Bishop of St Albans asks about investment in farming

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 18th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 24 July (HL9373), how much has been paid out as part of the Farming Investment Fund.

Lord Benyon (Con, DEFRA): The Farming Investment Fund (FIF) provides grants to farmers, foresters and growers (including contractors) to invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that will help their businesses grow, whilst increasing farm productivity and environmental sustainability.

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Bishop of St Albans draws attention to repercussions of climate change in the Horn of Africa

The Bishop of St Albans spoke in a debate on the effects of climate change on migration on 14th September 2023, drawing particular attention to the food and water security crisis in the Horn of Africa:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, for securing this debate, for his excellent and comprehensive introduction and particularly for setting out so clearly some of the work undertaken by international bodies. I will not repeat any of that, because he spelt that out very clearly for us. As he noted, the climate crisis is at the heart of famines, conflicts and food insecurity across the globe today. We have already seen the disastrous effects of climate change in many parts of the developing world.

I want to focus on a few thoughts, particularly on the Horn of Africa, where we see this perhaps most clearly at the moment. Indeed, a terrible natural humanitarian disaster is unfolding before our very eyes, with thousands now fleeing the region in search of food security and water. It is vital to develop an effective strategy to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the developing world. The Horn of Africa is currently facing a climate-induced drought and a serious food crisis affecting more than 36 million people, more than half of whom are children. UNICEF estimates that up to 5.7 million children need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about safeguards for whistle-blowers in the NHS

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 14th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what safeguards exist to protect whistle-blowers in the NHS.

Lord Markham (Con, Department of Health and Social Care): Workers who blow the whistle are entitled to protections, which were introduced through the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about numbers of doctors and nurses leaving the NHS in recent years

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 13th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many (1) doctors, and (2) nurses, left the NHS in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021, and (d) 2022.

Lord Markham (Con, Department of Health and Social Care): The table below shows the published data on the leaver rates as a percentage and the number of doctors and nurses & health visitors who have left active service in National Health Service trusts and core organisations, for each annual period 2019 to 2022.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about cases of whistleblowing in NHS Hospitals

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 11th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how many cases of whistleblowing occurred in NHS hospitals in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.

Lord Markham (Con, Department of Health & Social Care): The information requested is not collected or held centrally.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans urges government to work to provide financial and citizenship education in schools

The Bishop of St Albans spoke in a debate on life skills and citizenship teaching in primary and secondary schools on 7th September 2023, urging the government to work with organisations to provide financial education in schools, and drawing attention to the Church of England’s Living Well Together project:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, the diocese which I am privileged to serve has 138 church schools in it and another group of independent schools with Christian foundations. I am glad to have the opportunity to visit them regularly—I have been in one already this morning. As I go round, I am heartened by the teaching I see already going on on citizenship and value-based education. I want to comment, though, on just a couple of things and to suggest that, while it is important that the Government are clear what they are doing, there is actually a vital role for families and a vital role in collaborating with other bodies that are seeking to do similar sort of work.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about use of drug Vorasidenib to treat brain tumours

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 7th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of Vorasidenib for the treatment of brain tumours.

Lord Markham (Con, Department of Health & Social Care): In the United Kingdom, medicines need to have a licence before they can be marketed, and these are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has not issued a scientific opinion for Vorasidenib. Should an application for Vorasidenib be received, the MHRA will consider this accordingly.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans asks about safeguards against data breaches

On 4th September 2023, the Bishop of St Albans asked a question on the safety and security of NHS data systems during a discussion on recent reports from the Electoral Commission regarding a data breach:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, the stakes are very high when these data breaches take place, because they erode public confidence in allowing organisations to collect and use our private data. I am thinking in particular of the NHS, and its great reliance on data; if it can analyse and collect information, this could be of huge help in solving medical problems and curing diseases. To prevent these things in future, what is being done to ensure that the NHS computer system cannot be hacked and that people can have real confidence in it being allowed to collect their data?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about ongoing conflict in Sudan and South Sudan

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 4th September 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how much aid they have provided to South Sudan since the start of the conflict in that country earlier this year.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con, Foreign Office): The 2018 Peace Agreement has prevented a return to large-scale national conflict in South Sudan, though there have been instances of sub-national violence this year. The Government of South Sudan need to ensure the Peace Agreement is implemented in full in order to bring justice and a lasting end to conflict to the people of South Sudan. The UK Government will provide £47 million of development assistance to South Sudan in the financial year (FY) 2023/24, and plans to increase this figure to £111 million in FY 2024/25. This assistance funds crucial health, education, humanitarian and peacebuilding work in South Sudan, as well as the placement of technical experts in both the ceasefire and Peace Agreement implementation monitoring mechanisms.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about treatment of UK-based Hong-Kong activist Nathan Law and his family

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

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Hong Kong police raid on the family of the UK-based Hong Kong activist, Nathan Law, on 11 June; and what, if any, representations they have made to the government of Hong Kong regarding this incident.

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