Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation they undertake with (1) district councils, and (2) parish councils, in whose area it is proposed to house immigrants awaiting assessment on their right to enter and remain in the UK.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The record number of people that have crossed the Channel in small boats in recent years has placed the Home Office’s asylum support infrastructure and accommodation services under immense pressure. Under the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999, the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide asylum seekers, who would otherwise be destitute, with accommodation and support whilst their claim is under consideration. Eligible asylum seekers are ordinarily placed in housing accommodation; however, the unprecedented number of small boat arrivals has forced the Home Office to consider alternative accommodation options to ensure that we meet our statutory obligations, which has resulted in the temporary use of hotels.
The use of hotels is a short term solution and we are working hard with Local Authorities and our accommodation providers to find more appropriate accommodation.
We have taken immediate steps to improve levels of engagement with key stakeholders including district and parish councils, around hotel accommodation sites to ensure colleagues are kept updated and better informed and to ensure we understand and act on any concerns appropriately and swiftly. These minimum standards will be reviewed regularly and, where possible, we will take steps to improve these standards.
We work closely with local authorities on full asylum dispersal to create a fairer distribution across the UK.
We do not routinely engage with members of the public regarding utilising hotels.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with other NATO members concerning the reasons why (1) Finland, and (2) Sweden, have not yet been granted full membership of NATO; and when they expect full membership for those countries to be achieved.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has engaged regularly with NATO Allies to advance the NATO accession process for Sweden and Finland. Once the Accession Protocols were signed, we expedited our ratification, recognising the importance of bringing both countries quickly into NATO. We continue to encourage all Allies to also ratify swiftly. Rapid integration into NATO will make both countries safer, the Alliance stronger, and the Euro-Atlantic area more secure.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 30 November (HL3473), whether they regard the Russian Wagner Group as a group whose behaviour is considered unacceptable by the international community.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Wagner Group is directly connected to the Russian state. The UK condemns Russia's use of such proxies in Ukraine. Wagner mercenaries are operating in Ukraine in support of Russian invasion, and are present in other conflict settings, including Mali and the Central African Republic, where they have a destabilising impact and are responsible for human rights abuses. We work closely with our international partners to counter the malign use of such proxies by Russia. We have designated both the Wagner Group, and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, under the Russia Sanctions Regime.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consular access is granted to (1) citizens of the UK who are in prison in a foreign country, and (2) those who are also citizens of that country in which they are imprisoned.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Consular access to nationals detained in another State is generally governed by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). Where a British national consents to the British Embassy or Consulate being informed about their detention, consular officers have the right to visit and communicate with them. The VCCR also states that these rights are to be exercised in conformity with the laws and regulations of the detaining State. The Government's ability to provide consular assistance remains at all times dependent on other states respecting the VCCR and must be done in accordance with the laws of that country. Providing assistance to dual nationals in their other country of nationality can be difficult and the help we can provide depends on what the host government will allow.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made regarding the conservation of Shrubland Hall in Suffolk, including ensuring that the listed structures are intact, since that property was put on the Heritage at Risk Register by Historic England in November 2021.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Shrubland Hall, associated structures and parkland remain on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. Historic England is continuing to work with the owners and the local authority, with the ambition of improving the condition of the buildings and parkland and putting in place appropriate conservation management planning, so that the site can be removed from the Register in due course.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to permanently exclude any person who is identified as (1) being, or (2) having been, a member of the Russian Wagner Group from entry to the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.
Travel bans restrict the movement of identified individuals associated with regimes or groups whose behaviour is considered unacceptable by the international community. A person who is the subject of a travel ban is an excluded person under section 8B of the Immigration Act 1971 and cannot lawfully enter or remain in the UK.
The Home Secretary can exclude a foreign national, where it is conducive to the public good. The Immigration Rules also provide for the refusal of entry clearance or permission to enter at the border if a person’s presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good because of their conduct, character, associations or other reasons.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 27 October (HL2738), when they expect to have a figure available for the expenditure on the winter fuel allowance during the year 2020–21.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The DWP benefit and expenditure tables show the outturn for winter fuel payments for the year 2020/21 to be £1,958 million in nominal terms.
Further detail can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2022
The Winter Fuel Payment statistics for 2020/21 and 2021/22 have now been published and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/winter-fuel-payments-caseload-and-household-figures
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that non-UK citizens who have access to information classified as sensitive to the national security of the UK or its allies, during their employment in the public service or with contractors to the Government, do not subsequently communicate such information to the government of their country of citizenship.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
Everyone who works with Government (including staff, contractors and service providers) has a duty of confidentiality and a responsibility to safeguard any HM Government information or data that they access, irrespective of whether it is marked or not, and must be provided with appropriate training. Access to sensitive information must ONLY be granted on the basis of a genuine 'need to know' and an appropriate personnel security control.
All Ministry of Defence personnel sign the Official Secrets Act Declaration upon employment and must complete annual mandatory security training which includes how to handle all Defence information.
Information passed to partners should only be provided to international organisations, foreign governments, and their commercial or industrial entities, in cases where: There is a clear need to know; The international partner has demonstrated both the ability and willingness to protect UK classified information; and appropriate protective security arrangements have been agreed with the recipient.
Any decision to provide UK classified information to international partners must be taken on a risk managed basis by departments and agencies, noting that the threats to information may differ from those in the UK.
For UK contractors, the prior approval of the relevant Department or agency must be obtained before HMG classified assets are released overseas.
Roles with access to sensitive information may also require the postholder to have an appropriate national security vetting clearance; as part of that process applicants’ ongoing overseas connections will be considered, and if a risk is identified as a result of such connections additional risk mitigation will be considered.
Additionally, caveats are used - the caveat UK Eyes Only is intended to limit access to UK nationals. Further information can be found in the May-2018_Government-Security-Classifications-2.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many households received the winter fuel allowance during the year 2021/22; what was the cost to public funds of this payment; and by how much the cost of the payment would have been reduced if it had been subject to income tax (1) on the same basis as is state retirement, and (2) only for taxpayers liable for higher rate 40 per cent income tax.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The latest published winter fuel payment statistics for 2019/20 show that 8.2 million households in Great Britain received a winter fuel payment. The overall cost was £2bn.
The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold details of individuals’ taxable income therefore we cannot calculate how much the cost of the payment would have been reduced if it had been subject to income tax (1) on the same basis as is state retirement, and (2) only for taxpayers liable for higher rate 40 per cent income tax.
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what would be the rate of attendance allowance for Members of the House of Lords in October 2022 if it had been uprated in line with inflation since it was introduced at £300.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Daily Allowance rate was introduced on 1 October 2010 at £300 per day. Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures for October 2022 are expected to be released by the Office for National Statistics on 16 November. It is therefore not yet possible to calculate a figure for the Daily Allowance adjusted for inflation by CPI for the month of October 2022.
Based on September CPI figures, if the Daily Allowance rate had been adjusted annually for inflation, it would be £417 per day from 1 September 2022.