Blog

  • Baroness Henig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Henig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Henig on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the successful candidates admitted to the Direct Entry Superintendent programme were still in post as of 1 April.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

    The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

    Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

    Year

    Applications

    Successful at the assessment centre

    Started the scheme

    In post at 1 April 2016

    2014

    867

    13

    9

    8

    2015

    542

    7

    6

    6

    2016

    640

    –

    –

    –

    Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

  • Baroness Henig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Baroness Henig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Henig on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many candidates have applied for admission to the Direct Entry Superintendent programme since its inception, and of those, how many were successful.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

    The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

    Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

    Year

    Applications

    Successful at the assessment centre

    Started the scheme

    In post at 1 April 2016

    2014

    867

    13

    9

    8

    2015

    542

    7

    6

    6

    2016

    640

    –

    –

    –

    Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

  • Lord Hain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Hain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hain on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 19 April (HL Deb, col 614), whether they will write to the Welsh Government Minister for Public Services setting out in full their argument that those sections of the Trade Union Bill applying only to devolved public services in Wales are nevertheless reserved matters, and if so, whether they will place a copy of that letter in the Library of the House.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the noble Lord.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics regarding how many British parliamentarians have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years; and if so, what assessment they have made of how many may be discouraged from visiting those countries in the future due to the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Figures for the number of British parliamentarians who have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years are not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. As Parliamentarians are not obliged to inform the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of their travel commitments, any figures held by overseas posts may not be accurate. The FCO has not made any assessment of the impact of the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities on travel by parliamentarians to these countries

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics of how many British citizens have been excluded from travelling to the US under HR158 of the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015; and if so, how many have been so excluded; and whether they are aware of any British Parliamentarians being refused entry under that rule.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    US immigration processes – including the collection of statistics – are a matter for the US authorities. A number of Members of Parliament have raised this issue on behalf of their constituents and we are aware of at least one Parliamentarian affected by the new legislation. We have raised the importance of clearly communicating changes to immigration policy with the US administration, and remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of the US regarding the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015, which prevents British nationals from travelling to the US if they may have visited Iran, Sudan, Iraq or Syria in the last five years; and what assessment they have made of whether that implementation is discriminatory.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While US immigration processes are a matter for the US authorities, we have raised with the US administration the importance of clearly communicating changes to their immigration policy. The US Customs and Border Protection service has stated publicly that “the religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveller are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the US”. We remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.

  • Baroness Young of Old Scone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Young of Old Scone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Young of Old Scone on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of UK environmental and climate change legislation derives (1) from EU directives transposed into UK legislation, (2) from EU regulations without need for transposition, and (3) from wholly domestic legislation; and of the legislation that derives from EU directives, what proportion is dependent on the European Communities Act 1972.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Although specific figures for environment and climate change are not available, the House of Commons library has concluded that across the full range of UK instruments, from 1997 to 2014, an average of 13.2% were EU-related. A copy of the report is attached.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Triesman on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the support provided by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) to events celebrating the Commonwealth, and its wider role in addressing challenging social issues, including early and forced child marriage, how much financial support has been provided to the RCS in each of the last five financial years, and how much will be provided in this and the next financial year.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has contributed a total of £191,452 from 2011- 2015 to activities run by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and the Council of Commonwealth Societies (CCS) for whom the RCS organises events. A breakdown of this sum is listed below:

    2011

    £60,720.00

    2012

    £48,619.60

    2013

    £21,706.40

    2014

    £22,000.00

    2015

    £38,407.00

    This year the FCO has again provided £20,000 towards the cost of the CCS Commonwealth Service event in Westminster Abbey.

    Future funding requests for all Commonwealth organisations will be assessed on a case by case basis.

  • Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Triesman on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a list of occupational pension schemes in local government, the NHS and publicly funded education registered in the UK as at 1 January.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government does not maintain a central list of pension schemes provided by each employer in local government, the NHS and education sectors. However, there are three principal occupational pension schemes covering these workforces, which are the Local Government Pension Scheme 2014, the National Health Service Pension Scheme 2015 (and 1995 and 2008 sections) and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme 2015 (and 2010 section).

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the decision by the First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) in Gabriel Webber v the Information Commissioner (EA/2015/0194) on 22 March, whether they will now release claims made, with supporting receipts, of public duty costs allowances paid to former Prime Ministers, and if so, when.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Public Duties Cost Allowance (PDCA) was introduced to assist former Prime Ministers, still active in public life, with the costs of continuing to fulfil public duties. The PDCA is set in line with the annual Parliamentary Staffing Allowance allocated to Members of Parliament as determined by IPSA. In addition, former Prime Ministers are entitled to claim a pension allowance to contribute towards the pension costs of their staff. This is limited to a maximum of 10% of their staff salary costs.

    The Government is currently considering the decision of the First-Tier Tribunal.