Bishop of St Albans asks about hunger and poor nutrition in children in the UK

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 4th December 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, following a survey by the School and Public Health Nurses Association and the British Dental Association in June which showed that 65 per cent of health practitioners reported that children’s health had got worse over the last year as a result of hunger, what plans they have to address hunger and poor nutrition in children.

Lord Markham (Con, DHSC): The Government understands concerns regarding food inflation and its impact on the current cost of living, and as such is providing support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals.

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Bishop of London leads debate on impact of the removal of free prescriptions for benefits claimants

The Bishop of London tabled a question for short debate on the impact of the proposed removal of free prescriptions for benefit claimants who fail to look for work on 30th November 2023:

The Lord Bishop of London: To ask His Majesty’s Government what impact the removal of free prescriptions for benefit claimants who fail to look for work will have on their health, and the health of the workforce.

My Lords, I start by thanking your Lordships’ House for giving time for this important debate. I also thank the House of Lords Library for its very helpful briefing and the Minister for his engagement with me and for our helpful meeting earlier this week about this debate.

The measures we are discussing today relate to the announcement that the Government made in the Back to Work Plan and the Autumn Statement that people on universal credit who do not engage in activities designed to increase their skills and improve their employability after 18 months of support will have their claim terminated. With that termination, their accompanying passported benefits, including free prescriptions, will also be stopped.

Benefit claimants may disengage from Jobcentre Plus for many reasons, some of which I suspect we do not completely understand, and not solely because they have failed to look for work. I have brought this debate forward from a health perspective, and the central frame of my remarks today is around health inequalities, because the Back to Work Plan as it stands could serve to exacerbate these inequalities. There are many complexities within universal credit, and many exemptions and allowances that are made for vulnerabilities and medical conditions that are to be commended. I was grateful to hear about some of them at the meeting I had earlier in the week with the Minister and officials from DWP and DHSC. I understand that the number of people who will be affected by this is small: they are those without a vulnerability that would exempt them from having their claim ended, and who do not have an additional factor attached to their claim.

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Bishop of London speaks in debate marking 75 year anniversary of the NHS

On 30th November 2023, the Bishop of London took part in a debate marking the 75th Anniversary of the NHS, paying tribute to the NHS workforce and urging greater support for healthcare workers and community care:

The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, I declare my interests in the register. It is a privilege to participate in this debate about one of our most valued institutions and to follow some excellent contributions. One of the focuses of my work in this House has been reducing health inequalities. The NHS was founded in the face of extreme inequality, in the hope that financial means would not be the sole determinant of health. The universal service that is free at the point of use is something we can be extremely proud of.

The 75th anniversary of the NHS is very close to the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation, which I will celebrate today. As we know, many of the passengers on HMT “Empire Windrush” took up roles in the NHS, which launched just two weeks later. When experiencing workforce shortages from 1948 onwards, British politicians visited the Caribbean as part of a recruitment programme that had 16 agencies in the British colonies by 1955. By 1977, 66% of overseas student nurses and midwives originated from the Caribbean. In the face of overt racism and unequal opportunities for professional development, their contribution has been truly extraordinary. Without it, the health service would not be what it is today.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about use of farmland as flood defences

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question about the use of farmland as flood defences, and the need for compensation for farmers, on 30th November 2023, following a discussion on maintenance of flood defences in England:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, more than half of Britain’s best farmland is on flood plains. Farmers are providing a public service by protecting towns and cities from flooding, but this means that they incur costs. What are His Majesty’s Government doing to ensure that farmers are adequately recompensed for this public service that they provide for our nation?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about rural homelessness

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 30th November 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what processes are in place for counting and identifying instances of rural homelessness.

Baroness Penn (Con, Department for Levelling-up, Housing & Communities): The Government understands rural homelessness presents unique challenges which can differ from urban areas.

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Bishop of Manchester responds to Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, raising issues in mental healthcare funding and the ongoing cost of living crisis

The Bishop of Manchester spoke in a debate on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 29th November 2023, welcoming the uprating of benefits and rise in the national living wage and calling for further commitment to funding for mental healthcare, and for an independent body to set the rate of benefits to ensure the cost of living are met:

The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, that felt more like a speech about a future Autumn Statement from a Labour Government than about the current one before us.

I too welcome the Minister to her new role and look forward to hearing from her often in this House. However, I suspect that, even if you are a Treasury Minister, every Autumn Statement feels like a missed opportunity. There are always things that each one of us would have liked to have seen given a higher priority and areas of spend to which we would have wanted greater resources allocated. There may also be things on which we think too much money is being spent, although they may be a little less common.

I begin by being grateful for a number of items announced this time. I am not sure that I can sustain that congratulatory perspective all the way through my remarks—your Lordships know me too well to expect that—but I will at least start in a positive direction. The uprating of working-age benefits by 6.7% and the 9.8% increase in the national living wage will go some way to stemming or slowing the growth and deepening of poverty among households who are striving and struggling with low-paid and insecure employment. My belief is that the money made available to our lowest-income households should not, however, be subject to annual political whim. More than a triple lock for pensions, we need an independent mechanism to ensure that benefits always cover the basic essentials of living.

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Bishop of London speaks on health inequalities and community engagement in a post-COVID world

The Bishop of London took part in a debate on health and wellbeing in a post-COVID-19 world on 29th November 2023, raising the issue of health inequalities and opportunities for faith groups to aid in promoting local community health and resilience:

The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. First, it is a pleasure to be participating in an important debate on this report. I thank all those involved in the committee, particularly the chair, for all the work they have done. This report rightly encourages us to increase our understanding of the lessons we can learn from the pandemic and to act on them in having a long-term view of the future.

This is a crucial topic. I support the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox, in her view that our electoral system does not naturally lend itself to having a long-term view of the future. I shall focus today on recommendations 1 and 2. They are, in fact, interconnected. Those topics are first, inequalities, following the noble Lord, Lord Patel, particularly in health, and, secondly, community engagement.

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Asylum Application (Entry to the United Kingdom) Bill – First Reading

On 29th November 2023, the Bishop of Chelmsford’s Private Member’s Bill, the Asylum Application (Entry to the United Kingdom) Bill, was introduced and had its first reading in the House of Lords:

Asylum Application (Entry to the United Kingdom) Bill [HL]

A Bill to make provision for leave to enter the United Kingdom to be granted to people for the purposes of making an application for asylum; and for connected purposes.

The Bill was introduced by the Bishop of Chelmsford, read a first time and ordered to be printed.

Hansard

Bishop of Chelmsford asks about links between Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hamas

The Bishop of Chelmsford asked a question on links between the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard and groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah during a discussion on the status of the IRGC and whether it should be designated a terrorist organisation on 29th November 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: My Lords, it is clear that the Iranian regime does support groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, including via the IRGC. The Minister will have heard the strength of feeling in this House. However, US officials have confirmed reports that Iran did not have prior notice of Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October. What assessment has been made of the true extent of the links between the IRGC and Hamas, and what recent conversations have the UK Government had with Iran to chart a course towards peace in the region?

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Bishop of Durham asks about immigration detention and asylum

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 29th November 2023:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked  what steps they are taking over the immigration detention estate to ensure the use of force is continually monitored and recorded for all detainees, and particularly vulnerable adults and children.

Lord Sharpe Epsom (Con, Home Office): We will accept nothing but the highest standards from companies employed to manage the immigration removal estate.

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