Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to request that Ipsos includes a category of "Speech, Language, and Communication Difficulties” in the annual GP Patient Survey.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 GP Patient Survey includes a question on long-term conditions, which currently lists 15 such conditions. ‘Speech, Language, and Communication Difficulties’ is not one of the specific options listed in this question in the 2024 survey.
We appreciate that there are many people in England who are living with speech, language, and communication difficulties. We must strike a careful balance between breadth of coverage and the availability of space in the questionnaire. Anyone who is living with a long-term condition which is not listed is able to select ‘Another long-term condition’.
However, we record all questionnaire feedback given to us and take it into account when we review the survey every year.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of South Africa's relationship with the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas, and the statements of support for Hamas by former ANC minister Ronnie Kasrils.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are clear with South Africa that Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation by the UK. Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in line with International Humanitarian Law, as we have said from the outset. The vital elements for a lasting peace include the release of all hostages; the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; removing Hamas's capacity to launch attacks against Israel; Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza; and a political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many new pitches, as opposed to the refurbishment of existing pitches, were funded by the Affordable Homes Programme since its inception, excluding any funded by the Traveller Site Fund 2022/23.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Between 2016 and 2023 108 new traveller pitches have been delivered from the Affordable Homes Programmes. 85 of these have been through the 2015-18 and 2016-23 Affordable Homes Programmes, and 23 from the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for establishing a separate contracts for difference funding pot for wave energy generation, so that its funding is no longer in competition with technologies which are closer to market.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is developing auction parameters for the sixth allocation round of the Contracts for Difference scheme, including any for wave technologies. This will take into account several factors, including evidence of the pipeline of available projects. Final parameters, including the budget, will be published ahead of the round opening in March 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Gypsy and Traveller sites the Affordable Homes Programme has funded in each year since its inception, and how many in total.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
In total 208 permanent traveller pitches have been delivered since 2016, including pitches funded by other means apart from the Affordable Homes Programme.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Friends, Families and Travellers, Kicking the Can down the Road: the planning and provision of Gypsy and Traveller sites in England 1960–2023; and what steps, if any, they will take to implement its recommendations.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Department has not made an assessment of the report by Friends, Families and Travellers on the planning and provision of traveller sites in England that was published in November 2023. It is the responsibility of local planning authorities to make their own assessment of the need for traveller sites and in producing their local plan to identify sites to meet that need.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementing the recommendations of the Fifth Opinion on the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in respect of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government acknowledges the report from the Advisory Committee. We are studying its recommendations and will publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the latest available figures for the (1) number, and (2) method of delivery, of pre-sentence reports in courts in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Data on pre-sentence reports in England and Wales is published in the Ministry of Justice’s quarterly Offender Management Statistics Bulletin. The latest published data is for October to December 2022. In this latest quarter there were a total of 21,771 pre-sentence reports (PSRs) produced. The breakdown in terms of method of delivery was as follows:
1,013 Standard PSR
15,338 Fast Delivery PSR Written
5,420 Fast Delivery PSR Oral
In 2022 overall, there were a total of 83,240 pre-sentence reports produced. The breakdown in terms of method of delivery was as follows:
3,561 Standard PSR
58,375 Fast Delivery PSR Written
21,304 Fast Delivery PSR Oral
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of The Traveller Movement's report Available but not Accessible Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers: barriers in accessing purposeful activities in prison, published on 27 March.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
As part of the HMPPS Gypsy, Roma & Traveller (GRT) Strategy, we are committed to fully considering the Traveller Movement Report ‘Available but not Accessible’. This activity is ongoing, and will include consultation with the Traveller Movement, and potentially, other GRT-associated third sector organisations.
The associated action plan will be updated to incorporate necessary activity in association with further HMPPS evidence-based assessments also currently under consideration. The review is expected to be fully completed by Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 15 June (HL8295), how they are targeting the extra funds for suicide prevention among the minority ethnic groups with a higher than average prevalence of suicide, including the Gypsy and Traveller communities; and whether they treat Gypsy and Traveller men as a high risk category.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the Spring 2023 Budget, an additional £10 million was announced for a Suicide Prevention Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Grant Fund to support people experiencing suicidal thoughts or approaching a mental health crisis. Further information about the fund will be set out in due course.
We also announced on 9 May 2022 that 113 suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprises received a share of £5.4 million funding in 2021/22, distributed through the Suicide Prevention Grant Fund, to prevent suicide in high-risk groups, including people from minority ethnic groups.
Whilst Gypsy and Traveller men are not named as a high-risk group within the current national suicide prevention strategy of 2012 or subsequent progress reports, we are aware of research indicating increased risk in Gypsy and Traveller groups. Every local authority has a multi-agency suicide prevention plan in place and we have published a resource to support local suicide prevention planning, a copy of which is attached. The resource emphasises that local demographics need to be considered when developing plans, and that this includes considering the needs of people from minority ethnic groups, such as Gypsies and Travellers.
We have committed to publish a new national suicide prevention strategy later this year and have been engaging widely across the sector to understand what further action we can take to reduce cases of suicides. The new strategy will reflect new evidence and national priorities for preventing suicides across England.