Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to establishing a UK-wide constitutional convention to address issues of democratic accountability and devolution.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government has announced its intention to develop proposals to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates. Further announcements on this will be made in due course. We will of course consult across the UK, including with the devolved administrations, on any issues that would affect devolved competence or where devolved nations will have a significant interest.
The Government has no plans to establish a UK wide constitutional convention.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will announce the membership of the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Members are appointed by the Houses of Parliament (having been nominated by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Leader of the Opposition). The Committee is being formed in the normal way and as quickly as current circumstances allow.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what meetings have taken place between House of Lords Ministers and Ministers in the Scottish Government in the last six months.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
UK Government Ministers, including Lords Ministers, have had frequent meetings with the Scottish Government over the last six months, on both a bilateral and multilateral basis. These meetings have discussed a wide number of topics relating to matters of interest to both the UK Government and the Scottish Government. For example, as Chair of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe), Lord Callanan (Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union) meets with his counterpart in the Scottish Government on a regular basis. In the last six months, he has also been joined by Lords Ministers from BEIS, the Home Office and the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who attends on their behalf meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committees with the (1) Scottish and (2) Welsh Governments.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Attendees at meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committees (JMCs) vary depending on the meeting and agenda.
At the last meeting of JMC(Plenary) (JMC(P)) on 19 December 2018, the UK Government was represented by: the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Theresa May, MP, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon David Lidington MP, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Rt Hon Stephen Barclay MP, the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon David Mundell MP, the Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP, and the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP. The communique can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-ministerial-committee-communique-19-december-2018
At the last meeting of the JMC(EU Negotiations) (JMC(EN)) the UK Government was represented by: The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP; the Minister of State for Exiting the European Union, Lord Callanan; The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office, Robin Walker MP; The Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Hon Alister Jack MP (via teleconference); and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales, Kevin Foster MP (via teleconference). The communique can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-ministerial-committee-eu-negotiations-communique-10-oct
At the last meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe) (JMC(E)) on 10 October the UK Government was represented by: Lord Callanan, Minister of State for Exiting the European Union; Robin Walker MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland; Kevin Foster MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales (via teleconference); Jake Berry MP, Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (via teleconference).
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Royal Commissions have been established since 1989; what was the topic of each; and what recommendations of each they adopted.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Three Royal Commissions have been established since 1989:
Royal Commission on Criminal Justice
Royal Commission on Long-term Care of the Elderly
Royal Commission on Reform of the House of Lords
Government departments will have responded to the relevant Royal Commission reports, and those responses are a matter of public record.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what allowance is paid to civil servants from outside London for accommodation when they are required to stay in London as part of their employment.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
There is no central government travel, subsistence and expenses (T,S&E) policy, and as such, rates and allowances are delegated for individual departments to decide upon. In setting their rates departments must be adherent with Section 8 of the Civil Service Management Code (CSMC), Jon Thompson's 2010 review of Civil Service expense policies and The Efficiency and Reform Group Business Travel Policy Principles launched on 20 July 2011.
As there is no cross-government T,S&E policy, there is no centrally held information on the accommodation allowance paid by departments to non-London based civil servants when they are required to stay in London as part of their employment. This information will be held in individual departments.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what allowance is paid to people serving on government agencies and bodies who have to stay overnight in London to attend meetings or perform other duties.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Government agencies and bodies are made up of both civil servants and non-civil servants. For people serving on government agencies and bodies who are civil servants, the following applies.
There is no central government travel, subsistence and expenses (T,S&E) policy, and as such, rates and allowances are delegated for individual departments to decide upon. In setting their rates departments must be adherent with Section 8 of the Civil Service Management Code (CSMC), Jon Thompson's 2010 review of Civil Service expense policies and The Efficiency and Reform Group Business Travel Policy Principles launched on 20 July 2011.
As there is no cross-government T,S&E policy, there is no centrally held information on the accommodation allowance paid by departments to non-London based civil servants serving on government agencies and bodies when they are required to stay in London as part of their employment. This information will be held in individual departments.
For people serving on government agencies and bodies who are not civil servants, information on travel, subsistence and expenses allowances would not be held centrally within the Civil Service. Although some departments may hold some relevant information about the arrangements in their non-department public bodies.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they carry out due diligence into the commercial activities in the education sector of prospective ministerial appointments in the Department for Education before making such appointments.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
On appointment to each new office, Ministers provide a list of all relevant interests to their Permanent Secretary, which are considered by the Cabinet Office, and the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have given any financial, organisational or other support to the Policy Exchange in the last five years; and if so, what was the source of that support.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Department is not aware of having given any financial, organisational or other support to the Policy Exchange in the last five years.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to appoint a new Minister of State for the Department for International Development in the House of Lords as a replacement for the current Minister; and if so, when they intend to make that appointment.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Rt Hon Lord Bates has been appointed as Minister of State at the Department for International Development (DfID).