Tag: Lord Dobbs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how many people are employed in, and what is the annual running cost of, the House of Lords Press Office.

Lord Laming

The House of Lords Press and Media Team has a staff of 3 Full Time Equivalents, and its estimated total running costs are £195,000 a year (based on this financial year’s forecast outturn), including salaries, pensions, employer National Insurance contributions and running costs. The Press and Media Team provides a 24/7 service, including dealing with urgent media issues overnight and at weekends.

The Press and Media Team promotes the Lords’ role, work and membership through the media. This includes promoting Select Committees’ work, supporting the outreach work of the Lord Speaker, responding to media stories on corporate issues and challenging inaccuracies in reporting both before and after publication, dealing with press enquiries and developing relationships with the press. The team also advises the House of Lords administration and domestic committees on media handling as well as contributing to wider Parliamentary communications work.

The Press and Media Team is part of the House of Lords Information Office which seeks to increase understanding of the role, work, membership and structure of the House of Lords, by means of outreach work, a public enquiry service, a team developing the Lords’ digital presence, and publications such as the Work of the House of Lords, as well as the Press and Media Team.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 24 November (HL3466), whether the total of £195,000 for the estimated annual running costs of the House of Lords Press and Media Team includes the cost of office space and similar overheads, and if not, what are the estimated total running costs of that team including those overheads.

Lord Laming

No. The House of Lords has made no specific estimate of the cost of office space and similar overheads in respect of the House of Lords Press and Media Team; similar overheads apply to various Lords Departments and are part of the total running cost of Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Chairman of Committees how many peers receive the daily press coverage service of the House of Lords Press and Media Team.

Lord Laming

63 members of the House of Lords currently receive the House of Lords Press and Media Team’s daily media summary, in addition to 6 Members’ staff and 180 staff of the House of Lords Administration. Any Member who wishes to receive the summary should contact the Press and Media Team (lordspressoffice@parliament.uk).

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-12-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the political objectives of the Free Syrian Army.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Free Syrian Army is a collective term used by a range of moderate opposition groups in Syria who are fighting the regime and Daesh. The Free Syrian Army are fighting to change the regime in Syria; they call for a pluralistic system that respects the rights of all Syrians. They reject terrorism and terrorist tactics, and have condemned Islamic extremism. They have been fighting both the regime and Daesh in Syria for over two years with success in a number of areas, in particular in Idlib and Aleppo in Northwest Syria and in Dera’a Province in the South.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many statutory instruments were laid before Parliament in each session since the 1997 General Election.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) publishes on its website the inspection report relating to a licence renewal application and the minutes of the Licence Committee’s decision. It does not publish other information associated with a licence application.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) permits the genetic modification of embryos in research, subject to an HFEA licence. As the regulator, the HFEA’s responsibility is to apply the test in the legislation, namely that the research is necessary or desirable for any of the purposes specified in the Act and that the use of embryos is necessary. The Licence Committee has added a condition to the licence that no research using genome editing may take place until it has received approval from an NHS Research Ethics Committee.

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

To ask the Leader of the House, further to her Written Answer on 17 February (HL5966), how many statutory instruments have now been laid before Parliament in the 2015–16 session to date.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

As of 21 April, 706 UK statutory instruments had been laid before the House of Commons/Parliament in the 2015-16 session. For completeness, the numbers of statutory instruments laid in previous sessions since 1997 are detailed below:

• 1997-98: 1856

• 1998-99: 1479

• 1999-00: 1456

• 2000-01: 868

• 2001-02: 1788

• 2002-03: 1474

• 2003-04: 1281

• 2004-05: 793

• 2005-06: 1885

• 2006-07: 1361

• 2007-08: 1319

• 2008-09: 1302

• 2009-10: 823

• 2010-12: 1809

• 2012-13: 964

• 2013-14: 1173

• 2014-15: 1378

• 2015-16: 706 (so far in this session)

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

To ask the Leader of the House how many government defeats there have been on delegated legislation in the House of Lords, (1) in total, and (2) in each Session, since 1950.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

Since 1950, there have been 35 Government defeats on motions relating to delegated legislation in the House of Lords. There have been five such defeats in this session to date – a fifth of the total over the last 65 years.

The number of government defeats on motions relating to delegated legislation since 1950, broken down by session, is detailed below:

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

To ask the Leader of the House, further to her Written Answer on 16 November 2015 (HL3174), what percentage of House of Lords divisions resulted in Government defeats in (1) the 1997–2001 Parliament, and (2) the current Parliament.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

The rate of defeats in the present Parliament is more than twice that of the 1997-2001 Parliament: the Government were defeated in 22% of divisions in that Parliament, compared to 49% in the present one (up to Thursday 21 April). These figures are based on statistics compiled by the Journal Office.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dobbs on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Leader of the House what percentage of House of Lords divisions resulted in Government defeats (1) in the 2001–2005 Parliament; (2) in the 2005–2010 Parliament; (3) in the 2010–2015 Parliament; and (4) since the 2015 general election to date.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston

Statistics compiled by the Journal Office indicate that the percentage of House of Lords divisions resulting in Government defeats were as follows: