The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which public inquiries they set up between May 1997 and January 2004; and what was the purpose of each.
Lord Bridges of Headley
This information was made available as part of the evidence provided by the Government to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Inquiries Act 2005:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldselect/ldinquiries/143/14318.htm
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 18 December (HL4510), whether the Sea Lightnings carried aboard the Queen Elizabeth class will be a fully integrated part of the carrier battle group defence capability, as well as its long-range strike force.
Earl Howe
The Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be protected by a layered defence, the composition of which will be tailored to the threat faced. This defence may include, but not be limited to, submarines and ships within the Maritime Task Group (including their embarked Lightning II aircraft, helicopters and unmanned air systems) as well as land-based aircraft, where applicable.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 18 December (HL4511), whether the Queen Elizabeth class will always deploy with its fully integrated defence capability.
Earl Howe
The defence capability employed to protect the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers will be dependent on a variety of factors such as, but not limited to, the specific task, whether it is a national or coalition commitment, threat levels and theatre of operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 8 December (HL4116), how many personal interviews with adults applying for a passport for the first time were conducted in each calendar year from 2007 to 2015 inclusive.
Lord Bates
The table below shows the number of interviews conducted in each calendar year since 2007. The lower figures for 2007 reflect the pilot and roll out of the new interview process for all first-time passport applicants and the figures for 2015 are up to week ending 20 December.
|
Year |
Number of Interviews |
|
2007 |
18,160 |
|
2008 |
293,337 |
|
2009 |
261,593 |
|
2010 |
296,434 |
|
2011 |
269,587 |
|
2012 |
273,680 |
|
2013 |
283,284 |
|
2014 |
253,156 |
|
2015 |
221,759 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the delay in the introduction of Flood Re on those houses recently flooded in Cumbria and elsewhere.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Until Flood Re becomes operational, the insurance industry is continuing to make insurance available to those policy holders at high flood risk, as agreed to in the Statement of Principles.
Flood Re has submitted a comprehensive application for authorisation to the financial regulators, and is engaging with them. Flood Re is continuing to build and implement the systems necessary to support the operational launch of the scheme in April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any correlation between Wahhabism and extremism and terrorism in the UK.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
HM Government’s Counter Extremism Strategy and counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, set out our approach to tackling the full range of factors that allow extremist and terrorist groups to grow and flourish. These include directly challenging ideologies, including those which have a theological basis. The review into funding of extremism in the UK will include funding that comes from overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 17 December (HL4279), whether they plan to collect information about overseas funding of the preaching and teaching of Wahhabism in mosques and Muslim education bodies.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
HM Government’s Counter Extremism Strategy and counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, set out our approach to tackling the full range of factors that allow extremist and terrorist groups to grow and flourish. These include directly challenging ideologies, including those which have a theological basis. The review into funding of extremism in the UK will include funding that comes from overseas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to integrate the use in military operations of unmanned vehicles in the air, at sea, and on land.
Earl Howe
Unmanned vehicles already play an important role in UK Armed Forces’ operations across all environments. On the basis of the Government’s National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review of November 2015, the Department is continuing to examine where unmanned systems may offer advantages over manned alternatives and to invest in new unmanned capabilities. For example, the Department is more than doubling the number of armed remotely piloted aircraft available to the UK Armed Forces under the Protector programme to replace the existing Reaper aircraft, and is also developing high-end technologies – including in collaboration with France and the US – under a future Unmanned Combat Air System programme.
Throughout the Department’s development and integration of unmanned systems, the policy is that a human must always be responsible for any decisions on targeting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the level of mark-ups on dermatology specials, what consideration they have given to reforming the process by which English NHS tariff prices are set.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Drug Tariff sets out what National Health Service dispensing contractors will be paid for the products supplied as part of providing pharmaceutical services and the fees for providing those services in primary care.
The current arrangements in the Drug Tariff for paying for specials, including dermatological specials, were introduced in 2011. It is recognised that there can be variations in the price of some specials, which is why we are considering further possible improvements in the arrangements that govern the price the NHS pays. These include expanding the number of products covered by these arrangements and improving the data used to set the prices.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the risk of a conflict of interest when members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers both provide the reference prices from which to set the NHS tariff prices for specials in the primary care sector and supply those specials to community pharmacists.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers do not provide the Department with reference price data for their products. Individual manufacturers provide data on their sales volumes and selling prices to the Department under a memorandum of understanding between manufacturers and the Department. This data is then used to set a reimbursement price which reflects the price at which community pharmacies purchased these products in the quarter before.