Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 26 March (HL Deb, col 1709), what plans they have to fill the vacancies in the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
There are currently only two vacancies in the Order of the Companions of Honour. The maximum membership of the Order is 65 people. There have been 28 appointments to the Order since 2014, including five appointments in 2018 and one in 2019. The independent honours committees work closely with Government departments to seek and attract nominees with a wide breadth of outstanding achievement. The committees actively seek to make use of the Order.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to undertake a feasibility study of online voting, following the recommendation of the report Cost of Voting by WebRoots Democracy published on 6 November.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government notes the recommendations in the WebRoots Democracy report. The Government is committed to building a modern democracy that works for everyone. The introduction of electronic voting (‘e-Voting’) would require very careful consideration.
The selection of elected representatives for Parliament is regarded as requiring the highest possible level of integrity and, at present, there are concerns that e-Voting, by any means, is not seen by many to be suitably rigorous and secure, and could be vulnerable to attack or fraud. To provide a system over which there are doubts to part of the electorate would not be appropriate. Furthermore, the Electoral Commission in their reports on the 2007 e-Voting pilots found that it had little direct effect on increasing turnout.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many meetings of (1) the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary), and (2) the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations), they intend to convene in 2018.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary) and the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) are subject to agreement by all four Administrations. JMC(EN) met most recently on 16 October and agreed to meet again before Christmas.
The Memorandum of Understanding agreed between the UK Government and Devolved Administrations states that the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary) should meet at least once a year. The UK Government and the Devolved Administrations will work together to agree any future date of the next Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary).
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their response dated 17 January to the report from the Constitution Committee Inter-governmental relations in the United Kingdom (Session 2014–15, HL Paper 146), when their report on inter-governmental relations will be published.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Work on the annual report of the Joint Ministerial Committee is currently being taken forward by representatives of the UK Government and each of the devolved administrations, and is expected to be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how far in advance they aim to circulate papers to those attending meetings of (1) the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary), and (2) the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations).
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Papers for meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary) and the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotations) are subject to agreement by all administrations. Once agreed, papers are circulated to attendees by the JMC joint secretariat consisting of officials of all four administrations.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to publish their report on intergovernmental relations between the four governments of the UK.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
Work on the annual report of the Joint Ministerial Committee is currently being taken forward by representatives of the UK Government and each of the devolved administrations, and is expected to be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the four UK administrations to complete their reviews of the joint concordats and devolution guidance notes.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
At the last meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary), Ministers discussed the principles which govern relations between administrations and remitted further work on procedural and administrative measures to the secretariat. The concordats and devolution guidance notes should be updated in line with any further changes agreed as a result.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to issue detailed communiqués after future meetings of the Joint Ministerial Council.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The most recent meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) published a communiqué on 16 October 2017. Communiqués are issued after each JMC wherever possible, subject to agreement by all administrations.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the next plenary session of the Joint Ministerial Council will be held.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The memorandum of understanding agreed between the UK Government and devolved administrations states that the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary) should meet at least once a year. Dates for these meetings are agreed by all four administrations. The Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary) last met on 30 January 2017 in Cardiff and prior to that, on 24 October 2016 in London. The UK Government and the devolved administrations are working together to agree the date of the next meeting of Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary).
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
Her Majesty's Government what was the size of the Privy Council on 1 July 2017.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information is set out in the table below.
Date | Number of Privy Counsellors |
1 July 2017 | 671 |
A list of current Privy Council members can be found here:
https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/