Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to secure fishing treaties with the governments of (1) Norway, and (2) Iceland.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The UK secured a fisheries treaty with Norway which was signed on 30 September 2020 and approved by Parliament on 2 December 2020. It also secured fisheries memoranda of understanding with Iceland and with Greenland published on 11 November 2020.
The UK is currently conducting a series of negotiations with several of its coastal State partners on fishing opportunities and access arrangements for 2021. The UK's overriding priority in these negotiations is to agree the right deal, which is balanced in the best interests of the entire British fishing industry.
Ahead of the conclusion of those annual negotiations, the UK's distant water fleet already has access to Norwegian waters to fish in the waters around Svalbard, by separate arrangement with the Norwegian authorities. The details of these opportunities were published on 14 January in the Secretary of State determination of fishing opportunities for British fishing boats covering the period to 31 March 2021.
The Kirkella received its licence from the UK Single Issuing Authority on 13 January. Following internal procedures, she set sail for Svalbard last week, and is already more than half way to her destination.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include British Transport Police officers in the first round of those receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that Phase 1 of the vaccination programme should target individuals in order of age and risk. The vaccination programme will build up in the weeks and months ahead and extend to more and more people.
It is likely a number of transport workers and British Transport Police will be vaccinated in Phase 1 due to their age or underlying health conditions. The JCVI have recommended that vaccination of those at increased risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 due to their occupation should be a priority in the next phase, including British Transport Police and Transport workers.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans Ofwat has to review its market codes to encourage more companies to switch retailers in the coming year.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Since the business retail market opened in 2017, customer awareness and engagement has increased. In 2019/20, 58% of business customers (and 96% of large business customers) were aware that they can choose their retailer, up from 53% in 2018/19 and 48% in 2017/18. The annual rate of switching and/or re-negotiating remains at around 4%. Market Codes help to govern and underpin the business retail market. However, it is the responsibility of retailers to promote their services to encourage switching.
Ofwat’s role is to promote competition through a well-functioning market to further the interests of customers. Since market opening, Ofwat has published annual reports on the business retail market, with a focus on benefits delivered to customers. In August 2020, Ofwat also published its ‘review of incumbent company support for effective markets’, which made clear that a number of market frictions continue to impede the development of effective competition and better customer outcomes and challenged industry to address these as a matter of urgency. Ofwat recognises that industry efforts to improve market functioning have accelerated, aided by collaborative leadership from the market operator (MOSL), but also highlights that resolution of market frictions continues to require urgent attention from all trading parties to build on improvements seen to date.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ofwat has calculated the levels of water efficiency savings that were made in the non-household water retail marketplace in (1) 2018, and (2) 2019.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Ofwat makes an annual Request for Information to retailers, concerning their activities in the business retail market. This includes a request for information and data concerning water efficiency and the extent to which business customers have saved water as a result of water efficiency measures.
Business customers who have elected to become ‘Self-suppliers’ – generally large consumers of water - reported significant water efficiency savings in 2019. Eight self-suppliers, for example, reported saving around 567Ml in 2019 - approximately 5% of their 2019 consumption.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ofwat has fulfilled its role as regulator in promoting the entry of new entrant water retailers into the Non-Household Water Retail market.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Ofwat’s role is to promote competition through a well-functioning market where that will further the interests of customers. In furthering this role, since the market has opened the regulator has explored barriers to market entry, for example, credit security arrangements for smaller new entrants. Where appropriate, Ofwat has supported (and on occasions sponsored) market code amendments aimed at promoting new entrants to the market.
Over the past three years, we have seen greater choice for business customers with around twenty retailers operating in England. In addition, a number of larger customers have become licensed to operate as self-suppliers. The self-supply model enables customers to have greater control over their data, and has delivered price and water efficiency savings. In 2019/20, an additional three self-supply licences were granted bringing the total to 12 as at end March 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ofwat has met its statutory requirements set out under the resilience clauses in the Water Act 2014.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Water Act 2014 placed a new duty on Ofwat to further the resilience objective, which is to secure the long-term resilience of water supply and sewerage systems. It is for Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, to consider how best to deliver its statutory duties when carrying out all relevant regulatory functions.
Ofwat has set out how it has met the resilience duty in its response to the UK Government’s Strategic Policy Statement at the Price Review Final Determination 2019. The document is available online: www.ofwat.gov.uk/publication/uk-government-priorities-and-our-2019-price-review-final-determinations.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps Ofwat has taken to promote water efficiency in the non-household water retail marketplace.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
In March 2020, Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA) wrote an open letter to water retailers and wholesalers requesting that they work together to develop an action plan to help deliver greater water efficiency in the non-household sector. Ofwat and the EA have proactively engaged with industry to develop the action plan, which is due to be signed off shortly. The action plan aims to:
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of police suicides between 2011 and 2019, published by the Office for National Statistics on 30 October 2019.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The death of any police officer is a tragedy. The Government and police leaders take this matter seriously and are working to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all police officers and staff.
We have invested in programmes which offer help directly to officers and staff. This includes £7.5 million to fund the development of the National Police Wellbeing Service, which was launched in 2019. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
The Government has also accelerated work to introduce a Police Covenant, which will ensure our police get the support and protection they need. The Covenant will be enshrined in law, with provisions being brought forward later this session, and the Home Secretary will have a duty to report annually on progress.
Our focus will be on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support for families. We are in no doubt that an area we must focus on is mental health support. We will continue to work closely with policing partners to ensure the Covenant has a lasting impact on our police.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to include the government of Gibraltar in their future relationship negotiations with the EU.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK continues to negotiate for the whole UK family, which includes Gibraltar. We remain fully committed to finding a solution that supports Gibraltar, its people and its economy.
The UK and the Government of Gibraltar have held a number of constructive discussions with Spain on this issue. It is clearly in all parties' interests to find a solution, to ensure ongoing well-being and prosperity in the region.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that their proposal to eliminate age discrimination in public sector pension schemes does not create any sex discrimination in such schemes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
On 16 July 2020, the government published a consultation[1] on “Public service pension schemes: changes to the transitional arrangements to the 2015 schemes”, accompanied by an Equalities Impact Assessment[2] (EIA). The EIA considered the impacts of the proposals on those with protected characteristics as identified in the Equality Act 2010, including sex.
As part of this consultation, the government also asked for views on the implications of the proposals for people with protected characteristics. The consultation closed on October 11, and the government is now considering the issues raised in response to the consultation.
The Equalities Impact Assessment will be updated in response to issues raised and will be published alongside the government’s response to the consultation in due course.