The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-11-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the value for money of the estimated £46 million of public funds provided to Kids Company over the last 15 years.
Lord Bridges of Headley
Kids Company delivered important work for vulnerable young people and received support from successive governments over a 15 year period, beginning in 2002.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-11-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the recent atrocities committed by ISIL in France, Egypt and the Lebanon, whether they have reconsidered the statement by the Foreign Secretary on 10 March that Russia represented the single greatest threat to UK Security”.”
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As the Strategic Defence and Security Review makes clear, Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and destabilising activities in Ukraine directly challenge European security and the rules-based international order. We have long been clear that Russia’s actions are unacceptable. Nevertheless we need to work with Russia on key areas of shared interest: in particular to end fighting in Syria, and to focus on the shared aim of destroying the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. That was the basis on which the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), met President Putin at the G20 Summit in Antalya on 16 November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-11-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following recent atrocities by ISIL against a number of countries, including Russia, they have reconsidered the statement by the Defence Secretary on 19 February that there is a real and present danger” Russia could try to destabilise the Baltic states.”
Earl Howe
The Government’s position has been stated in the recently published Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 (Cm 9161). Russia’s behaviour is hard to predict and although highly unlikely, we cannot rule out the possibility that Russia may feel tempted to act aggressively against NATO Allies. We also want to keep open the possibility of co-operation and will continue to seek to engage with Russia on global security issues, including international efforts to tackle the ISIL threat.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-11-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to co-operate with Russia in the fight against ISIL.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We have a shared interest with Russia in tackling ISIL and bringing peace and security to the region. We are concerned that the majority of Russian airstrikes in Syria to date have targeted areas in which ISIL is not present. It is important that Russia continues to engage in the International Syria Support Group.
At the G20, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and President Putin agreed that the international community needed to find a way to work together to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria and focus on the shared aim of destroying ISIL.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent flooding in the UK, the slowing of the Gulf Stream, and the COP21 climate talks in Paris, what strategy they have to address increasingly extreme weather patterns affecting the UK’s climate.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Climate Change Act 2008 requires Government to identify, every five years, the risks from a changing climate, including from extreme weather, and to put in place programmes to address them.
The first Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) was published in 2012 and identified over 100 risks to the UK, up to the 2100s. Work is well underway on the second CCRA, which will be published in January 2017. The first National Adaptation Programme, which laid out how risks identified in the CCRA are being addressed, was published in 2013, and the second will be produced around 2018.
In the biennial National Risk Assessment (NRA), the Government assesses the most significant hazards and threats that could affect the UK over the next five years. It considers natural events such as extreme weather and their resulting impacts (for example, flooding, severe storms and gales, low temperatures and heavy snow, heatwaves, drought). The NRA informs the National Resilience Planning Assumptions which support response and recovery planning at both local and national levels.
The Government also works with the owners and operators of the UK’s most critical infrastructure to produce annual Sector Resilience Plans (SRPs), which set out the resilience of the UK’s most important infrastructure to the relevant risks identified in the NRA. Plans identify potential vulnerabilities and set out a programme of measures to improve resilience where necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what studies they are undertaking into the slowing of the Gulf Stream and the subsequent impact on climate change and extreme weather patterns in the UK.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The Natural Environment Research Council is currently funding two research programmes to detect changes in the Gulf Stream and to investigate how these changes might affect the weather of the North Atlantic (RAPID-AMOC and ODYSEA). DECC co-funds, with Defra, the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme which, amongst many other research activities, uses climate models to understand the observed fluctuations in the Gulf Stream, to predict future changes, and to assess the impact that present and future changes may have upon European weather and climate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2015-12-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the current weekly costs of the Chilcot Inquiry.
Lord Bridges of Headley
The Iraq Inquiry, which is independent of Government, publishes its annual costs after the end of each financial year. The Inquiry’s costs for FY 2014/15 were £1,358,500, providing an average weekly cost in the last financial year of £26,125.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent flooding, what plans they have to re-allocate the proposed funding for HS2 to the funding of strengthened flood defences.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
There are no plans to re-allocate HS2 funding to flood defences. The HS2 budget is to deliver HS2.
The Government is separately investing £2.3bn in flood defences through the six-year capital programme, which will better protect 300,000 homes and reduce overall flood risk in England by 5% by 2021.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2016-01-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any part of the proposed HS2 rail line is to be built on a flood plain.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Given HS2 is a national infrastructure project of over 350 miles, HS2 does currently plan to cross floodplains. For Phase One, the assessment of all sources of flood risk can be found in Volume 5 of the Environmental Statement. For Phase Two, flood risk is detailed in the Appraisal of Sustainability.
HS2 Ltd has a design aim that, for the lifetime of the development, there should be no increased risk of flooding for vulnerable receptors, including residential property, taking projected climate change impacts into account. The design of HS2 does consider the practicalities of a range of environmental factors, including flooding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Truscott on 2016-01-28.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bridges of Headley on 11 January (HL4782) whether they have any plans to cap or curtail the Chilcot Inquiry’s expenses or costs before it reports.
Lord Bridges of Headley
No.