Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had regarding the creation of a legal status for those participating in full-time, long-term volunteering programmes, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, under the proposed National Citizen Service Bill.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The National Citizen Service Bill will place the NCS programme on permanent statutory footing. It is estimated that NCS participants have dedicated over 8 million hours of volunteering to their local communities to date. Other opportunities for young people to participate in social action, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, have contributed to the success of NCS and made sure that young people have opportunities to develop new skills that extend and transform their life chances. The government is committed to increasing volunteering and social action, and to providing support for different opportunities and programmes that encourage volunteering.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress made by the #iwill campaign towards meeting its aim of having an additional 1.5 million young people involved in social action by 2020.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Cabinet Office and Step Up To Serve commissioned Ipsos MORI to survey 2,021 10-20 year olds in September 2015 to determine the proportion of young people involved in social action in the UK. The survey helps to measure the progress of the #iwill campaign and found that 42% of 10-20 year olds took part in meaningful social action.
Cabinet Office has pledged to support the #iwill campaign by ensuring that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to engage in meaningful youth social action opportunities.
Opportunities for young people to get involved in youth social action can be found through the #iwill campaign website which sets out many of the excellent programmes that already exist in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had regarding the funding of youth social action projects outside National Citizen Service.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Cabinet Office is committed to making social action a part of life for all 10-20 year olds, creating opportunities for young people to develop new skills and give back to their community.
In 2015/16 Cabinet Office will invest £1.2 million to support the development of national and local youth social action opportunities for 10-20 year olds. The investment has been match funded by Pears Foundation and UK Community Foundations. These funds will run until July 2017.
Cabinet Office has also invested £10 million, through LIBOR fines, in Youth United to run the Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund. This fund aims to create over 15,000 places in uniformed youth groups in the UK.
We will be making further announcements on youth funding in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in the Cabinet Office budget on the budget for the Office of Civil Society.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The Office for Civil Society will make general efficiency savings in its core budget, but it will also receive an additional £80million to grow social investment and the funding to offer up to 300,000 National Citizen Service places in 2019/20.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to support the #iwill campaign to meet its aim of having an additional 1.5 million young people involved in social action by 2020.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The Cabinet Office has pledged to support the #iwill campaign by ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to engage in meaningful youth social action opportunities.
We have also invested £1.2 million to support the development of youth social action opportunities in low socio-economic and rural areas and the East of England and £10 million of LIBOR fines to create over 15,000 places in uniformed youth groups in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports (1) that since July Turkey has hit PKK targets in northern Iraq more frequently than ISIS targets; (2) that Turkish police have arrested more members of the Kurdish political opposition than suspected ISIS members within Turkey; and (3) that Turkey is shelling Kobane, despite it being under the control of Kurdish forces who are cooperating with the coalition against ISIS.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) continues to kill Turkish police and security forces. The PKK must cease its violence and the peace process needs to be resumed. We support Turkey’s right to defend itself against all forms of terrorism.
We welcome Turkey’s invaluable contribution to the international campaign against Daesh, particularly its agreement for the use of its airspace and airbases, as a member of the Global Coalition committed to defeating it. Turkey has been carrying out strikes against Daesh since July 2015, and have detained over 2,500 Daesh suspects since 2013, of whom one third are foreigners. Turkey recognises the role that Syrian Kurds have to play in the fight against Daesh, and accepts that Syrian Kurds receive Coalition support.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made, if any, to the government of Turkey about the use of curfews, martial law, and the deployment of the military in mainly Kurdish towns, including Cizre and Silvan.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We welcome the visit on 15-16 October of Turkey’s national human rights body to Cizre and Sirnak to conduct analysis and research on the recent events there.
We continue to monitor the human rights situation in Turkey closely and raise concerns regularly with the Turkish authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people aged 18 to 25 were registered to vote before (1) the 2010 general election, and (2) the 2015 general election.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding has gone to national portfolio organisations exclusively involved in opera in the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Over the past 10 years, funding outlined in the attached table has been provided to national portfolio organisations exclusively involved in 'opera'. For the purpose of this response, 'Opera' has been defined as staged music theatre productions, often with continuous music, where the music is the main dramatic driver.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any representations have been made either by or to Stroud District Council on the subject of the contract for the procurement and building of the Javelin Park Incinerator at Haresfield, Gloucestershire.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Communities and Local Government has no record of any such representations being received by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government during his consideration of the planning appeal.