Tag: Lord Laird

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in each year since 1995, how many passports have been issued by the appropriate office in Belfast.

Lord Bates

I refer to the attached table which provides by calendar year the volume of passport applications issued by the Belfast office from 2005 to 2014. Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold readily available data prior to 2005 and the cost of extracting this data would be disproportionate.

Year	Number of passports processed by Belfast Office
2005	359,224
2006	336,306
2007	364,821
2008	341,898
2009	370,622
2010	364,688
2011	408,628
2012	427,422
2013	433,530
2014	628,528

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the government of the Republic of Ireland has borrowed from Her Majesty’s Government, and what are the arrangements for repayment.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

I refer the noble Lord to the most recent statutory report which the Treasury provided to Parliament as required by Section 2 of the Loans to Ireland Act 2010. The last report was laid before Parliament on 15 October 2015 and is available in the Printed Paper Office

This report shows the outstanding loan principal is £3,226,960,000, with repayments due in tranches from 15 April 2019, until 26 March 2021.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any agreement with the provisional IRA in recent years, and if so, what was covered by that agreement.

Lord Dunlop

The Government has not made any agreement with the provisional IRA, or any other paramilitary organisation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will require the Northern Ireland Parades Commission to disclose to the Police Service of Northern Ireland all information about potential disturbances of the peace that have been notified to them in the process of developing determinations.

Lord Dunlop

As a public authority, the Parades Commission has general obligations under public law, which may in certain circumstances include an obligation to notify the Police Service of Northern Ireland about potential disturbances of the peace notified to them in the process of developing determinations. The discharge of these obligations is an operational matter for the Commission.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will require the Northern Ireland Parades Commission to publish information relating to each determination it makes, and if not, why not.

Lord Dunlop

The publication of information relating to determinations made by the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland is an operational matter for the Commission acting independently of Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to ensure that all decisions about names of areas in Northern Ireland must be taken by mutual agreement of the two communities, as outlined in the 1998 Belfast Agreement.

Lord Dunlop

The Government remains fully committed to supporting the institutions and principles established under the Belfast Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) whether United Kingdom law complies with the judgment concerning the retention of fingerprints and DNA samples in S and Marper v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 1581; and (2) whether the proposed retention of biometric data in Northern Ireland in the form of a snapshot” to be used by the expected Historical Investigation Unit will be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights and that judgment.”

Lord Dunlop

Following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S v Marper v United Kingdom [2008] ECHR 1581, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 was passed to introduce a new legislative framework for the retention and destruction of biometric data (including fingerprints and DNA samples) taken under the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) legislation in England and Wales and for material taken under UK wide terrorism powers. The Government believes that the new framework strikes the right balance between the rights of individuals under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the public interest in the prevention, investigation and detection of crime. In Northern Ireland, broadly similar provisions have been taken forward by the devolved administration in the Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2013. The relevant PACE (Northern Ireland) provisions, when brought into force, will ensure that the appropriate balance is also struck in respect of Northern Ireland.

The Historical Investigations Unit, when established, must have access to historic evidence to support the investigation of past crimes, including relevant fingerprint and DNA evidence. The Government is satisfied that the proposal for the Historical Investigations Unit to access relevant biometric data is proportionate and, pursuant to the provisions of the Northern Ireland (Stormont House Agreement) Bill, sufficient restrictions on the retention of, access to and use of the data will be put in place to ensure compatibility with Article 8 of the European Convention.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what public inquiries they have instigated into the death of a single individual since 1988; who were those individuals; why they were referred for a public inquiry in each case; and on which dates they were referred.

Lord Faulks

The table below lists each public inquiry launched by the Government to investigate the death of a single individual since 1988. It shows the purpose of the inquiry and the timing of the inquiry from its launch to publication of the inquiry report.

Individual	Purpose	Duration
Stephen Lawrence	To inquire into the matters arising from his death on 22 April 1993, in order particularly to identify the lessons to be learned for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes.	July 1997 – February 1999
Victoria Climbié	To establish the circumstances leading to and surrounding her death.	May 2001 – January 2003
Dr David Kelly	To conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.	July 2003 – January 2004
Zahid Mubarek	To investigate his death and the events leading up to the attack on him, and make recommendations about the prevention of such attacks in the future.	April 2004 – June 2006
Robert Hamill	To investigate whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary facilitated his death or obstructed the investigation of it, or whether attempts were made to do so; whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent; and whether the investigation of his death was carried out with due diligence. (This followed a recommendation of the Cory Collusion Inquiry.)	November 2004 – February 2011
Billy Wright	To investigate whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the prison authorities or other state agencies facilitated his death, or whether attempts were made to do so; and whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent. (This followed a recommendation of the Cory Collusion Inquiry.)	November 2004 – October 2010
Rosemary Nelson	To investigate whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office, Army or other state agency facilitated her death or obstructed the investigation of it, or whether attempts were made to do so; whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent; and whether the investigation of her death was carried out with due diligence. (This followed a recommendation of the Cory Collusion Inquiry.)	November 2004 – May 2011
Baha Mousa	To investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi civilian who died in Iraq in 2003 and the treatment of others detained with him by the British armed forces.	August 2008 – September 2011
Bernard (Sonny) Lodge	To investigate his death at HMP Manchester in August 1998. (An ad hoc investigation began in September 2008 and was converted into a 2005 Act inquiry.)	February 2009 – December 2009
Azelle Rodney	To investigate the death of Azelle Rodney who was shot by a police marksman in North London on 30 April 2005.	June 2010 – July 2013
Alexander Litvinenko	To investigate his death on 23 November 2006. (The inquest was converted into a 2005 Act inquiry following a judicial review.)	July 2014 – present

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 18 September (HL2210), whether they can confirm that the government of the Republic of Ireland has not had representatives at any discussions other than those allowed by the 1998 Belfast Agreement.

Lord Dunlop

The involvement of the Irish Government in cross-party talks is in accordance with the established three-stranded approach to Northern Ireland affairs and the 1998 Belfast Agreement. A commitment always to uphold the three-stranded approach was also contained in the Government’s Northern Ireland manifesto at the General Election.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials work in each section of the Northern Ireland Office.

Baroness Randerson

The number of staff working in each business group of the Northern Ireland Office in January 2015, the latest period for which figures are available, is shown below:

Business Group	Number of Staff
Senior Management	6
Business Delivery	40
Security and Protection	31
Legacy	23
Community Engagement	15
Economic Constitutional and Political	19