Lord Christopher

Labour - Life peer

Became Member: 30th July 1998


Lord Christopher is not a member of any APPGs
Consolidation, &c., Bills (Joint Committee)
17th Jun 2015 - 12th May 2016
Consolidation, &c., Bills (Joint Committee)
27th May 1999 - 30th Mar 2015
Tax Law Rewrite Bills (Joint Committee)
21st Nov 2007 - 15th Dec 2008
Audit Committee (Lords)
13th Nov 2002 - 13th Nov 2008
Audit and Risk Committee
13th Nov 2002 - 13th Nov 2008
Audit and Risk Assurance Committee
13th Nov 2002 - 13th Nov 2008
Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (Lords)
13th Nov 2002 - 13th Nov 2008


Division Voting information

Lord Christopher has voted in 542 divisions, and 4 times against the majority of their Party.

31 Jan 2017 - High Speed Rail (London–West Midlands) Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Christopher voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 5 Labour Aye votes vs 96 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 25 Noes - 385
8 Nov 2011 - Procedure of the House (Proposal 1) - View Vote Context
Lord Christopher voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 15 Labour No votes vs 110 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 169 Noes - 233
7 Jul 2009 - Coroners and Justice Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Christopher voted No - against a party majority and in line with the House
One of 39 Labour No votes vs 69 Labour Aye votes
Tally: Ayes - 141 Noes - 194
11 May 2009 - Postal Services Bill [HL] - View Vote Context
Lord Christopher voted Aye - against a party majority and against the House
One of 14 Labour Aye votes vs 86 Labour No votes
Tally: Ayes - 25 Noes - 228
View All Lord Christopher Division Votes

All Debates

Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.

Sparring Partners
Lord Sassoon (Conservative)
(12 debate interactions)
Lord Freud (Conservative)
(9 debate interactions)
Baroness Hanham (Conservative)
(8 debate interactions)
View All Sparring Partners
Department Debates
Department for Work and Pensions
(12 debate contributions)
Department for Transport
(8 debate contributions)
HM Treasury
(6 debate contributions)
View All Department Debates
Legislation Debates
Lord Christopher has not made any spoken contributions to legislative debate
View all Lord Christopher's debates

Lords initiatives

These initiatives were driven by Lord Christopher, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.


Lord Christopher has not introduced any legislation before Parliament

Lord Christopher has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting


Latest 18 Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department
17th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which bills introduced since May 2010 have included any issues of exclusive concern to England and any of Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland; and what were those issues for each bill.

The Leader of the House of Commons will publish an analysis of legislation relating to England in due course.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many self-employed workers the Office for National Statistics estimated there to be in each financial year since 2010–11.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Cabinet Office)
19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of the National Health Service.

Total spending on the National Health Service in England (against the Department's Departmental Expenditure Limit) was around £105.2 billion in 2012-13. 2013-14 accounts figures will be available later this year.

Through the Department, the NHS is funded predominantly through general taxation.

NHS providers of health care - NHS trusts and foundation trusts (FTs) - are semi-autonomous organisations whose income derives predominantly from the provision of healthcare services.

NHS trusts and FTs also receive smaller levels of income from other sources, such as local authorities, private and overseas patients, education and training and injury costs recovery.

To illustrate the levels of income received from varying sources, the following table summarises the final income received in NHS trusts and FTs in 2012-13.

Provider Income as a

NHS trusts £million

FTs £million

Total £million

Total %

% of Total DEL

Revenue from Patient Care activities -

Commissioners

26,239

33,275

59,514

85.8%

56.6%

Local authorities

390

490

880

1.3%

0.8%

Private patients

127

351

479

0.7%

0.5%

Overseas patients

20

20

40

0.1%

0.0%

Injury costs recovery

104

105

209

0.3%

0.2%

Other

131

0

131

0.2%

0.1%

Other Non Trading Income

Education, training and research

1,665

2,081

3,746

5.4%

3.6%

Non-patient care services to other bodies

597

629

1,227

1.8%

1.2%

Charitable Contributions

55

174

230

0.3%

0.2%

Other

1,133

1,803

2,936

4.2%

2.8%

Total

30,461

38,929

69,390

100.0%

65.9%

Notes:

1. “Other” category includes income from subleasing property, bank interest and other small amounts from patients including transport services, parking income, etc.

2. Patient income from prescription, ophthalmic and dental charges are routed through primary care trusts (NHS England in 2013-14) and not included in the numbers reported in this table.

Earl Howe
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the sources of National Health Service revenue; and in the last financial year how much was contributed by each.

Total spending on the National Health Service in England (against the Department's Departmental Expenditure Limit) was around £105.2 billion in 2012-13. 2013-14 accounts figures will be available later this year.

Through the Department, the NHS is funded predominantly through general taxation.

NHS providers of health care - NHS trusts and foundation trusts (FTs) - are semi-autonomous organisations whose income derives predominantly from the provision of healthcare services.

NHS trusts and FTs also receive smaller levels of income from other sources, such as local authorities, private and overseas patients, education and training and injury costs recovery.

To illustrate the levels of income received from varying sources, the following table summarises the final income received in NHS trusts and FTs in 2012-13.

Provider Income as a

NHS trusts £million

FTs £million

Total £million

Total %

% of Total DEL

Revenue from Patient Care activities -

Commissioners

26,239

33,275

59,514

85.8%

56.6%

Local authorities

390

490

880

1.3%

0.8%

Private patients

127

351

479

0.7%

0.5%

Overseas patients

20

20

40

0.1%

0.0%

Injury costs recovery

104

105

209

0.3%

0.2%

Other

131

0

131

0.2%

0.1%

Other Non Trading Income

Education, training and research

1,665

2,081

3,746

5.4%

3.6%

Non-patient care services to other bodies

597

629

1,227

1.8%

1.2%

Charitable Contributions

55

174

230

0.3%

0.2%

Other

1,133

1,803

2,936

4.2%

2.8%

Total

30,461

38,929

69,390

100.0%

65.9%

Notes:

1. “Other” category includes income from subleasing property, bank interest and other small amounts from patients including transport services, parking income, etc.

2. Patient income from prescription, ophthalmic and dental charges are routed through primary care trusts (NHS England in 2013-14) and not included in the numbers reported in this table.

Earl Howe
Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
27th Jan 2015
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes have been made in the last five years to the rules on the distinctions for income tax purposes between employment and self-employment.

The Government have not made any changes to the rules on the distinctions for income tax purposes between employment and self-employment in the last five years.

However the Government has taken action to address false self-employment both through intermediaries and limited liability partnerships (LLP), making changes that mean that a salaried member of an LLP will be treated as an employee for income tax.

9th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish impact and risk assessments on the devolution of corporation tax to Northern Ireland.

At Autumn Statement, the Government set out that it recognises the strongly held arguments for devolving corporation tax rate-setting powers to Northern Ireland, including its land border with the very low corporation tax environment in the Republic of Ireland, and the shared goal of the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive of rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy and securing the peaceful economic progress made since the Good Friday Agreement. Work by HMRC and HM Treasury has concluded that this proposal could be implemented provided that the Northern Ireland Executive is able to manage the financial implications. If this legislation is introduced, a Tax Information and Impact Note will be published alongside the Bill as part of the usual legislative process.

9th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the changes in the rate of the stamp duty on the prices of houses worth less than £1 million.

The reform to Stamp Duty Land Tax on residential properties will have a limited impact on house prices overall and this effect will be small compared to overall fluctuations in house prices.

9th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the increases in income tax personal allowance have had an impact on the data on income levels available to them; and if so, what action they intend to take as a result.

Increases to the amount of income tax personal allowance do not affect the amount of income data available to HM Revenue and Customs.

9th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many visits were made to employers in each year from 2010 to 2013 and in the first nine months of 2014 to check that the minimum wage was being properly paid; and what were the results of those checks in each of those years.

The Government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage very seriously and has increased the financial penalty percentage from 50% to 100% of the unpaid wages owed to workers, and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. These new limits are now in force where arrears are identified in pay reference periods on or after 7 March 2014. The Government will also bring in primary legislation as soon as possible so that the maximum £20,000 penalty can apply to each underpaid worker.

HMRC reviews every complaint that is referred to it, investigating the complaint and, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where we identify a high risk of non-payment of NMW.

HMRC record completed investigations but these do not include details of the numbers of visits. Some investigations may require several visits and others may be completed without any. HMRC completed 1455 investigations last year identifying record arrears of over £4.6 million. Full details for 2010 to 2014 are contained in the table below. We do not typically disclose results mid-way through a year; this is because the results have not been internally verified.

Year

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

Arrears

£3,818,396

£3,582,685

£3,974,008

£4,645,547

Investigations

2,904

2,534

1,693

1,455

Cases with arrears

1,140

968

736

680

3rd Jul 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the total National Insurance Contribution receipts paid to the National Health Service in each of the last five years to April 2014; and what proportion of the total National Insurance Contributions receipts those totals represented.

The table below shows total NICs receipts and NHS allocation to 2012-13.

Tax Year

Total NICs receipts (bn)

NHS allocation (bn)

NHS allocation as proportion of total NICs receipts

2009-10

£95.5

£20.8

21.8%

2010-11

£96.5

£20.9

21.7%

2011-12

£101.6

£21.1

20.8%

2012-13

£102

£21.0

20.6%

Total National Insurance contributions receipts for the years up to 2013-14 can be found in the statistical publication HMRC tax and NICs receipts for the UK available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.

The NHS allocation from 2009-10 to 2012-13 is set out in in the National Insurance Fund Accounts available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-fund-accounts. Accounts for 2013-14 will be available in due course.

19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they make public how National Insurance contributions are distributed and to which expenditure; and, if so, how National Insurance contributions are dispersed.

The destination of National Insurance contributions (NICs) is set out in Section 162 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and Section 142 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Administration Act 1992. NICs are paid into the National Insurance Funds (NIF) after deducting the appropriate NHS allocation. Contributory benefits are paid out of the Funds and the amounts are published in the National Insurance Fund Accounts[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-fund-accounts

19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many self-employed workers were registered with HM Revenue and Customs at the end of each financial year since 2010–11.

Estimates for the number of individuals with self employment sources are published in HMRC's National Statistics Table 3.10[1]. These estimates are based on the Survey of Personal Incomes for which 2011-12 is the latest available year.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-of-individuals-with-self-employment-sources-2010-to-2011

19th Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much is raised annually from National Insurance contributions.

Information on monthly and annual receipts of National Insurance contributions is published in table HM Revenue and Customs Receipts on the GOV.UK website.

A link to the most recent publication is given below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321069/20140610_Maymonthlyreceipts.pdf

17th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many resignations have occurred from 2012 to 2014 among all grades in (1) the Police Service, (2) the Prison Officer Service, and (3) the Probation Service.

The available information collected centrally appears in the tables below.

Table 1: Number of voluntary resignations in the Police service1, by officer rank and police worker type, England and Wales, 2011/12 to 2013/142

2011/12

Total Police Officers

1,158

Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)

2

Chief Superintendent

3

Superintendent

3

Chief Inspector

10

Inspector

22

Sergeant

135

Constable

983

Police Staff

5,829

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO)

1,787

Designated officer

214

Traffic Warden

7

Special Constable

3,872

1. Total police officer leavers by rank and gender are published in the Police Workforce, England and Wales, statistical publications.

Breakdown by leaving type (i.e voluntary resignations) are not regularly published, therefore these figures have not been verified by police forces and are provisional.

2. This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number, with the exception of special constables where they are provided on a headcount basis.

Source: Home Office

Table 2: Number of resignations in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) resignations, England and Wales, 2012 to 2014

2012

2013

2014(Jan -Sep)3

Prison:

NOMS (Excluding NPS)1

1050

940

800

Probation:

NPS1,2

170

CRC2,4,5

240

All figures are rounded to the nearest 10, with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. As with all HR databases, extracts are taken at a fixed point in time, to ensure consistency of reporting. However the database itself is dynamic, and where updates to the database are made late, subsequent to the taking of the extract, these updates will not be reflected in figures produced by the extract. For this reason, HR data are unlikely to be precisely accurate, and to present unrounded figures would be to overstate the accuracy of the figures. Rounding to 10 accurately depicts the level of certainty that is held with these figures.

Totals are formed from unrounded parts prior to rounding. For this reason, rounded totals may not equal the sum of their rounded parts.

1. The National Probation Service (NPS) was formed on 1 June 2014 and its staff became civil servants on that date. The NPS is part of NOMS, however figures have been presented separately for NPS

2. Prior to 1 June 2014, Probation Services were provided by probation trusts that managed staffing locally, and no data on resignations from probation trusts are held centrally.

3. Figures are only available up to 30 September 2014, the date of the latest publication.

4. Information provided by CRCs are only available as FTE; otherwise, figures are provided as head count.

5. The number of CRC resignations provided is complete for all CRCs with the exception of Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire CRC. They were only able to provide leaver data for the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire elements of their CRC in certain months (September 2014 for Gloucestershire and August and September 2014 for Wiltshire).

Source: NOMS

23rd Jun 2014
To ask Her Majesty's Government what local authority studies corresponding to those previously undertaken by the Audit Commission are planned for 2014–15.

The Commission will produce its final report under Section 33 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 in October 2014: Protecting the Public Purse 2014. The Comptroller and Auditor General was given new powers on 9 April 2014 to carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which relevant local authorities have used their resources in discharging their functions, under section 35 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

27th Jan 2015
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Northern Ireland Assembly has given its full agreement to the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill; and, if not, on which parts of the Bill its consent has been reserved.

All five parties in the Northern Ireland Executive have long advocated the devolution of corporation tax rate-setting powers and the Executive was involved in the development of the legislation the Government has now introduced.

Baroness Randerson
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Transport)
9th Dec 2014
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish impact and risk assessments on the Smith Commission's recommendations.

The Government has committed to producing draft clauses by Burns’ Night, 25 January 2015. Individual parties have made commitments to introduce legislation to Parliament following the General Election in May 2015. It is expected that formal introduction of legislation will be accompanied by supporting documents in the usual way, including Impact Assessments.