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  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment has been made of the coalition document The Compact, and whether there are any plans to review or revise this.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Compact continues to be an important guide for effective engagement and collaboration between public bodies and voluntary, charitable and social enterprise sector organisations. An announcement on the next steps will be made in due course.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many charities in receipt of government grant funding were found to have engaged in activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, government, or the European Commission, or attempt to influence legislative or regulatory action, in each of the past three years.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many charities in receipt of government grant funding were found to be in breach of provisions preventing use of taxpayers’ money for political activity in each of the past three years.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Baroness Drake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Baroness Drake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Drake on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase private pension saving by the self-employed.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The 2005 Turner Commission recommended that the self-employed should be able to join a pension in an easy and cost-effective fashion. Therefore the Government-backed pension provider, the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) offers low-charge pension schemes to the self-employed, as well as to all employers.

    Automatic enrolment has been a huge success to date with almost 6 million eligible workers people now enrolled. We will be reviewing automatic enrolment in 2017. We are keen to identify issues that should be addressed within the review and will be working with stakeholders to determine its scope.

    The Government also recognises that the self-employed might benefit from saving in different ways to employees. In 2011 the Government introduced carry forward of annual allowances, which allow individuals with irregular earnings to use any unused Annual Allowance from the previous three years to contribute more to their pension in particular years, if this suits them better than making more regular pension contributions.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider hosting a conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war similar to those hosted by Oslo, Nayarit and Vienna.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK has no plans to host such a conference.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their priorities for the UN Open Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament, taking place from 22 to 26 February, and what expertise the UK can offer on issues of non-proliferation.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is not attending the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament in Geneva. The UK, along with the four other Non-Proliferation Treaty Nuclear Weapons States, voted against the resolution establishing the OEWG at the UN General Assembly First Committee. The Government works with international partners and various organisations to ensure that UK experience and expertise helps to tackle the threat of weapons proliferation but believes that productive results can only be ensured through a consensus-based approach that takes into account the wider global security environment.

  • Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to attend the UN Open Ended Working Group on nuclear disarmament which takes place from 22 to 26 February.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UK is not attending the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on nuclear disarmament in Geneva. The UK, along with the four other Non-Proliferation Treaty Nuclear Weapons States, voted against the resolution establishing the OEWG at the UN General Assembly First Committee. The Government believes that productive results can only be ensured through a consensus-based approach that takes into account the wider global security environment.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Bahrain concerning (1) the Bahrainis who have already been deprived of citizenship, (2) the 260 persons who may lose citizenship following alleged acts of terror, and (3) possible discrimination against members of the Shia Scholars Council and of Al Wefaq party; and whether they have had satisfactory replies.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We condemn all acts of terrorism and support Bahrain’s right to bring to justice those who commit terrorist acts. We also continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meets its human rights obligations and honour all conventions to which it is a party – including on citizenship rights. We regularly discuss human rights with the Government of Bahrain – including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting which was most recently held in November 2015. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), most recently raised human rights with his Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, on 4 February 2016.

    We believe that governance is a matter for all political parties in Bahrain. That is why we urge all political parties, including Al Wefaq who boycotted elections in November 2014, to engage constructively in the electoral process.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of all the schools that have had their admission arrangements objected to in (1) 2014, and (2) 2015, what percentage were found not to have violated the School Admissions Code at least once.

    Lord Nash

    In 2013/14, the percentage of objections referred to the adjudicator which were not upheld was 14%. In 2014/15, the percentage was 20%.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to enforce better compliance with the School Admissions Code among religiously selective schools in the light of the findings of the report An Unholy Mess, published by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year.

    Lord Nash

    The Government is giving careful consideration to the report of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator as part of our current review of the School Admissions Code, in addition to other research and publications.

    We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.