Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether, when the Clerk of the Parliaments announces the winner of the hereditary peers’ by-election on 9 February, he will also announce the number of votes cast for each candidate in the final round of voting.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
As detailed information on the number of votes cast for each candidate is already freely available to members in the Printed Paper Office (PPO) and on the internet as soon as the announcement has been made in the Chamber, there are no plans for the Clerk of the Parliaments to announce this further detail in the Chamber.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ask the House of Lords Appointments Commission to vet the candidates who stand in the hereditary peer by-election to be held on 8 February.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
There are no plans for candidates who stand for election to hereditary seats in the House of Lords to be subject to vetting by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will establish a beneficial ownership register of overseas entities which own UK property, as envisaged in the draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 2nd November 2021, the Government remains committed to establishing a new beneficial ownership register of overseas entities that own UK property. This register will help combat money laundering and achieve greater transparency in the UK property market. We will legislate when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 20 December 2021 (HL5014), whether they will now (1) answer the questions put, and (2) publish the level of funding they have provided for cycle lanes to each local authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The next Cycling and Walking report to Parliament, due to be published in spring 2022, will contain details of all of the funding that the Government has provided for active travel schemes, including cycle lanes, to each local authority in each year. This is complex as the funding comes from several different funding streams, making a short summary difficult. Some of the information, such as a breakdown of how much capital funding was provided to each local authority for active travel schemes in 2020/21 under the Active Travel Fund, is already available on gov.uk. Copies of the previous report to Parliament and funding breakdowns by local authority covering the years up to 2018/19 are available in the House libraries as well as on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park on 22 November (HL3795) detailing the steps they are taking regarding Russia's occupation of Crimea, what steps they are taking regarding Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK position on the status of the Occupied Golan Heights is well-known and has not changed. In line with international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions, notably Resolutions 242 and 497, we do not recognise Israel's sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including the Golan Heights, and we do not consider them part of the territory of the State of Israel. Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law. Any declaration of a unilateral border change goes against the foundation of the rules-based international order and the UN Charter.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Kamall on 13 December (HL Deb, col 8), which countries have a surplus of medical professionals.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information requested is not held centrally. However, we are aware of a number of countries with unemployed nurses and countries that train excess numbers of nurses for their domestic requirements in order to give employment opportunities. We are in discussions with the Governments of some of these countries regarding supporting their health systems and giving opportunities to trained staff in the United Kingdom. We have established Government to Government health worker migration agreements with Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines this year and a Health Workforce Taskforce with the Government of India as part of the Enhanced Trade Partnership, signed earlier in 2021.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 4 November (HL Deb, col 1340), what funding they have provided for cycle lanes to each local authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 7 February 2020, the Department published a detailed breakdown of annual investment in cycling and walking from 2016/17 to 2018/19 alongside the first report on progress made towards delivering the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). This includes information on how much funding each local authority received over that period. Copies of the report and other associated information are available on GOV.UK. An update including a detailed breakdown of annual investment in 2019/20 and 2020/21 will be published in due course. In the meantime, local authority allocations under the Active Travel Fund in 2020/21 are published on the Department for Transport’s website.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in response to UN member states that have annexed parts of neighbouring states, in particular, in respect of (1) Russia's annexation of Crimea, and (2) Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law. Any declaration of a unilateral border change goes against the foundation of the rules-based international order and the UN Charter.
The UK does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia. We continue to make clear to Moscow that Crimea is, and will remain part of, Ukraine.
We have used our G7 Presidency to keep Crimea high on the international agenda, as shown by our G7 Foreign Ministers' statements on Crimea in March and April and the G7 Cornwall Summit communiqué in June, in which leaders reiterated their support for the Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and called on Russia to withdraw troops and materiel from Crimea. We strongly support the establishment of the International Crimea Platform, as a means to raise global ambition on Crimea and hold Russia to account for its actions. We will continue to call for international monitoring missions to have access to Crimea, currently denied by Russia.
The UK's position on the status of the Occupied Golan Heights is well-known and has not changed. We do not consider them part of the territory of the State of Israel.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what was the cost of delivering each of the seven hereditary peer by-elections this year in respect of (1) outside contractors, and (2) the time of House staff.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
There have been five hereditary peer by-elections this year, with three Conservative vacancies filled by means of a single by-election. The cost in respect of outside contractors was as follows:
| Date | Civica invoice (inclusive of VAT) |
Mar, C. – Whole House | June 2021 | £1,440 |
Selborne, E., Denham, L., Selsdon, L. (combined) – Conservative | June 2021 | £600 |
Elton, L. — Whole House | July 2021 | £1,440 |
Rea, L. – Labour | July 2021 | £0 (no ballot) |
Simon, V. – Whole House | November 2021 | £1,440 |
TOTAL |
| £4,920 |
These costs were in addition to the cost of House of Lords staff time spent organising the by-elections. Such time forms part of their normal duties and therefore cannot be costed separately.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many Private Members’ Bills in each of the last five sessions were introduced in the House of Lords; and, for each session, how many of them received Royal Assent.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The figures for private members’ bills that started in the House of Lords are set out below. Figures are provided from the 2014–15 session, as the 2019 session lasted less than a month, up to and including the present session to date.
Session | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–19 | 2019 | 2019–21 | 2021–22 to date |
PMBs introduced in the House of Lords | 34 | 48 | 51 | 74 | 40 | 86 | 30 |
Lords-starting PMBs receiving Royal Assent | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |