Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current national budget of the Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Accurate financial information for the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCAs) can be found in the published Consolidated Financial Statements in their Annual Reports and Accounts, the latest three of which were placed in the Library of the House on 22 October 2024. These documents extend to Financial Year (FY) 2022-23 and can be found as Deposited Papers at the following website: https://depositedpapers.parliament.uk/depositedpaper/2286623/details.
The RFCA’s Annual Report and Accounts for FY 2023-24 are not yet finalised but will be published in due course. The RFCA’s budget for FY 2024-25 is held across a number of different funding lines and will be published in due course through the Annual Report and Accounts process.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to reintroducing prison farms with a view to the mental wellbeing of prisoners.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
HM Prison and Probation Service continues to operate five working farms which provide employment, skills, and produce for the internal market. Over 70 prisons offer horticultural training opportunities, which assist prisoners with gaining sector-specific skills and experiences.
We also recognise the value of farms, horticultural and land-based activity for improving wellbeing and addressing poor mental health. We continue to develop a range of opportunities for accessing farms and gardens to learn new positive skills, including growing food and environmental improvement.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the estimated cost of the executive boards of the 13 Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The estimated annual projected costs to the Ministry of Defence of the 145 volunteers who are members of an executive board, i.e. the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCA) Executive Boards, the Council of Reserve Forces and Cadets Association (CRFCA) and the CRFCA Board, is a maximum of approximately £45,000.
This estimate is based on 100 per cent of the volunteers claiming 100 per cent of their travel and subsistence costs. In reality, the actual cost of expenditure claims associated with RFCA Executive Boards is likely to be far lower; a number of RFCAs report nil cost. The vast majority of active members make no claims, reflecting their sense of service and deep connection with the UK’s Reserve Forces and Cadets.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of volunteer hours put in by non-executive board members and the wider membership of the Reserve Forces and Cadet Associations.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Association (RFCA) is a centrally coordinated national body that delivers its outputs locally, by local people, to support the sustainment and generation of Reserve Forces. The RFCA and the 13 Regional RFCAs purposefully sit outside of the Chains of Command (as an Arm’s Length Body) in order to support better outcomes for the public.
The RFCA has an extensive volunteer membership (numbering around 8,000), bringing a wide breadth of expertise and community links. The RFCAs’ extensive network of volunteer members, based within communities across the UK, enable the RFCAs to better connect to society.
Volunteers assist in providing the RFCAs with the information and knowledge needed to discharge their duties. While the number of hours volunteered is not formally recorded either for the volunteer membership or non-executive board members, it is estimated that this figure is around 69,000 hours per year.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what has been the cost of the work on the Restoration and Renewal programme since 2012 in respect of (1) the salaries, recruitment fees, and redundancy payments for non-parliamentary staff, such as those working for the Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority, (2) the costs of contractors to undertake surveys and preparatory work, and (3) the work assessing and preparing decant locations.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body and Restoration and Renewal (R&R) Delivery Authority were established in April and May 2020 respectively. The Sponsor Body was abolished on 1 January 2023 and its functions transferred to the R&R Client Team in Parliament. Prior to this, work related to the restoration and renewal of the Palace was funded and managed by the House Administrations. Both the R&R Client Team and Delivery Authority routinely publish information on costs, for instance in quarterly reports, annual reports, and memoranda provided to the Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission, as did the Sponsor Body prior to its abolition.
Staff costs for the Sponsor Body for its full two years of operation (2020-21 and 2021-22) are set out in its Annual Reports and Accounts (available at https://www.restorationandrenewal.uk/sponsor-body-archive), and amount to approximately £8.4 million. In 2022-23 the Sponsor Body was abolished and its costs merged into the R&R Client Team, which is a joint department of both Houses.
It is not possible to disaggregate recruitment fees for the Sponsor Body as this falls within other elements of expenditure. Approximately £540,000, excluding employer’s pensions and national insurance contributions, was paid in settlement payments to senior staff of the Sponsor Body (three Executive Directors and the Accounting Officer) which they were entitled to under their contracts, rather than seeking to transfer to the new Client Team. These settlement payments were approved by the Sponsor Body Nominations and Renumerations Committee and audited by the National Audit Office.
Staff costs for the R&R Delivery Authority from 2020-21 to 2023-24 are set out in its Annual Report and Financial Statements (available at https://www.restorationandrenewal.uk/about-us/corporate-publications), and amount to approximately £59.1 million. Recruitment fees in the Delivery Authority over this period amount to approximately £710,000.
Under the R&R Programme, tens of thousands of hours of complex building surveys and investigations to develop ever more detailed records of the Palace of Westminster have been carried out. These records are being used to inform design and planning, and future decisions on the essential restoration work required. Since its establishment in 2020 up to the end of 2023-24, the R&R Delivery Authority has spent approximately £28 million on surveys to the Palace.
The estimated costs incurred by the R&R Delivery Authority in respect of developing and assessing the QEII Conference Centre as the preferred decant location of the House of Lords from 2020-21 to 2023-24 is £12m. These figures do not include Sponsor Body, R&R Client Team, or House of Lords staff costs and do cover some other work related to temporary accommodation, where it is not possible to disaggregate work carried out by contractors to cover multiple activities. The work to assess and prepare for House of Commons decant location options, including the expenditure for that work, is the responsibility of the governance bodies in the House of Commons.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to impose legal duties on landowners for the purpose of restricting the growth of ragwort.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are no plans to issue legislation to impose legal duties on landowners to restrict the growth of ragwort. The Government’s ‘Code of Practice on How to Prevent the Spread of Ragwort’ (see attached) sets out guidance for landowners on when and how common ragwort should be removed, taking into account both animal welfare and environmental considerations.
The Code does not seek to eradicate common ragwort, but only seeks to control its spread where it poses a high risk of spreading to agricultural land, for example land used for grazing.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the length of time it takes for His Majesty's Revenue and Customs to calculate capital gains tax returns.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The vast majority of Capital Gains returns are filed online, through entries in a Self-Assessment Tax return or our online service for sale of a property which is not the main residence. Taxpayers using online services are presented with their tax calculation immediately, unless there are any exceptions requiring a manual check. For the small numbers of 2022-23 tax returns requiring manual checks, HMRC will complete these by 31 January.
For customers who file their self-assessment return on paper, HMRC aim to process 99% of returns received by the 31 October submission deadline by 31 December. They expect to meet that target this year.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they are making in accelerating the granting of licences for insecticides that will enable apiarists to control the spread of the Asian hornet.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator responsible for authorising biocidal products (which include insecticides) on the market in Great Britain.
Insecticide control options are already available to expert government officials carrying out treatments to destroy Asian hornet nests. Whilst there are currently no insecticide biocidal products specifically authorised for use against Asian hornets, there are a number of products available for use against hornets. Manufacturers of insecticides can apply to HSE if they wish to add specific claims for Asian hornets to their products.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the criteria necessary for the (1) erection, and (2) display, of brown road signs to denote locations of cultural and historical significance; and whether local councils are required to provide assistance during that process.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The criteria necessary for a location of cultural and historical significance to potentially warrant a brown traffic sign are provided in Schedule 1 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions, 2016 (TSRGD). TSRGD defines the term ‘tourist destination’ with the following meaning:
(a) a Tourist Information Centre or Point;
(b) a permanently established attraction or facility (other than a leisure facility) which—
(i) attracts or is used by visitors to an area;
(ii) is open to the public without prior booking during its normal opening hours; and
(iii) is recognised as a tourist attraction or facility by the appropriate national promoter of tourism;
(c) a village, town or city that is of particular interest to tourists;
(d) a route that is of particular interest to tourists
VisitBritian is the national promoter for England and they have criteria for minimum number of visitors, car parking, toilets etc.
Decisions on whether to erect and display brown signs for any qualifying attraction is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. However, local councils are not required to provide assistance to attractions during the process of meeting the criteria.
Asked by: Lord Colgrain (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many local revenue offices have informed tax payers that they should not expect tax repayment that they are owed until September, and for what reasons.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HMRC covers a wide range of taxes where refunds may be made. These include, for example, Income Tax (both Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment), Corporation Tax, Stamp Duty Land Tax, Value Added Tax (with a number of different regimes in use), Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
The speed of repayment, and our service level agreements (SLAs) for speed of repayment, varies across different areas.
Footnote:
How HMRC is performing against its service standards can be found here:
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/HMRC-service-dashboard/outcome/HMRC-service-dashboard