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1688311

registered interest
date	07/02/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Healthy Start Scheme
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what happens to any money credited to NHS Healthy Start cards that is not used by entitled beneficiaries within the period of time they have available to spend that money on valid items.
tabling member printed	Lord Field of Birkenhead
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2024 answer text <p>Under the Healthy Start scheme, pregnant women and children aged under four years old and over one years old, each receive £4.25 every week, and children under one years old each receive £8.50 every week. Healthy Start can be used to buy, or be put towards the cost of, fresh, frozen or tinned fruits and vegetables, fresh, dried and tinned pulses, milk and infant formula. The money is loaded onto a pre-paid payment card. Beneficiaries are not required to spend the money each week and it can be accumulated and put towards more expensive Healthy Start items, such as infant formula. The legislation states that only after 16 consecutive weeks of the pre-paid payment card not being used can the card be cancelled.</p><p>This flexibility in how and when the money can be used means that the total amount spent in any one month can exceed the amount added in that month, if beneficiaries have accumulated funds in previous months. The following table shows the latest data for how much was added onto Healthy Start cards and spent, per month, during 2023:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Total added</p></td><td><p>Total spent</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January</p></td><td><p>£7,859,474.75</p></td><td><p>£8,353,475.29</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February</p></td><td><p>£7,435,669.76</p></td><td><p>£7,320,424.91</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March</p></td><td><p>£10,626,362.86</p></td><td><p>£8,971,140.57</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April</p></td><td><p>£11,665,242.36</p></td><td><p>£10,012,024.12</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May</p></td><td><p>£8,137,362.11</p></td><td><p>£8,218,389.00</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June</p></td><td><p>£7,805,625.26</p></td><td><p>£7,873,571.30</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July</p></td><td><p>£9,171,390.95</p></td><td><p>£8,021,060.44</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August</p></td><td><p>£8,535,237.75</p></td><td><p>£7,985,449.52</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September</p></td><td><p>£7,549,456.50</p></td><td><p>£7,887,565.69</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October</p></td><td><p>£8,289,498.25</p></td><td><p>£7,715,832.34</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November</p></td><td><p>£7,954,638.13</p></td><td><p>£7,131,207.48</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December</p></td><td><p>£7,750,004.57</p></td><td><p>£7,013,663.46</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>This flexibility also means that from month to month some of the money may remain on the payment cards without being used. During 2023 the average outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards was £12.6 million. This equates to around £37 per household. If a card was unused for 16 weeks as permitted in the legislation, it would accumulate £68 for a pregnant woman or a family with a child over one and under four, or £136 for a family with twins under one years old. The average balance of £37 per household is less than 16 weeks’ entitlement, although these are aggregate figures and there will be variation across households. The following table shows the total outstanding balance across all Healthy Start cards, per month, during 2023:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Total outstanding balance</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January</p></td><td><p>£11,876,537.16</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February</p></td><td><p>£11,456,639.28</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March</p></td><td><p>£11,444,727.51</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April</p></td><td><p>£12,465,403.05</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May</p></td><td><p>£12,238,144.26</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June</p></td><td><p>£12,123,823.55</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July</p></td><td><p>£12,777,017.89</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August</p></td><td><p>£13,193,581.26</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September</p></td><td><p>£13,677,365.89</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October</p></td><td><p>£13,066,802.63</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November</p></td><td><p>£13,418,231.23</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December</p></td><td><p>£13,850,960.26</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Markham grouped question UIN HL2280 question first answered 20/02/2024 15:55:51 answering member 4948 label Biography information for Lord Markham
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1505807

registered interest
date	07/09/2022
answering body	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept id	208
answering dept short name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
hansard heading	South Sudan: Development Aid
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how much UK overseas aid they provided to South Sudan in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, and (5) 2021.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/10/2022 answer text <p>Statistics on the UK Government's international development work can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/statistics-on-international-development . The UK has provided the following amounts of bilateral and multilateral Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to South Sudan between 2017 and 2020: £221,802,000 (2017), £178,127,000 (2018), £259,752,000 (2019) and £118,217,000 (2020). Final UK Aid spend for 2021 will be published in Autumn 2022.</p><p>The UK remains a leading donor to South Sudan. We use our aid budget to work with the UN and partners to respond to South Sudan's humanitarian crisis, fund crucial health and education services, and support peacebuilding efforts. Our aid budget is complemented by our diplomatic work, which presses for the implementation of the peace agreement, constitutional reforms and good public financial management. These are essential for the wider progress towards stability and prosperity of South Sudan.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 06/10/2022 11:35:43 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

1349348

registered interest
date	21/07/2021
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Disability
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans the Department for Work and Pensions has to contact all disability claimants who were appealing their decisions and were persuaded to accept a lower offer, to inform them of their right to continue with their appeal.
tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/07/2021 answer text <p>In a previous response HL2130, it was explained that all claimants who accepted the new decision and whose original appeal lapsed, were told that they had the right of appeal against the new decision. They were told this both by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Tribunals Service. This gave them the opportunity to have the revised award further increased and backdated. Accordingly, there are no plans to contact affected claimants.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 27/07/2021 13:41:19 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

1183189

registered interest
date	05/03/2020
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	4G: Greater London
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve 4G reception in the West End of London.
tabling member printed	Lord Mawson
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2020 answer text <p>The Government announced on 9 March that it had agreed a deal with the mobile network operators to deliver the Shared Rural Network programme. This will see Government and industry jointly invest to increase 4G mobile coverage throughout the UK to 95% geographic coverage by end-2025. Coverage is based on Ofcom’s definition of good quality 4G coverage, which is the minimum signal strength required to deliver a 90-second telephone call and a download speed of at least 2Mbit/s, 95% of the time.</p><p>The Shared Rural Network is underpinned by legally binding coverage commitments from each operator to have reached at least 90%, which will be assessed in 2026. Ofcom will regularly report on coverage improvements towards this goal through its Connected Nations report.</p><p>Exact site deployment plans will be managed by the operators themselves in order for them to best deliver the agreed coverage outcomes. However, we expect that consumers will feel the benefit of the programme long before its conclusion and the operators will consult with communities as roll out plans become clearer.</p><p>While the biggest improvements in coverage arising from the Shared Rural Network will be in Scotland and Wales, there will be improvements across all four nations. 4G geographic coverage in England is currently 97% from at least one operator and 81% from all four operators. As a result of the programme, this will increase to 98% coverage from at least one operator, and 90% from all four by end-2025.</p><p>The Shared Rural Network will help close the digital divide between urban and rural areas by improving mobile coverage in largely rural areas across the whole of the UK. The programme is not directly aimed at improving coverage in dense inner-city areas such as the West End of London which, typically, have good 4G coverage from all four operators, and it will remain a commercial decision for operators to decide whether to improve coverage in such areas.</p><p>We are aware of the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index report 2019, which compares 4G coverage of homes across Member States. The report, available via the following link, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi" target="_blank">https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi</a> suggests that in 2018, based on an average of operator coverage, there was 98% 4G coverage of UK homes. This compared to 95% for France, and an EU average of 94%. The Shared Rural Network will help to improve our European standing by providing additional coverage to 280,000 premises.</p><p>While the vast majority of commercial rollout of 5G services will be delivered by industry and according to their own timeframes, government is committed to being a world leader in 5G technology and providing a 5G signal to a majority of the population by 2027. The Government is investing in a nationally coordinated programme of 5G testbed facilities and application trials to help achieve this, and has allocated £200 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund to the 5G Programme, which launched in 2017 and will run until March 2022.</p> answering member printed Baroness Barran grouped question UIN HL2278 HL2279 HL2280 HL2282 HL2283 HL2350 question first answered 16/03/2020 16:31:57 answering member 4703 label Biography information for Baroness Barran
tabling member	3830 label Biography information for Lord Mawson

773566

registered interest
date	19/10/2017
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Offences against Children: Criminal Investigation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 October (HL1668), whether they have made representations to the Metropolitan Police and the Wiltshire Constabulary about public disquiet regarding the handling of well-publicised allegations of child sexual abuse; and if so, what replies have been received.
tabling member printed	Lord Lexden
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2017 answer text <p>The Government has made no representations. The police are rightly operationally independent of Government and should be free from any political interference. How an individual force handles an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse is a matter for the relevant Chief Officer. It is for locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to hold their Chief Officers to account.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 01/11/2017 13:45:28 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4202 label Biography information for Lord Lexden

600528

registered interest
date	12/10/2016
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Prime Minister
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new units have been established and which units have been closed in 10 Downing Street since the appointment of the new Prime Minister.
tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/10/2016 answer text <p>There have been no substantive changes in 10 Downing Street since the appointment of the new Prime Minister.</p> answering member printed Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen question first answered 21/10/2016 11:33:24 answering member 4330 label Biography information for Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

419208

registered interest
date	16/09/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what rebate payments have been paid by the pharmaceutical industry in each quarter since the commencement of the current Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme; and what proportion of those payments has been reinvested in innovative medicines.
tabling member printed	Lord Willis of Knaresborough
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2015 answer text <p>The following table includes information on aggregate payments received by the Department since the beginning of the Pharmaceutical Scheme 2014. The Department publishes quarterly information on the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) sales and payments on the Government’s website at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pprs-quarterly-net-sales-and-payment-information</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year and Quarter (Q)</p></td><td><p>Aggregate Payments Received by the Department of Health</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q1</p></td><td><p>£74 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q2</p></td><td><p>£76 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q3</p></td><td><p>£79 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q4</p></td><td><p>£81 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015 Q1</p></td><td><p>£208 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015 Q2</p></td><td><p>£209 million</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures that all the income it receives from PPRS payments in England is reinvested in the National Health Service for patients’ benefit. The Department includes the expected PPRS payments in setting the NHS England allocations in advance of each year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As a statutory organisation, it is for NHS England to ensure that its actions are in line with its statutory duties. NHS England is responsible for allocating its overall budget (which includes expected income from PPRS payments in England) across commissioning areas, including specialised commissioning and clinical commissioning groups. Following normal Government accounting rules, there is no separately identified or ring-fenced funding stream associated with the PPRS payments.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government believes that NHS commissioners and providers are best placed to decide how to allocate their budgets to deliver improvements in the outcomes for patients. The PPRS includes a number of commitments for improving patient outcomes by improving access to clinically and cost effective medicines.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Prior of Brampton grouped question UIN HL2282 question first answered 22/09/2015 10:32:21 answering member 127 label Biography information for Lord Prior of Brampton
tabling member	4151 label Biography information for Lord Willis of Knaresborough

100075

registered interest
date	21/10/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the conclusion of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that "section 4 is not the solution for people who have been refused but cannot be returned" as stated in their report <i>Asylum</i> (7th Report of session 2013–14, HC 71).
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL2281
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Azure card is issued to destitute failed asylum seekers accommodated under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because they are temporarily unable to leave the United Kingdom. The card can be used at most of the main supermarket chains to purchase food and other essential items. The performance of the card is kept under regular review but the Government is satisfied that it is an effective way of ensuring that recipients are able to meet their essential living needs and are not left destitute.</p><p> </p><p>The Government therefore has no plans to abolish the card or change legislation to allow people supported under section 4 to receive cash instead.</p><p> </p><p>The total administrative costs of the card scheme since it was introduced in 2009 are approximately £1,515,000. Estimated administrative costs for the current financial year are £200,000.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report about asylum procedures in December 2013 (cm 8769). A response to the Committee’s views on section 4 support was set out on page 18-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL2277 HL2278 HL2279 HL2280 question first answered 28/10/2014 15:17:56 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno