Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many instances of nutritional anaemia in children have been treated in paediatric units in hospitals in England in (1) 2019, and (2) 2020.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information is not held in the format requested. Data on admissions do not record the type of ward or unit where a patient was treated and does not represent the number of incidences treated.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the share of contributions between (1) landlord, and (2) tenant, owners in a shared leasehold ownership scheme to the costs arising from cladding removal and fire safety improvements.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The extent to which leaseholders are liable for works or not is governed by the terms in their leases. Government is providing over £5 billion in grant funding for the remediation of unsafe cladding on residential buildings 18 metres and over. This means that leaseholders (including those in shared ownership) in eligible high-rise buildings can be reassured that unsafe cladding will be replaced at no cost to them. Government is also establishing a generous finance scheme which will provide leaseholders in residential buildings of 11-18 metres with access to finance for cladding remediation costs. We will publish more details on how this scheme will work as soon as we are in a position to do so. Finally, we have also introduced a new model for Shared Ownership which will include a 10-year period during which the landlord will support with the cost of repairs in new build homes. The changes will prevent new shared owners from being hit with unexpected repairs and maintenance bills and will help to bridge the gap between renting and homeownership.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Local Government Boundary Commission for England is required to propose new ward boundaries for the three new designated unitary authorities in North Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Somerset.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
We intend to seek Parliamentary approval early in 2022 to secondary legislation to establish new unitary councils in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset. These orders will provide for elections in May 2022 to the new unitary councils in their implementation form, including the council size and warding arrangements. It is expected that the Local Government Boundary Commission for England will carry out full electoral reviews of each of the new unitary councils before the second elections to these councils in May 2027.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of restricting the spreading of slurry on fields that are adjacent to residential property.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Within England there are rules in place to ensure that slurry is applied responsibly with regard to the environment to minimise the risk of it affecting nearby ecosystems and other sites via runoff. These include:
These regulations do include rules about where fertilisers, including slurry can be spread, however, there are no specific requirements on farmers not to spread next to houses, nor are there any plans to introduce this type of restriction.
Any proposal to include such a requirement would need to consider the effects on farmers, given that agricultural fields are business premises that farmers have to be able to grow crops on. Many farms rely on slurry application to fertilise their soil.
If there are any complaints about specific farms the local council should be informed. Local councils are responsible for investigating complaints about issues that could be a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This includes any smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance.
Local authority environmental health officers take into account a number of factors when assessing whether a statutory nuisance exists, including the reasonableness of the activity being carried out, the time of day of the occurrence, its duration, its frequency of occurrence and whether or not best practicable means were being employed. These principles are based on long established case law.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the size of the room that will be required to enable annual meetings of local and parish councils, where social distancing is fully observed.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Any physical meetings will need to be held in line with the Government’s Covid-19 Guidance for the safe use of council buildings and we have updated this guidance to highlight ways in which local authorities can, if necessary, minimise the risk of face-to-face meetings. It is for councils to apply the Covid-19 guidance to ensure meetings take place safely
This Guidance may be found (attached) at; https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-council-buildings.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that remedies ordered by courts following prosecutions under section 216 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are complied with.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The maximum penalty under section 216 of The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is a fine. The Government takes the recovery and enforcement of all financial impositions very seriously and remains committed to ensuring impositions are paid. The courts will do everything within their powers to trace those who do not pay and use a variety of means to ensure the recovery of criminal fines and financial penalties. This includes deducting money from an individual offender’s earnings or benefits if they are unemployed or issuing warrants instructing approved enforcement agents to seize and sell goods belonging to the offender. Enforcement actions that can be taken against an offender who is a company include a warrant to seize and sell goods, and an application for the administration or winding up of the company.
The Government has committed in its Planning White Paper to review and strengthen existing planning enforcement powers and sanctions available to authorities, including higher fines where appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with UK universities about the provision of university courses in countries where they have concerns about (1) governance, or (2) human rights, in those countries.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is one of the world’s major providers of trans-national education. As autonomous institutions, universities make their own decisions about education provision overseas and are responsible for ensuring their partnerships are managed appropriately with the right due diligence in place.
Relevant government departments, including the Department for International Trade, the Department for Education, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, regularly engage with the university sector to support higher education institutions when establishing trans-national education programmes, including working with the British Council to provide advice in particular contexts. If any provider has concerns, we encourage them to contact the government.
We are pleased to see that Universities UK is working on behalf of the sector, and with government support, further to inform the sector about the importance of appropriate risk management in its international endeavours. Its recent publication, ‘Managing Risks in Internationalisation: Security-related issues’, includes specific guidance on delivering educational programmes overseas and can be accessed here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Pages/managing-risks-in-internationalisation.aspx.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to retain a hybrid system of virtual and physical attendance at local council meetings, including meetings of council committees and full council meetings, after the COVID-19 national restrictions are lifted.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government keeps all policy under review. To extend the facility for councils to continue to meet remotely, or in hybrid form after 7 May 2021 would require primary legislation. We have received representations from local authorities and sector representative organisations making the case for the continuation of remote meetings beyond 7 May 2021 and are carefully considering next steps in this area.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many blocks of flats have aluminium composite material cladding; and how many of those blocks are (1) 18 metres or more in height, and (2) below 18 metres in height.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department publishes data on the number of high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England with ACM cladding systems unlikely to meet Building Regulations. The latest data is available (attached) at:
Information on buildings below 18 metres is not held.
Asked by: Baroness Pinnock (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many blocks of flats have flammable cladding other than aluminium composite material; and how many of those blocks are (1) 18 metres or more in height, and (2) below 18 metres in height.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
For high rise residential buildings over 18 metres, local authorities and housing associations are undergoing a data collection exercise as part of an ongoing programme to build a more complete picture of high-rise residential buildings and the variety of external wall systems in use. We will publish appropriate summary information from the data collection in our monthly Building Safety Programme data release in due course.
Data estimating the proportion of high-rise residential buildings in England with little or no cladding can be found (attached) in this release: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-safety-programme-estimates-of-ews1-requirements-on-residential-buildings-in-england/building-safety-programme-estimates-of-ews1-requirements-on-residential-buildings-in-england.
This information on buildings below 18 metres is not held.