Tag: Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 12 October concerning operational expenditure on the Severn Crossings (HL2333), whether those figures include the costs of collecting tolls; and if so, what are the specific costs for each year between 2005 and 2014.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The figures provided with the previous answer (HL2333) included the cost of collecting the tolls at the Severn Crossings. The specific costs in relation to the collection of the tolls have not been made available by the concessionaire.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the agreement at the 18 May European Union Council meeting that the EU will work towards allowing visa-free access to the EU for Turkish citizens, whether Turkish citizens will be granted visa-free access to the United Kingdom.

Lord Bates

The UK does not participate in the immigration and border aspects of the Schengen acquis so there is no obligation on the UK to liberalise the visa regime for Turkish citizens as a result of the European Union Council decision. We continue to monitor the situation including the Commission’s assessment of the security and migratory impacts of visa liberalisation.

The Government regularly reviews the visa system. Visa regimes are imposed and removed on the basis of the risk that the country’s citizens pose to the UK. There are no current plans to change the visa regime for Turkish citizens.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Parliament will be able to debate and vote on proposals for the renegotiation of the United Kingdom position in the European Union before they are submitted to the European Council.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government has been clear that it will continue to keep Parliament informed on the progress of the renegotiation, including through evidence sessions to the appropriate Committees. Most recently the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), gave evidence to the European Scrutiny Committee on 16 September, and the House of Lords EU Committee on 12 October on this topic. The Government will also ensure that any documents that are subject to Parliamentary scrutiny are deposited in the usual manner.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the statement made on 14 October by the President of the European Court of Justice that there is a strong link between the Court and European integration.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is defined in Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) as to “ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed”. The TEU also provides, in Article 5, that “the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred on it by Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein” and that “competences not conferred upon the Union remain with the Member States”. European law, including the judgments of the CJEU, has direct effect in this country because it has been given that authority by Acts of Parliament.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what areas of policy were transferred from unanimity to qualified majority voting by the Lisbon Treaty; whether the United Kingdom has opt-outs from any of those areas; and, if so, from which areas.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

51 provisions were transferred from unanimity to qualified majority voting by the Lisbon Treaty. These were published in the Explanatory Memorandum on the Lisbon Treaty of 17 December 2007 as amended by a Written Ministerial Statement by the then Minister for Europe on 20 February 2008, Official Report, column 53WS. Of these, the following 16 provisions either did not apply to the UK due to its opt-outs or would only apply if the UK decided to exercise its justice and affairs opt-in:

1) Provisions enabling repeal of the aspects of this article related to state aids policy and the effect of the past division of Germany
2) Provisions enabling repeal of this Article (on transport policy as it affects areas of Germany affected by its past division)
3) Appointment of European Central Bank (ECB) executive board (UK opt-out)
4) Social security
5) Use of the euro
6) Measures relating to the Broad Economic Guidelines and excessive deficit procedure
7) Procedure for entry into the euro
8) Mechanism for peer review of Member States’ implementation of policies in this area
9) Border checks
10) Immigration and Frontier Controls
11) Judicial co-operation in Criminal Matters
12) Minimum rules for criminal offences and sanctions
13) Crime prevention
14) Eurojust
15) Police co-operation
16) Europol

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 24 July (HL1516) concerning the decision of the government of Israel not to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, whether any safeguards are in place to discourage the extension or upgrading of Israel’s nuclear deployment capacity.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Israel does have a facility-specific safeguards agreement in place with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), namely “The Agreement between the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Government of Israel and the Government of the United States of America for the Application of Safeguards” (commonly referred to as an INFCIRC 66-type agreement). The agreement applies to a single facility in Israel, which is the Soreq Nuclear Research Reactor. The facility is inspected by the IAEA to ensure that it is not used for weapons purposes. We continue to call on Israel to upgrade this arrangement to a full scope Comprehensive Safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 10 February (HL4473) concerning meetings with Action on Smoking and Health, whether they have had meetings with the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco; and whether they continue to uphold an embargo on closed meetings with the tobacco industry.

Earl Howe

Ministers and officials meet a range of organisations on a regular basis to discuss tobacco control. Details of Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the Gov.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-overseas-travel-and-meetings

No meetings were held by the Department over the period 1 January 2012 and 27 January 2015 with the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco.

The Department does not have an embargo on meeting any business or organisation.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-02-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they take into account the volume of smuggled cigarettes and other tobacco products when calculating the percentage of the United Kingdom’s population who smoke.

Earl Howe

The Government’s national ambition to reduce smoking prevalence among adults in England is measured using data from the Office for National Statistics “Integrated Household Survey”.

This survey asks the following two questions relating to smoking: “Have you ever smoked a cigarette, a cigar, or a pipe?” and “Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays?”

Background, methodology and other information relevant to this survey is available online at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/social-and-welfare-methodology/integrated-household-survey/index.html

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the call by the Prime Minister at the British Chambers of Commerce Conference on 10 February for salaries and wages in the private sector to be increased, whether they will now arrange for the caps on the salaries and wages of public sector employees to be lifted; and if not, why not.

Lord Deighton

The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement 2011 that for the two years following the public sector pay freeze, public sector pay awards will average at 1 per cent. At Budget 2013 it was announced that awards in 2015-16 will be limited to an average of up to 1 per cent.

The government has made no decisions on pay policy beyond 2015-16. Decisions on future pay policy will be made at the next spending round.

Pay restraint is one of the many difficult choices the government has had to make to help put the UK’s public finances back on track. It is helping to protect jobs in the public sector and support the quality of public services.