Tag: St Albans

Bishop of St Albans asks about alleviating effects of famine in Kenya

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 28th March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what support they are providing to Kenya to alleviate the effects of famine caused by drought in that country.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con): In response to the ongoing drought in Kenya, 30,500 children have received life-saving nutritional assistance due to the UK’s support. UK supported programmes have also reached over half a million people in Kenya in drought-prone areas. Programmes such as the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP) are bolstering the use of cash-based safety nets and have had a demonstrable impact in mitigating some of the worst effects of the drought.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans asks about homelessness and public transport in rural areas

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 28th March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how many people used public transportation supported by the Rural Mobility Fund in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, and (5) 2022.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con): Our £20 million Rural Mobility Fund (RMF) was awarded via a competitive process in 2021. It is supporting 16 innovative, demand-led minibus trials in rural and suburban areas across 15 local authorities in England. The majority of these pilot Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) schemes have now launched, with most launching in late 2021 and over the course of 2022.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about homelessness and public transport in rural areas”

Bishop of St Albans asks about funding for the BBC World Service

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 23rd March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government how much funding they provided for the BBC World Service in (1) 2019, (2) 2020, (3) 2021, and (4) 2022.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con): Since 2016, the FCDO has provided over £468 million to the World Service through the World2020 programme, funding 12 language services and enhancements to services in Arabic, Russian, Thai and English, to enable digital transformation and counter disinformation.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about funding for the BBC World Service”

Bishop of St Albans asks about avian influenza compensation, farmers incomes, and plant biosecurity

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 22nd March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 8 March (HL5863), how much they paid to farmers in 2022 as part of the Avian Influenza Compensation scheme.

Lord Benyon (Con): In 2022, a total of £41.0 million was paid in compensation to bird keepers whose flocks were culled for avian influenza disease control purposes.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about avian influenza compensation, farmers incomes, and plant biosecurity”

Bishop of St Albans supports motion to regret on Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) Regulations

The Bishop of St Albans spoke in support of a motion to regret relating to leaseholder protection tabled by Baroness Pinnock on 21st March 2023:

‘That this House regrets that in laying the Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/126) His Majesty’s Government have not published data on the number of landlords who have benefited from an error which allowed landlords to transfer costs of remedying historical building defects on to their leaseholders; further regrets that His Majesty’s Government have no intention to identify leaseholders affected by that error to advise them to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal to recover costs; and calls on His Majesty’s Government to publish these figures in a spirit of transparency and write to those affected with clear guidance on how to recover costs.’

The motion was agreed.

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I shall add a few words of support for the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock. I stand with a weary sense of déjà vu, looking around at a number of people with whom I have sat as we have worked through building safety and fire safety measures.

What is interesting is that the Government fundamentally tried to grasp this problem. I pay tribute to the right honourable Michael Gove, who has been quite exceptional in taking hold of it and trying to solve it. I say well done to the Government for shifting the main problem in this very troubling area.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans supports motion to regret on Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) Regulations”

Bishop of St Albans asks about health of the banking sector

The Bishop of St Albans tabled a question on the health of the British banking sector on 21st March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the health of the British banking sector, following the challenges faced by overseas banks.

Baroness Penn (Con): The UK Government welcome the steps taken to support financial stability on Sunday by the Swiss authorities relating to Credit Suisse. This follows the sale on 13 March of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC after the resolution of its US parent. No other UK banks have been materially affected by these actions. The Governor of the Bank of England has confirmed that, in his view:

“The wider UK banking system remains safe, sound, and well capitalised.”

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about health of the banking sector”

Bishop of St Albans asks about control of diseases effecting trees

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 21st March 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to limit the spread of Phytophthora ramorum in trees in England.

Lord Benyon (Con): Phytophthora ramorum is primarily distributed across the western regions of GB affecting larch plantations. For over twelve years we have had a robust management programme in place, including aerial and ground-based surveillance and risk-based inspections at nurseries and retail sites. Scotland and Wales have their own management programmes.

Where it is found, given the economic impact of the disease to the forestry industry, Statutory Plant Health Notices are served requiring the destruction of infected trees and those nearby. Specific measures are taken related to the handling, movement and processing of larch infected with P. ramorum, to prevent the spread through the trade in timber and related products.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about control of diseases effecting trees”

Bishop of St Albans asks about recent executions in Saudi Arabia

The Bishop of St Albans asked about the government response to human rights issues in Saudi Arabia on 16th March 2023, following a Commons Urgent Question on the execution of Hussein Abo al-Kheir and other recent executions in the country:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, the whole House acknowledges the contribution the Minister makes in this important area, but there are real concerns as to whether His Majesty’s Government are as intent on addressing these issues. Saudi is part of the Arab Charter on Human Rights 2004, but the problem is enforcement. Even the statute brought in 2014 does not enable enforcement. What representations are His Majesty’s Government making to the wider Arab world to work with colleagues to nudge Saudi in a new direction and stop this extraordinary range of executions, which do not seem to be abating at all?

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about recent executions in Saudi Arabia”

Bishop of St Albans asks about suicides linked to gambling

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 16th March 2023:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by (1) Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 11 January (HL4504), and (2) the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at DCMS on 14 December 2021 (88799), why they provided statistics on the amount of customer suicides that have been reported by gambling operators in the past three years in 2021 but not in 2023; and whether they will now provide updated statistics.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con): In the past three years, the Gambling Commission has published details of two enforcement cases which have had links to deaths by suicide.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about suicides linked to gambling”

Bishop of St Albans asks about cases of female genital mutilation and forced marriage

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

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government

  • how many cases of female genital mutilation have been (1) investigated, and (2) prosecuted, in (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.
  •  how many instances of forced marriage occurred in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019.
  • what estimate they have made of number of girls under the age of 18 who are British Citizens who have been married abroad.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con): The Government is committed to tackling forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). On 27 February 2023 we brought into force legislation which raises the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales to 18, and expands the offence of forced marriage soit is illegal to do anything to cause a child to marry before they turn 18, even if coercion is not used.

Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans asks about cases of female genital mutilation and forced marriage”