The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the economic costs of obesity in the UK, following the report Unhealthy Numbers: The Rising Cost of Obesity in the UK by Frontier Economics published on 21 November.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about economic costs of obesity in the UK”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made towards their target, announced in November 2014, of reducing the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries in babies by 50 per cent by 2025.
Lord Markham (Con, Department of Health & Social Care): The Government’s National Maternity Safety Ambition is to halve the 2010 rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries in babies occurring during or soon after birth by 2025. The ambition also includes reducing the rate of pre-term births from 8% to 6% by 2025.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about rates of infant mortality in the UK”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government:
The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how they are supporting the NHS to build additional capacity over winter, in light of pressures including high numbers of patients being admitted with winter viruses.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about impact of cold weather and winter viruses on the NHS”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to minimise disruption from train driver strikes over the festive period.
Lord Davies of Gower (Con, Department for Transport): There are currently no planned train driver strikes over the festive period. However, the ASLEF union has mandates for industrial action ending between February and April for all 14 train operating companies.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about railway strikes”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings in the Health Foundation report, Doing more for less?, published on 12 December, that (1) primary care network (PCN) funding is currently not sufficient to cover the additional challenges in areas of high deprivation, and (2) the current PCN contract focuses on addressing inequalities within PCNs, but not between PCNs.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about insufficiencies in primary care networks”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th January 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to assist farmers transitioning towards net zero; and what steps, if any, they are taking to (1) support carbon auditing on farms, (2) standardise carbon calculators, and (3) invest in water management infrastructure.
Lord Benyon (Con, DEFRA): We are taking a range of measures to support farmers’ transition to net zero. We are investing in a range of actions through farming schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery. Our schemes will help farmers deliver environmental outcomes on the land they manage while helping their businesses become more productive and sustainable.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about steps taken to assist farmers in the transition to net zero”The Bishop of St Albans spoke in a debate at the second reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill on 19th December 2023, raising concerns about the expansion of police access to and use of personal data:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I too welcome the noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, and look forward to his maiden speech. We on these Benches appreciate that there is a need for updated data protection legislation in order to keep up with the many technological advances that are taking place and, wherever possible, to simplify the processes for data processing. From this perspective, we welcome the Government’s ambition to remove unnecessary red tape and to support British businesses and our economy. However, as ever, these priorities need to be balanced alongside appropriate security of new legislation and we must ensure that there are appropriate safeguards in the Bill to protect human rights that are fundamental to our democracy.
Continue reading “Data Protection & Digital Information Bill: Bishop of St Albans raises concerns on police powers to access data”The Bishop of St Albans asked a question on international efforts to hold China to account for persecution of religious minorities on 19th December 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I too congratulate the Foreign Secretary on a much more robust approach. This is not happening only in Hong Kong; it is part of a much wider movement right across China, where not only human rights but religious rights are being denied. Churches are being knocked down, pastors are being arrested and, most notoriously of all, there is, many people would argue, a genocide of the Uighur people. What are we doing with our colleagues internationally to press China on these rights in a consistent, long-term way that is backed up by sanctions?
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about international efforts to oppose persecution of religious minorities in China”The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 18th December 2023:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Kenya regarding the evictions of the Ogiek people and other indigenous peoples in the Mau forest in that country.
Lord Benyon (Con, Foreign Office): The British High Commission in Nairobi is closely monitoring events in the Mau Forest. The Minister for Africa and Development has not raised this issue with the Kenyan authorities.
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