Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they estimate the recycling rate for waste from British households will exceed the former EU target of 50 per cent; and whether, following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, they have dropped that target.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is committed to exceeding the 50% target for recycling household waste and this target remains in legislation. The Government has not prepared an estimate of when the UK will exceed this target. The latest UK recycling rate published in March 2020 showed that the UK recycled 45% of household waste in 2018.
The Government has also committed to recycle 65% of municipal waste in England by 2035 and set out measures to achieve this target in the Resources and Waste Strategy and the Environment Bill.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how women are affected by the loss of their Civil Service 'survivor' pension, following cohabitation with a new partner.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government Actuary’s Department completed the quadrennial actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2016 and showed that the average annual pension for surviving adult dependants in the Civil Service pension arrangements was around £2,100 for male dependants and around £4,700 for female dependants.
The pensions of widows, widowers and surviving civil partner pensions, under the Classic section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, cease if they remarry or cohabit. In 2018, the Government Actuary’s Department estimated the extra cost of paying all survivor pensions, regardless of remarriage or cohabitation and when it occurred. The estimated extra cost in 2018 was around £550m for reinstating pensions that had already ceased and an annual future cost of around £30m for stopping the practice going forward. The estimate was a simplified approximation based on an earlier estimate done in 2006.
Based on our initial investigation of ceased pensions for the last financial year (April 2019 to March 2020), seven widows’ and four widowers’ pensions were ceased due to remarriage or cohabitation. However, we have also noted that the figure for the financial year ended March 2020 may not reflect the experience in recent years as the initial data obtained shows an average of around 120 pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation per year for the period 2008 to 2019. The split of the data previous to the financial year ended March 2020 between widows and widowers, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, are not available at this point.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Civil Service (1) widows, and (2) widowers, in (a) England and Wales, and (b) Scotland, have had their pension revoked as a result of remarriage or cohabitation.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government Actuary’s Department completed the quadrennial actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2016 and showed that the average annual pension for surviving adult dependants in the Civil Service pension arrangements was around £2,100 for male dependants and around £4,700 for female dependants.
The pensions of widows, widowers and surviving civil partner pensions, under the Classic section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, cease if they remarry or cohabit. In 2018, the Government Actuary’s Department estimated the extra cost of paying all survivor pensions, regardless of remarriage or cohabitation and when it occurred. The estimated extra cost in 2018 was around £550m for reinstating pensions that had already ceased and an annual future cost of around £30m for stopping the practice going forward. The estimate was a simplified approximation based on an earlier estimate done in 2006.
Based on our initial investigation of ceased pensions for the last financial year (April 2019 to March 2020), seven widows’ and four widowers’ pensions were ceased due to remarriage or cohabitation. However, we have also noted that the figure for the financial year ended March 2020 may not reflect the experience in recent years as the initial data obtained shows an average of around 120 pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation per year for the period 2008 to 2019. The split of the data previous to the financial year ended March 2020 between widows and widowers, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, are not available at this point.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of paying all 'survivor' pensions to Civil Service (1) widows, and (2) widowers, regardless of remarriage or cohabitation and when it occurred.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government Actuary’s Department completed the quadrennial actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2016 and showed that the average annual pension for surviving adult dependants in the Civil Service pension arrangements was around £2,100 for male dependants and around £4,700 for female dependants.
The pensions of widows, widowers and surviving civil partner pensions, under the Classic section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, cease if they remarry or cohabit. In 2018, the Government Actuary’s Department estimated the extra cost of paying all survivor pensions, regardless of remarriage or cohabitation and when it occurred. The estimated extra cost in 2018 was around £550m for reinstating pensions that had already ceased and an annual future cost of around £30m for stopping the practice going forward. The estimate was a simplified approximation based on an earlier estimate done in 2006.
Based on our initial investigation of ceased pensions for the last financial year (April 2019 to March 2020), seven widows’ and four widowers’ pensions were ceased due to remarriage or cohabitation. However, we have also noted that the figure for the financial year ended March 2020 may not reflect the experience in recent years as the initial data obtained shows an average of around 120 pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation per year for the period 2008 to 2019. The split of the data previous to the financial year ended March 2020 between widows and widowers, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, are not available at this point.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial impact on Civil Service (1) widows, and (2) widowers, of the loss of their 'survivor' pension due to remarriage.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government Actuary’s Department completed the quadrennial actuarial valuation as at 31 March 2016 and showed that the average annual pension for surviving adult dependants in the Civil Service pension arrangements was around £2,100 for male dependants and around £4,700 for female dependants.
The pensions of widows, widowers and surviving civil partner pensions, under the Classic section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, cease if they remarry or cohabit. In 2018, the Government Actuary’s Department estimated the extra cost of paying all survivor pensions, regardless of remarriage or cohabitation and when it occurred. The estimated extra cost in 2018 was around £550m for reinstating pensions that had already ceased and an annual future cost of around £30m for stopping the practice going forward. The estimate was a simplified approximation based on an earlier estimate done in 2006.
Based on our initial investigation of ceased pensions for the last financial year (April 2019 to March 2020), seven widows’ and four widowers’ pensions were ceased due to remarriage or cohabitation. However, we have also noted that the figure for the financial year ended March 2020 may not reflect the experience in recent years as the initial data obtained shows an average of around 120 pensions ceasing on remarriage or cohabitation per year for the period 2008 to 2019. The split of the data previous to the financial year ended March 2020 between widows and widowers, and the breakdown between England, Wales and Scotland, are not available at this point.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the European Commission that the government of China has run “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns" about COVID-19; and whether they are aware of any other attempts by that government to spread false views in order to damage democracy in the West.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government takes the issues of disinformation seriously and our priority is to protect UK citizens from disinformation by any actor. We condemn any intentionally false claims in relation to Covid-19, which are a distraction from the important global efforts and cooperation needed to beat the virus. From the outset of the crisis we have outlined the importance of all countries providing timely, transparent and accurate data as an essential part of an effective response. We are working with our international partners, to protect our democracies against disinformation.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial sustainability of NHS dental services.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS England is continuing to fund dentists for their National Health Service contracts while the requirement to deliver a given amount of treatment is suspended. As part of the agreement dental practices will provide remote urgent advice, redeploy staff to provide urgent face to face care in one of the 550 urgent dental centres and redeploy other staff to support the wider NHS on COVID-19.
NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that NHS dentistry outside urgent care centres will begin to restart from 8 June with the aim of increasing levels of service as fast as is compatible with maximising safety.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that volunteers who are providing support for isolated people can continue to provide that support throughout the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
There has been an overwhelming response from the public with over 3 million people stepping up to volunteer to help those most in need.
Volunteers across the country are playing a vital role in the response to COVID-19, including supporting vulnerable people in the community who are isolating, and complementing the delivery of public services. There are over 589,000 approved NHS Volunteer Responders available in England to help with food delivery, transporting medicines and friendly phone calls, a staggering response to the call to action to support the NHS. The programme supports a flexible model of volunteering, with volunteers able to decide when they are on and off duty, to fit task based volunteering around other commitments and work.
The Government welcomes this support and is working closely with the Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership to match the country’s strong base of willing volunteers with priority needs. This includes specific work examining how changing restrictions during the recovery phase may impact on volunteers and volunteering.
The Government is also working closely with the voluntary sector to ensure that volunteer mobilisation schemes are consistently rewarding, effective and safe for all those involved.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that recently retired NHS workers who have returned to work for the NHS continue to be employed throughout the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department is working with the healthcare professional regulators, the devolved administrations, NHS England and NHS Improvement and employing organisations to ensure that the closure of the temporary emergency registers takes place in a planned and co-ordinated way.
The temporary registers will be closed at the end of the COVID-19 emergency period (as declared by the Secretary of State) and all those who have joined the temporary registers will have their registration revoked. However, we are keen that anyone who has returned to practice and who wishes to remain working beyond the emergency period is encouraged and supported to join the full register. To do so they will need to demonstrate that they meet the required standards and pay the relevant registration fees.
Asked by: Baroness Crawley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) prepare for, and (2) administer, a comprehensive national COVID-19 vaccine programme.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has established a Vaccines Taskforce to coordinate and accelerate work across Government, academia and industry to develop, manufacture and deliver a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is an independent Departmental Expert Committee and a statutory body, which advises the United Kingdom health departments on immunisation for the prevention of infections and or disease. We are seeking advice from the JCVI on priority groups for vaccination, and on options for the introduction of any licensed COVID-19 vaccine in the UK.
We are working with partners internationally and in the UK, including Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement, to develop and implement plans for the procurement and delivery of a safe and effective vaccine as quickly and effectively as possible to those who need it across the UK.