Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to invest in health prevention in the coming years to help lesson demands on services through earlier intervention and education.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

One of the Government’s five missions is to ‘build an NHS fit for the future’, with a greater emphasis on prevention, to support people in living longer and healthier lives.

This will involve working across the Government to tackle the underlying determinants of preventable ill health and giving people the information and support they need to make healthy choices. It also means shifting the National Health Service away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to a model focused on prevention, with more services delivered in local communities. We will intervene earlier in life to raise the healthiest generation of children in our history, giving every child a healthy start in life. Our future funding plans will be confirmed as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the success of integrated care boards.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England holds integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service providers to account for the delivery of national priorities and statutory functions, and oversees them via the NHS oversight framework. NHS England has a legal duty to annually assess the performance of each integrated care board, in respect of each financial year, and publish a summary of its findings. Annual assessments for the financial year 2023/24 have been completed and NHS England will summarise the outcomes of all annual assessments and publish a report.

In addition, the Government published Professor Lord Darzi’s independent investigation of the NHS in England on 12 September 2024, which includes an assessment of the progress of and challenges facing ICBs. The Government has committed to the development of a new 10 Year Health Plan which will build on the findings of the report published by Professor Lord Darzi.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by Zero Hour, Creating a Nature-rich UK, published on 13 September 2023.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

A key recommendation of Zero Hour’s “Creating a Nature-rich UK” report is for the Government to develop a coordinated plan to implement nature-based solutions, to tackle climate change and support nature recovery.

The Government is committed to protecting and restoring the environment and recognises the role of nature-based solutions in achieving this aim. We have set out our intention to accelerate progress to net zero, tackle the pollution of our rivers and seas, expand nature rich habitats such as wetlands, peat bogs and forests, and make our environmental land management schemes work for both farmers and nature.

On 30 July we announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to be completed by the end of the year. We will develop a new statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery to meet each of our ambitious Environment Act targets. It will focus on cleaning up our waterways, reducing waste across the economy, planting millions more trees, improving air quality, and halting the decline in species by 2030. We will consider the use of nature-based solutions in delivery of these aims.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) halt, and (2) reverse, nature loss by 2030.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to protecting and restoring nature. In England, we are committed to halting the decline in species abundance by 2030 and reversing it by 2042. We are also committed to reducing the risk of species extinction and restoring and creating more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat by 2042.

Delivering these targets sits at the very heart of our mission to ensure nature’s recovery. To meet them we will create, restore and connect wildlife-rich habitat, reduce pressures on species including from pollution and climate change and take targeted action to recover specific species, working in partnership with civil society, communities and business.

On 30 July, we announced a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan to be completed before the end of the year to make sure it is fit for purpose. We will develop a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment with delivery to meet each of our Environment Act targets.

Ministers are reviewing new policies which will be announced in the usual way.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to align their carbon emission reduction plan with the UK's proportionate share of the remaining global carbon budget for limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

As a Party to the Paris Agreement, the UK is committed to contributing to global emissions reductions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts towards 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The level of our Sixth Carbon Budget, which the Climate Change Committee recommended, aligns with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

The Government has already taken action to combat climate change through its Clean Energy Superpower mission, for example by delivering 131 clean energy projects powering the equivalent of 11 million homes at the Sixth renewables auction. The Government encourages all countries to bring forward ambitious, economy-wide 1.5°C aligned NDCs that take into account the outcomes of the Global Stocktake by the 2025 deadline.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made regarding the finances of renting the Bibby Stockholm for the detention of asylum seekers.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the government’s commitment to fix the asylum system and clear the backlog, the decision has been taken to not renew the contract for the Bibby Stockholm, which ends in January 2025. Extending the use of the Bibby Stockholm would have cost over £20 million next year.

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Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government which countries receive grants from the UK to reduce the number of children suffering from malnutrition.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Information on how the FCDO disburses UK Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is available on Devtracker. Additionally, the FCDO prepares an annual report on our ODA expenditure on nutrition. The most recent report shows that in 2022 we funded work to reduce malnutrition in 30 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by Zero Hour, Net Zero: The Ambition Gap, published on 10 August 2022.

Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government sees fighting climate change as a priority and has already taken actions to address it while delivering for communities through its Clean Energy Superpower mission, for example by delivering 131 clean energy projects powering the equivalent of 11 million homes at the Sixth renewables auction. The level of our Sixth Carbon Budget, which the Climate Change Committee recommended, aligns with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.

This Government will set out how it intends to deliver these commitments in its response to the Climate Change Committee Progress report in the autumn and its updated Carbon Budget Delivery Plan in spring next year.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of (1) educational buildings, (2) mosques, (3) churches, (4) hospitals, and (5) synagogues, have been destroyed or damaged by war in Gaza since October 2023.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

As of 24 July, 93 per cent of schools have been damaged or destroyed, and nearly 85 per cent will need either full reconstruction or rehabilitation to function again. As of late September, only 17 out of 36 hospitals were still partially functional. However, as of this week, three hospitals in North Gaza have been ordered to evacuate by the Israeli Defense Forces. We do not have data on the numbers of religious buildings that have been affected. Only when the fighting stops can a proper assessment be done. Experts estimate that Gaza's reconstruction will cost tens of billions of dollars.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of knife-related homicides between 2000 and 2024 were by machete.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Lord Roberts of Llandudno

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

16 October 2024

Dear Lord Roberts,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of knife-related homicides between 2000 and 2024 were by machete (HL1510).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes figures on crime in England and Wales based on two main data sources: police recorded crime data, and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). As a victimisation survey, the CSEW cannot ask respondents about their experience of homicide. Homicide data is supplied to us by the Home Office as part of police recorded crime.

We publish breakdowns of the type of weapon used in homicide by a sharp instrument in table 9 of our Homicide in England and Wales appendix tables1. These breakdowns were introduced to the Homicide Index in April 2022. The latest period for which data are currently available is the year ending March 2023. These data have been presented in Table 1 below.

Of the homicides where a knife or sharp instrument was used, 5.7% of them were carried out using a machete in the year ending March 2023. See table 9 for a full breakdown. Data for the year ending March 2024 is provisionally scheduled for release in February 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

1https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/appendixtableshomIcideinenglandandwales

Table 1: Number and percentage of offences currently recorded as homicide by a sharp instrument[1],[2].

Source: Homicide Index from the Home Office

[1]As of 12 December 2023; figures are subject to revision as cases are dealt with by the police and by the courts, or as further information becomes available.

[2]Type of sharp instrument was introduced in the Homicide Index on 1 April 2022.

[3]Other knife includes those which do not fit into the other published headings.

Question to the Wales Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support workers affected by job losses at the Tata Steel steelworks in Port Talbot into employment.

Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Tata Steel/Port Talbot Transition Board has been set up to support those affected by Tata Steel UK’s decarbonisation Transition and will be supported by £100 million of funding. £80 million of which will be provided by the UK Government, as confirmed by the Chancellor in the Budget on 30 October, and the remaining £20 million will be provided by Tata Steel UK.

The Secretary of State for Wales announced the initial £13.5 million funding, to support supply chain businesses and individuals affected, on August 15. This funding will allow businesses who are heavily reliant on Tata Steel as their primary customer, allowing them to diversify towards new markets and customers where necessary. This funding is also available to workers affected by the transition, allowing them to retrain or to learn new skills allowing them to re-enter the job market.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what diplomatic representation they have in Afghanistan.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The British Embassy in Kabul suspended operations in August 2021. The Doha based UK Mission to Afghanistan visits Kabul regularly, raising priority UK issues directly with senior members of the Taliban, falling short of recognition. The Mission presses the Taliban on counter-terrorism, promotes the UN-led Doha process and always raises the unacceptable violations of the rights of women and girls, most recently in October 2024. Not having a permanent presence does not stop the UK from having an impact and directly helping the people of Afghanistan, as shown in the recent Independent Commission for Aid Impact report.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to counter misinformation relating to the conflict in the Middle East.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

This department takes very seriously the threat which misinformation and disinformation related to the conflict in the Middle East can pose. We have taken a multi-faceted approach and work in lockstep with various organisations, including social media companies and other government departments such as the Foreign Office.

Ministers have been clear that major social media platforms should remove illegal content, including hate speech, along with content which is in breach of their terms of service. The major social media platforms will be bound by these responsibilities when the Online Safety Act comes into force, and ministers have been clear that platforms should not wait for regulation to be in force before taking relevant action.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to raise standards of integrity in government.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The Government is a government of service and it is committed to restoring trust and confidence in public life. The Prime Minister will soon issue his Ministerial Code which outlines the standards expected of all Ministers.

In addition, the Government will establish a new independent Ethics and Integrity Commission, with its own independent Chair. We will ensure that this Commission has the powers and remit necessary to fulfil its responsibilities.