Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have for allowing elected councillors to join the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Currently, councillors in England are not eligible for membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, after access was removed in 2014. As the Responsible Authority for the LGPS, MHCLG keeps access to the scheme under regular review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that medical complications and associated risks arising from at-home tablet-induced abortions are accurately monitored, recorded, and reported.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a legal requirement in England and Wales that all terminations must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. The Department provides the HSA4 form for this purpose. Information is collected on the abortion and the woman that had the abortion, including the method of the abortion, whether any abortion pills were taken at home, the gestation, or number of weeks, and details of any known complications.
The Department publishes data from these notifications in annual abortion statistics reports, which include data on complications up until the time of discharge from the abortion service.
In November 2023, the Department published a one-time analysis comparing data from the Department’s Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episode Statistics, which are produced and controlled by NHS England.
Abortion continues to be a very safe procedure for which major complications are rare at all gestations. The complication rates for the Abortion Notification System and the Hospital Episodes Statistics data remains similar to both before and after the introduction of the home use of early medical abortion pills.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the prisoners who were given early release on 10 September had been imprisoned for a second or subsequent offence.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication.
Offenders released under SDS40 will be subject to the same set of strict licence conditions that would apply had they been released at a 50% automatic release point and will be liable to recall to prison if they do not comply with these conditions or are judged to be a risk to public safety.
Prison release planning has been reviewed and adapted to account for recent changes. Prison, probation staff and support providers are working hard to ensure those being released early have all necessary available support. This includes temporary accommodation for those at risk of homelessness, access to employment and benefits, and continuity of mental health and substance misuse provision.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, for each of the years (1) 2019, (2) 2018, (3) 2017, (4) 2016, and (5) 2015, how many council or registered provider social homes they estimate were illegally sublet (a) by region, and (b) by property type, ranging from bungalows to high rise flat; and what percentage each of the foregoing figures represented of available stock.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department does not hold this data.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to address concerns about the way in which internal drainage boards are funded; and if so, whether they have a timetable for implementing changes.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has committed to work with the internal drainage board (IDB) sector and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to review IDBs’ current funding and costs. This will include examination of whether any changes are needed to their funding model.
Once the review is complete, Defra and MHCLG will consider the findings and decide on next steps, if any are required.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the forthcoming NHS workforce strategy will include specific projections of workforce needs with respect to (1) health visiting, (2) school nursing, (3) sexual health services, and (4) drug and alcohol treatment.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has commissioned NHS England to deliver a high-level National Health Service Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP).
This plan is currently being developed and we have committed to publishing it this year.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much public health funding per head was allocated to each local authority in England in (1) 2020–21 and (2) 2021–22.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The information requested is set out in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to strengthen regulatory powers in respect of the sale of vaping products to children.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is clear that vaping should only be used to help people quit smoking and vapes should not be used by people under the age of 18 or non-smokers.
We have regulations in place to discourage underage vaping. The law protects children through restricting sales of vapes to people over the age of 18 only, limiting nicotine content, refill bottle and tank sizes, labelling requirements and through advertising restrictions. The Department continues to work with enforcement agencies to ensure these regulations are enforced in England. There are no current plans to strengthen the regulatory powers in respect of the sale of these products to children, but we will keep this under review.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, as was announced in the 2021 Spending Review, the public health grants for 2023–24 and 2024–25 will increase in line with inflation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We will announce the 2023/24 Public Health Grant allocations to local authorities shortly.
Asked by: Lord Porter of Spalding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of Trading Standards' powers to regulate the sale of vaping products and tackle illicit vaping tobacco products.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
Vapes are regulated through the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015. The Government continues to work with enforcement agencies to ensure these regulations are enforced in England.
Suspected illegal activity should be reported in the first instance to the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 (www.citizensadvice.org.uk/).