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 18 December (HL12286), what steps they are taking to improve transport connectivity between the regions and nations of the UK; and how those steps relate to the allocation of landing slots at UK airports.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The government recognises how important transport networks, including regional airport connectivity, can be to their local areas and surrounding regions.
The Aviation Strategy Green Paper ‘Aviation 2050’, has renewed the government’s commitment to support routes into London that may be at risk, commercially, through the establishment of Public Service Obligations (PSOs). The paper also considers what further role the government should have in supporting growth at our regional airports.
In addition, the government has set out a clear ambition that at least 14 domestic routes operate from an expanded Heathrow Airport. The Green Paper has identified how Heathrow, with the support of government if needed, can make this happen.
The government is also seeking views on reforming the process for allocating new slots in the Green Paper, with the objectives of facilitating competition and increasing both domestic and international connectivity.
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 10 December (HL11929), whether they undertook an assessment of British Airways fares and service availability between Scotland and London City airport in order to reach the conclusion that passengers are best served by the current policy.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
No such assessment has been made. Airlines operate in a commercial market, and it is for them to determine which airports they operate based on their own assessment of costs and passenger demand. Government cannot dictate to airlines which services they operate or get involved in regulating the level of fares set by airlines operating in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to consider conducting an inquiry into passenger air services linking Scotland to London City Airport.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The Government has no such plans. We believe that air passengers are best served by a commercial airline market which is able to operate in a competitive environment. This allows airlines to determine the routes that they operate, and from which airports, based on their assessment of routes’ viability.
The Government recognises that air connectivity between Scotland and the rest of the UK is of real importance, and we are considering the issue of regional connectivity across the UK as we develop our upcoming Aviation Strategy.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 16 November (HL11239 and HL11240), why Irish citizens born before 1983 with English mothers are treated differently to those with English fathers; and whether they intend to remove this difference.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
British women were unable to pass on their citizenship to children born outside of the UK until 1983.
The change was not made retrospective to avoid issues that could arise around dual nationality. A registration provision has been in place since 2003 to allow children of British mothers born before 1983 to register as a British citizen.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an Irish citizen born in Ireland with an English father is entitled to apply for a British passport.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
To apply for a British passport, a person must first hold a form of British nationality. Irish nationals born after 1949 can generally become British citizens if one of their parents held British citizenship at the time of their birth and was able to pass that status on. Mothers could only pass on British nationality from 1 January 1983.
Where they do not hold British nationality, Irish nationals with a British citizen parent are able to apply for naturalisation or registration as a British citizen provided they meet the statutory requirements.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an Irish citizen born in Ireland with an English mother is entitled to apply for a British passport.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
To apply for a British passport, a person must first hold a form of British nationality. Irish nationals born after 1949 can generally become British citizens if one of their parents held British citizenship at the time of their birth and was able to pass that status on. Mothers could only pass on British nationality from 1 January 1983.
Where they do not hold British nationality, Irish nationals with a British citizen parent are able to apply for naturalisation or registration as a British citizen provided they meet the statutory requirements.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many post office owners are in receipt of income which represents an hourly rate below the minimum wage.
Answered by Lord Henley
Remuneration arrangements with its postmasters is the responsibility of Post Office Limited.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many communities in the UK do not receive a daily postal delivery.
Answered by Lord Henley
This information is not held centrally.
The Postal Services Act 2011 sets the minimum service level requirements – a 6 days a week letter delivery service to every UK address.
Ofcom, as the independent regulator, monitors the delivery of service standards. Its assessments of postal services have been published annually on its website since 2011-12.
Asked by: Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which executives have responsibility for the efficient and timely delivery of the Royal Mail; and how many of those executives are paid more than £50,000.
Answered by Lord Henley
These are operational matters for Royal Mail.
Royal Mail’s Annual Report and Financial Statement sets out its executive structure and its remuneration policy.
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 5 April (HL6634), how they calculated their announced savings to the taxpayer by changing the supplier of UK passports; and what that figure represents as the unit cost per passport.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
As part of the procurement process, all bidders were evaluated against their individual pricing proposal. We are able to confirm that the cost of the new contract will be considerably lower than the current contract and underlines our commitment to deliver value for money to our passport customers and the tax payer.
We are unable to break this down to the unit cost per passport as the volume of passports over the lifespan of the new contract is variable and subject to fluctuations.