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 - Shadow Minister (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 - Shadow Minister (Defence)
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 - Shadow Minister (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 - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
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 - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
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
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 - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
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 - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
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.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps were taken to inform members of the Privy Council that they had been unsuccessful in the ballot to attend the meeting of the Accession Council on the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Privy Counsellors who applied to enter the ballot to attend the meeting of the Accession Council and were unsuccessful were advised individually of the outcome by the Privy Council Office shortly after the ballot was conducted.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they have not answered a Question for Written Answer (HL4285) which was tabled in December 2022.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
There was a technical issue on the answering system WQA – HL4258 was renumbered as HL5062 because Table Office are unable to resolve this technical issue.
HL5062 was answered on 3 February 2023.