Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the White Paper on the future of football governance will include detailed protections for key items of a club’s heritage.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Her Majesty’s Government has published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan-Led Review of Football Governance. Her Majesty’s Government has accepted the recommendation that there should be additional protection for key items of club heritage and more detail will be published in the forthcoming White Paper.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether he will table a motion to propose amendments to the Code of Conduct to allow Members of the House who are found by the Commissioners for Standards to have broken the Code to have a right of verbal appeal against any (1) report, or (2) sanction, against them.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
I have consulted the Chair of the Conduct Committee in preparing this answer.
The Guide to the Code of Conduct gives members a full right of appeal against the findings of the Commissioners for Standards. In March 2020 the House agreed that the Conduct Committee should, having considered any written appeal, be authorised to decide whether an in-person hearing is necessary. I have no plans to invite the Conduct Committee to look again at this issue.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, what was the purpose of the meeting between the Prime Minister and Sue Gray in May.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Prime Minister discussed the process and procedure on timings and publication arrangements. The findings and contents of the Second Permanent Secretary’s independent report was a matter for her, as the Prime Minister made clear in his oral statement on 25 May 2022.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support families, particularly those on low incomes, to meet the continued guidance to test for COVID-19 before visiting care homes.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Most visitors to care homes will no longer need to test before entering a care setting. Visitors are asked to take necessary precautions to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, in line with general population guidance. There are a small number of residents who need support with personal care from a visitor with whom they have a close relationship. These visitors may be asked to test before entering, up to twice weekly if visiting more than twice, with free lateral flow device tests available.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that over 570,000 women in the UK are currently waiting to access gynaecology services; and what steps they are taking to address gynaecology waiting lists in England.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The latest available data shows that as of January 2022, there were 456,938 women on National Health Service gynaecology waiting lists in England.
To address the backlog in waiting lists, including in gynaecology, we are investing more than £8 billion over the next three years, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available to increase elective activity.
This funding aims to deliver the equivalent of approximately nine million more checks, scans and procedures and 30% more elective activity by 2024/25 compared to pre-pandemic levels, including in gynaecology services.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce laws surrounding trade union consultation; and what plans they have to ban the practice of fire-and-rehire.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has been consistent in condemning the inappropriate use of firing and rehiring tactics during negotiations. As the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State wrote in the other place on Tuesday 29 March, the Government will now bring forward statutory code later this year, under section 203 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Under section 204 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the Secretary of State is required to publish a draft and consider any representations. The Department will engage with trade unions as part of that consultation. The scope of the Code and its remedies will be in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The Legislation to lay the code will be introduced when parliamentary time allows and will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they have for foreign bodies (1) owning, and (2) investing, in football teams in England; and what measures they have in place to safeguard the interests of fans.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The ownership of football clubs is, and has historically been, a matter for the football authorities, not for HM Government.
The tests for ownership of clubs were raised in the report of the Fan-Led Review which recommended stronger tests independently administered by a new independent regulator.
HM Government is considering the recommendations of the Review, including those made on enhancing the existing owners’ and directors’ tests, and working swiftly to determine the most effective way to deliver an independent regulator.
We will issue a formal response to the Fan-Led Review in the coming weeks.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the ongoing safe standing trial in English football, what consideration they have given to alternative crowd safety systems such as those that involve pressure monitoring.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) advises HM Government on safety at sports grounds. The SGSA monitors developments in both technology and practice and keeps all of its guidance, including the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide), under review.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the top 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country, as determined by the indices of multiple deprivation.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The most recent iteration of the English Indices of Deprivation was published in September 2019 and all resources are available online here - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019
File 1 provides relative ranks and deciles for all small areas or neighbourhoods across England for the combined Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) measure. File 10 provides relative ranks for Local Authority districts as at time of publication and the Frequently Asked Questions document provides guidance on how to produce decile rankings as required.
Asked by: Lord Pendry (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in light of Derby County Football Club’s financial situation, what plans they have to increase fan involvement in football governance; and what discussions have they had with the English Football League on (1) whether alleged financial mismanagement at Derby County Football Club could have been avoided, and (2) what the implications of this are for financial governance in football.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government continues to engage on a regular basis with the English Football League and the administrator about Derby County Football Club. The additional financial impacts of COVID 19, to the club and to the wider football sector, were significant. We have supported the football sector throughout the pandemic, from the early return to behind closed doors, to provisions for international players and teams to honour their playing commitments, and more recently supporting mitigation for capacity crowds. Furthermore, we distributed over £25 million to National League clubs through the Sport Survival Package which ensured their survival.
The final report of the Fan Led Review is a thorough and detailed examination of the challenges faced by English football now and in the future. Whilst the Government cannot retrospectively intervene, we intend to improve future outcomes for clubs and their communities. The Government welcomes the findings of the Review and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government will now consider the detail of all the recommendations, including those made on improving fan engagement and ensuring future financial stability, and work at pace to determine the most effective way to deliver an independent regulator, and any powers that might be needed.