Tag: Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, if their objectives of European Union re-negotiation are not met, they plan to recommend leaving that organisation.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), is confident that with good will and understanding, he can and will succeed in negotiating reform in the EU and Britain’s relationship within it. As he has said, if he succeeds he will campaign to keep the UK in a reformed EU but if he does not achieve these changes he rules nothing out.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the ratio of NHS employees to the UK population; and how this compares with major European countries and the USA.

Lord Prior of Brampton

This information is not collected by the Department. Health is a devolved matter across the four countries of the United Kingdom and the Department is only responsible for the health and care system in England.

The ratio of National Health Service staff in England to the population of England is 0.019824. This is normally expressed as a ratio per 100,000 population, which in this case is 1,982.4 full-time equivalent staff per 100,000 population.

The Department does not hold information on estimates of the number of health care staff in other countries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Verma on 10 December 2015 (HLWS370) concerning plans to tackle violence against women and girls overseas, whether the plans will be financed through the overseas aid budget or by separate financial provisions, and what measures will be put in place to ensure that the finance provided is used exclusively to assist the victims of violence.

Baroness Verma

The UK Government is proud of the leadership role that it is taking to tackle violence against women and girls at home and overseas, including domestic violence, sexual violence, FGM and child, early and forced marriage. Plans outlined in the Written Ministerial Statement to address violence against women and girls overseas are financed through the overseas aid budget. This covers a range of interventions, all of which are necessary, to eliminate violence against women and girls. It includes the essential activities providing support to survivors of violence; programming to actively prevent violence; research to test and understand what works to stop violence in different contexts, and efforts to strengthen the international system to deliver results at scale.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the meeting on 9 February between the original member states of the EU, and the re-commitment by those member states to an ever closer union” and a “two-speed Europe”.”

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the UK a special status in a reformed EU. The agreement sets out that the Treaties will be changed to “make it clear that the references to ever closer union do not apply to the United Kingdom” and acknowledges “different paths of integration being available for different Member States and do not compel all Member States to aim for a common destination.”

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement will be subject to ratification by both Houses of Parliament and the US Congress.

Lord Price

We expect the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will be a “mixed” agreement, covering areas of both EU and Member State competence, to which the US, EU and all EU Member States will be parties.

In that case, it will be subject to agreement by each EU Member State, the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process in the UK, before the Government can ratify the agreement, the complete draft text of the agreement will initially be laid before Parliament for scrutiny for at least 21 sitting days. During this time MPs and Lords may debate the treaty in either or both Houses and vote on the proposed ratification.

In the US, both Houses of Congress would have to ratify legislation to implement the agreement, but not the agreement itself.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to remove restrictions on local authorities raising council tax to meet the needs of their communities.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Government is committed to working with local authorities to protect hard-working council tax payers from excessive increases. In the Spending Review, the Government announced a new adult social care precept worth 2 per cent for authorities with responsibility for adult social care for the remainder of the Parliament, subject to the approval of the House of Commons. This new precept was in addition to a ‘core’ council tax referendum principle of 2 per cent, which would be reviewed annually. The Government has set out its proposals for council tax referendum principles for 2017-18 in the Local Government Finance Settlement Technical Consultation, released on 15 September 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the European Union policy of requiring farmers to erect notices advertising the European Union if they receive grants; whether such notices require planning consent; and whether they will require that all such advertising notices should also indicate information about the ratio of United Kingdom contributions to the European Union budget and the sums returned by way of grants to farmers and others.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

EU regulations require any business who receives over €500,000 for capital items to display a billboard setting out:

• The name of the project
• A description of the activity supported by the project
• The name of the funding stream: ‘European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas’
• The full relevant EU logo

We expect less than 1% of all agreements will be large enough to meet this requirement.

However, the Minister of State for farming, food and marine environment will be considering how this requirement might be removed in future CAP regulations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their latest projection of the cost of HS2 at completion including motive power units and carriages.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Spending Review 2015 settlement announced by the Chancellor on 25 November sets out an updated funding envelope for delivering the HS2 project in 2015 prices of £55.7bn. This includes provision for rolling stock, including motive power. The underlying budget for this project has not changed. At SR13 we announced that the total budget was £50.1bn in 2011 prices and it has been uprated to 2015 prices.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-01-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the European Parliament’s report that 50 per cent of the EU £23 billion aid budget has been delayed or not used, and whether they plan to take steps to terminate the policy of delivering part of the UK overseas aid budget through the EU.

Baroness Verma

The report concerned was compiled by an individual Member of the European Parliament and was not an analysis representing the views of the European Parliament as a whole. It was based on a reading of reports by EU offices in non-EU countries, intended to identify potential problems at an early stage, so that things can be put right in time. In the event that it is proven that money has been wasted, we expect the EU and its audit institutions to take swift and decisive action to recoup funds and to carry out a thorough review of all its programmes to provide a clear set of actions to stop this happening again.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they anticipate imminent proposals by the European Commission compelling member states to send gas supplies to any other state in the case of emergencies; and if they expect such proposals to be brought forward, whether any decision would be taken by qualified majority voting or unanimity.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Commission proposals for a revision to the existing security of gas supply regulation were published on the 16 February. We will need to consider carefully the precise emergency arrangements that are proposed and how they might impact on the UK. These proposals will of course be subject to the usual negotiation process during which the Government will seek to achieve the best possible outcome for the UK. A final text will need to be agreed by qualified majority voting in the Council and in agreement with the European Parliament.