Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with their counterparts in the EU regarding the introduction of legislation to ban (1) fur farming, and (2) fur sales.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No recent discussions have been held with EU member states regarding the introduction of legislation to ban fur farming or fur sales.
We are continuing to build our evidence base on the fur sector, which will be used to inform any future action on the fur trade. This includes commissioning the Animal Welfare Committee to explore current responsible sourcing practices in the fur industry.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the mental health of prisoners.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently working across the entire criminal justice pathway to develop and improve services for offenders with mental health difficulties.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with partners to intervene at the earliest opportunity to ensure that offenders receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
Liaison and Diversion Services operate in police stations and courts to identify and assess people with vulnerabilities including mental health issues. Where that individual is subsequently sent to prison the receiving prison will have the relevant information of the individual’s mental health needs to inform the reception healthcare staff so that they can implement appropriate interventions as soon as possible after they arrive.
Health services are available across the estate where assessment identifies treatment needs.
The service specification for prison mental health services was reviewed in 2017-18. This review, led by clinicians in conjunction with stakeholders and informed by experts with experience, was published in March 2018, with all new services being commissioned against it from April 2018. The new specification includes the Royal College of Psychiatrists Quality Network for Prison Mental Health Services standards, ensuring equity of quality across the estate.
NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently consulting on revised Transfer and Remission guidance to ensure that new clinically developed timescales are set which ensure timely and appropriate access to mental health treatment in hospital when necessary, in a clinically safe and well managed way. The consultation ends on 19 July 2019.
The NHS Long Term Plan committed to a new service to support people leaving custody to remain engaged with community-based healthcare services. The reconnect service will support continuity of care when people return to the community.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the prison population with mental health problems.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
No estimate has been made of the proportion of the prison health population with mental health problems.
Currently a closed system is used to record clinical data in prisons. The Health and Justice Information Service system, being rolled out between 2018-20, will have the ability to share information with community healthcare services; this is integral to the collection of relevant data that is quality assured and robust.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of disapplying the 2019 Loan Charge to loans made before the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017 received Royal Assent.
Answered by Jesse Norman
An estimate of the cost of amending the loan charge to remove loans made before 2017 is not available. The loan charge was legislated in the Finance (No.2) Act 2017 and is part of a package which was estimated to yield £3.2 billion over five years.
HMRC have written directly to scheme users identified through their compliance work, IT records and tax return data. This includes individual scheme users, employers and company directors.
In addition, HMRC have actively encouraged DR scheme users to come forward through their regular contact with taxpayers, and seek to increase awareness through their series of Spotlight publications, social media activity, and webinars.
HMRC are not aware of any individuals affected whom they have not yet contacted.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by the 2019 Loan Charge that have not been contacted by HMRC.
Answered by Jesse Norman
An estimate of the cost of amending the loan charge to remove loans made before 2017 is not available. The loan charge was legislated in the Finance (No.2) Act 2017 and is part of a package which was estimated to yield £3.2 billion over five years.
HMRC have written directly to scheme users identified through their compliance work, IT records and tax return data. This includes individual scheme users, employers and company directors.
In addition, HMRC have actively encouraged DR scheme users to come forward through their regular contact with taxpayers, and seek to increase awareness through their series of Spotlight publications, social media activity, and webinars.
HMRC are not aware of any individuals affected whom they have not yet contacted.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on recognition of the plight of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
I am yet to discuss this matter with my Israeli counterpart. The history of Jewish migration and displacement in the region is highly complex and cannot be ignored. We acknowledge that the Jewish community has experienced unacceptable suffering. We continue to support the aspiration for a Jewish homeland in the modern state of Israel, just as we support the objective of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. A peaceful future for the Middle East depends on a peace agreement that offers fair restitution for both sides, and a willingness on the part of all countries in the region to respect the rights of minorities and build inclusive societies which enshrine and uphold those rights.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing coal stocks to meet expected needs for electricity generation before coal is phased out.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The latest statistics are publicly available (Energy Trends table 2.1.)
The government is committed to ending unabated coal power by 2025. As a result of our existing policies, including carbon pricing and our support for renewables, we have already made great headway in reducing our reliance on coal, which fell from 39% of electricity in 2012 to 5% in 2018. There are now regular coal free periods, and in May the UK went without running coal power generation for over two weeks – the longest coal-free period in the country since the 1880s.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2019 to Question 256996 on regional airports: air pollution, what criteria his Department uses to define material impact in determining how a project affects the Government's ability to meet its carbon reductions target.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Government recognises that climate change is one of the most urgent and pressing challenges we face and we are working to ensure the UK takes a leading role in tackling it.
In December 2018 the Government published a green paper consultation for a new aviation strategy, ‘Aviation 2050 – The future of UK aviation’. It commits the Government to ensure that the aviation sector plays its part by limiting greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to achieving the UK’s domestic and international climate change obligations.
The green paper also includes a proposal that “planning applications for capacity growth provide a full assessment of emissions, drawing on all feasible, cost-effective measures to limit their climate impact and demonstrate that their project will not have a material impact on the Government’s ability to meet its carbon reduction targets”. However, this proposal is still subject to consultation and is not yet the Government’s policy. The consultation closes on 20 June.
On 2 May the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published advice to government, recommending the UK legislates for a 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions target. We await aviation specific advice from the CCC and will take this into consideration in the development of Aviation 2050, which is due to be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what consideration he has made of the implications of the level of stockpiles of coal for planning decisions on new and proposed coal mining operations, including those currently under consideration or review.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to clean growth and is taking action to reduce our reliance on coal. We have set out our aim to end electricity generation from unabated coal by 2025 and we are also taking action to reduce coal use in industry and heating.
Our world leading plans to end electricity generation from unabated coal by 2025 are expected to further this trend, and I am delighted that 30 countries, 22 states and cities, and 28 businesses have signed up to our Powering Past Coal Alliance.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning permission should not be granted for the extraction of coal unless the proposal is environmentally acceptable or the national, local or community benefits outweigh its likely impacts. The Framework is a material consideration in the determination of all applications for coal extraction in England. Given my quasi-judicial role in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of current or future planning applications for coal extraction.
Asked by: Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications of the Committee on Climate Change's report on net zero carbon emissions for (a) current and future planning decisions on coal mines for which approval has recently been granted, recommended or sought, and (b) planning guidelines for new coal mining applications and possible revision of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is committed to clean growth and is taking action to reduce our reliance on coal. We have set out our aim to end electricity generation from unabated coal by 2025 and we are also taking action to reduce coal use in industry and heating.
Our world leading plans to end electricity generation from unabated coal by 2025 are expected to further this trend, and I am delighted that 30 countries, 22 states and cities, and 28 businesses have signed up to our Powering Past Coal Alliance.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that planning permission should not be granted for the extraction of coal unless the proposal is environmentally acceptable or the national, local or community benefits outweigh its likely impacts. The Framework is a material consideration in the determination of all applications for coal extraction in England. Given my quasi-judicial role in the planning system, it would not be appropriate to comment on the merits of current or future planning applications for coal extraction.