Tag: Lord Berkeley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports of collusion within the police forces and other agencies after the Hillsborough disaster, whether they will introduce legislation to prevent serving members of the police force and the judiciary from belonging to the freemasons.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Any police officer must be able to discharge their duties within the law and is expected to abide by the oath of constable. The Standards of Professional Behaviour, set out in Schedule 2 to the Police (Conduct) Regulations (2012), require police officers to be ‘honest, act with integrity and . . . not compromise or abuse their position’. Police officers must be able to do so, irrespective of membership of any external membership organisations.

The College of Policing introduced a Code of Ethics in July 2014 which applies to all police officers and staff in England and Wales and sets out clear principles and standards of behaviour expected of them. It is for individual forces to determine whether an individual officer’s behaviour or misconduct meets the standards that are set out and where they are not, to investigate and instigate disciplinary proceedings where appropriate.

Following the Chapman Review in 2014, the Government is continuing its programme of reforms to improve police integrity and the police discipline system, including through the Policing and Crime Bill which is currently before parliament to improve the system and its ability to hold officers to account for their actions and behaviour.

In the case of judges it is also essential to the rule of law that they are independent and impartial when exercising their judicial functions. All judicial office holders should recuse themselves in any case where bias or the appearance of bias arises and are counselled against engaging in any activity which might undermine or be reasonably thought to undermine their judicial independence or impartiality. These commitments are enshrined in the judicial oath.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have given the rail industry an exemption that allows that industry a year longer than the aviation industry to comply with the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 in respect of compensation for delays or cancellations to services; and whether they plan to extend that exemption to providers of bus and coach services.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Government has decided that the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) should apply in full to all transport services, including mainline passenger rail services, from 1 October 2016.

The 12 month exemption from one of the compensation provisions in the Consumer Rights Act was originally proposed to allow time for train operators to move to a consistent compensation scheme. However, the Government is now of the view that rail customers should not be denied any consumer rights or protections even for a temporary period while the rail industry works to put in place more consistent compensation arrangements between train operators. The Government has therefore withdrawn the draft statutory instrument which was to have been debated by Parliament and which, if approved, would have put this exemption in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2015-12-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what licences and permissions have been granted for the dumping of dredged material in the sea off Lantic Bay, east of Fowey in Cornwall.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) licences the disposal of dredged material at sea under the Marine and Coastal access Act 2009.

Lantic Bay (PL060) is an approved disposal site that has been in use for a number of years. Since vesting the MMO has issued three licences for disposing dredged material at the Lantic Bay disposal site:

• Licence L/2011/00050 to Fowey Harbour Commissioners for the disposal of 45,000 tonnes of sediment per year. The licence was for a period of three years starting on 27^th May 2011 and expired on 26^th May 2014;
• Licence L/2014/00146 to Fowey Harbour Commissioners for the disposal of 80,000 tonnes of sediment per year. This licence commenced on 1^st May 2014 and is valid for 10 years;
• Finally, licence L/2013/00396/4 to the Victoria Wharf Group Ltd for the disposal of 10,000 tonnes of sediment from Corporation Wharf, Plymouth valid from 1^st November 2015 to 28^th February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 March (HL6235), what assessment they have made of whether a procurement process where there are only two genuine bidders complies with the EU rules and procedures for public contracts, which state that a minimum of three bids are required, and whether they have sought from the EU a derogation from that rule.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Rail franchising competitions are governed by Regulation 1370/2007 and not the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Therefore, although the Department fully applies the EU treaty principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination, it is not obliged to follow the processes and procedures set out in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Where a competition is to be held, Regulation 1370/2007 requires a fair competitive procedure, but does not stipulate the minimum number of bidders that is required to evidence this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 30 March (HL7064), what was the actual number of HS2 trains of both sizes, and for Phases 1 and 2, used in the Rolling Stock Strategy previous to the one currently in the process of completion.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

HS2 Ltd are in the process of completing their Rolling Stock Strategy which will contain greater detail on the fleet sizes expected to be procured. Our current assumption is outlined below.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-05-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have been the maintenance costs of Tinsley Viaduct since its construction, and what effect the underlying geological faults and old mine workings have had on the cost of maintenance.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Highways England currently only has readily available the details of maintenance costs for Tinsley Viaduct covering the past 6 years. In this period, maintenance schemes on the viaduct have cost approximately £1 million per year. Highways England are not aware of any effects the underlying geological faults or mine workings have had on maintenance costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether consultants working for HS2 Ltd will be prevented from participating in any tender for main contractor roles in the design and delivery of HS2 in order to avoid any conflict of interest and to ensure a fair tender process.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

HS2 Ltd has a Conflicts of Interest Panel that considers actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest on a case-by-case basis. This Panel is chaired by HS2 Ltd’s General Counsel. This Panel is supported by an in-house Compliance team.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2015-12-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 10 December (HL Deb, col GC213), whether HS3 has now been subsumed into the Northern Powerhouse rail network.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Northern Powerhouse Rail network develops the HS3 concept to offer a vision for radically improved journey times and service frequencies between the major cities of the North, building on the substantial rail improvements to which the government is already committed.

In November, the government and Transport for the North published the Northern Transport Strategy: Autumn Report, providing a progress update on the Northern Powerhouse Rail network.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much compensation has been paid or committed to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The department has not paid or committed to pay compensation to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.

The Business Support Helpline is available to businesses seeking advice on managing disruption.

In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £250 million to finding a long term solution to Operation Stack.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans there are for the future of the RMS St Helena when it ceases to provide a shipping service between St Helena and Cape Town; and what alternative arrangements are being made to supply St Helena with goods not suitable for air transport.

Baroness Verma

St Helena Line has appointed a ship broker to handle the sale of the RMS St Helena when she is withdrawn from service in July 2016.

The St Helena Government has signed a contract with AW Ship Management Ltd to commence an unsubsidised freight service between Cape Town and St Helena in June 2016.