Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whose responsibility it is to ensure the safety of lifts at Euston railway station; and what information they have about when those lifts were last inspected; and whether they will publish a report about lift safety at that station.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Network Rail is the relevant safety duty holder with responsibility for ensuring that risks are controlled so far as reasonably practicable on its infrastructure and the stations it manages.
The Department does not hold information about when the lifts at Euston railway station were last inspected and operational issues such as these are a matter for Network Rail with oversight from the Office of Rail and Road in its role as the independent railway safety regulator.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are changing the availability of podiatric services to diabetics, and if so, based on what criteria.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Podiatry services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups working with local partners and based on the need of the local population, resources available and evidence based practice. These commissioning decisions are informed by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Clinical networks provide opportunity to adopt and disseminate best practice.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the cost over a five-year period of providing group-based education courses for all people living with diabetes.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes, attached, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. NHS England is statutorily required to have regard to this.
There are a number of national and locally developed patient education programmes available including Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) for Type 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Education and Self-management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) for Type 2 diabetes.
While there is still much room for improvement, the proportion of people with diabetes being offered structured education is improving. 16% of people newly diagnosed with diabetes were offered structured education in 2012/13 compared to 8.4% of those diagnosed in 2009. In the same period the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes offered or attending structured education rose from 11% to 18.4%.
No estimate has been made of the cost over a five-year period of providing group based education courses for all people living with diabetes.
The Department is developing plans to improve outcomes for those with diabetes. This will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the number of people living with diabetes who receive structured education courses to help them self-manage their diabetes, in the light of recommendations by NICE.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes, attached, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. NHS England is statutorily required to have regard to this.
There are a number of national and locally developed patient education programmes available including Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) for Type 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Education and Self-management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) for Type 2 diabetes.
While there is still much room for improvement, the proportion of people with diabetes being offered structured education is improving. 16% of people newly diagnosed with diabetes were offered structured education in 2012/13 compared to 8.4% of those diagnosed in 2009. In the same period the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes offered or attending structured education rose from 11% to 18.4%.
No estimate has been made of the cost over a five-year period of providing group based education courses for all people living with diabetes.
The Department is developing plans to improve outcomes for those with diabetes. This will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, what steps, if any, they plan to take to ensure local involvement and certainty for small businesses participating in the JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises) initiative in the north-east of England; and what role the British Business Bank will have in disbursing funds for projects supported by that initiative.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Government has no intention of imposing any arrangements for the next round of JEREMIE-style funds that do not carry local support. The Government remains committed to the Northern Powerhouse, and in that context is continuing, with the British Business Bank, to look at how best to help SMEs across the north access the investment they need.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how the requirement for public-interest enterprises to disclose non-financial interests and diversity measures under European Union Directive 2014/95 affects United Kingdom small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to be listed on stock exchanges across the European Union.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government expects to publish a consultation document shortly on plans for transposition of this Directive, most of whose provisions are already reflected in UK reporting requirements. A full impact assessment, including an assessment of the impact on SMEs, will be made available alongside the consultation document.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to support Brasov, Romania, as the European Capital of Culture for 2021.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The designation of a European Capital of Culture is a matter for the independent selection panel and the national authority of the Member State participating in a particular year.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 7 January (HL Deb, col 432), when they plan to consult on improving transparency for pension savers regarding where their money is invested and how rights attached to it are being exercised; and when they plan to consider how secondary legislation could be used to ensure greater transparency for pension savers.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The Government is committed to ensuring greater transparency for pension savers.
From April this year, workplace schemes are required to report on the value delivered by costs and charges in their scheme for the first time. Building on this, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Financial Conduct Authority ran a joint Call for Evidence ‘Transaction Cost Disclosure: Improving Transparency in Workplace Pensions’, considering how transaction costs could be disclosed in a standardised way. This is the first phase of work required to meet duties under Section 44 of the Pensions Act 2014 to require transaction costs to be disclosed to members and others; and transaction costs and administration charges to be published. The Government is currently considering responses to the Call for Evidence.
Transparency is not just about costs and charges. Earlier this year the Government consulted on changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes Investment Regulations requiring trustees to report how they take financial and non-financial factors into account when investing, and their schemes stewardship policy. The Government is currently considering responses to the consultation.
The Government intends to consult on any secondary legislation required following these exercises later this year, and will consider what further proposals may be needed to ensure greater transparency for pension savers including consideration both of its duties under the Pensions Act 2014 and the remarks made in debates on 7 January.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possible impact of climate change on pensions funds; and whether they intend to invite the Prudential Regulation Authority to include this issue in its Climate Change Adaptation Report.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Climate Change Risk Assessment, published in 2012, identified the impact on investment funds from climate change. It found that impacts would be indirect but could be substantial and that it would be difficult to establish a link between impacts and financial performance. The assessment identified the increasing exposure of insurers due to flood risk.
As part of the current round of reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is focusing its report on the insurance sector and its role in addressing the increasing exposure of the sector to climate risks. It does not directly supervise pension funds.
The PRA’s report will inform our next national assessment of risk, due in 2017, and the National Adaptation Programme due around 2018.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Cole Commission on Exports <i>An Action Plan from business</i>.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
The Government welcomes this report and the serious work by members of the Cole Commission. It contains much invaluable analysis and we will consider its recommendations very carefully.