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1249003

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Modern Slavery Act 2015
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.
tabling member printed	Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
uin	HL9994
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2020 answer text <p>The landmark transparency provisions contained in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on their work to prevent and address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.</p><p>Under the current provisions, if a commercial organisation does not comply with the duty to provide a modern slavery statement, the Home Secretary can apply for a court injunction which mandates compliance. The Government has also committed to considering enforcement options in line with the ongoing development of the Single Enforcement Body for employment rights, led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.</p><p>However, if someone has concerns about an organisation’s modern slavery statement they could write to the Board of Directors (or equivalent) as the Act requires a modern slavery statement to be approved by the Board and signed by a Director (or equivalent) to ensure senior level accountability for modern slavery. The Government expects an organisation’s senior leadership to take responsibility for their company’s modern slavery statement to ensure they are a fair reflection of the circumstances and the action they are taking.</p><p>The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, which was commissioned in 2018 and delivered its final report in 2019, credited section 54 with making modern slavery “a business-critical issue” and increasing “board-level scrutiny and engagement.”</p><p>The Independent Review also made recommendations designed to improve the effectiveness of the Act’s transparency provisions. The Government accepted the majority of the Review’s recommendations and on 9 July 2019 the Home Office launched a public consultation seeking views on proposals to strengthen the Act’s transparency legislation.</p><p>Following widespread support from a broad coalition of business, civil society and public sector respondents, the Government response, published on 22 September 2020, committed to taking forwards an ambitious package of changes to strengthen and future-proof transparency, including:</p><ul><li>Extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more;</li><li>Mandating the specific reporting topics statements must cover;</li><li>Requiring organisations to publish their statement on the new Government digital reporting service;</li><li>Setting a single reporting deadline by which all modern slavery statements must be published.</li></ul><p>Addressing modern slavery risks is a complex, long-term task, and the new measures are designed to incentivise organisations to demonstrate year-on-year progress in key areas and take targeted action based on where their risks are highest.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford grouped question UIN HL9993 question first answered 18/11/2020 17:46:30 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	1544 label Biography information for Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

1659259

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
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	UN General Assembly
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government on what grounds the Prime Minister has decided not to attend the UN General Assembly this month.
tabling member printed	Earl Russell
uin	HL9994
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2023 answer text <p>The UK Government delegation to the UN General Assembly High Level Week on 18-22 September will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister, accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, myself Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon as Minister of State for the UN, Minister Mitchell as Minister for Development and Minister Stuart as Minister for Net Zero. Building on the significant announcements made by the PM at the G20 in New Delhi, the UK delegation will show how these, and other UK priorities can be advanced through multilateralism as we work alongside a wide range of countries, ahead of major Artificial Intelligence and food security summits in the UK later this year.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 22/09/2023 13:30:11 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1249002

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Slavery: Companies
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the process for a complaint to be made against a company that has failed to make a disclosure under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.
tabling member printed	Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
uin	HL9993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2020 answer text <p>The landmark transparency provisions contained in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the UK as the first country in the world to require businesses to report annually on their work to prevent and address modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.</p><p>Under the current provisions, if a commercial organisation does not comply with the duty to provide a modern slavery statement, the Home Secretary can apply for a court injunction which mandates compliance. The Government has also committed to considering enforcement options in line with the ongoing development of the Single Enforcement Body for employment rights, led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.</p><p>However, if someone has concerns about an organisation’s modern slavery statement they could write to the Board of Directors (or equivalent) as the Act requires a modern slavery statement to be approved by the Board and signed by a Director (or equivalent) to ensure senior level accountability for modern slavery. The Government expects an organisation’s senior leadership to take responsibility for their company’s modern slavery statement to ensure they are a fair reflection of the circumstances and the action they are taking.</p><p>The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, which was commissioned in 2018 and delivered its final report in 2019, credited section 54 with making modern slavery “a business-critical issue” and increasing “board-level scrutiny and engagement.”</p><p>The Independent Review also made recommendations designed to improve the effectiveness of the Act’s transparency provisions. The Government accepted the majority of the Review’s recommendations and on 9 July 2019 the Home Office launched a public consultation seeking views on proposals to strengthen the Act’s transparency legislation.</p><p>Following widespread support from a broad coalition of business, civil society and public sector respondents, the Government response, published on 22 September 2020, committed to taking forwards an ambitious package of changes to strengthen and future-proof transparency, including:</p><ul><li>Extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more;</li><li>Mandating the specific reporting topics statements must cover;</li><li>Requiring organisations to publish their statement on the new Government digital reporting service;</li><li>Setting a single reporting deadline by which all modern slavery statements must be published.</li></ul><p>Addressing modern slavery risks is a complex, long-term task, and the new measures are designed to incentivise organisations to demonstrate year-on-year progress in key areas and take targeted action based on where their risks are highest.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford grouped question UIN HL9994 question first answered 18/11/2020 17:46:30 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	1544 label Biography information for Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton

1659258

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
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	Mental Health Services: Young People
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure young people have timely access to mental health services.
tabling member printed	Earl Russell
uin	HL9993
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2023 answer text <p>Under the NHS Long Term Plan, we are investing an additional £2.3 billion per year by March 2024 to enable an extra two million people in England, including 345,000 children and young people, to access National Health Service-funded mental health support.</p><p>We also provided an additional £500 million for 2021/22, targeting those groups whose mental health has been most affected by the pandemic, including children and young people. Within the £500 million, £79 million was invested to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges. £13 million was invested to ensure young adults aged 18 to 25, including university students, were supported with tailored mental health support, helping bridge the gap between children’s and adult services.</p><p>In February, NHS England published the outcomes of its consultation on the potential to introduce five new access and waiting time standards for mental health services, including that children and young people should start to receive care within four weeks from referral, as part of its clinically led review of National Health Service access standards. We are now working with NHS England on the next steps.</p> answering member printed Lord Markham question first answered 14/09/2023 10:35:39 answering member 4948 label Biography information for Lord Markham
tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1249001

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
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	Hospices: Finance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of funding for hospices.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL9992
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department recognises that the hospice sector has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that subsequent social distancing measures have affected some aspects of community fundraising. We regularly assess the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the hospice sector and through NHS England and NHS Improvement are in regular discussions with stakeholders in the sector about the challenges they face. A range of steps have been taken to support hospices.</p><p>We have provided over £150 million in additional funding to the hospice sector to date during the pandemic. Alongside this, hospices have benefited from the financial support offered by Her Majesty’s Treasury to all charities, such as paying no business rates for their shops next year and applying for a Business Interruption Loan.</p><p>We continue to keep funding for hospices under review.</p> answering member printed Lord Bethell grouped question UIN HL9989 HL9991 question first answered 15/01/2021 13:15:46 answering member 4708 label Biography information for Lord Bethell
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

1659257

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are not placed in adult prisons.
tabling member printed	Earl Russell
uin	HL9992
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.</p><p>Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.</p><p>Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.</p><p>The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.</p><p>The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:24:27 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1249000

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
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	Hospices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the future sustainability of the hospice sector.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL9991
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2021 answer text <p>The Department recognises that the hospice sector has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that subsequent social distancing measures have affected some aspects of community fundraising. We regularly assess the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the hospice sector and through NHS England and NHS Improvement are in regular discussions with stakeholders in the sector about the challenges they face. A range of steps have been taken to support hospices.</p><p>We have provided over £150 million in additional funding to the hospice sector to date during the pandemic. Alongside this, hospices have benefited from the financial support offered by Her Majesty’s Treasury to all charities, such as paying no business rates for their shops next year and applying for a Business Interruption Loan.</p><p>We continue to keep funding for hospices under review.</p> answering member printed Lord Bethell grouped question UIN HL9989 HL9992 question first answered 15/01/2021 13:15:46 answering member 4708 label Biography information for Lord Bethell
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

1659256

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum: Children
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied child asylum seekers have been placed in HMP Elmley in Kent; and how many are still held there.
tabling member printed	Earl Russell
uin	HL9991
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office does not collect data on the number of age dispute cases that have arisen in adult prisons and is unable to confirm the statistics referenced in the Guardian article, which are derived from local authority responses to an FOI request. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here. Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</p><p>Furthermore, the Home Office published data on age disputes aggregates the age disputes resolved by including the outcomes of initial age decisions by the Home Office taken at the point of first contact, comprehensive Merton compliant age assessments conducted by social workers and any subsequent legal challenge into one category.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:25:34 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1248999

registered interest
date	04/11/2020
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	Hospices: Coronavirus
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase the level of financial support available for hospices to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
tabling member printed	Lord Jones of Cheltenham
uin	HL9990
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2021 answer text <p>We have provided over £150million in additional funding to the hospice sector to date during the pandemic and have made up to £200 million available to the sector for additional capacity between April and July, and we continue to work closely with hospices to support their essential work. alongside this, hospices have benefited from the financial support offered by HM Treasury to all charities, such as paying no business rates for their shops next year and applying for a Business Interruption Loan. Charities, alongside other sectors, can also access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the replacement Job Support Scheme and charity shops, which are already eligible for 80% charitable rate relief, will benefit from the new enhanced retail rate relief at 100%. We continue to keep the financial impact of COVID-19 on hospices under review.</p> answering member printed Lord Bethell question first answered 09/02/2021 15:09:03 answering member 4708 label Biography information for Lord Bethell
tabling member	248 label Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham

1659255

registered interest
date	07/09/2023
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Funerals: Standards
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of delays in funerals being caused by (1) the existing system for registering a death, (2) the number of available pathologists, (3) delays in completion of Medical Certificate Cause of Death forms and access to local GPs, (4) the availability of mortuary storage at local hospitals and public mortuaries, and (5) any delays by medical examiners.
tabling member printed	Lord Rooker
uin	HL9990
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/09/2023 answer text <p>Whilst the Government does not have operational responsibility for the provision of funeral services, we are aware of funeral delays in some areas and acknowledge that these are often exacerbated by pressures from within the wider death management system.</p><p>Government departments are taking a collaborative approach to reforming the death registration system as part of the roll out of the statutory medical examiner scheme which will come into force in April 2024. The doctor who attended the deceased during their last illness has a legal responsibility to complete a Medical Certificate Cause of Death (MCCD) as soon as possible to enable the registration of the death to take place. Guidance for doctors on completing an MCCD, available on Gov.uk, emphasises this point. As part of the work on the statutory medical examiner scheme, the Department of Health and Social Care is looking at expanding the pool of doctors who can sign the MCCD forms. When the demand on civil registration services is high, death registration appointments will always take priority over other registration appointments.</p><p>The Government continues to look at wider improvements to the death management system’s capacity and resilience, including mortuary capacity. The shortage of pathologists is a long-standing and cross-cutting issue. The Government is determined to make progress as soon as practicable. To that end, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State is engaging with Ministerial colleagues to implement effective solutions through a cross-government action plan.</p> answering member printed Lord Bellamy question first answered 19/09/2023 14:22:55 answering member 4941 label Biography information for Lord Bellamy
tabling member	302 label Biography information for Lord Rooker