Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide extra funding to the Electoral Commission to enable a bigger publicity campaign to be run over a shorter timescale to highlight the requirement to present photo voter ID.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is working closely with the Electoral Commission and local authorities to introduce voter identification at elections from May 2023.
The Electoral Commission is a body independent of the Government and is accountable to the UK Parliament. Funding of its duties including public awareness raising campaigns is a matter for the Speaker's Committee of the House of Commons.
The Voter Authority Certificate Application Service will go live on 16 January 2023 and updates on applications will be provided in due course.
Data will be collected by Returning Officers, including on incidences of electors not providing acceptable voter identification in polling stations, to inform the Electoral Commission and DLUHC evaluations of polls in May and the two future UK Parliamentary General Elections.
The department has an extensive change network including local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations which is supporting the implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Electoral Commission about when the publicity campaign for the Voter ID website will commence.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is working closely with the Electoral Commission and local authorities to introduce voter identification at elections from May 2023.
The Electoral Commission is a body independent of the Government and is accountable to the UK Parliament. Funding of its duties including public awareness raising campaigns is a matter for the Speaker's Committee of the House of Commons.
The Voter Authority Certificate Application Service will go live on 16 January 2023 and updates on applications will be provided in due course.
Data will be collected by Returning Officers, including on incidences of electors not providing acceptable voter identification in polling stations, to inform the Electoral Commission and DLUHC evaluations of polls in May and the two future UK Parliamentary General Elections.
The department has an extensive change network including local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations which is supporting the implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the website for people to apply for a free voter ID will be available to use.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is working closely with the Electoral Commission and local authorities to introduce voter identification at elections from May 2023.
The Electoral Commission is a body independent of the Government and is accountable to the UK Parliament. Funding of its duties including public awareness raising campaigns is a matter for the Speaker's Committee of the House of Commons.
The Voter Authority Certificate Application Service will go live on 16 January 2023 and updates on applications will be provided in due course.
Data will be collected by Returning Officers, including on incidences of electors not providing acceptable voter identification in polling stations, to inform the Electoral Commission and DLUHC evaluations of polls in May and the two future UK Parliamentary General Elections.
The department has an extensive change network including local authorities, Valuation Joint Boards, and electoral organisations which is supporting the implementation of voter identification in May 2023 and beyond.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made as to whether Freedom of Information principles require the release of the responsibilities and names of all senior civil servants.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The guidance for departments to publish their SCS transparency data remains in place, and all departments have published at least once since 1st April 2022.
Each department publishes its departmental organograms on data.gov.uk as part of the Government’s commitment to transparency. In order to do so, departments individually collect and present data including names, grades, job titles, and annual pay ranges from Permanent Secretary through to SCS2. Information for those at SCS1 is anonymised.
The decision to only publish names for SCS2 and above dates back to 2010, and was made on the grounds of proportionality and reasonable expectations of privacy. The guidance for publication of SCS transparency data was reconfirmed in 2017, and has been reviewed regularly to ensure that it is still appropriate and provides the information that the public might reasonably need.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they have ceased publishing the responsibilities and names of all senior civil servants, including those at the SCS1 grade, in all departments of central government.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The guidance for departments to publish their SCS transparency data remains in place, and all departments have published at least once since 1st April 2022.
Each department publishes its departmental organograms on data.gov.uk as part of the Government’s commitment to transparency. In order to do so, departments individually collect and present data including names, grades, job titles, and annual pay ranges from Permanent Secretary through to SCS2. Information for those at SCS1 is anonymised.
The decision to only publish names for SCS2 and above dates back to 2010, and was made on the grounds of proportionality and reasonable expectations of privacy. The guidance for publication of SCS transparency data was reconfirmed in 2017, and has been reviewed regularly to ensure that it is still appropriate and provides the information that the public might reasonably need.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plagiarism detection software government employees have access to; whether this software is used to review government publications before release; and what penalties are applied to staff found to have submitted plagiarised work for publication.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Individual departments are responsible for their own software procurements. As such, a list of plagiarism software available to government employees is not held centrally by Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the draft secondary legislation consequent to enactment of the Elections Bill, requested by the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, before the Bill receives its second reading in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Electoral law is complex and it is vital that we get the detail right. We are working at pace on the secondary legislation and will share further detail with Parliament as soon we are in a position to.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish a full list of the passengers on board British Airways Flight 149, which departed London on 1 August 1990.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
All of the records which the FCDO identified in its holdings relating to events surrounding the landing of Flight BA149 in Kuwait in August 1990 were released by The National Archives on 23 November subject to any legal exemptions. Further information about the FCDO's record release programme is available at www.gov.uk/archive-records
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to replace the role of the Lord Chancellor in the instance of absence and incapacity of the Sovereign with the Lord Speaker in the next revision of the Cabinet Manual.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Government has no plans to make changes with respect to the roles outlined in Section 2 of the Regency Act.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Saltaire (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Guernsey still declares its contribution to the maintenance of the Alderney breakwater as their contribution to UK defence; and whether Guernsey makes other contributions to UK defence.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The UK is constitutionally responsible for the defence and international relations of the Crown Dependencies (CDs), in recognition of which the CDs make voluntary contributions to the UK Government, either financially (directly and indirectly) or by providing military personnel. As these are general contributions in recognition of the UK’s overall responsibilities, and as it is in the interests of the UK to represent the whole British family internationally, these contributions are not intended to reflect the exact cost of either defending the Crown Dependencies or representing them internationally.
The Isle of Man makes a direct monetary contribution to the Consolidated Fund at HM Treasury. The Isle of Man’s payments are broken down in Table 1 below.
Table 1
Financial year | Isle of Man direct monetary contribution |
2020-21 | £3,236,233.76 |
2019-20 | £3,177,762.92 |
2018-19 | £3,121,881.25 |
2017-18 | £3,076,351.25 |
2016-17 | £3,032,381.72 |
2015-16 | £2,981,692.94 |
The Bailiwick of Jersey’s contribution is to maintain an Army Reserve Unit (the Jersey Field Squadron, part of the Royal Engineers) on the island. Jersey pays the UK Ministry of Defence’s costs associated with the Jersey Field Squadron and meets the on-island costs directly. Jersey’s total contribution can be found in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Year | Bailiwick of Jersey contributions |
2020 | £1,532,678.00 |
2019 | £1,514,701.00 |
2018 | £1,063,833.00 |
2017 | £1,065,461.00 |
2016 | £1,252,121.00 |
2015 | £1,069,039.00 |
The Bailiwick of Guernsey makes part of its contribution in the form of payment of passport fees, which are passed to the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ), these are subsequently paid over to the Consolidated Fund at HM Treasury. Guernsey also accepts ownership of the breakwater in Alderney and is responsible for its repair, management and maintenance. Guernsey’s contributions can be found in Table 3 below.
Table 3
Financial year | Bailiwick of Guernsey passport fees | Year | Bailiwick of Guernsey Alderney breakwater costs |
2020-21 | £287,812.00 * | 2020 | £521,750.00 |
2019-20 | £546,778.00 | 2019 | £482,351.00 |
2018-19 | £513,442.00 | 2018 | £515,633.00 |
2017-18 | £460,437.04 | 2017 | £302,702.00 |
2016-17 | £453,353.15 | 2016 | £473,930.00 |
2015-16 | £463,624.80 | 2015 | £442,154.00 |
*Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of passport fees from the Bailiwick of Guernsey in respect of 2020 was delayed and therefore receipted in 2021-22. £287,812.00 was received in June 2021 in respect of January 2020 to December 2020 and this amount will be reported in the MoJ Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2022. The 2020-21 figure for Guernsey passport fees is lower than previous years, as Guernsey received a reduced number of passport applications due to the Covid-19 pandemic.