Tag: Lord Empey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was deducted from the Northern Ireland Executive’s budget in 2014–15 and 2015–16 due to its failure to implement welfare reforms.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

As a result of the delays in implementing welfare reform in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Northern Ireland Executive’s budget was reduced by £87m in 2014-15 and £114m in 2015-16 to reflect the additional costs to the Exchequer of the existing welfare system.

As a part of the ‘Fresh Start’ agreement to facilitate the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, the government committed to returning a proportion of the deduction for 2015-16 when the Assembly gave legislative consent for the Northern Ireland (Welfare Reform) Act 2015. This will be added to the Executive’s allocations in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the age range and gender of the unaccompanied children currently resident in the refugee camps in northern France who are expressing a desire to come to the UK.

Lord Bates

The Government does not hold that information. However, Home Office migration statistics show that for all unaccompanied asylum seeker children applications in 2015, 62% were aged 16 or 17 at time of application, 26% were 14 or 15, and 8% were under 14. In this country the obligations under the Children Act mean that anyone aged under 18 will be taken into local authority care as a result of those duties.

Both Her Majesty’s Government and the French Government are clear that anyone who wants to claim asylum and has close family connections in the UK should first lodge a claim in France so they can be considered for reunification under the Dublin regulations. This is the best way to ensure these vulnerable children receive the protection and support they need and the quickest way to reunite them with any close family members in the UK where appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current borrowing limits imposed on (1) the Scottish Parliament, (2) the National Assembly for Wales, and (3) the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Scotland Act 2014 permits the Scottish Government to borrow up to £2.2 billion for capital purposes and £0.5 billion to cover shortfalls in cash receipts. The Scotland Act 2016 provides for these to be revised in due course to £3bn and £1.75bn respectively.

The Welsh Government may borrow up to £500 million to cover shortfalls in the Welsh Consolidated Fund as set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Wales Act 2014 confers aggregate capital borrowing powers of up to £500 million on the Welsh Government. In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has also provided early access to these capital borrowing powers in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

The Northern Ireland Executive has a statutory borrowing limit of £3 billion for capital purposes as set out in the Northern Ireland (Loans) Act 1975 as amended by the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006. The Northern Ireland Executive may borrow up to £250 million to cover shortfalls in the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund as set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of companies investing in projects located in the Palestinian territories currently governed by the State of Israel.

Lord Price

The Government’s Palestinian Market Development Programme (PMDP) works with Palestinian companies to improve their competitiveness and ability to attract investment and create jobs. PMDP also supports the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA) to deliver better services to potential investors including UK investors. PIPA offers a package of incentives to investors.

PMDP provides technical assistance to support the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy to improve the environment for trade and investment, and is working on an initiative to encourage UK businesses to outsource business in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially in the IT outsourcing sector.

No specific assessment has been made of companies investing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), or those parts of the West Bank, known as ‘Area C’, under full Israeli security and administrative control.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-11-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government by how much they estimate the budget of the Northern Ireland Executive will be reduced annually as a consequence of the decision to introduce a reduced rate of Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland in 2018–19.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The government is committed to devolving corporation tax powers as provided for by the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Act 2015, if the Northern Ireland parties meet their commitments in the Stormont House Agreement. This includes the Northern Ireland Executive demonstrating that its finances are on a sustainable footing for the long term.

The government is working closely with the Executive to agree a fair adjustment to the block grant covering both the direct and behavioural effects of devolution. Ultimately, however, the impact on the Executive’s budget will depend on the rate set by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the part played by people traffickers in the arrival in northern France of large numbers of refugees and migrants seeking access to the UK.

Lord Bates

We are deeply concerned by the migration crisis in Europe. We believe that organised criminal gangs are operating in and around the camps in Northern France and fuelling organised immigration crime. We are working closely with our French counterparts through the Joint Operational Command and Control Centre which includes intelligence sharing and developing the intelligence picture and we will continue to assess this crime type.

In addition, the UK has provided specific financial assistance to fund a project aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people in the camps, agreed in the UK-France Declaration of August 2015. This project is setup to identify vulnerable people in the camps in Calais and is being delivered by a French non-Government organisation, France Terre D’Asile. It seeks to identify potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including children), and direct them to existing protection, support and advice within France. The UK has contributed £530,000 (€750,000) towards the costs of this project.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-06-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any requests have been received from the devolved administrations to raise their borrowing limits; and if so, what increases were requested, when such requests were made, and whether any have been agreed to.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Treasury Ministers are in regular contact with Devolved Administration Ministers on a variety of matters.

Each of the Devolved Administrations has a range of capital and resource borrowing powers set out in legislation.

In addition to these, the Stormont House Agreement provided flexibility to use £700m of capital borrowing to fund a voluntary exit scheme over a period of 4 years with £200m in 2015-16, £200m in 2016-17, £200m in 2017-18 and £100m in 2018-19 as well as up to an additional £350m borrowing for infrastructure projects with a profile over four years with £100m in 2015-16, £100m in 2016-17, £100m in 2017-18 and £50m in 2018-19.

The Fresh Start Agreement and Implementation Plan provided assurances that the NI Executive could access the full amount of additional borrowing provided by the Stormont House Agreement even if it is able to realise agreed efficiency savings from Voluntary Exit Scheme without switching the full amount of existing borrowing for that purpose.

The Government is working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to implement the Fresh Start Agreement.

In response to a specific request from the Welsh Government, the Government has provided early access to the capital borrowing powers in the Wales Act 2014 in order to support the delivery of the M4 relief road.

Again, the Government is working closely with the Welsh Government on this matter.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have supplied any anti-aircraft weapons to rebel forces fighting in Syria.

Earl Howe

The UK participated in the original US-led ‘Train and Equip’ programme for vetted Syrian opposition forces fighting Daesh in 2015. The Ministry of Defence announced on 25 October 2016, that up to 20 UK personnel will be deploying to locations in the region, but outside Syria, to contribute to the refined and restarted programme. Their role will be to train selected members of vetted moderate Syrian opposition groups in the skills they need to continue to take the fight to Daesh. The UK is not participating in the "Equip" element of this programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-12-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of aid provided by the UK following the earthquake in Nepal last year.

Baroness Verma

DFID gave £70 million to the Nepal earthquake response to support humanitarian and early recovery efforts, making us one of the major donors. The Department for International Development’s expenditure in Nepal is assessed in a number of different and complementary ways. Across the portfolio, monitoring plans are in place for every programme including our response to the 2015 earthquake. This places emphasis on results delivery, ensuring we are well placed to monitor the effectiveness of our programmes. Our strong focus on evaluation, both globally and in our country programmes, ensures we can evaluate performance and impact across the sectors in which we work.

In addition to regular monitoring and evaluation, since the earthquake DFID Nepal has set up a regional office in Gorkha district to increase oversight of humanitarian and reconstruction programmes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have been (1) charged with, and (2) convicted of, people smuggling offences in the UK in each of the past 10 years.

Lord Bates

Prior to March 2014, this information was not recorded centrally. The number of individuals charged and convicted for people smuggling for 2014/15 and 2016/15 (year to date YTD) is as follows:

2014/15 (Apr to Mar) Charged – 207 Convicted – 111

2015/16 (Apr – YTD) Charged – 210 Convicted – 128

These figures recorded as the following primary offences: Human Smuggling – via Aeroplane, Human Smuggling – via Lorry, Human Smuggling – via Van/Car, Human Smuggling – via Vessel (boat/ferry etc) and Human Smuggling – Other.