Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will release the documents relating to the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answers given by my Right Honourable Friend, The Minister for Defence People and Families, in the other place on 26 February 2024 (UIN 13866) and on 15 March 2024 (UIN 17490).
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe of 28 November (HL 277), whether they will now answer the question put, namely to list the ministers and whips in the House of Lords alongside their respective salaries and allowances.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The ministers and whips in the House of Lords and their respective claimed salaries for financial year 2023-2024 are as follows:
Minister | Salary |
|---|---|
The Rt Hon the Lord Cameron | £104,360 |
The Rt Hon the Lord True | £104,360 |
Baroness Neville-Rolfe | Unpaid |
Baroness Vere of Norbiton | £70,969 |
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon | Unpaid |
The Rt Hon the Lord Benyon | Unpaid |
Lord Sharpe of Epsom | £70,969 |
The Earl of Minto | Unpaid |
Lord Bellamy KC | Unpaid |
Viscount Camrose | Unpaid |
Baroness Scott of Bybrook | £70,969 |
Baroness Penn | £70,969 |
Lord Markham | Unpaid |
Robbie Douglas-Miller | Unpaid |
The Rt Hon the Earl Howe | Unpaid |
Lord Johnson | Unpaid |
Lord Offord of Garvel | Unpaid |
Lord Callanan | £70,969 |
Viscount Younger of Leckie | £70,969 |
Baroness Barran | Unpaid |
Lord Davies of Gower | £70,969 |
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay | £70,969 |
Lord Caine | £65,625 |
Lord Stewart of Dirleton KC | £94,772 |
The Rt Hon the Baroness Williams of Trafford | £81,485 |
The Earl of Courtown | £70,969 |
Lord Gascoigne | £65,625 |
Lord Harlech | £65,625 |
Lord Evans of Rainow | £65,625 |
Lord Roborough | Unpaid |
Baroness Swinburne | Unpaid |
In line with the Ministerial and Other Pensions Act 1991, Lords ministers are able to claim the Lords Office-Holders Allowance (LOHA). There are two rates for LOHA: Lords ministers living in London can claim £4,435 for the financial year 2023-2024, and Lords ministers living outside of London can claim £36,366 per year.
Lords ministers who are unpaid may choose between claiming either LOHA or the Lords Daily Allowance. Lords ministers who receive a salary are not permitted to claim the Lords Daily Allowance.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the salaries and allowances of each of the Ministers and Whips in the House of Lords.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Details of the salaries and allowances currently paid to Ministers at different ranks can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-salary-data
This will be updated in due course.
The full list of ministers can be found on gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-november-2023
The ministers and whips in the House of Lords currently appointed and not in receipt of a ministerial salary are: Baroness Nevile-Rolfe DBE CMG, Lord Ahmad, Rt Hon Lord Benyon, the Earl of Minto, Lord Bellamy KC, Viscount Camrose, Lord Markham CBE, Rt Hon Earl Howe GBE, Lord Johnson CBE, Lord Offord of Garvel, Baroness Barran MBE, and Baroness Swinburne.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the adult population are currently being prescribed antidepressants.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Based on the latest available primary care dispensing data (Q1, 2023/24) we estimate that 15% of the adult population in England is prescribed anti-depressants.
We do not capture the clinical indication of a prescription, so there may be instances where these drugs are used for other conditions.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many people had their visits to the House of Lords Chamber cancelled as a result of the early sittings on Wednesday 6 and Wednesday 13 September to allow for extended scrutiny of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill; and what arrangements have been made to those people to offer redress.
Answered by Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. No tours run by Visitors Services were cancelled because of early sittings on Wednesday 6 and Wednesday 13 September. When the Chambers sit, visitors have a reduced tour, confined to public areas. 650 people had a reduced tour as a result of early sittings. Visitors are warned at the time of booking that their tour may be changed due to Parliamentary business.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 1 February (HL4851), who he consulted when preparing his answer; and what oversight mechanisms exist to scrutinise the design and cost of security projects for the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Parliamentary Security Department and Strategic Estates teams were consulted when preparing the answer to HL4851, along with House of Lords Administration officials.
The design and cost of security projects for Parliament go through rigorous internal scrutiny. The Clerk of the Parliaments and Clerk of the House, as Accounting and Corporate Officers, have responsibility for approving final business cases for security projects across the Parliamentary Estate, subject to advice from the Finance Directors and other relevant officials.
The Clerk of the Parliaments’ decisions on security projects are informed by consultation with the House of Lords Commission, which ensures that the impact on Members is taken into account, and by the Finance Committee which receives regular reports regarding security expenditure. There is also significant oversight by the Finance Director. The Clerk of the House is informed by the equivalent groups and individuals in the House of Commons. Ultimately it is not the House that makes the final decision because security is a bicameral issue, and legal responsibility for safety sits with the Clerk of the Parliaments and Clerk of the House.
Governance of the Security Programme for Parliament is provided by the Quarterly Review Group (QRG). Membership includes the Clerk of the House of Commons and Clerk of the Parliaments, the Finance Directors of both Houses, the Chief Operating Officer of the House of Lords and DG Operations of the House of Commons, and a non-executive external advisor (the Director of Property for the Royal Household).
The Parliamentary Security Department and Strategic Estates also consult external experts, including the Metropolitan Police Service, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, and Historic England to inform the Security Programme.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many firms were invited to tender for the new front door at Peers Entrance.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Three contractors were given the opportunity to be issued an invitation to tender for the replacement front door at Peers’ Entrance. Two contractors confirmed they wanted to bid for the works and were issued an invitation to tender. Both contractors submitted tenders which were evaluated by an evaluation panel and the highest scoring contractor was awarded the contract.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the total expenditure on Restoration and Renewal to date; and whether he can provide a breakdown on how it has been allocated.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body and Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority were established in April and May 2020 respectively. From their establishment until the end of March 2022, those bodies spent £216.5m on the Restoration and Renewal Programme (this includes £5m of costs in April 2020 before the Delivery Authority was formally incorporated). A breakdown is provided in the table below.
The total forecast spend for the current financial year (2022-23) is £80m for the Delivery Authority and £7m for the Sponsor Body/R&R Client Team (the Client Team having taken over the sponsor function for the programme from the Sponsor Body on 1 January 2023).
Both the Sponsor Body and Delivery Authority routinely published information on costs, for instance in quarterly reports, annual reports, and memoranda provided to the Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission. This transparency will continue under the R&R Client Team.
Expenditure on the Restoration and Renewal Programme
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These figures do not include House of Lords staff costs or costs of parliamentary scrutiny of R&R through committees or in the House.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what recent estimate he has made of the cost of replacing the door at Peers Entrance; and how this differs from the original estimate.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The cost of works to replace the door at Peers’ Entrance has increased due to delays caused by issues unearthed during initial surveys and other works taking place in the nearby area. Increases were also caused by inflation, which meant tender returns came back higher than estimated.
For security reasons, the Houses do not publish capital expenditure on security mitigating projects as providing this level of detail could enable an individual to infer the extent and nature of the works, and thus the vulnerabilities which they were intended to mitigate.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the (1) current, and (2) planned, expenditure on security for the House of Lords; and what is the governance process to ensure value for the taxpayer.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Costs for security are split between the House of Commons and House of Lords in accordance with an agreed ratio of 70:30. However, physical and operational security measures across Parliament benefit all users of the estate regardless of which House they are based in, so it would not be possible to determine the cost of security by House.
The House of Lords’ portion of security operating costs is published in the House of Lords Annual Report and Accounts; in 2021-22 this amounted to £18.26m. For security reasons the Houses do not publish capital expenditure on security mitigating projects as providing this level of detail could enable an individual to infer the extent and nature of the works, and thus the vulnerabilities which they were intended to mitigate.
The governance process for expenditure on security includes regular reports to the Finance Committees of both Houses, and oversight by the Clerks and Finance Directors of both Houses.