Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 3 June (HL15919), what evidence they have for the competitiveness of airfares between London and Scotland; whether they will provide the figures for the cost of such flights which informed their assessment that “Scotland is well-served by air services into London”; whether they have conducted a comparative analysis of the costs of flights from Scotland to all London airports; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer to the answer of 3 June (HL15919), which states that the aviation sector operates in a competitive, commercial environment, investing to attract passengers and responding to demand when determining routes to operate. It is therefore not for the Department to carry out this type of assessment, nor to comment on whether there is sufficient competition.
I can, however, confirm that CAA data for 2018 shows that the four largest airports in Scotland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow) have flights to two or more airports in the London system, with flights operated by multiple airlines.
In addition, the UK Government, in partnership with the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council, provide financial support for an air route from Dundee to Stansted through a public service obligation. Scotland will also benefit from an expanded Heathrow, where there will be further opportunity to enhance connections to the country’s biggest hub airport.
This information, which is already in the public domain, shows that there is sufficient competition for air routes between London and Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 3 June (HL15919), whether they will now answer the question put.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer to the answer of 3 June (HL15919), which states that the aviation sector operates in a competitive, commercial environment, investing to attract passengers and responding to demand when determining routes to operate. It is therefore not for the Department to carry out this type of assessment, nor to comment on whether there is sufficient competition.
I can, however, confirm that CAA data for 2018 shows that the four largest airports in Scotland (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow) have flights to two or more airports in the London system, with flights operated by multiple airlines.
In addition, the UK Government, in partnership with the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council, provide financial support for an air route from Dundee to Stansted through a public service obligation. Scotland will also benefit from an expanded Heathrow, where there will be further opportunity to enhance connections to the country’s biggest hub airport.
This information, which is already in the public domain, shows that there is sufficient competition for air routes between London and Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an estimate of the revenue which could be raised if the exemption from employee and employer's national insurance contributions for people above pensionable age was removed; and if so, what is that estimate.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The “Estimated costs of principal tax reliefs” publication, sets out an estimate of the cost of the exemption of those over State pension age from paying National Insurance. It is estimated that the cost of this exemption is approximately £1.1bn in 2018-19. The estimates do not allow for any behavioural changes as a result of the reliefs. In practice if a relief was withdrawn, taxpayers’ behaviour would be likely to alter so that the actual yield could be lower than that shown in the tables.
Employers are not currently exempt from paying employer NICs for their employees above the state pension age.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of competition in the provision of air services from Scotland to London.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The aviation sector operates in a competitive, commercial environment, investing to attract passengers and responding to demand when determining routes to operate.
Scotland is well-served by air services into London, with at least two airlines operating direct services from each of Scotland’s four largest airports into the London system.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to encourage the dispersal of public sector jobs from London to other regions in the UK; and if so, how this is being implemented by the British Transport Police.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Government’s commitment to locate more Civil Service roles out of London and into the regions and nations of the United Kingdom was contained in the 2017 Manifesto, affirmed in the Industrial Strategy White Paper and most recently in the Government Estate Strategy, published in July 2018.
To deliver on this commitment, the Cabinet Office is co-ordinating activity under the Places for Growth programme. This programme will take a place-based approach to relocating roles that ensures we have the skills and capacity in the right places to enable organisations and cities to flourish
No new public bodies may be created with a base in London and the South East of England and the location of all new public bodies must be agreed in collaboration with the Places for Growth Programme.
British Transport Police currently do not have a policy about dispersing jobs from London to other regions of the UK. However, British Transport Police continuously review where its resources should be located in light of its national responsibility.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why it has been proposed that the British Transport Police control room in Birmingham should be closed down and all control rooms replaced by one control room in Camden.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Responsibility for the resourcing and organisation of the British Transport Police (BTP) lies with the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) rather than with HM Government.
The BTP currently operates two control rooms; one in London and one in Birmingham. Whilst this model has served the Force effectively, BTP considers that it is timely to re-examine this structure and deliver its command and control taking account of current and predicted demand. A number of Home Office forces and other organisations operate successfully with a single site control room.
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 Young of Cookham on 13 March (HL14378), where in the public domain the information requested can be found.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answer HL14378, which stated that this information is not held centrally
The Prime Minister’s contributions in the House of Commons are recorded in Hansard and speeches made outside of parliament are published on gov.uk. The Government does not hold a complete record of media interviews or public statements conducted by the Prime Minister.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the Prime Minister has said publicly that the UK will be leaving the EU on 29 March.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
This information is not held centrally and can be found in the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 20 December (HL12400), why the domestic services considered in the paper are limited to Heathrow; why services from London City Airport are not subject to review; and what assessment they have made of the distribution of landing slots between carriers.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Heathrow Airport is mentioned specifically as there has been a fall in domestic air connectivity into Heathrow in recent years due to the lack of capacity. Expansion at Heathrow Airport will mean for the first time a significant number of additional slots being released at a severely congested airport in the UK.
The Government has also confirmed that it is supportive of all UK airports beyond Heathrow making best use of their existing runways, subject to proposals being assessed in light of environmental and economic impacts.
The current slot allocation process is set out in EU and UK legislation and is based on the guiding principles set out in IATA’s Worldwide Slot Guidelines. Slots in the UK are allocated by an independent co-ordinator so the Government does not complete assessments of the distribution of landing slots across UK airports. However, as I set out in my answer of 18 December, the Government is currently seeking views on reforming the process for allocating new slots through the Aviation Strategy Green Paper. The paper was published in December and the consultation closes on 11 April.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 November (HL11562), what the process to register as a British citizen for Irish citizens born before 1983 to English mothers involves; and whether the grant is automatic as in the case of those born after 1983.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Applications for registration can be made using Form UKM which is availa-ble on the Gov.UK website. The person applying must provide information to show that they would have become a British citizen had women been able to pass on citizenship in the same way as men
For people born on or after 1 January 1983, citizenship is normally acquired automatically if the person’s mother was a British citizen and born in the UK.