Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what arrangements are available to help backbench Peers deal with correspondence.
Answered by Lord Touhig
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf.
All external physical correspondence received by Parliament is security screened off site before being brought to the estate. Appropriate cyber-security measures are in place to protect the Parliamentary network from malicious e-mails and spam.
Members are able to specify how they wish to receive internal and external correspondence including delivery to pigeon holes, member desks or Prince’s Chamber and the option of forwarding to external addresses. Member preferences can be treated as temporary or permanent arrangements and can be varied between sitting and non-sitting days.
Internal and External mailboxes are located across the estate for members sending correspondence, with stationery available from Peers’ Lobby or Millbank House Reception on request.
There are also a number of arrangements available to help members with parliamentary business more widely, including responding to correspondence:
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what was the cost of the administrative team supporting (1) the office of the Lord Speaker, and (2) the office of the Senior Deputy Speaker, for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Lord Speaker’s Office is a team which is part of the wider Clerk of the Parliaments’ Office. The cost of the staff within the Lord Speaker’s Office over the last 10 financial years is as follows:
2011/12: £145,933
2012/13: £142,839
2013/14: £136,500
2014/15: £147,770
2015/16: £166,852
2016/17: £192,297
2017/18: £197,142
2018/19: £200,654
2019/20: £182,904
2020/21: £205,692
These figures include on-costs such as pension and National Insurance contributions.
As explained in my answer to HL3097, a number of other staff are also co-located with the Lord Speaker’s Office and provide support to the Lord Speaker alongside other duties, but their costs are not included within these figures as they are not formally part of the Lord Speaker’s Office.
The post of Senior Deputy Speaker was created in 2016. Since then the Senior Deputy Speaker has been supported by a Private Secretary (grade HL8). Since 2018, they have also been supported by an Assistant Private Secretary (grade HL6). Given the limited number of people who have held these posts it would not be appropriate to give a detailed breakdown of salary figures, but the mid-range average annual rates for posts across the Administration at the same grade, at current rates, are as follows:
Grade HL8 post (including on costs such as pension and NI contributions): £77,368
Grade HL6 post (including on costs such as pension and NI contributions): £46,748
In 2017 an apprentice also provided support to the Senior Deputy Speaker. Their costs included time spent supporting the Senior Deputy Speaker as well as training as part of the apprenticeship programme.
Additional support, such as diary management, has also been provided to the Senior Deputy Speaker by other staff, but this has been done alongside other duties so it is not possible to split out what proportion of staff time would have been spent supporting the Senior Deputy Speaker specifically.
For both the Lord Speaker and Senior Deputy Speaker, the figures outlined above are for the staffing costs only. There will be other costs associated with the running of these teams, such as stationery, computers and other costs, but as these have been accounted for as part of the costs of running the wider departments within which these teams sit, it is not possible to quantify what proportion of those costs would have been incurred in specific support of the Lord Speaker or Senior Deputy Speaker.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many members of the House attended proceedings of the House each sitting day in (1) September, and (2) October; and how many voted in each division in (a) September, and (b) October.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The table below shows the number of members of the House who attended the Chamber and/or Grand Committee for each sitting day in September and October 2021. All attendance figures are provisional for up to three months and may be corrected in that time.
Date of Sitting | Total members attending |
06/09/2021 | 425 (of whom 1 virtual) |
07/09/2021 | 355 (of whom 1 virtual) |
08/09/2021 | 407 (of whom 1 virtual) |
09/09/2021 | 353 (of whom 2 virtual) |
10/09/2021 | 187 (of whom 1 virtual) |
13/09/2021 | 427 (of whom 1 virtual) |
14/09/2021 | 383 (of whom 3 virtual) |
15/09/2021 | 418 (of whom 2 virtual) |
16/09/2021 | 333 (of whom 2 virtual) |
11/10/2021 | 375 (of whom 1 virtual) |
12/10/2021 | 448 (of whom 1 virtual) |
13/10/2021 | 418 (of whom 2 virtual) |
14/10/2021 | 410 (of whom 3 virtual) |
18/10/2021 | 355 (of whom 3 virtual) |
19/10/2021 | 442 (of whom 1 virtual) |
20/10/2021 | 405 (of whom 4 virtual) |
21/10/2021 | 426 (of whom 2 virtual) |
22/10/2021 | 359 (of whom 6 virtual) |
25/10/2021 | 395 (of whom 3 virtual) |
26/10/2021 | 457 (of whom 1 virtual) |
27/10/2021 | 395 (of whom 3 virtual) |
28/10/2021 | 344 (of whom 2 virtual) |
The table below shows the number of members who voted in each division in September and October 2021.
Date of Sitting | Division Subject | Division No. | Votes Cast |
06/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 1 | 388 |
06/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 2 | 375 |
06/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 3 | 340 |
06/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 4 | 188 |
08/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 1 | 384 |
08/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 2 | 366 |
08/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 3 | 331 |
08/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 4 | 296 |
13/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 1 | 370 |
13/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 2 | 226 |
13/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 3 | 366 |
13/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 4 | 331 |
15/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 1 | 387 |
15/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 2 | 382 |
15/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 3 | 360 |
15/09/2021 | Environment Bill | 4 | 306 |
12/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 1 | 379 |
12/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 2 | 305 |
12/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 3 | 277 |
12/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 4 | 270 |
19/10/2021 | Telecommunications (Security) Bill | 1 | 372 |
19/10/2021 | Telecommunications (Security) Bill | 2 | 356 |
19/10/2021 | Telecommunications (Security) Bill | 3 | 328 |
21/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 1 | 310 |
21/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 2 | 316 |
21/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 3 | 310 |
21/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 4 | 316 |
21/10/2021 | Skills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL] | 5 | 242 |
26/10/2021 | Environment Bill | 1 | 321 |
26/10/2021 | Environment Bill | 2 | 412 |
26/10/2021 | Environment Bill | 3 | 395 |
26/10/2021 | Environment Bill | 4 | 379 |
26/10/2021 | Environment Bill | 5 | 273 |
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what was the value of allowances for (1) Day Subsistence, (2) Overnight Subsistence, and (3) Office Costs, when they were last available to Peers; and what would be the value of those allowances today if they had been uprated in line with inflation.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
These allowances were last available to Members in 2010 when they were valued as follows:
• Day Subsistence - £86.50
• Overnight Subsistence – £174.00
• Office costs – £75.00
Applying the relevant rates of inflation the values today would be:
• Day Subsistence - £123.50
• Overnight Subsistence – £249.00
• Office costs – £108.00
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government who has replaced Chloe Smith MP as the Minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for the Constitution and Devolution; and in particular, for the work on Common Frameworks.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Following the recent Government reshuffle, Neil O’Brien MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has taken on the role of Minister for Levelling Up, the Union and the Constitution. As part of this role, Minister O’Brien has assumed responsibility for the Union and Constitution, including the Common Frameworks programme.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government where Ministerial responsibility lies in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for inclusive societies; and which Minister is responsible for ensuring that the work of the Department takes account of the rights and needs of (1) older people, and (2) people with disabilities.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, UN and the Commonwealth, is the Minister responsible for policy on open societies and Minister Morton is responsible for gender and equalities, including the rights and needs of older people and people with disabilities.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, as part of their overseas development assistance (ODA) disbursement, (1) what assessment they have made of the economic contributions of older women in lower- and middle-income countries, and (2) what steps they have taken to ensure that ODA supports these women to access decent work and live fulfilling lives.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Older women remain economically active, often in difficult, informal roles and driven by necessity. The unpaid contributions women make over their lifetime to the economy as carers are unrecognised, and their informal work is often invisible. As a result, many older women lack access to savings, pensions or other social protection. FCDO is investing in improving collection and use of disaggregated data (by sex, age and disability) to enable us to empower and include those who are too often invisible or face additional barriers to escaping poverty. We have led the way on the Inclusive Data Charter Action Plan and encouraging multilaterals such as the World bank and UN to collect disaggregated and inclusive data.
FCDO aims to improve outcomes for women and girls, including older women, through the new £19 million Gender-Responsive Social Protection programme, which is building the evidence base on what works and offering technical assistance to strengthen government and partners social protection investments. We are also supporting governments to provide social protection for older women, including in Uganda, where over 210,000 women are currently benefitting from a senior citizen grant through a programme delivered and funded in partnership with the Governments of Ireland and Uganda.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to increase the provision of (1) extra-care housing, and (2) retirement villages for older people.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Both my Department and the Department of Health and Social Care are committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people. We are engaging closely with both the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models including proposals from the sector for a cross-Government taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in setting up the task force on housing with care; and what is its remit.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Both the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health and Social Care are committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people. We are engaging closely with both the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models including proposals from the sector for a cross-Government taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they apply to the appointment of trade envoys; and what remuneration and expenses, including for travel, they are they entitled to receive.
Answered by Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
Prime Minister’s Trade Envoys are drawn from both Houses and across the political spectrum. They are chosen based on relevant skills and experience required to undertake the role. This experience can be related to their assigned market or UK industry knowledge, or their Government-to-Government experience, as well as willingness and an ability to undertake some international travel.
The trade envoy role is voluntary. No remuneration is paid to trade envoys. The Department for International Trade meets the cost of travel and subsistence when trade envoys travel overseas, as well as any other incidental costs incurred by the trade envoys when they fulfil their role.