Lord Trefgarne

The number of Peers attending the Chamber for the State Opening of Parliament is not recorded; but all of the approximately 180 available spaces for Members of the House were occupied for the State Opening this year. This figure does not include 14 Lords spiritual or eight members of the House who were either part of the procession or hold certain offices and were present in the Chamber due to the offices they hold. We do not have records to say how this compares to previous State Openings.

The House of Lords provides support for Members, staff and visitors to Parliament affected by hearing loss through the use of audio loop and infrared systems that help to amplify sound for hearing aid users. Loop systems are installed in the Chamber and all Committee rooms, with infrared systems additionally available within Committee rooms 1 to 4, 2A, 3A and the Moses Room. Handheld radio transmitters are also available to hearing-aid users when in the Chamber, to reduce interference from electrical equipment and improve the quality of sound provided by the audio loop.

We are currently exploring options to provide an audio description service for Chamber and Committee proceedings. This will provide blind and partially sighted members, committee witnesses and members of the public with a voiced description of which member or witness is currently speaking, transmitted directly via an audio service. A feasibility study was commissioned in January 2019 and will report back later this year.

Further microphones are due to be added to the Chamber this year, which will improve the quality of service provided to hearing aid users. A greater number of microphones situated closer to the people speaking minimises background noise and gives a cleaner sound on the audio which is sent directly to hearing aids via the loop system. The large number of microphones used in Committee meetings, whether automated or operated by an engineer, help to keep the sound clear and maximise the quality of sound experienced by hearing aid users.

For those with hearing impairments which do not require the use of a hearing aid, overall audibility in Committee Rooms 2A, 3A and 4A is generally good. In Committee rooms 1 to 4, however, factors such as high ceilings and furniture arrangements mean that the current acoustic set-up is sub-optimal. A facilities upgrade is currently being trialled in House of Commons Committee Room 6 and, subject to approval, House of Lords Committee rooms will also benefit from these improvements in due course. There are also plans to replace the speakers embedded in the benches within the Chamber next year, which should deliver improvements to general levels of audibility.

The business of the House is of course dependent upon Members, staff and visitors such as committee witnesses being able to hear and be heard, although the capacity to deliver improvements can sometimes be limited by the nature of operations in a building with heritage restrictions. Equality Impact Assessments will be carried out as part of the Restoration and Renewal process, during which extensive works are likely to offer the potential for further improvements to facilities. In the interim, the Director of Facilities would be happy to speak to any member with specific suggestions for improvement.

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chairman of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. The conservation of the wall paintings ‘Trafalgar’ and ‘Waterloo’ will be completed this year. Phase 3 of the programme is currently underway (4-22 Feb inclusive), and subject to permissions, Phase 4 (final phase) will be booked for October 2019 and will complete the conservation treatment. Discussions are ongoing regarding possible future work on adjustments to the lighting of the wall paintings to further improve their presentation.

The Elizabeth Tower refurbishment project, with a budget of £61 million jointly funded by the two Houses, is intended to conserve and prevent further deterioration of the Elizabeth Tower, including the Great Clock; ensure its fire safety compliance; improve the health and safety of the Elizabeth Tower for Members, staff and the public; improve the security and the efficiency of emergency evacuations; and improve the efficiency of the tours in the Elizabeth Tower. No works are required to be undertaken on the Great Bell (“Big Ben”) itself. The project is due for completion in 2021.

Work on the project is progressing well. For instance, all elements of the Great Clock, and all cast iron roof components, have been removed from the Tower for conservation work and glazing, gilding and paint stripping work are continuing. Work on restoring the original colour scheme for the clock dials is well advanced. Arrangements have been made to ensure the Great Bell is sounded to mark Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day, and to ring in the New Year on New Year’s Eve.

The Finance Committee receives regular updates on the progress of the project.

There is frequent and direct contact between Black Rod’s department and the Police, and with the local authorities and Transport for London, for appropriate arrangements to avoid or mitigate any predicted or potential disruption of Members’ access to the House.

Both the police and CPS are independent of Government and save in cases which require his consent to prosecute the Attorney General has no role to play in the decision to apply to a court for a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The alleged offence in this case did not require Attorney General’s consent and he was not, therefore, consulted prior to the application for a warrant.

After the EAW had been obtained, as superintending Minister for the CPS, the Attorney General did discuss the case with the CPS; but the decision to apply to withdraw the warrant remained entirely that of the CPS.

In the present Government there are five unpaid Ministers who are members of the House of Lords and three unpaid Ministers who are members of the House of Commons.

There are three unpaid Ministers of State and three unpaid Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State in the House of Lords. A full list of ministers by department is already in the public domain on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers.

The Bill is fully compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights. Both Strasbourg and domestic case law has established that the right to participate in the work of the House of Lords does not engage the Articles of the Convention.

I refer my noble friend to the answer I gave to Lord Jopling on 26 September, Official Report, Column WA399 and WA400. For reference, as of November 2014, there are three Ministers who are members of the House of Commons and ten Ministers who are members of the House of Lords who are not in receipt of a ministerial salary.

Under the Enterprise Act 2002, Ministers have powers to intervene in mergers that raise public interest considerations of national security, media plurality and financial stability.

In October 2017, the Government also published a Green Paper on proposals for long-term reform of the arrangements for the scrutiny of investments in relation to national security. The public consultation has now closed and the Government will bring forward a White Paper later this year.

The Government has no such plans. There are 20 qualifications in agriculture, countryside management and environment sustainability for 16-19 year olds that meet the Government’s quality standards for reporting in school and college performance tables. The Department for Education is currently considering qualifications for teaching from September 2015, and we are hopeful that new land-based provision will be approved against our standards for 14-16 year olds.

Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and reducing demand and leakage as part of the ‘twin track approach’.

There is already a large amount of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies are finalising revisions to their statutory water resource management plans. These plans set out how they will meet demand for water over at least the next 25 years and many include further transfer schemes.

Ofwat, working with the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate, recently established the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development which will make sure regulation enables strategic schemes to improve resilience of water supplies. Such schemes might include water transfers.

We are developing a National Policy Statement for water resources infrastructure which will streamline the planning process for nationally significant water resource infrastructure including large water transfers. We plan to lay the final version of this document in Parliament in the autumn.

The Government is working closely with other water regulators and the water industry to improve the resilience of water supplies. The Government recognises continued action is required and it is committed to a ‘twin track approach’ of reducing demand for water and increasing supply in parallel.

Water companies have a statutory duty to provide clean and reliable water to customers under the Water Industry Act 1991. To fulfil this duty, there is a statutory requirement to maintain water resources management plans, which balance water supply and demand at least twenty-five years into the future.

The Government, Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat issued guidance to water companies in 2016 on how they should be planning to be resilient to foreseeable risks, including taking appropriate action to respond to climate projections. Water companies are currently revising their plans.

The Government is taking steps to improve water resources planning to ensure that there is better collaboration between water companies and other water using sectors on their water supply resilience. This includes the EA developing a National Framework for water resources, which will identify high priority water users who are unable to meet their demand or are likely to need to expand and set expectations on collaboration at a regional scale. The Government has also consulted on legislative improvements to ensure that water companies’ plans are informed by effective collaboration.

The EA is also implementing the abstraction plan published in 2017. This includes work to bring together the EA, abstractors and catchment groups to develop local solutions to existing pressures and to prepare for the future.

The Government published an ambitious new Resources and Waste strategy in December last year, which sets out our plans to reduce plastic pollution and our commitment to eliminate avoidable plastic waste. This includes avoidable plastic waste from agriculture. While this material is recyclable, it can often be contaminated, making the recycling process uneconomic. Our proposals in the strategy will incentivise the production and use of plastic packaging which is readily recyclable, and we are providing funding for innovation in plastic waste treatment. We are also exploring how Government policy can further address this issue in partnership with the Waste and Resources Action Programme.

The Government recognises the need to increase the long term security of water supplies. Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and the reduction of demand and leakage. The Government made this clear in its strategic policy statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan.

There is already a large quantity of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resource management plans in which further regional transfer schemes are being considered.

Interim Parliamentary Under Secretary of State David Rutley made clear the importance of joined up working between regulators and industry to achieve the best solutions for future resilience in his recent letter to the chief executive of Ofwat, the economic regulator. The letter provided the Government’s initial view on the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on water and has been published on GOV.UK.

The Government is negotiating our exit from the European Union. Defra is working with the Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future arrangements including for the health conditions that will be applicable to movements of animals between the UK and the European Union.