Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government which members of the Government are unpaid.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The following members of the Government are unpaid:
Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi MP, Minister of State and Minister without Portfolio
John Glen MP, Minister of State, HM Treasury (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
Andrew Griffith MP, Minister of State, HM Treasury (Economic Secretary to the Treasury)
Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, Minister of State, Cabinet Office
Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State, Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park, Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Baroness Goldie DL, Minister of State, Ministry of Defence
Rt Hon Earl Howe GBE, Minister of State and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Lord Markham CBE, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care
Rt Hon Lord Benyon Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Lord Johnson of Lainston CBE, Minister of State, Department for International Trade
Baroness Barran MBE, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education
Lord Offord of Garvel, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scotland Office
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Penn on 4 July (HL Deb), whether they will increase the allowable mileage rate for employees using their own vehicles for business purposes from 45 pence per mile, given the increased cost of fuel.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government sets the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) rates to minimise administrative burdens. The AMAP rates aim to reflect running costs including fuel, servicing and depreciation. Depreciation is estimated to constitute the most significant proportion of the AMAP rates. Fuel costs only contribute to a fraction of the AMAP rates and not the total rate.
Employers are not required to use the AMAP rates. Instead, they can agree to reimburse the actual cost incurred, where individuals can provide evidence of the expenditure, without an Income Tax or National Insurance charge arising.
Alternatively, they can choose to pay a different mileage rate that is higher or lower than the AMAP rates. If an employee is paid less than the approved amount, they are allowed to claim Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) from HMRC. However, if the payment exceeds the relevant AMAP rate, and this results in a profit for the individual, they will be liable to pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on the difference.
As with all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps the AMAP rates under review and any changes are considered by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord True on 6 and 22 June (HL302 and HL811), whether the Cabinet Office will write to each Government Department asking them to indicate how many UK-based (1) Permanent Secretaries, and (2) Senior Civil Servants have been working from abroad at any time in the last 24 months.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
As I stated in my response to HL302 on 6 June and HL811 on 23 June, the Cabinet Office does not hold departmental information about civil servants in UK-based senior leadership roles working from abroad.
Working abroad has always been by exception in the Cabinet Office and is not permitted unless there is a specific business need or under the most exceptional of circumstances (an example of which might be where an employee’s partner is a civil servant and is permanently posted abroad).
This is still the current position of the Cabinet Office. In future, we will ensure that communications are sent to departments, as part of wider communications on senior resourcing, to highlight that departmental records should be kept up to date.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 6 June (HL302), how many UK-based (1) Permanent Secretaries, and (2) Senior Civil Servants, have been working from abroad at any time in the last 24 months.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
As I stated in my response to HL302 on 6 June, the Cabinet Office does not hold departmental information about civil servants in UK-based senior leadership roles working from abroad.
In terms of departmental records, these records are not collected by the Cabinet Office, with information captured at a line manager level.
Working abroad has always been by exception in the Cabinet Office and is not permitted unless there is a specific business need or under the most exceptional of circumstances (an example of which might be where an employee’s partner is a civil servant and is permanently posted abroad).
This is still the current position of the Cabinet Office.
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 14 June (HL810), whether he will place a marked up copy of the new Companion to the Standing Orders in the Library of the House highlighting the changes proposed to date since the last edition.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Following the debate on Thursday 16 June I approved the publication of the complete draft text of the new edition of the Companion to the Standing Orders. This can be viewed at https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/house-of-lords-publications/rules-and-guides-for-business/companion-to-the-standing-orders/. I have also instructed staff to place copies of all papers considered by the Procedure and Privileges Committee while preparing the latest edition in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether he plans to publish the marked-up text showing the proposed changes to the Companion to Standing Orders from the 2017 version; and whether he plans to consult peers prior to printing the new version.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The new edition of the Companion to the Standing Orders will, like all previous editions since the Procedure Committee was first appointed in 1940, be issued under the authority of that Committee. In line with longstanding practice, the members of the Procedure and Privileges Committee have been briefed on all the changes contained in the latest edition, and no changes of substance have been or will be made unless they have been agreed by the House as a whole.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any civil servants in UK-based senior leadership roles have been working from abroad in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Cabinet Office does not hold departmental information about civil servants in UK-based senior leadership roles working from abroad.
In terms of departmental records, these records are not collected by the Cabinet Office, with information captured at a line manager level.
Working abroad has always been by exception in the Cabinet Office and is not permitted unless there is a specific business need or under the most exceptional of circumstances (an example of which might be where an employee’s partner is a civil servant and is permanently posted abroad).
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Scottish Government about (1) the provision of investment funds to (a) Ferguson Marine, (b) BiFab, and (c) Prestwick Airport, and (2) the nationalisation of Ferguson Marine; and what was the total cost of these measures to the Exchequer.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The UK government has had no discussion with the Scottish Government on this because responsibility for funding to ports and airports is a devolved matter.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker why it was necessary to extend the staff accommodation in support of the Lord Speaker; how many extra staff are involved; and what are their duties.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In January 2021 the Commission published the report of the independent External Management Review. One of the specific recommendations of that Review was that a small secretariat should be appointed to provide dedicated support to the Commission. In response to this recommendation, at its meeting on 10 February 2021, the Commission agreed that new secretariat posts should be created as soon as possible.
Accordingly, two new post-holders have now been recruited to provide support for the whole Commission. These two postholders are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office but, as the Lord Speaker is Chair of the Commission, they are now physically co-located with the Lord Speaker’s Office in order to enable effective communication and information sharing. The Secretary to the Commission ensures that the Commission receives the information and support they need to take effective strategic decisions and meet their objectives. This includes, but is not limited to, briefing the Chair, liaising between Commission members and senior staff, drafting papers, following up issues after meetings, assisting with Commission communications, overseeing the arrangements for meetings and line managing the Executive Officer to the Commission. The Executive Officer to the Commission provides the administrative support to the Commission. This includes, but is not limited to, organising the administrative arrangements for meetings, circulating papers, maintaining internet and intranet pages, managing Commission records, helping with Commission communications, and liaising with staff involved with Commission meetings.
The staff count for the Lord Speaker’s Office is 4.8 full-time equivalent posts: a Private Secretary, Assistant Private Secretary, Diary Manager, Events and Outreach Officer, and an Executive Officer. Due to vacancies not all of these posts are currently filled. An internal staffing review of the Office is currently taking place.
Other staff are also co-located with the Lord Speaker’s Office, including a member of the Communications team who provides communications support to the Lord Speaker and Commission, and a member of staff who forms the International Relations team. They are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office.
In the last three financial years, the actual staffing costs for the Lord Speaker’s Office were:
2018-19: £200,654
2019-20: £182,904
2020-21: £205,692
The forecast outturn for staffing for the Lord Speaker’s Private Office for the current financial year (2021-22) is £227,262, prior to any agreed pay award.
The draft budget for 2022-23 is £310,430. This larger figure assumes a full complement in every post for the full financial year, which has not always been the case in preceding financial years. These figures include the costs of salaries as well as other on-costs such as pension and National Insurance contributions.
These figures do not include the costs of the two members of staff who support the Commission. As outlined above, these posts are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office, although they are co-located with the staff of the office.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many staff are employed in support of the Lord Speaker; their costs in each of the last three years; the budget for staff employed to support the Lord Speaker in the next financial year; and of the existing staff, how many are required to support the Commission.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In January 2021 the Commission published the report of the independent External Management Review. One of the specific recommendations of that Review was that a small secretariat should be appointed to provide dedicated support to the Commission. In response to this recommendation, at its meeting on 10 February 2021, the Commission agreed that new secretariat posts should be created as soon as possible.
Accordingly, two new post-holders have now been recruited to provide support for the whole Commission. These two postholders are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office but, as the Lord Speaker is Chair of the Commission, they are now physically co-located with the Lord Speaker’s Office in order to enable effective communication and information sharing. The Secretary to the Commission ensures that the Commission receives the information and support they need to take effective strategic decisions and meet their objectives. This includes, but is not limited to, briefing the Chair, liaising between Commission members and senior staff, drafting papers, following up issues after meetings, assisting with Commission communications, overseeing the arrangements for meetings and line managing the Executive Officer to the Commission. The Executive Officer to the Commission provides the administrative support to the Commission. This includes, but is not limited to, organising the administrative arrangements for meetings, circulating papers, maintaining internet and intranet pages, managing Commission records, helping with Commission communications, and liaising with staff involved with Commission meetings.
The staff count for the Lord Speaker’s Office is 4.8 full-time equivalent posts: a Private Secretary, Assistant Private Secretary, Diary Manager, Events and Outreach Officer, and an Executive Officer. Due to vacancies not all of these posts are currently filled. An internal staffing review of the Office is currently taking place.
Other staff are also co-located with the Lord Speaker’s Office, including a member of the Communications team who provides communications support to the Lord Speaker and Commission, and a member of staff who forms the International Relations team. They are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office.
In the last three financial years, the actual staffing costs for the Lord Speaker’s Office were:
2018-19: £200,654
2019-20: £182,904
2020-21: £205,692
The forecast outturn for staffing for the Lord Speaker’s Private Office for the current financial year (2021-22) is £227,262, prior to any agreed pay award.
The draft budget for 2022-23 is £310,430. This larger figure assumes a full complement in every post for the full financial year, which has not always been the case in preceding financial years. These figures include the costs of salaries as well as other on-costs such as pension and National Insurance contributions.
These figures do not include the costs of the two members of staff who support the Commission. As outlined above, these posts are not part of the Lord Speaker’s Office, although they are co-located with the staff of the office.