Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to put the posts of the four Veterans Commissioners on a statutory footing; and on what timescale.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Veterans' Commissioners are currently appointed by Ministers. The Ministry of Defence, through the Office for Veterans' Affairs, continues to work closely with the Veterans’ Commissioner for Wales (VCfW), and the Scottish Veterans’ Commissioner (SVC), who is appointed by and reports to the Scottish Government (SG). The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is working through the next steps to appoint a new Northern Ireland Veterans’ Commissioner.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which 10 local authorities in the UK had the most asylum seekers in the most recent year for which figures are available, and how much funding each of those 10 local authorities received to support asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.
The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which 10 local authorities in the UK had the most asylum seekers supported by the Home Office by proportion of population in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly. This includes our accommodation sites, as the Home Office continues to identify a range of options to minimise the use of expensive hotels and ensure better use of public money, whilst maintaining sufficient accommodation to meet demand.
The most recent data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including hotels, at: Asy_D11 Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office has had various grants through which we provide funds to support local authorities housing asylum seekers.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many foreign prisoners are currently in prisons in England and Wales, what proportion that represents of the prison population, what proportion are sentenced for criminal offences making them eligible for deportation, and from which 10 countries the highest number of prisoners come.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
There were 10,435 (3,578 remand, 6,486 sentenced and 371 non-criminal) Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) held in custody on 30 June 2024; representing 12% of the total prison population.
See below table for top 10 nationalities held in custody on 30 June 2024:
Nationality | Number in prison in England and Wales |
Albanian | 1,227 |
Polish | 911 |
Romanian | 729 |
Irish | 634 |
Jamaican | 370 |
Pakistani | 316 |
Lithuanian | 313 |
Portuguese | 289 |
Iraqi | 276 |
Indian | 273 |
The Government is committed to the removal of FNOs. All FNOs in receipt of custodial sentences are referred to the Home Office to be considered for deportation.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) timeliness, and (2) value for money of election monitoring missions undertaken by Commonwealth Observer Groups since 2016.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK values the Commonwealth Secretariat's work on elections, including their election observation missions. This work plays a vital role in supporting resilient democratic institutions across the Commonwealth, in line with the values of the Commonwealth Charter. The Commonwealth Secretariat regularly provides updates on its work to all Commonwealth members and together they work to ensure effectiveness and value for money across Commonwealth programmes.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government who are the members of the Health and Safety Executive's UK Rodenticide Stewardship Government Oversight Group that oversees second generation anticoagulant rodenticides and their effect on non-target species.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK Rodenticides Stewardship Government Oversight Group is chaired by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and comprises representatives of other government stakeholders, who are HSE Northern Ireland; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; UK Health Security Agency; Natural England; and the Welsh and Scottish Governments. The group relies on analysis of environmental monitoring data provided by an independent research institute.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why it is not possible to export Zolvix from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Zolvix 25 mg/ml Oral Solution for Sheep is authorised and labelled on a separate basis in Great Britain (GB) and in Northern Ireland (NI). Only packs labelled for the NI market may be placed on the NI market. Packs labelled only for the GB market cannot be placed on the market in NI.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations have been made to the Commonwealth to accelerate the publication by the Commonwealth Observer Group to the 2023 Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections of its final report on its findings on those elections.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Commonwealth Secretariat deploys independent Commonwealth Observer Groups to monitor elections. It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Secretary-General to approve the publication of Commonwealth Election Observation Reports. Whilst we hope to see the report on the 2023 Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections soon, we do not wish to influence the independent Commonwealth process.