurate, and timely information they need to make informed decisions. Whilst the OfS does not get involved in student complaints, students can notify it of issues which may be of regulatory interest to it. The OfS uses this information as part of its regulatory monitoring activity and keeps HE providers under review to ensure that they comply with the ongoing conditions of registration. The OfS has produced a guide for students to support them in this process. This is available here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/ofs-and-students/notifications/.
The Department for Transport understands that the Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on Transport and Infrastructure has had discussions with a number of local authorities since March on cycle lanes and other matters; but that he has not given such an indication to any authority.
The Active Travel Fund was announced on 9 May and provided £225 million of funding for local authorities to enable them to reallocate road space and make changes to road layouts in response to COVID-19.
Alongside the funding, the Department published statutory guidance to local authorities under the Traffic Management Act 2004. This provides advice on the changes that Government expects them to make to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians. It is for local authorities to decide what specific measures are appropriate on their roads to achieve this.
The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 gives local authorities powers to close roads using Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). No new road closure powers have been granted. The emergency legislation which came into force on 22 May made some changes to the procedure for making TROs, but did not alter the pre-existing notice periods. Local authorities are still required to give 7 days’ notice of proposed temporary or experimental changes, to allow time for local residents or businesses to send in any comments or objections.
The monitoring and evaluation of schemes, including impact on traffic flows, is a matter for local authorities.
The Active Travel Fund was announced on 9 May and provided £225 million of funding for local authorities to enable them to reallocate road space and make changes to road layouts in response to COVID-19.
Alongside the funding, the Department published statutory guidance to local authorities under the Traffic Management Act 2004. This provides advice on the changes that Government expects them to make to their road layouts to give more space to cyclists and pedestrians. It is for local authorities to decide what specific measures are appropriate on their roads to achieve this.
The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 gives local authorities powers to close roads using Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). No new road closure powers have been granted. The emergency legislation which came into force on 22 May made some changes to the procedure for making TROs, but did not alter the pre-existing notice periods. Local authorities are still required to give 7 days’ notice of proposed temporary or experimental changes, to allow time for local residents or businesses to send in any comments or objections.
The monitoring and evaluation of schemes, including impact on traffic flows, is a matter for local authorities.
We expect care homes to enable visiting unless they have a current outbreak, in which case visiting is more limited. We are currently pursuing non-legislative routes to make sure this is followed, involving our regional assistance team, local authorities and the Care Quality Commission. This approach allows us to move more swiftly in changing circumstances and to accommodate all care homes.
Payments made by the UK to the EU for the financial settlement are specifically related to the Financial Provisions section of the Withdrawal Agreement. The amounts provided are in relation to outstanding financial commitments between the UK and the EU which arose out of the UK’s participation in the EU budget as a Member State, broader aspects of its EU membership, and under the Transition Agreement.
Payments provided to the EU by the UK under Article 148 of the Withdrawal Agreement, the article summarising the yearly amount payable under Financial Settlement, are entered into the EU General Budget by the European Commission as ‘Special Contributions and Refunds’, under Chapter 6 6 of the Revenue of the EU Budget. Payments assigned to the General Budget are not specified for ringfenced expenditure.
We welcome the work HMP Peterborough is doing to reduce self-harm amongst female prisoners. We continue to do everything we can to address self-harm across the estate. In 2020, we established a multi-disciplinary Women’s Self-Harm Taskforce to address the high levels of self-harm. The aim of the taskforce is to focus on work, research and interventions that improve prisoner outcomes. The taskforce is trialling and formally evaluating a range of initiatives for women in prison and will use the formal evaluations of the work at Peterborough, and the similar work across the women’s prison estate, to inform our approaches to reducing self-harm amongst female prisoners going forward.
The Restart Dogs Programme at HMP Dovegate is currently funded through the local prisoners’ Amenities Fund, and its continuation will be reviewed in line with routine assurance checks to ensure continuing value for money and defined outcomes. There are no plans to implement the project across prisons in England and Wales, but it is available to Governors under the Dynamic Purchasing System, using their Learning and Skills budgets, if they determine that there is a local need.
We do not currently publish a breakdown of self-harm incidents by total time in custody or by prison. Changes to our self-harm tables are considered as part of our regular review of how our statistical publications can best meet the needs of their users and stakeholders. Statistics on self-harm incidents by time in custody, like all identified information gaps, will be considered ahead of our more detailed annual statistics on self-harm in custody, due to be published in April 2023.