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Written Question
Civil Service: Pay
Monday 25th October 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the merits of removing London weighting from civil service salaries in the event that employees do not work in their London offices for at least three days a week.

Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

Since the pandemic began, Civil Servants have been delivering the Government’s priorities from home and in the workplace. The Civil Service continues to follow the latest Government guidance and departments have plans to move gradually to hybrid working.

Pay below the Senior Civil Service is delegated to departments. London pay levels reflect the need to recruit in the London market, not simply the costs incurred by staff for working in the capital. There are no plans to change terms and conditions around London based pay.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Death
Tuesday 19th January 2021

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average age of people who have had COVID-19 cited as a contributory cause of death in the last four weeks; how many such people were (1) 0–18, (2) 19–30, (3) 31–40, (4) 41–50, (5) 51–60, (6) 61–70, (7) 71–80, (8) 81–90, and (9) over 90, years old at the time of death; and in each cohort how many such deaths occurred in people with underlying health conditions.

Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

14 January 2021

Dear Lord Balfe,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what is the average age of people who have had COVID-19 cited as a contributory cause of death in the last four weeks; how many such people were (1) 0-18, (2) 19-30, (3) 31-40, (4) 41-50, (5) 51-60, (6) 61-70, (7) 71-80, (8) 81-90, and (9) over 90, years old at the time of death; and in each cohort how many such deaths occurred in people with underlying health conditions (HL11720).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for publishing numbers of deaths registered in England and Wales. Information on deaths involving COVID-19 and pre-existing health conditions was published in July[1]. As part of deaths registered weekly in England and Wales[2], the ONS produces the number of deaths involving COVID-19 by age group. Table 1 provides the number of deaths involving COVID-19 by age group in the last four weeks.

Table 2 is the mean and median age at death of those whose death involves COVID-19 and for all deaths in the last 4 weeks.

Table 3 shows deaths involving COVID-19 where there is no pre-existing condition against total COVID-19 deaths for that age cohort. Data is available from March 2020 to June 2020, however we will be resuming publication of this data within the next 6 weeks.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales involving COVID-19 by age group, Week ending 4 December to Week ending 25 December 2020[3],[4],[5],[6],[7]

Week number

49

50

51

52

Week ended

04-Dec-20

11-Dec-20

18-Dec-20

25-Dec-20

Deaths by age group

0

0

0

0

1-4

0

0

0

0

5-9

0

0

0

0

10-14

0

1

0

0

15-19

0

1

0

0

20-24

1

0

1

0

25-29

3

3

0

1

30-34

3

1

1

3

35-39

9

7

6

5

40-44

12

11

10

12

45-49

21

19

25

21

50-54

41

37

43

41

55-59

62

65

75

63

60-64

105

126

119

107

65-69

170

154

177

160

70-74

288

258

252

275

75-79

414

400

388

397

80-84

509

492

544

583

85-89

598

570

609

605

90+

599

611

736

639

Source: ONS

Table 2: Average age of deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, Week ending 4 December to Week ending 25 December 20203,4,5,6,7

Week number

49

50

51

52

Week ended

04-Dec-20

11-Dec-20

18-Dec-20

25-Dec-20

All deaths

Median age

81

81

82

82

Mean age

78

78

79

79

Deaths involving COVID-19

Median age

83

83

83

83

Mean age

81

81

81

81

Source: ONS

Table 3: Number of deaths involving COVID-19, by age group and whether a pre-existing condition was present, England and Wales, deaths occurring between March and June 2020[8],[9],[10],[11],[12]

Age

All deaths involving COVID-19

COVID-19 deaths with pre-existing condition

COVID-19 deaths with no pre-existing condition

0-44

542

441

101

45-49

457

366

91

50-54

847

724

123

55-59

1,453

1,226

227

60-64

2,065

1,835

230

65-69

2,791

2,498

293

70-74

4,627

4,220

407

75-79

6,693

6,174

519

80-84

9,588

8,889

699

85-89

10,327

9,525

802

90+

10,945

9,961

984

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurringinjune2020

[2]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest

[3] Deaths where COVID-19 (ICD10 codes U07.1 and U07.2) are mentioned anywhere on the death certificate

[4] For deaths registered from 1st January 2020, cause of death is coded to the ICD-10 classification using MUSE 5.5 software. Previous years were coded to IRIS 4.2.3, further information about the change in software is available.

[5] Does not include deaths where age is either missing or not yet fully coded.

[6] Does not include deaths of those resident outside England and Wales or those records where the place of residence is either missing or not yet fully coded.

[7] These figures represent death registrations, there can be a delay between the date a death occurred and the date a death was registered. More information can be found in our impact of registration delays release.

[8] Figures include deaths of non-residents

[9] Figures are provisional

[10] Based on deaths involving COVID-19 (ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2) rather than deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death

[11] Deaths occurring between March and June 2020 rather than deaths registered between March and June 2020

[12] Including deaths registered up until 4 July 2020.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Wednesday 16th September 2020

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish their plans and preparations for any peak in COVID-19 infections during the winter period, including for any reasonable worst-case scenario.

Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

Our collective understanding of the virus, and how it spreads, has vastly improved since the initial wave of infections. As a responsible government, we have been planning and continue to prepare for a wide range of scenarios, including the reasonable worst case scenario. In the coming months, we will continue to assess what the UK can learn from other nations, and carry out a series of exercises, to test the Government’s winter plans, including for a reasonable worst case scenario and to ensure effective coordination between departments and with the devolved administrations.

In May, we published the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy. This was updated in July, including details on planning for the winter. Our planning assumptions and guidance are kept under review and amended as the scientific and medical advice develops.


Written Question
European Parliament: Elections
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 June (HL Deb, cols 110–14), how many European Parliament Voter Registration (UC1) forms they received from the government of Germany in respect of UK citizens, resident in Germany, who had declared their intention to vote in the European Parliament elections in (1) 2014, and (2) 2019, in Germany under the terms of EU Council Directive 93/109/EC; where those forms were received; how they distributed those forms to the respective UK constituencies; and how many such forms they sent to the government of Germany in respect of EU citizens, resident in the UK, who had declared their intention to vote in the European Parliament elections in (a) 2014, and (b) 2019, in the UK.

Answered by Lord Young of Cookham

Under EU law, EU citizens living in another Member State are able to vote in their State of residence in European Parliamentary elections. Member States will, therefore, arrange for EU nationals to register to vote in their State of residence for these elections. Member States in advance of an upcoming European Parliamentary poll will exchange with each other data on EU nationals who have chosen to register to vote in another Member State. This is intended to identify and avoid double voting at European elections.

In the UK, the UC1 form implements this requirement under EU law. EU Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens’ declarations to the state they are a citizen of, “sufficiently in advance of polling day” to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice in the same European Parliamentary election. This is not a new requirement and has been in place for previous European Parliamentary elections. A similar provision applies to UK citizens living in the other EU Member States.

The UK Government receives data about UK citizens from the other Member States via a secure online portal managed by the European Commission. Data that can be matched to a local authority is then shared with the relevant local authority via encrypted file transfers. Electoral Registration Officers are responsible for sending the data in respect of EU nationals in the UK to the relevant Member States; the Cabinet Office does not see this data. The requested figures are attached in a deposited paper.

In practice, we have found that the Commission’s voter information exchange process is of poor quality, as Member States record different information in respect of persons registering to vote and this may not be sufficient for other States to identify them.

For the avoidance of doubt, this does not hinder the ability of the citizen to register to vote, nor indeed, to vote legally in elections.

Rather, this is a deficiency in the European Commission’s mechanism to identify double voting. Notwithstanding, it is a criminal offence to vote twice in such elections, and information on voting participation will be recorded in marked registers.


The requested figures for the European Parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2019 are as follows:

Belgium

Usable Records Received

Records Sent to Member State

2014

1

1,699

2019

0

Not available yet*

Germany

Usable Records Received

Records Sent to Member State

2014

28

13,101

2019

18

Not available yet*

*The figures for the 2019 European Parliamentary elections are not currently available.


Written Question
European Parliament: Elections
Thursday 20th June 2019

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 June (HL Deb, cols 110–14), how many European Parliament Voter Registration (UC1) forms they received from the government of Belgium in respect of UK citizens, resident in Belgium, who had declared their intention to vote in the European Parliament elections in (1) 2014, and (2) 2019, in Belgium under the terms of EU Council Directive 93/109/EC; where those forms were received; how they distributed those forms to the respective UK constituencies; and how many such forms they sent to the government of Belgium in respect of EU citizens, resident in the UK, who had declared their intention to vote in the European Parliament elections in (a) 2014, and (b) 2019, in the UK.

Answered by Lord Young of Cookham

Under EU law, EU citizens living in another Member State are able to vote in their State of residence in European Parliamentary elections. Member States will, therefore, arrange for EU nationals to register to vote in their State of residence for these elections. Member States in advance of an upcoming European Parliamentary poll will exchange with each other data on EU nationals who have chosen to register to vote in another Member State. This is intended to identify and avoid double voting at European elections.

In the UK, the UC1 form implements this requirement under EU law. EU Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens’ declarations to the state they are a citizen of, “sufficiently in advance of polling day” to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice in the same European Parliamentary election. This is not a new requirement and has been in place for previous European Parliamentary elections. A similar provision applies to UK citizens living in the other EU Member States.

The UK Government receives data about UK citizens from the other Member States via a secure online portal managed by the European Commission. Data that can be matched to a local authority is then shared with the relevant local authority via encrypted file transfers. Electoral Registration Officers are responsible for sending the data in respect of EU nationals in the UK to the relevant Member States; the Cabinet Office does not see this data. The requested figures are attached in a deposited paper.

In practice, we have found that the Commission’s voter information exchange process is of poor quality, as Member States record different information in respect of persons registering to vote and this may not be sufficient for other States to identify them.

For the avoidance of doubt, this does not hinder the ability of the citizen to register to vote, nor indeed, to vote legally in elections.

Rather, this is a deficiency in the European Commission’s mechanism to identify double voting. Notwithstanding, it is a criminal offence to vote twice in such elections, and information on voting participation will be recorded in marked registers.


The requested figures for the European Parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2019 are as follows:

Belgium

Usable Records Received

Records Sent to Member State

2014

1

1,699

2019

0

Not available yet*

Germany

Usable Records Received

Records Sent to Member State

2014

28

13,101

2019

18

Not available yet*

*The figures for the 2019 European Parliamentary elections are not currently available.


Written Question
Ministers: Peers
Tuesday 15th January 2019

Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were ennobled on their appointment as ministers in the Parliaments of (1) 2001–05, (2) 2005–10, (3) 2010–15, (4) 2015–17, and (5) 2017 to date; and how long each of those ministers served as ministers broken down by (a) zero to six months, (b) six months to one year, (c) one year to 18 months, (d) 18 months to two years, and (e) longer than two years.

Answered by Lord Young of Cookham

The following table shows the number of individuals who were ennobled on their appointment as a minister and how long those ministers served in Government:

Parliament

Total no of individuals

Length of service in Government

0-6 months

6 months to 1 year

1 year to 18 months

18 months to 2 years

More than 2 years

Ongoing

2001-2005

1

-

-

-

-

1

-

2005-2010

10

-

2

2

-

6

-

2010-2015

4

-

-

-

1

3

-

2015-2017

4

-

-

1

-

3

-

2017 to date

3

-

-

-

-

-

3