Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the emphasis on EU space programme co-operation in section 10.13 of the White Paper<i> The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union</i>, what plans they have to ensure coherent space research collaboration with the European Space Agency and Russia after the UK withdraws from the EU; and why such co-operation has not been included in the Draft Spaceflight Bill.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an international organisation, rather than an institution of the European Union. ESA programmes will continue to play an important role in delivering UK national space objectives and, in December 2016, the UK negotiated an investment of more than €1.4 billion over the next five years in ESA space initiatives. The UK will continue to collaborate with Russia through our subscription to ESA. The UK’s membership of the European Space Agency will not be affected by the UK leaving the EU and does not therefore require new legislative measures. The Draft Spaceflight Bill is intended to establish a national regulatory framework to enable launch from the UK.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Prime Minister’s statement that she favours greater industrial democracy in the UK, whether they intend to establish an all-party inquiry into this matter, along the same lines as the 1977 Bullock Report.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government is committed to strengthening the worker voice in the boardroom. The Government’s green paper on Corporate Governance Reform explored a range of options for strengthening the worker voice. The Government will publish its response in due course after analysing the responses it has received.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they are planning to publicise and explain the new arrangement for naming storms over the UK and Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Details on the naming of storms over the UK and Ireland, together with all the latest information about storms in the UK, are available on the Met Office website at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/barometer/uk-storm-centre.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the House of Lords Arctic Committee's <i>Responding to a Changing Arctic</i> report, what steps they are taking with other EU and Arctic Council countries to exchange data with Russia about the Arctic region, especially regarding the methane and dangerous greenhouse gases being generated in this region.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Arctic Council plays a key role in gathering and acting on evidence about environmental change in the region. As an Observer State, the UK engages periodically with the Arctic Council’s Black Carbon and Methane Expert Group, including through submitting its National Report on Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emissions Reduction in 2015. This was done alongside seven other nations and the EU.
In October 2016, scientists from UK, Russia, EU and Arctic Council countries met. One of the main issues discussed was the consequence of thawing permafrost in Russia. A key outcome of the discussions will be the development of a roadmap for future research, monitoring and collaboration.
The Government recognises the importance of understanding change in the Russian Arctic and looks forward to seeing valuable new opportunities arising from the new Agreement on Enhancing Arctic Scientific Cooperation reached by the Arctic States this year. This is expected to be signed and come into operation in 2017. The Government will continue to support UK scientific engagement with the Russian Arctic through the work of the Natural Environment Research Council Arctic Office and others.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in developing their policy on fracking, whether they have taken into account the number of earthquakes which measured 3.0 on the Richter Scale in Oklahoma and other places in the US where fracking has been carried out.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
We have ensured that strong controls are in place to mitigate seismic risks. Operators in the UK must avoid hydraulically fracturing near faults, and must monitor seismic activity before, during and after operations. Operations will halt if seismic activity exceeds a magnitude of 0.5 or greater on the Richter scale, and the pressure of fluid in the well will be reduced immediately.
Studies in the United States(1) have shown that most induced seismicity is caused by re-injection of waste and produced waters from oil and gas operations, both conventional and unconventional. Re-injection of waste and produced waters will not be permitted from shale gas wells in the UK.
(1) http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will work with universities in the UK and EU to ensure that exchange programmes similar to the Erasmus programme will continue after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The referendum result has no immediate effect on students abroad under the Erasmus scheme or applying for 2016/17. Payments will be made in the usual way. Access to the programme after we leave the EU is a matter for the forthcoming negotiations. Consideration of other options will depend on the outcome of these negotiations.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the average time in post of Trade Ministers of Her Majesty’s Government in (1) the last five years, and (2) the five years before that.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The average tenure of Ministers for Trade & Investment from 2011 until the departure of my noble Friend Lord Maude in March 2016 is 628 days or approximately 1 year, 8 months.
The average tenure of Ministers for Trade & Investment between 2006 and 2011 was 342 days or approximately 11 months.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will use their membership of UN agencies to establish relevant targets for reducing carbon emissions in (1) civil aviation, (2) shipping, and (3) agriculture and forestry, by 2020 as agreed at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
This Government is committed to tackling emissions from international aviation, international shipping and agriculture and forestry.
As inherently transnational in nature, international aviation and maritime emissions are regulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and are outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. The UK is working through the ICAO and IMO to develop mechanisms which deliver emissions reductions, in line with the long term goal agreed in Paris of keeping average global temperature rise well below 2 degrees. In 2016, the ICAO is set to agree a global market based measure, to offset emissions post-2020. The UK government is engaged in this process.
The Government is also committed to tackling emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and supporting the enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). The UK played a key role in the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, which set ambitious targets for halving (by 2020) and halting (by 2030) the loss of natural forests and eliminating deforestation from the production of key agricultural commodities by 2020. The new UN Sustainable Development Goals, agreed in September 2015, also include targets to halt deforestation, sustainably manage and restore natural forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally by 2020. At COP21 the UK endorsed a Leaders’ Statement on Forests which recognised the importance of these goals, as well as the progress on REDD+ under the UNFCCC.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether their policy for reducing carbon emissions in the UK over the next five years is consistent with their policy for reducing the average concentration of air pollution, and whether they will publish data relevant to that assessment.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Improving the quality of our air and reducing carbon emissions are important priorities for Her Majesty's Government. Later this year we will be publishing detailed plans on how we will deliver against Carbon Budgets, including information about how these measures can also support air quality objectives. Further information on the synergies across these policy objectives was outlined in DEFRA’s air quality plan, Improving Air Quality in the UK - tackling nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities, December 2015.