Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of leaving the EU on businesses that trade with Europe, and how those businesses may communicate that impact.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with my noble Friend.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Forestry Commission permits forms of shooting on any of its land in circumstances which fall within its definition of "free shooting".
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission only associates the term free-shooting with the control of grey squirrels for the protection of red squirrel populations and the reduction of damage to timber crops, not any other wildlife management activity.
There may be occasions where free-shooting takes place by the holders of Game Shooting Leases or by its own wildlife rangers. There may also be free-shooting of grey squirrels carried out where there are retained sporting rights over which the Forestry Commission does not exercise any direct control.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many grey squirrels were culled on the public estate in each Forest District of England and Wales in each of the last three years; and how many were culled by (1) trapping, and (2) shooting, in each of the years in each of the Districts.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission does not hold records of the numbers of squirrels killed on the public forest estate in England. The Forestry Commission ceased to operate in Wales on 1 April 2013 with the creation of Natural Resources Wales and we do not hold any information on grey squirrel culling on the Welsh Government woodland estate.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 1 February (HL5225) about grey squirrel control, what is their definition of "free shooting".
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government does not have a standard definition for the free-shooting of grey squirrels. However, Forestry Commission England considers free-shooting of grey squirrels to be where they are shot in any circumstances other than after having been live trapped, lured into or located in a pre-prepared area with, for example, a ground feeding station and high seat to facilitate shooting with a safe backstop.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people in England have been killed or injured during grey squirrel control with guns during the last decade.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
This information is not held centrally. I can confirm that the Forestry Commission in England does not have any record of anyone being killed or injured during grey squirrel control with guns on the Public Forest Estate in the last decade. However, it does not hold any record of incidents elsewhere.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Forestry Commission refuses to allow the use of air rifles by experienced, trained, and insured volunteers as part of an integrated programme for grey squirrel control.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Landowners are free to choose any legal method to control grey squirrels on their own land and to choose the methods they believe to be most effective and appropriate in any location. However, Forestry Commission England currently considers that free shooting has limited effectiveness in controlling grey squirrel populations, with better, more effective methods often available. In addition, the majority of the public forest estate has unrestricted public access and public safety is of paramount importance. For these reasons the Commission does not allow the shooting of grey squirrels by volunteers on its land. Volunteers are, nevertheless, an essential part of controlling grey squirrels and control methodologies continue to be developed and evaluated against the criteria of efficacy, safety and animal welfare. The Commission is additionally encouraging improvements to other methods of control including trapping, as well as assessing the findings of a recent study from Ireland which suggested that an increased pine marten population may result in a reduced grey squirrel population.
The Commission is seriously concerned about the negative impact of grey squirrel populations on woodland and specifically on native woodland. The Government is committed to pursuing co-ordinated action at a national level and in conjunction with partners through the Squirrel Accord, to which both Defra and Forestry Commission England are signatories. Work is continuing to improve the effectiveness of control methods; the structure of grants has been changed to support grey squirrel control and substantial work continues with partners to support our red squirrel populations, including through the control of grey squirrels. The Commission is open to further engagement with national and local organisations as well as landowners sharing our commitment to grey squirrel control for the protection of woodland and red squirrel populations.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the social security benefits budget last had a clean and unqualified audit report from the NAO.
Answered by Lord Freud
It is the DWP consolidated resource account (not budget) that is audited each year by NAO.
In his certificate of the 2014/15 accounts the Comptroller and Auditor General stated to the House of Commons that, in his opinion, the Department’s financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Department’s and the Departmental Group’s affairs as at 31 March 2015.
The consolidated resource account has been given a qualified regularity opinion in each of the years that it has been audited (since 1999-00) because of the level of fraud and error in certain benefits.
The qualification is due to material amounts of fraud & error in benefit expenditure. In the 14/15 accounts this was estimated at 1.9% of benefit expenditure, the eventual outturn was 1.8%.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many EU directives have been transposed into UK law without any additional material being included since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and what percentage of the total number of directives transposed that number represents.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, in July 2011 the Government put in place its Guiding Principles for EU Legislation, which state that the Government will not go beyond the minimum requirements of the measure which is being transposed, save in exceptional circumstances. Since the Guiding Principles have applied there have been only five instances of new “gold-plating” of EU Directives that have placed additional costs on business which is attached.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 20 July (HL1072), in the light of imminent decisions regarding the BBC's Charter, why they have made no estimate of when television will be delivered predominantly across the internet.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government’s BBC Charter Review public consultation is open until 8 October and no decisions on the BBC’s Charter are imminent.
Further to my answer of 20 July to Question HL1072, there is already a range of industry research on the future of television distribution and a wide variety of views about migration to internet protocol distribution of television services. This includes the 'Future of Innovation in Television Technology Report,' which DCMS officials contributed to, and which was published by the cross-television industry Digital Television Group in May 2014.
In May 2014, Ofcom's discussion document ‘The Future of Free to View TV’, also considered which trends that might make universal distribution of internet protocol television possible. In the statement on the future of 700Mhz spectrum, Ofcom concluded that: 'digital terrestrial television is likely to retain this central role over the next decade, with a full switch to alternative technologies such as IPTV not appearing until at least 2030'.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of when television will be delivered predominantly across the internet.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government has made no estimate of when this will happen.