Asked by: Lord Butler of Brockwell (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many treaties to which the UK is a party would have to be renegotiated if the UK were to leave the EU.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The process of withdrawing from the EU is untested and would contain numerous elements depending on the outcome of the negotiations with the rest of the EU that would follow a notification that the UK had decided to withdraw from the EU. There is little clarity on how this would work, including the number of treaties to which the UK is a party which would need to be renegotiated as a result. There are, for example, free trade agreements covering 53 markets to which the EU is party, which would need to be considered.
Asked by: Lord Butler of Brockwell (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many ministerial directions have been issued to accounting officers in the last 10 years, and in which departments.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
There have been 27 ministerial directions between 2005 and 2015.
The departments they were issued in were: Department of Trade and Industry; Ministry of Defence; Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform; HM Treasury; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Department for Communities and Local Government; Ministry of Justice; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Department for Transport; and the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Lord Butler of Brockwell (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees why the mispatterned tile which was a memorial of the spot where Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated has been removed from St Stephen's Hall; and whether it can be replaced.
Answered by Lord Sewel
The tiles in St Stephen’s Hall were not in a special pattern to mark the spot of Spencer Perceval’s assassination as some have suggested; they were poor repairs done after the original tiles were damaged during the Second World War. A plaque has been erected in St Stephen’s Hall near the spot where Spencer Perceval was assassinated.
Asked by: Lord Butler of Brockwell (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of the forthcoming General Election, they will consult the Opposition about the appointment of a Chief Executive of the Civil Service on a five year contract.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
As has been the case under successive administrations, external civil service appointments continue to be made in the usual way in accordance with the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles, through fair and open competition.