Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House, with regard to the 19 questions for written answer that remained unanswered after 10 working days on 12 February, how many of the answering bodies have not sent an apology to the questioner for the delay in responding.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As Leader of the House, I take my duty to represent the House to His Majesty’s Government with the utmost seriousness. Central to this is ensuring that Peers have their questions answered in a timely fashion by all departments. Over the recent months, I have reminded all Front Bench Ministers of their duty to respond to Written Questions within the 10 day target.
In addition to this, my Office routinely contacts departments who have breached this target to ascertain the reasons why their deadlines have been missed. As an indication of how seriously I have taken this issue, I have also written to the Permanent Secretaries of departments and met individually with Front Bench Ministers who repeatedly miss the target.
I believe an apology is appropriate in such circumstances, but that it is a matter for each individual department to determine.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government which military assets, such as airports, the government of Saudi Arabia has made available to other members of the NATO Alliance currently mounting operations against the Houthi.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
His Majesty's Government can confirm that Saudi Arabia have not made any military assets available to any NATO members in any operations against the Houthis.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of gross domestic product each member of the NATO Alliance spends on defence.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
NATO allies' defence spending data, including as a percentage of GDP, is published on the NATO website. The latest figures are from July 2023 and are due to be updated in February 2024.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what reservations have been made by the International Board of Auditors for NATO in their most recent annual report with regard to the organisation's financial management.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The International Board of Auditors (IBAN) produces an annual report for the North Atlantic Council. Their reports on the 2021 Financial Statement Audit of the Reporting Entities and main findings of these audits are publicly available and can be found at:
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_111782.htm
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by The Earl of Minto on 18 July (HL9088), whether they will now answer the question which was asked.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We do not collate information across government regarding the sums spent on supporting the steel industry in Wales.
We have provided £730mn in energy costs relief to the UK steel sector since 2013. However, we are unable to publish a breakdown of the value of energy intensive industry cost relief schemes to the steel sector in Wales. Doing so would be disclosive, enabling some companies or third parties to calculate how much support other companies have received. Steel companies in Wales will also benefit from the British Industry Supercharger measures to reduce energy costs for energy intensive industries.
As previously set out, industrial sectors, including the steel sector in Wales, have also been able to bid into Government funds worth hundreds of millions of pounds to support energy efficiency and de-carbonisation. For example, Cardiff-based Celsa Steel UK has been awarded grants totalling £5,295,451 from Phase 1 of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. Celsa has also successfully repaid a £30mn Government loan, which supported 1800 jobs.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House what explanations he has had from the Department for Health and Social Care concerning their failure to answer 18 questions for written answer, dating back to 19 April, within the recommended time.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As Leader of the House I see it as essential that Noble Lords receive accurate and timely responses to all written questions tabled to His Majesty's Government. For that reason, I have spoken to all Front Bench Ministers regarding the importance of adhering to the 10 working day window for response to questions for written answer. I have also written to the Permanent Secretary of DHSC to reiterate the importance of his department responding to peers within this timeframe, as well as urging them to clear the backlog as soon as possible.
My office has contacted DHSC regarding their repeated failure to meet the 10 day target for response. After the significant disruption caused to the delivery of parliamentary support to the House of Lords by the COVID-19 pandemic, the DHSC parliamentary team has implemented a Written Parliamentary Question Recovery Plan to deal with the backlog of written questions. This recovery plan has led to significant improvements in their performance. However, your question clearly highlights that there is more work to do to ensure that all questions are answered within the 10 day target. Parliament rightly expects that more work will be done on this matter.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 27 April (HL7223), whether they will now answer the questions asked.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in our previous response, the UK has a robust process in place to ensure that prohibited medicinal products are not used during the production of meat imported into the UK. This includes the use of hormone implants.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provisions were included in the recent negotiations on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to improve free trade arrangements in the financial services sector; and whether this was part of His Majesty's Government's negotiating position.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The high standard Financial Services chapter in CPTPP opens financial service markets between members, expanding opportunities for UK financial services and easing frictions to cross-border trade and investment. Joining will open up new markets to UK firms, including improved commitments which reduce red tape and cut costs. At the same time, CPTPP members retain the ability to regulate financial markets and institutions for legitimate public policy purposes.
The Financial Services chapter was one of the core market access areas considered during the UK’s negotiations to accede to CPTPP. The full treaty text will be laid before Parliament following legal review.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government (1) whether they have a reliable test to check whether beef imported from outside the European Union has been previously subjected to hormone implants, and if so, (2) when this test was introduced, and (3) where and by whom the test was developed.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All UK imports for products of animal origin from outside the EU currently require health certificates, including bovine meat products. The GB health certificates contain information on animal health status and human health risk. These health attestations confirms that the farmer has not used any prohibited medicinal products during production and that maximum residue levels for veterinary medicines have been respected. This information is confirmed, and the health certificate signed by, an official veterinarian in the exporting country.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there is a reason why the meeting of the Accession Council on the death of the Sovereign needs to be held in St James’ Palace.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
St. James’s Palace is the senior Royal Palace in the United Kingdom and the Court of St. James is the Royal Court to which all Realm High Commissioners are accredited. St. James’s Palace has therefore long been agreed to be the most appropriate setting for the Accession Council.