Courtesy Titles

Debate between Baroness Sharples and Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Monday 24th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I am very grateful for that remark. I was aware of that precedent and I am told there was another Scottish precedent, from the 16th century, in which the husband was refused the appropriate title.

[Baroness Sharples (Con)]

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that I have actually killed off three husbands so perhaps the question does not arise for me? Are there not much more important matters that the Government should be concerned with?

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Debate between Baroness Sharples and Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Tuesday 23rd October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I have it in my notes that the Local Government Association, in the form of no less an important person than the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, has agreed that local authorities will be encouraged similarly to follow best practice in this regard. The Cabinet Office has among other measures introduced a “mystery shopper” service through which small contractors who are dissatisfied with the service they are getting, either from a department or from a prime contractor, can anonymously feed this information through to the Cabinet Office.

[Baroness Sharples]

What is the average time taken by ministries to settle their bills?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

I suspect that the answer is that because there are so many bills that have to be paid it would take a great deal of time, effort and cost to acquire that information.

Armed Forces: Housing

Debate between Baroness Sharples and Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Wednesday 14th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I do not agree with that. Under the previous Government’s programme, the target for 2020 was for all service families’ accommodation to be at standard 1 level. I think they were confident that they would hit that target. As the noble Lord knows, we have now had to put into the advance budget of the MoD a pause in major upgrades for three years from 2013, which may make the 2020 target hard to hit. Minor upgrades, however, will continue. The vast majority of service accommodation will continue to be of a very high level.

[Baroness Sharples]

Will my noble friend tell us whether Wellington barracks, which I have visited twice in recent years, has now been brought up to scratch?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I do not have that information. I promise to write to the noble Baroness.

Immigration: Sham Marriages

Debate between Baroness Sharples and Lord Wallace of Saltaire

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sharples]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of sham marriages.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we are working closely with civil registrars and members of the clergy to identify potential suspicious marriages at the earliest opportunity and prevent these marriages taking place. We will seek to disrupt a marriage if we cannot prevent it taking place. We are also taking a more rigorous approach to caseworking, interviewing more applicants to refuse and remove those who seek to gain an immigration advantage from a sham marriage.

[Baroness Sharples]

I thank my noble friend for that reply. Are any checks made when a wedding licence is applied for? What is the estimated cost to the country as a result of such sham marriages?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, the previous Government introduced the certificate of approval scheme in 2005, which led to a substantial drop in suspected sham marriages, from thousands to hundreds per year. That scheme has now been disallowed by the House of Lords on the grounds that it was discriminatory between civil marriages and Church of England marriages. In July, the Government laid a draft remedial order, which will be compatible with the court’s ruling and will come into effect next year. It will require that, if it is deemed necessary by a caseworker, both potential marriage partners must swear affidavits, which must be clearly signed and dated.