Tag: St Albans

Bishop of St Albans asks about monitoring of property owned by businesses suspected of human rights abuses

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 14th December 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government whether they (1) audit, and (2) monitor, the commercial UK real estate holdings of companies directly associated with regimes with poor human rights records.

Lord Callanan (Con): Monitoring of individuals, and any companies they may be associated with, for human rights abuses overseas is a matter for FCDO and HM Treasury, under the recently introduced Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020.

Hansard

Bishop of St Albans asks about expanding tertiary education to allow Britain to educate overseas doctors

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question on capacity to educate doctors from overseas as part of the Global Britain Initiative on 13th December 2021, during a debate on the amount of training places available in UK medical schools:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, this latest Covid omicron variant has made us realise that we are one human race, and we are now facing a scandal whereby we are relying on bringing in doctors from some of the poorest parts of the world to look after our needs. For centuries, this country was renowned for sending doctors and nurses abroad and founding hospitals in all parts of the world. What consideration have Her Majesty’s Government given to ensuring not only that we are producing enough of our own doctors =but that we are expanding our tertiary education and bringing in more people to send them back to help some of these countries as part of our global Britain initiative?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about treatment of Armenian prisoners of war by Azerbaijan

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 10th December 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 25 November (HL4243), what support they are providing to help document and investigate allegations of serious mistreatment of Armenian prisoners of war by the government of Azerbaijan.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about measures to prevent rural crime

The Bishop of St Albans asked the government to provide a timetable for legislation to reduce crimes affecting farmers and rural communities, during a debate on the economic viability of small farms on 9th December 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural Coalition. Of course, one of the things that is really affecting the viability of small family farms is rural crime: theft of equipment, fly-tipping and, in particular, hare-coursing. As the Minister knows, we have been trying to bring forward amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which Her Majesty’s Government are resisting. They have the enthusiastic support of the NFU, police from all around the country and Members from every side of this House, so will the Minister tell us the timetable to introduce provisions to try to deal with this very harmful crime?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about age verification for social media advertisement

The Bishop of St Albans asked a question on the need for age verification on social media advertisement on 6th December 2021, during a debate on the effects of gambling on young people:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-chair of Peers for Gambling Reform. As the noble Lord, Lord Foster, has already mentioned, 60,000-plus young people are diagnosed as suffering from gambling-related harm in this country. What consideration have Her Majesty’s Government given to ensuring, perhaps under the online harms Bill, that social media companies will provide an opt-in age-verification tool so that we can provide additional protections for our young people to protect them from these adverts?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about purchasing of agricultural land for tree-planting

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 3rd December 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, (1) to investigate the purchase of agricultural farmland by multinational companies for the purpose of planting trees to offset carbon emissions, and (2) to prevent agricultural farm land being purchased for such purposes.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about support for COVID-19 vaccination in developing countries

The Bishop of St Albans tabled a question on support for COVID-19 vaccination programmes in developing countries on 2nd December 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support COVID-19 vaccination programmes in developing countries following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con): My Lords, the new variant omicron is showing us yet again that no one is safe until everyone is safe. Global vaccination continues to be vital for our defences against the pandemic and we are committed to making sure that people in the poorest countries get vaccines. We are a leading supporter of COVAX, which has delivered over 483 million vaccines to low and middle-income countries. This will rise to 1.8 billion doses by mid-2022.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about support for vulnerable elderly people using online financial services

On 30th November 2021, the Bishop of St Albans asked a question on the support and education available for elderly people accessing online financial services:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, with increasing numbers of bank branches being closed on high streets and the impact of Covid, the elderly vulnerable are having to negotiate the choppy waters of online banking like everybody else, in an environment where there are large numbers of online scams and frauds. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to offer training and resources to try to protect the elderly vulnerable as they engage with online financial services?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about rates of homelessness among EU nationals in the UK

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 29th November 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government:

  • what assessment they have made of the number of EU nationals living in England who have become homeless since the UK formally withdrew from the EU.
  • what steps they are taking to alleviate homelessness among EU nationals living in England.
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Bishop of St Albans asks about ongoing conflict in Ethiopia

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 29th November 2021:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to promote a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con): We are extremely concerned by the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia. The Minister for Africa spoke at a Westminster Hall Debate on 3 November. She stated that there is no military solution and the UK has been clear on this from the start. We have consistently called on all warring parties to end hostilities and seek a political dialogue and peaceful solution.

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