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Written Question
Trade Agreements: Maldives
Wednesday 27th September 2023

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, and if so when, they will initiate negotiations towards a free trade agreement with the Maldives.

Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Department for Business and Trade held a public Call for Input into a trade deal with Maldives and is evaluating those responses and other factors to ensure that the opinions and interests of businesses, civil society groups, trade unions, public bodies and individuals are considered.

The start of negotiations would be preceded by the publication of our strategic approach.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Medical Treatments
Wednesday 9th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 to the most vulnerable groups who are severely immunocompromised.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The Department is exploring prophylactic use of antivirals for the immunocompromised and evidence continues to be reviewed for potential use in the National Health Service.

The RAPID C-19 collaboration considers national and international trial evidence as it emerges for COVID-19 therapies, for potential treatment and prophylactic indications.

Later this spring, a post-exposure prophylaxis sub-study is expected as part of the PANORAMIC national study to investigate the effect of prescribing oral antivirals to those who are a household contact of a COVID-19 positive individual. In addition, the PROTECT-V study is trialling sotrovimab and niclosamide as prophylactic drugs administered over a six-month period in vulnerable renal and immunosuppressed patients.


Written Question
Evusheld
Tuesday 8th March 2022

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the emergency use authorisation listed on 8 December 2021 of AstraZeneca's Evusheld for pre-exposure prophylaxis in (1) certain adults, and (2) children.

Answered by Lord Kamall

We are aware that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed an emergency use authorisation for Evusheld in December 2021, which was revised on 24 February 2022. The FDA has modified their dosing regimen according to its available data and consider that a higher dose of Evusheld may be more likely to prevent infection by the Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.1.1 than the originally authorised Evusheld dose.

We continue to monitor emerging data for Evusheld and other treatments for applicability in the United Kingdom for prevalent variants and which patient groups could potentially benefit. Evusheld is not currently authorised in the UK.


Written Question
Albania: Prisons
Tuesday 22nd February 2022

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they plan to provide, if any, to the Albanian prison system; and under what circumstances such funding will be provided.

Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park

HMG is not providing any funding to the Albanian prison system at present. We have no specific plans to provide financial support to the Albanian prison system, although we continue to scope out possibilities for collaboration in areas of shared interest and benefit, including assisting reform of the Albanian justice system.


Written Question
Prisoners: Albania
Tuesday 22nd February 2022

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Albanian prisoners (1) have been returned to Albania from the UK to date, and (2) are expected to return in the rest of 2022.

Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar

The Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service continue to remove foreign national offenders (FNOs) where routes are available. Between January 2019 and June 2021, 9,286 FNOs were removed from the UK.

We are absolutely committed to removing FNOs from the UK and we continue to work closely with international governments to maximise the removal of serious and persistent offenders.

We are regularly reviewing progress to ensure that all options are being pursued and that our early removal mechanisms are working as effectively as possible.

A revised Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) between the UK and Albania was signed in July 2021, replacing an earlier Agreement to allow for a wider adaptation of sentences to align the custodial periods on transfer. Both parties agreed at the time of signature not to specify exact numbers of returns, since a new Albanian government due to be formed in September 2021. We have not had any formal requests to enter into discussions with the new administration.

To date, 24 Albanian prisoners have been transferred to serve their prison sentences in their home country.


Written Question
Help to Buy Scheme: Coronavirus
Thursday 28th May 2020

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the cut-off date for the completion of Help to Buy properties by six months in view of the delay to construction activity.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

The Government recognises the disruption Covid-19 has caused to housebuilding, which is why we have taken decisive steps to re-open the housing market and ensure housebuilding can now safely recommence, with immediate effect. The Government published a “Plan to Rebuild” on Monday 11 May, setting out the UK Government’s Covid-19 recovery strategy. This makes clear that construction work can be undertaken across England providing sites are able to operate safely in line with Covid-19 guidelines. A number of developers have already announced plans to restart work on sites.

To support customers, Help to Buy Equity Loan Agents are already offering more time for purchasers to complete their transactions. Homes England released this guidance on 1 May.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Coronavirus
Wednesday 20th May 2020

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to extend the validity of all planning permissions for an additional six months or more as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Greenhalgh

The Government is aware from both local planning authorities and the development industry that, with delays caused by COVID-19, there is a risk of unimplemented planning permissions lapsing, undermining the delivery of projects. We recognise these concerns and we are considering whether permissions should be extended.


Written Question
World Tourism Organisation
Tuesday 31st March 2020

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on UK membership of the UN World Tourism Organisation.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The UK is not currently a member of the UNWTO. However, the previous Minister for Arts, Heritage and Tourism met the UNWTO Secretary General at the World Travel Market in November 2019 and DCMS officials regularly engage with the UNWTO.


Written Question
Oxford-Cambridge Arc
Monday 30th March 2020

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Planning for the future policy paper, published on 12 March, whether the proposed development corporations in the Oxford–Cambridge Arc will be (1) new town, (2) urban, (3) locally-led new town, or (4) mayoral, development corporations.

Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist

The Government will examine the most suitable delivery vehicles and associated legislation for bringing forward development at scale and meeting our objectives for sustainability and high-quality design. This will include looking at the case for Government using its own powers to establish new town or urban development corporations. Any development corporation, whether proposed by Government or local bodies, should always entail appropriate community involvement.


Written Question
Oxford-Cambridge Arc
Monday 30th March 2020

Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their Planning for the future policy paper, published on 12 March, under what legislation they are planning to bring forward proposals for the four development corporations in the Oxford–Cambridge Arc.

Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist

The Government will examine the most suitable delivery vehicles and associated legislation for bringing forward development at scale and meeting our objectives for sustainability and high-quality design. This will include looking at the case for Government using its own powers to establish new town or urban development corporations. Any development corporation, whether proposed by Government or local bodies, should always entail appropriate community involvement.