Tag: Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 1 February (HL5390), whether the consent of both Houses of Parliament will be required before the granting of the BBC Royal Charter.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The BBC’s Royal Charter is granted by the Privy Council and all appropriate steps will be taken in advance of this, including debates in both Houses of Parliament. The format of these debates has not been decided.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 21 March (HL6874) about the accession of Turkey to the EU, whether they will now answer the question asked, namely whether they will hold a referendum in the UK before they agree to the accession of Turkey”.”

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government supports Turkey’s EU accession process, which remains the most effective mechanism for us to support continuing reform in Turkey. However, Turkey’s accession is not on the cards for many years to come. Turkey first applied for associate membership of the European Economic Community in 1959, and there remains a very significant amount of detailed work to do before Turkey is ready to join the EU. The question of whether to hold a referendum would therefore be for the Government of the day, at that time, and for Parliament at that time, when it came to consider the primary legislation which, under the European Union Act 2011, is required before the UK can ratify any new accession.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost to date of keeping Peter Sutcliffe at Broadmoor Hospital, and what is the projected annual cost of keeping him at a category A high security prison.

Lord Keen of Elie

Decisions over whether prisoners are to be sent back to prison from secure hospitals are based on clinical assessments made by independent medical staff.

The Department for Health advise that information quantifying the costs to date of treating Peter Sutcliffe (now known as Peter Coonan) at Broadmoor Hospital between 1984 and 2016 is not available and would vary throughout the period of detention according to the care and interventions provided to meet his clinical needs and security requirements.

The annual cost in 2014/15 of keeping a prisoner in a High Security prison was £57,000. This information can be found in the attachment.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 9 November (HL3057), whether they will now answer the additional questions asked about whether planning consent is required for farmers to erect notices advertising receipt of EU grants; and whether they will require all such advertising notices to include information about the ratio of UK contributions to the EU budget and the sums returned by way of grants to farmers and others.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

Local planning authorities can provide advice on whether consent is required for a notice in a specific location and decide whether such advertisements fall within any of the classes of advertisements that do not require express consent. General advice on advertisement consent is set out in national planning guidance on the GOV.UK website.

There is no requirement to include information about the ratio of UK contributions to the EU budget and the sums returned by way of grants to farmers and others.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether charities in receipt of donations from the Government, or other public institutions and bodies financed wholly or partly by taxpayers, will be debarred from campaigning in the EU referendum.

Lord Bridges of Headley

Under charity law, political activity by charities is subject to strict rules. In addition, there is a prohibition, in the 28 days ending with the referendum, on certain publications relating to the referendum by bodies whose expenses are met wholly or mainly out of public funds.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether student unions are in receipt of public funds, and whether all university students are obliged to join unions.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Individual students’ unions are principally funded through their university/college on either a per capita or a block grant basis, alongside funds raised through their commercial activities.

The Government does not provide funding to student unions directly, but student unions may receive some public funding indirectly through payments made by their establishment. .

The Education Act 1994 requires publicly-funded universities to take reasonable steps to ensure that their students’ union observes the right for students to opt out of membership. Students who exercise this right cannot be unfairly disadvantaged with regard to the services at the university. The university must draw up a code of practice setting out how these requirements will be put into effect.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it remains their policy to put the UK at the heart of the EU and if so, how this will be achieved outside the Eurozone.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

At the February European Council the Government negotiated a new settlement giving the UK special status in a reformed EU. The Government’s position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. The settlement protects the UK’s rights as a country outside the Eurozone, and makes it clear that the UK is not committed to any future political integration.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government at what stage of the process of leaving the EU they will invoke the Vienna Accord on the denunciation of treaties.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Treaty on the European Union contains provision for withdrawal in Article 50. It is this process which accordingly applies and has to be followed for the United Kingdom to leave the EU in accordance with international law.

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports that the German Chancellor has promised to facilitate the full entry of Turkey to the European Union, what assessment they have made of (1) the impact of Turkish membership of the European Union on the United Kingdom’s voting powers, and (2) whether all Turkish nationals would have rights of access to the United Kingdom under the existing free movement provisions.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government supports EU enlargement, subject to candidate countries meeting the requirements. Any impact on the UK’s voting powers would depend on the specific issue being discussed and be contingent on the provisions in place on voting weights following any new accession.

Arrangements on free movement of people of any new Member state depends on transitional controls at the time of accession to the EU. The Government recognises the concern caused by the large-scale movement of people that has followed the accession of new countries to the EU. This issue would be subject to negotiation as part of the accession process. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made clear that there needs to be reform of the transitional controls on free movement of workers before any further countries join the EU.

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.