The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will bring forward draft regulations under the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Officials are continuing their work on implementing the Housing & Planning Act 2016. A number of regulations have been implemented and this process will be on-going throughout 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to broaden the remit of Police and Crime Commissioners.
Lord Bates
Within our Manifesto, this Government gave a commitment to “…develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners.”
We have already announced proposals to enhance the PCCs current role in relation to police complaints and emergency services collaboration.
We are actively looking for further opportunities to develop the PCC role as we move forward towards the next national PCC elections in 2016 so that they are able to shape policing services to local needs, as they are now doing in commissioning victims’ services, setting policing priorities and driving reform.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-30.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia about the case of Waleed Abu Khair.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We continue to be concerned by the case of Waleed abu Al-Khair and have raised it at a senior level with the Saudi authorities. We will continue to follow this and other cases closely.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-16.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefit of agricultural technologies to farmers.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We considered the evidence on the benefits of agricultural technologies to farmers when we developed our Agri-Tech Strategy in 2013. This included OECD evidence that growth in agricultural productivity depends on three factors: (i) technological change (innovation); (ii) technical efficiency (the ability of farmers to access the best technologies); and (iii) economies of scale.
The Agri-Tech Strategy recognised that we had not been as successful in recent decades as some of our competitors in getting new agricultural technologies from research to the farm. This is why we are investing £160 million through the Strategy to help rebuild the pipeline of innovation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Chairman of Committees what plans there are for the House of Lords to support Fairtrade Fortnight.
Lord Laming
Catering and Retail Services stock a range of Fairtrade products, including tea, coffee, cake, biscuits and bananas. That Department will be raising awareness of these lines during Fairtrade Fortnight and running related promotions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-03-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the difference between a local authority being able to recover (1) its expenses, and (2) its reasonable costs, in matters relating to its duties around housing legislation.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Local housing authorities incur a range of costs when carrying out their statutory homelessness duties. They have powers to require households to pay reasonable costs towards both the accommodation that it secures for them and property storage costs, however they cannot require households to pay actual costs where these are more than those determined to be reasonable. Authorities determine what constitutes a reasonable cost by taking account of a household’s personal circumstances, its finances and the nature of the accommodation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-04-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest assessment of the human rights situation in the Ivory Coast.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government welcomes the progress made by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire on the issue of human rights, most notably on combating sexual violence against women and providing compensation for victims of past conflicts. We are encouraged that the Ivorian authorities have prioritised improving the poor condition of their prisons. The UK also welcomes progress made by the judiciary in combating impunity. We have urged the Government of Côte d’Ivoire to ensure that all those responsible for crimes against humanity are held accountable for their actions, regardless of political, regional, religious or tribal affiliations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve east-west transport connectivity in the North of England.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government is committed to improving transport connectivity across the North of England, including east-west routes. Current work includes upgrades to the road network as set out in Road Investment Strategy: for the 2015/16 – 2019/20 Road Period (March 2015).
Work has already started to deliver improved rail journeys between Liverpool and Manchester. The Ordsall chord will enable direct links from the Northeast to Manchester Airport. Sir Peter Hendy’s rail upgrade re-plan (Hendy review – Replanning Network Rail’s investment programme: a report from Sir Peter Hendy to the Transport Secretary (Nov 2015)) includes significant benefits for the North of England, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade Programme, which is aligned to Rail North’s Long Term Rail Strategy (September 2015). Current proposals are to deliver faster journeys and more capacity on the existing railway line between Leeds and Manchester. This work is expected to provide up to six fast trains per hour, with a target journey time of 62 minutes between Manchester and York and 40 minutes between Leeds and Manchester.
Additionally, the new TransPennine Express (TPE) and Northern franchises, which came into effect on 1 April, will deliver a range of significant benefits to their passengers, including increases to services between Manchester and Newcastle, more daily services to Hull from Manchester and Leeds, and 44 new 125 mph TPE trains fitted with free Wi-Fi and real-time passenger information screens.
The Government is also working with Transport for the North on future transport plans in the North of England. As set out in the Northern Transport Strategy: Spring 2016 Report (March 2016), these plans include east-west connectivity improvements through HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail and the strategic studies investigating the cases for a trans-Pennine road tunnel and upgrading the A66 and A69.
All four documents referred to in this reply have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-12.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 21 January (HL5353), whether they will provide an update on the timeline and consultation planned for (1) the proposed defence policy on the use of remotely piloted air systems, (2) the revised Joint Doctrine Note 2/11, The UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft of Systems, and (3) the Future Air and Space Operating Concept.
Earl Howe
The Defence policy review has broadened to cover both remotely piloted air and wider highly automated systems. Officials are currently consulting stakeholders; we expect the review to conclude early in 2017.
Regarding Joint Doctrine Note 2/11, I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave on 2 February 2016 to Question number HL5353. I reported the intention for the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) to review and update Joint Doctrine Note 2/11 "The UK Approach to Unmanned Aircraft Systems". Following this review, it was decided to upgrade the note to a full publication (Joint Doctrine Publication 0-30.2), which is currently being drafted in consultation with stakeholders, in parallel with the policy review.
A review of the future joint and environmental operating concepts concluded that an integrated concept for defence is preferred; consequently the Future Air and Space Operating Concept will be incorporated into an unified Future Operating Concept, which is expected to be published in Spring 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussion they have had with local authorities and the emergency services to ensure that roads in England and Wales are kept open in the event of poor winter weather in 2016–17.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Department for Transport works closely with the transport sector, including local highway authorities, to prepare for the winter season 2016/17.
All key transport operators, including local authorities, train operating companies, Highways England, Network Rail and airports, have contingency plans in place to deal with winter weather that may be encountered.
The Department for Transport continues to liaise with salt producers and regularly updates the salt stock holdings being held across the country. The Government has retained an emergency salt stockpile of around 383,000 tonnes for this winter season. In addition both Highways England and local highways authorities have winter service vehicles for use on the road network, including 500 vehicles for dealing with incidents that may occur on the strategic road network.
The Department for Transport will shortly be writing to local highway authorities in England to remind them of their duties and to advise that they clean their drains and gullies in order to minimise the risk of surface water flooding on the highways for which they are responsible.
It must, however, be recognised that severe winter weather may cause some disruption to the transport network. If travel is disrupted then we expect operators and highway authorities to do everything they can to keep passengers and road users informed whilst ensuring that the networks resume services as quickly as possible.