Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Pupil Referral Units sub-commission unregistered alternative providers to supply education placements for their children.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Since the 2022/23 academic year, the department has started to collect data from schools via the school census about the alternative provision (AP) they arrange. This includes AP in unregistered settings. The first mandatory collection is currently being carried out within the spring census, and so the information is not yet available.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Metropolitan Police (1) officers, and (2) staff, are currently on the sex offenders register, broken down by rank.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of police officers or staff who are registered sex offenders
The statutory Vetting Code of Practice 2017 stipulates that all applications for a position of police officer or member of police staff must be rejected, where the applicant is a registered sex offender
The Government has asked the College of Policing to strengthen the statutory code of practice for vetting, making the obligations all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer
The Home Secretary has also now launched a review into the process of police officer dismissals, ensuring that the system is fair and effective at removing those officers who are not fit to serve their communities. The Terms of Reference for this review have now been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-officer-dismissals-review-terms-of-reference.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish NHS Resolution's annual report.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department and its bodies, which includes NHS Resolution, have a statutory requirement to produce an annual report and accounts (ARA) following the end of the financial year. NHS Resolution is responsible for ensuring its ARA is laid before Parliament in accordance with Departmental guidance. NHS Resolution has advised that it intends to lay its ARA before the summer recess.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish a consultation on fixed recovery costs for clinical negligence claims; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We are developing proposals to introduce fixed recoverable costs for clinical negligence claims under the value of £25,000. We plan to consult on these measures in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the HIV Action Plan will be published.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The HIV Action Plan is currently being developed and is planned for publication later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to enable pre-exposure prophylaxis treatment for HIV to be accessed in (1) GP practices, and (2) community pharmacies.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is routinely available in specialist sexual health services throughout the country. The settings in which PrEP is made available outside of sexual health services, such as general practitioner practices and community pharmacies, will be considered as part of our ongoing work on the development of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and the HIV Action Plan, which we plan to publish later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards meeting the recommendation in the HIV commission report How England Will End New Cases of HIV, published 30 November 2020, that the Government must review and assess the impact of current policies and legislation that need improvement.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The HIV Oversight Group has been formed with key HIV stakeholders, including civil society organizations who represent women, black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, trans, non-binary and gender diverse individuals, and in addition, networks of community advocates and people living with HIV to support the development of the HIV Action Plan. Specific discussions have not yet been held with those representing traveller communities.
Through these member organisations, the HIV Oversight Group aims to ensure that the intersectional voices of people living with HIV, especially those from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, are fairly represented during the development process and in the final Action Plan. The recommendations of the HIV commission will be actively considered during the development of the HIV Action Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made towards meeting the recommendation in the HIV commission report How England Will End New Cases of HIV, published 30 November 2020, that all late HIV diagnoses should be investigated as serious incidents by the National Institute for Health Protection.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The HIV Oversight Group has been formed with key HIV stakeholders, including civil society organizations who represent women, black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, trans, non-binary and gender diverse individuals, and in addition, networks of community advocates and people living with HIV to support the development of the HIV Action Plan. Specific discussions have not yet been held with those representing traveller communities.
Through these member organisations, the HIV Oversight Group aims to ensure that the intersectional voices of people living with HIV, especially those from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, are fairly represented during the development process and in the final Action Plan. The recommendations of the HIV commission will be actively considered during the development of the HIV Action Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they had regarding the development of the HIV Action Plan with (1) women (2) Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, (3) traveller communities, and (4) trans, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The HIV Oversight Group has been formed with key HIV stakeholders, including civil society organizations who represent women, black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, trans, non-binary and gender diverse individuals, and in addition, networks of community advocates and people living with HIV to support the development of the HIV Action Plan. Specific discussions have not yet been held with those representing traveller communities.
Through these member organisations, the HIV Oversight Group aims to ensure that the intersectional voices of people living with HIV, especially those from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, are fairly represented during the development process and in the final Action Plan. The recommendations of the HIV commission will be actively considered during the development of the HIV Action Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Thornton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the cost of the investigation to find the individual whose identity was initially unknown who tested positive for the ‘Brazilian’ strain of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The incident response team used existing data analysis resources and as such, there was no additional cost to the investigation.