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  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the recent Panama papers scandal, of how many of the illegal assets subject to confiscation orders they will now be able to claim.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    On 10 April 2016 the Prime Minister announced a new cross-agency taskforce to obtain, analyse and take action on the information that has been made available from Mossack Fonseca and to take rapid action on any form of illegality that emerges.

    A number of investigations are underway and the taskforce, which is accountable to the Home Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will report on its progress later this year.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s future position in the league table of broadband targets in the EU and OECD countries if a target of 10 megabits per second were achieved by 2020.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It is too early to assess what the impact of the proposed 10 megabit Universal Service Obligation (USO) will have on the UK’s future position in EU and OECD broadband league tables. The contracts we have put in place with Openreach mean that the more homes and businesses that sign up for superfast broadband, the more money Openreach has to return to local authorities to extend the roll out of superfast broadband further. So far, Openreach has confirmed more than £200 million of savings that can be reinvested, over and above the £1.7bn of public funding already allocated. We expect more funding to be confirmed in due course. We will be reinvesting that funding in order to extend superfast broadband to as many additional homes and businesses as possible.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to change the broadband target of 10 megabits per second by 2020 to a higher one, in the light of the progress made by other countries.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government’s ambition for the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) is that it should be set initially at 10 megabits per second. The rationale for the USO is to provide a ‘digital safety net’ to ensure that every home and business is able to access a fast broadband.

    A broadband USO set at 10 megabits per second is higher than anywhere else in Europe. Spain, for example, has set their USO at 1 megabit per second, and Finland and Malta at 2 and 4 megabits per second respectively. We expect that the USO speed will need to increase over time beyond 10 megabits per second and are committed to keeping this under review to make sure that it keeps pace with consumers’ needs.

  • Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Mendelsohn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Institute of Director’s call in February for a broadband target of 10 gigabits a second by 2030.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government welcomes the Institute of Directors’ Ultrafast Britain: Broadband Report published in February and is committed to working with the market to deliver a digital infrastructure that meets the current and future needs for high speeds, as well as security and resilience. The Government will be setting out its plans for realising this in its upcoming Digital Strategy.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to make third party insurance compulsory for all cyclists who are making deliveries for Deliveroo and other commercial bicycle delivery companies.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    We have no plans to make insurance compulsory for cyclists. We encourage all cyclists to take out some form of insurance. In fact, many cyclists do through membership of cycling organisations, such as Cycling UK.

    Bicycle couriers who work for Deliveroo are self-employed and therefore are still personally liable and responsible for choosing whether or not to have insurance and for ensuring that the insurance is appropriate for them.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many illegal Albanian migrants have been captured in the UK in the last 12 months, how many have asked for asylum, and how many have been removed from the UK.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The attached tables shows the number of Albanian immigrants arrested on Enforcement Visits and as a result of Police Enquiries from the 1 April 2015 to the 31 March 2016 inclusively.

    Year/Month

    Number of Enforcement visits

    Year/Month

    Number of Police Enquiries

    2015 04

    37

    2015 04

    117

    2015 05

    46

    2015 05

    135

    2015 06

    57

    2015 06

    109

    2015 07

    28

    2015 07

    119

    2015 08

    60

    2015 08

    120

    2015 09

    55

    2015 09

    128

    2015 10

    66

    2015 10

    151

    2015 11

    30

    2015 11

    134

    2015 12

    40

    2015 12

    117

    2016 01

    35

    2016 01

    127

    2016 02

    19

    2016 02

    147

    2016 03

    23

    2016 03

    154

    Total

    496

    Total

    1558

    Asylum applications and returns of nationals of Albanian are released on the GOV.UK website at in the latest Immigration statistics January to March 2016:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release In the asylum table as_02_q

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525625/ asylum2-q1-2016-tabs.ods and the returns table rv_03_q

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525001/ returns1-q1-2016-tabs.ods

    “

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to implement the suggested changes to the Tata pensioners pension fund to all public sector pensions.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    In response to proposals put forward by the British Steel Pension Scheme and supported by Tata Steel UK, the Government is consulting on options to enable a potential restructuring of the British Steel Pension Scheme to deliver a scheme that is sustainable and provides clarity and security to scheme members. The consultation closes on 23 June 2016.

    In the last Parliament the Government took action to secure the long term sustainability of public service pensions, by changing the indexation of pensions in payment to the Consumer Prices Index, increasing member contributions by 3.2 percentage points on average, and introducing new career average pensions schemes with higher normal pension ages and a cost control mechanism.

  • Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider nominating Mr Kevin Vickers, the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland, for an honour to mark his action in tackling terrorists in the Canadian Parliament and a protestor at the ceremony marking the Easter Rising of 2016.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We do not comment on honours nominations in order to maintain the integrity of the honours system and the privacy of the individuals concerned.

  • Lord Norton of Louth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Norton of Louth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Norton of Louth on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many civil servants in the Cabinet Office have taken either or both of the e-learning courses Induction: An Introduction to Parliament” and “Parliamentary processes” offered by Civil Service Learning.”

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Since its introduction in 2015, 80 Civil Servants in the Cabinet Office have taken the “Induction: An Introduction to Parliament” e-learning course offered by Civil Service Learning.

    Since its introduction in 2012, 260 Civil Servants in the Cabinet Office have taken the “Parliamentary Processes” e-learning course.

    Of these, 20 Cabinet Office Civil Servants have taken both courses.

  • Lord Norton of Louth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Norton of Louth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Norton of Louth on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps have been taken by the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office to ensure that the Cabinet Office is compliant with section 3(6) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The requirement of section 3(6) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act is set out in the Civil Service Code, which forms part of the contract of employment for all civil servants.

    In the 2015 staff survey, 94% of Cabinet Office staff responded positively to a question about awareness of the Civil Service Code.