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100603

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners: Suicide
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of suicides in HM prisons.
tabling member printed	Lord Clinton-Davis
uin	HL2334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Every death in custody is a tragedy, and the Government is committed to reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths in prisons. All prisons are required to have procedures in place to identify, manage and support people who are at risk of harm to themselves. These procedures include the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) process, which is a prisoner-centred, flexible care planning system for prisoners identified as at risk of suicide or self-harm. Prisons are also required to ensure that they have procedures in place to learn from deaths in custody to prevent future occurrences.</p><p> </p><p>We are working hard to understand the reasons for the recent rise in the number of self-inflicted deaths, but there is no simple explanation. Additional resources and support are being provided for safer custody work in prisons, and in particular to improve the consistency of the ACCT system. The National Offender Management Service has also put in place additional staff at regional level to support staff in prisons and to share good practice, and created a dedicated learning and knowledge management team at headquarters which is providing further support for safer custody work.</p><p> </p><p>Data on deaths in custody is published quarterly in the Safety in Custody Statistics Bulletin, available at <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-in-custody-statistics" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-in-custody-statistics</a>.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 06/11/2014 17:46:36 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
tabling member	1116 label Biography information for Lord Clinton-Davis

100606

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Azerbaijan
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to send observers to the imminent trials in Azerbaijan of (1) Mr Arif and Ms Leyla Yunus of the Peace and Democracy Institute, (2) Mr Intigam Aliyev, and (3) Mr Rasul Jafarov; and whether they will propose that their trials are fully covered by European Union diplomats.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL2337
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The British Government has publicly expressed its concern surrounding the arrests of Mr Arif and Ms Leyla Yunus and Mr Rasul Jafarav amongst others, and supports the EU statement of 14 August 2014 regarding the recent deterioration of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. As has been the case in recent high profile trials, the British Government expects to make representation in coordination with its EU partners.</p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 05/11/2014 15:49:52 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

100607

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	RFA Argus
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to expand the instructions given to RFA Argus so as to enable its medical facilities to assist all urgent cases from Sierra Leone or nearby states.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL2338
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/11/2014 answer text <p>RFA ARGUS is deployed to support the Government's efforts in Sierra Leone. Her primary role is to act as a logistics lift capability and aviation platform, with three embarked Merlin helicopters. RFA ARGUS does, however, have a limited medical capability on board to treat disease and non-battle injury. Treatment of those suffering from Ebola is carried out at separate facilities ashore, the first of which opened in Kerry Town on 5 November and will have the capacity to treat 80 local patients. Also at Kerry Town the UK military is currently manning a 12 bed treatment unit for national and international healthcare workers.</p> answering member printed Lord Astor of Hever question first answered 07/11/2014 14:57:55 answering member 3428 label Biography information for Lord Astor of Hever
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

100609

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Civil Servants: Languages
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government which languages have been studied by civil servants and diplomatic staff at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Language School; and how many civil servants and diplomatic staff have studied each language.
tabling member printed	Baroness Coussins
uin	HL2340
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>Since the Language Centre opened on 19th September 2013 a total of 45 different languages have been studied there either full or part-time by 813 students. Of those students, 779 are Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff and 34 are from other government departments (OGDs) (including staff from the following departments: Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office, the Department for Business, Innovation &amp; Skills, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, UK Trade and Investment, the Department for International Development, HM Revenue and Customs, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and the House of Commons). An additional 60 FCO staff have trained at the Institut Francais. Staff across the Civil Service can also access the FCO Language Centre library to continue to develop their own language skills outside formal study and 58 OGD staff have taken advantage of this offer so far.</p><p>It is important to note that when more appropriate, staff from OGDs also receive language training outside of the FCO Language Centre through use of the Civil Service-wide contract with Language Services Direct (the company that run the FCO Language Centre) or at the Institut Francais if French is required. Since September 2014, 113 OGD students have received language training on their own premises via the FCO contract.</p><p>The table below provides a breakdown of the languages that have been taught at the FCO Language Centre:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Albanian</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Arabic</p></td><td><p>186</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Azeri</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bosnian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bulgarian</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Burmese</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cambodian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Czech</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Danish</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dari</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dutch</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Farsi</p></td><td><p>33</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Finnish</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>French</p></td><td><p>14</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Georgian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>German</p></td><td><p>40</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Greek</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hebrew</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Hindi</p></td><td><p>20</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Indonesian</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Italian</p></td><td><p>23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Japanese</p></td><td><p>33</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Korean</p></td><td><p>8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Macedonian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mandarin</p></td><td><p>93</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Norwegian</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Pashto</p></td><td><p>5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Polish</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Portuguese</p></td><td><p>47</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Romanian</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Russian</p></td><td><p>84</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Serbian</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sinhalese</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Slovak</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Slovene</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Spanish</p></td><td><p>153</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Swedish</p></td><td><p>3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tajik</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Thai</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tigrinya</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Turkish</p></td><td><p>11</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Turkmen</p></td><td><p>1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Urdu</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Uzbek</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Vietnamese</p></td><td><p>2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>813</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 05/11/2014 15:51:51 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	3829 label Biography information for Baroness Coussins

100610

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Civil Servants: Languages
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect to see an increase in the numbers of United Kingdom civil servants capable of fulfilling the language requirements for applications to the European Civil Service; and if so by how many, and by when.
tabling member printed	Baroness Coussins
uin	HL2341
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government is working to increase the number of applicants to the European Civil Service and to increase civil service language training. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) supports all UK applicants, including civil servants, through the EU recruitment process, including advice on how to pass the recruitment tests in a foreign language. The European Fast Stream programme has been re-structured for 2014 and the training updated. As part of this, the language training provided to participants has been revised and tailored to offer more effective preparation for the Commission’s entry exam known as The Concours. There is also language training offered to civil servants through the FCO language centre. Some Government Departments also offer training in-house in different languages.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 05/11/2014 15:54:59 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	3829 label Biography information for Baroness Coussins

100611

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Civil Servants: Languages
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how civil servants from all departments with the wish or the potential to benefit from a course at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Language School are identified.
tabling member printed	Baroness Coussins
uin	HL2342
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2014 answer text Full-time language training is available to all staff on appointment to one of the 674 designated ‘speaker’ roles based across the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)’s network of posts overseas. Appointment is made following an advert, application and selection by interview for a position. All positions (including speaker roles) in the Senior Management Service are also advertised across the Civil Service. A number of positions (including speaker roles) in the delegated grades are also advertised across the Civil Service via ‘Interchange’. All FCO staff (or staff from other governmental departments (OGDs) if on Interchange) and their spouses/partners posted to non-speaker roles in a foreign country also have the option of taking up language training to reach a basic level (Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) – A2 Confidence foreign language proficiency) to help settle into a new posting overseas. FCO staff who wish to develop skills in a foreign language can also attend a rolling programme of part-time lunchtime or evening classes in 12 languages. Where there is space in these classes, OGD staff are offered places based on language learning needs analyses by Departments. Language Services Direct (the company who run the FCO Language Centre) also provide part-time classes to a number of OGDs (the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Cabinet Office, the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Department for International Development, Members of Parliament, UK Hydrographic Office) on their own premises or at Language Services Direct premises (HM Revenue and Customs). Language Services Direct also run a bespoke training package for staff from both the FCO and across the Civil Service wishing to apply for positions within EU institutions. A number of OGDs also appoint staff, following their own internal appointment processes, to their own ‘speaker’ roles overseas and are able use the Language Centre for training, or receive training at their own premises from Language Services Direct. To-date over 130 OGD staff have been trained either full-time or part-time at the Centre or at their own premises. answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 05/11/2014 15:56:28 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	3829 label Biography information for Baroness Coussins

100616

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Official Cars
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, when purchasing vehicles for use by government departments, what criteria they apply regarding whether to purchase petrol- or diesel- fuelled cars.
tabling member printed	Lord Hunt of Chesterton
uin	HL2347
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>Public sector procurers are required to seek value for money through fair and open competition and Government will always award contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer.</p><p>Crown Commercial Service manages a framework agreement for the supply of diesel, petrol and electric powered vehicles which Government departments use to meet their vehicle requirements.</p><p>Departments decide which fuel is most appropriate based on their individual requirements including whole life costs and may access advice and guidance from Crown Commercial Service as appropriate.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 06/11/2014 17:50:33 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
tabling member	2543 label Biography information for Lord Hunt of Chesterton

100618

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Plastics: Seas and Oceans
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to deal with plastic waste in the ocean through international co-operation, including programmes such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, the Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission and the International Maritime Organisation.
tabling member printed	Lord Hunt of Chesterton
uin	HL2349
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The primary focus of the UK’s international cooperation on marine litter is the OSPAR convention for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. In June 2014, OSPAR contracting parties agreed a regional action plan on marine litter. This plan fulfils requirements of the EU’s marine strategy framework directive for EU Member States to work together to address marine litter, and contributes to United Nations Environment Programme’s global partnership on marine litter. The UK also works within the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which has banned the discharge of plastic from shipping under MARPOL Annex V since 1988, and keeps MARPOL and its other Conventions under review.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord De Mauley question first answered 06/11/2014 15:11:30 answering member 2202 label Biography information for Lord De Mauley
tabling member	2543 label Biography information for Lord Hunt of Chesterton

100624

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Tribunals
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much it cost to prepare the Senior President of the Tribunals’ annual report on the performance of decision-making in the Ministry of Justice, in each of the last ten years.
tabling member printed	Lord Sharkey
uin	HL2355
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p /> <p>Section 15A of the Social Security Act 1998 requires the Senior President of Tribunals, annually, to make a written report on the standards achieved by the Secretary of State for Work &amp; Pensions in the making of decisions against which an appeal is made to the First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber – Social Security and Child Support). That report must be published by the Lord Chancellor.</p><p> </p><p>The duty to report was discharged by the President of the Appeals Tribunal prior to the implementation of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. The Senior President of Tribunals has delegated this responsibility to the President of the Social Entitlement Chamber since the implementation of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.</p><p> </p><p>Preparation of the report costs approximately £20,000 in judicial time each year; however, this is within their salaried hours, so there is no additional cost beyond their salary. There are some associated printing costs but records of these are not held centrally.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 06/11/2014 17:49:39 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
tabling member	4196 label Biography information for Lord Sharkey

100625

registered interest
date	23/10/2014
answering body	Department for International Development
answering dept id	20
answering dept short name	International Development
answering dept sort name	International Development
hansard heading	North Korea
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government why North Korea is not one of the countries that the Department for International Development has prioritised for the funding of journalistic training for escapees; whether, in considering the allocation of resources, it considered that country’s media environment; and whether the Department for International Development is considering extending its funding to groups run by North Korean refugees that broadcast information into that country.
tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
uin	HL2356
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>DFID does not have a bilateral programme with North Korea. In the Financial Year 2014/15 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights and Democracy Programme is funding a project delivered by the Thomson Foundation titled ‘Inside Out: Working in North Korea to connect its journalists to the Internet world’, which aims to give North Korean journalists a greater understanding of freedom of expression and using the internet to express it.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Northover question first answered 06/11/2014 17:01:02 answering member 2539 label Biography information for Baroness Northover
tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool