Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), what training or guidance is given to Personal Independence Payment assessors to ensure that fluctuating or invisible conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, are properly evaluated under the mobility descriptor including the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability, and a functional assessment is an important part of PIP.
The Department recognises the importance of ensuring health professionals (HPs) have sufficient experience, skills, and training to undertake assessments. DWP has set out very clear rules on HP competency, both in guidance and in regulations.
All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. The principles of assessing claimants on their ability to carry out an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period are a core part of the HP training and guidance materials. Our assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that their HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP, and all HP core training and guidance material undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.
The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) provides guidance for assessment suppliers and HPs carrying out PIP assessments on applying the criteria set out in legislation. This includes sections on “Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices” and “Reliability”, which cover assessing the impacts of health conditions and impairments which can fluctuate over time in line with the reliability criteria.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the provisions contained in Part 4 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 relating to oral history and the memorialisation strategy.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Further to my Oral Statement in December 2024, the Government has been focussed on repealing and replacing the Legacy Act, ensuring that its mechanisms are human rights compliant and capable of commanding public confidence. We remain committed, however, to the oral history and other measures set out in Part 4 of the Act - which are widely supported in principle - and will set out further details in due course. In the meantime, progress has been made on two other, non-legislative, historical projects - digitisation and official history - the details of which were announced last month.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in taking forward the independent public history project regarding the troubles in Northern Ireland that was first announced on 24 April 2024.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The project’s independent expert advisory panel continues to work under the published terms of reference. Further to the announcement made on 9 April 2025, the panel is currently accepting applications from independently-minded historians as part of an open and transparent competition, and has launched a website with further information about the project.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria are applied when assessing levels of personal independence payment awarded to those suffering from myasthenia gravis resulting in severe mobility impairment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability. Individuals can be impacted by their health conditions in different ways, so the assessment considers the effect on a person’s day to day life, rather than focusing solely on the health condition or impairment itself. As such, our focus is on ensuring that PIP assessors are experts in disability analysis rather than diagnosing a condition or its severity or recommending treatment options.
The PIP assessment criteria are set out in legislation. The assessment looks at how a long-term health condition or disability impacts on daily life across 12 activities, taking into account fluctuations over a 12 month period. The activities are grouped into two components, for daily living and mobility and within each activity a descriptor must be chosen to score an individual depending on how well they are able to perform the activity. Every claim to PIP is assessed against all 12 activities.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increased employer National Insurance contributions on professional rugby league clubs competing in the Super League and the Championship.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many policy reviews and consultations the Northern Ireland Office has launched since the General Election on 4 July 2024; what the subject of each review is; what the anticipated timescales are for their completion; and whether any such reviews will be published in full.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In line with the requirements under Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Office routinely publishes information on reviews in respect of any new, proposed or revised policies, and public consultations on GOV.UK.
Between 5 July 2024 and 12 March 2025, the Northern Ireland Office launched one public consultation on the use of Non-Jury Trials in Northern Ireland, which closed on 3 March 2025. This policy was also subject to an internal screening assessment of Non-Jury Trial Provisions under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007.
In addition, the department published the findings of a statutory Review of the Operation of the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme on 29 August 2024.
On 25 February 2025, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced the government’s intention to jointly, with the Irish Government, appoint an Independent Expert to carry out a scoping and engagement exercise to assess whether there is merit in, and support for, a formal process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment. The appointment of the Independent Expert will be announced in due course, and it is expected that they will report back within 12 months of their appointment.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of value added tax (VAT) on independent school fees on voluntary grammar schools in Northern Ireland that offer boarding places that fall within the scope of VAT, compared to England where state run boarding places are exempt.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
To ensure parity with English state boarding schools, the UK Government has provided financial support to voluntary grammar schools in Northern Ireland providing an equivalent service to state run boarding in England, but for whom it was not possible to legislate for a carve-out from the VAT charge. This will ensure pupils boarding at these schools are on the same footing as those attending English boarding schools.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Advocate General for Northern Ireland was consulted prior to the decision in July to withdraw the appeal in respect of sections 46 and 47 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 following the ruling of the high court in Belfast February 2024.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The standard clearance processes were followed when the Government decided to withdraw the ECHR aspects of the appeal in Dillon & others following the ruling of the Northern Ireland High Court. This included sections 46 and 47 of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is the policy of the Advocate General for Northern Ireland to recuse himself from discussions of any issue in Northern Ireland which may directly or indirectly involve any of his former clients.
Answered by Lord Hermer - Attorney General
I am the Government’s chief legal adviser but, by long-standing convention, the fact that I, or a fellow Law Officer, may have advised or not advised, and the content of our advice, is not disclosed outside government, as is reflected in the Ministerial Code.
This is a long-standing policy observed by successive governments. It is also an important legal principle, as confirmed by the Bar Council, that “barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them”.
Law Officers, by their experience and professional nature will sometimes have an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases. That is why there is a robust system for considering and managing any conflicts that may arise, in line with the professional obligations of lawyers.
There is the established process on ministerial declarations, with previous employment and interests having been published for the public record. In general, there has always been an established rigorous system in place within the Attorney General’s Office to ensure that a Law Officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest. This system sits alongside the declaration of interest system overseen by the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards.
If a Law Officer publicly confirmed specific matters where they were recused, this would likely disclose that the other Law Officer was therefore giving advice or infer that legal advice had been requested by the Government on a specific matter, which would risk a breach of the Law Officers’ Convention. In addition, a lawyer cannot breach a client’s confidentiality in relation to advisory work that had previously not been made public so this would limit the ability of a Law Officer to publish in full their previous caseload and conflicts schedule. In that regard, I have been through the same process as previous Law Officers, none of which have gone as far to proactively disclose their specific conflicts of interest for the reasons set out above.
As I set out to the Justice Select Committee (15 January 2025), I confirmed that as a private barrister prior to my appointment as Attorney General, I represented Gerry Adams on an issue unconnected to the Legacy Act.
Asked by: Lord Caine (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will deliver the £250 million of legacy funding that they had allocated in the Stormont House Agreement 2014 and New Decade, New Approach 2020 in full.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
As the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set out in his statement in the House of Commons on 4 December, this Government is committed to addressing the legacy of the Troubles so that society in Northern Ireland can heal from the terrible wounds of the past and look to a better future. This commitment includes delivering on the funding agreed with HM Treasury for the legacy programme, with a total envelope of £250 million. This funding derived from £150 million allocated to implement the Stormont House Agreement and £100 million allocated through the New Decade, New Approach agreement.