Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to list the peers who have been appointed to the House since 2010 to serve as ministers; and, in each case, how long the peer remained in ministerial office.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Life peers are appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to serve in the House of Lords for life, or until they retire from the House. Such peers may continue to provide public service long after they have ceased to be a Minister of the Crown – as the Noble Lord will, I am sure, attest himself.
The Government does not hold this information centrally.
Notwithstanding, to assist the Noble Lord’s scrutiny, the attached list of ministers who were appointed to the House of Lords within a month of appointment to Government has been compiled from information in the public domain. For completeness, we have provided information from 1997 to now.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many overseas voters requested a vote in the 2019 general election, listed by the constituency to which they were allocated.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
At the 2019 General Election, the Electoral Commission reported that approximately 230,000 overseas electors were registered to vote. The Commission published (attached) a breakdown of overseas electors by constituency in Great Britain. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/UKPGE%202019-%20Electoral%20Data-Website.xlsx>.
Overseas electors have the option to vote by post, by proxy or in person (where the elector is in the relevant constituency on the day of the poll). The Government does not hold data on the voting method used by overseas electors to cast their vote or how many of them do. The Government does not hold data on the number of overseas electors who submitted a postal vote application.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many additional people will be enfranchised by their proposal to introduce votes for life for British citizens living overseas.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Elections Bill Impact Assessment estimates the removal of the 15 year rule will increase the number of British citizens abroad who are eligible to register to vote from 0.9 million - 1.1 million people to 3.2 million - 3.4 million people in 2023/24.
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 Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 20 December 2021 (HL4956), whether they will publish the details of the Government to Government agreements with (1) Kenya, (2) Malaysia, and (3) the Philippines.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Copies of the agreements with Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines on healthcare workforce recruitment are attached.
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 27 January (HL Deb col 436) regarding the ethical international recruitment of nurses, what ethical provisions were included in the agreements with (1) Kenya, (2) Malaysia, and (3) the Philippines, to which he referred in his Written Answer on 20 December 2021 (HL4956).
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Government to Government agreements established with Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines commit to ensuring fair, ethical and sustainable recruitment and employment of healthcare professionals, pursuant to existing laws and regulations in each partner country. We are working with the Governments of Malaysia and Kenya to develop detailed implementation guidelines which will be published in due course. Our agreement with the Philippines confirms that United Kingdom recruiters will consider the national demand for healthcare in relation to the number of healthcare workers in the Philippines.
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 - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
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 - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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
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
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.