Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the <i>List of Ministerial Responsibilities</i> published by the Cabinet Office in October (1) describes Earl Howe as Parliamentary under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, (2) omits the Private Office telephone numbers for the Treasury ministers, (3) gives unobtainable numbers for Cabinet Office and Department of Health ministers, and (4) gives incorrect numbers for some Home Office ministers including Baroness Williams of Trafford; and whether they will issue a corrected edition of the publication.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
The Government is grateful to the Noble Lord for drawing attention to these points. We are updating the List of Ministerial Responsibilities in both electronic and paper form.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 7 September (HL Deb, col 1213) that a Peer who is a special adviser will be able to vote but not contribute to debates, by whose authority this rule was established, and on which occasions it has been applied.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
It has been accepted practice under successive administrations that special advisers can vote but not speak.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether fresh Parliamentary approval would be needed for the United Kingdom to take any military action against ISIS inside Syria.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to the convention that has developed that, before troops are committed to conflict, the House of Commons should have an opportunity to debate the matter except when there was an emergency and such action would not be appropriate.
That convention has been recorded in the Cabinet Manual. The Government’s commitment to it has been demonstrated by the decision to request the recall of Parliament on 26 September 2014 to debate the UK supporting the Iraqi and coalition military campaign against ISIL in Iraq, including the use of UK air strikes.
The Government is committed to the existing constitutional arrangement, which provides an effective framework by which to engage Parliament in conflict decisions. However, the Prime Minister has made clear that he would act immediately and explain to Parliament afterwards if there were ever a need to do so, such as if a critical British national interest was at stake or if there was a need to act to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will include Home Office arm's length bodies such as the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the College of Policing in future editions of the List of Ministerial Responsibilities.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The List of Ministerial Responsibilities includes executive agencies within each department along with non-ministerial departments.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Home Office. The College of Policing is a professional body that has been established as a company, limited by guarantee and an arm’s length body of the Home Office, with the Home Secretary the sole owner. The National Fraud Authority was dissolved in March 2014. On 1 October, HM Passport Office ceased to be an executive agency of the Home Office and now reports directly to Home Office ministers.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why HM Passport Office and the National Fraud Authority were not included in the List of Ministerial Responsibilities published by the Cabinet Office in November 2014; whether they will be included in future editions; and whether in the meantime they will publish the details in the <i>Official Report</i>.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The List of Ministerial Responsibilities includes executive agencies within each department along with non-ministerial departments.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Home Office. The College of Policing is a professional body that has been established as a company, limited by guarantee and an arm’s length body of the Home Office, with the Home Secretary the sole owner. The National Fraud Authority was dissolved in March 2014. On 1 October, HM Passport Office ceased to be an executive agency of the Home Office and now reports directly to Home Office ministers.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many immigrants from (1) Bulgaria, and (2) Romania, arrived in the United Kingdom in each month during 2014.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which groups of employees in the public sector are reimbursed for official use of private cars at a higher rate than 45 pence per mile and why.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not hold the information requested.
In the Civil Service, departments and agencies have delegated authority to determine their own policy on the reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by their staff on official business, subject to the rules in Chapter 8 of the Civil Service Management Code: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-servants-terms-and-conditions
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will update the list of Special Advisers in post, in respect of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, published by the Cabinet Office on 25 October 2013, showing in addition to the names and salaries the policy areas for which each Special Adviser is responsible.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
An updated list of special advisers will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will update the list of Special Advisers in post, in respect of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, published by the Cabinet Office on 25 October 2013 showing, in addition to the names and salaries, the policy areas for which each Special Adviser is responsible.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Saltaire - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
The Government will publish an updated list in due course in line with the commitment within the Ministerial Code.