Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the International Seabed Authority about the environmental implications of proposals for deep sea mining off Nauru.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Nauru has notified the International Seabed Authority of its intention to apply for approval of a plan of work for deep sea mining exploitation under the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The UK recognises the growing pressure to extract deep sea resources, and is deeply concerned about the potential impacts of mining activities on the fragile marine environment. We therefore continue to press for the very highest environmental standards to be agreed and activated by the International Seabed Authority. Until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impacts on deep sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations in place, the UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to UNESCO about the future status of the Great Barrier Reef.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK has co-signed a letter to UNESCO Director-General to underscore the importance of a transparent process and consultative decision making in interactions with member states.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the smart motorway programme.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government continues to monitor and evaluate the safety performance of all our roads. Following the publication of the Smart Motorway Safety Evidence Stocktake and Action Plan in March 2020, Highways England published the first-year progress report in April of this year.
The report demonstrates the significant progress that has been made against the 18 Stocktake actions. The data contained in the progress report confirms that, on average, fatal casualty rates are lower on All Lane Running (ALR) motorways compared with conventional ones.
Highways England is accelerating safety improvements to give reassurance to motorists on ALR motorways. By the end of September 2022, it will: install technology on all existing stretches of ALR motorway to spot stopped or broken-down vehicles quickly, six months earlier than planned; upgrade special cameras ten months earlier than planned, so that they can be used to spot; prosecute motorists ignoring ‘red X’ signs and illegally driving down closed lane, putting themselves and others in danger; and install around 1,000 additional approach signs six months earlier than planned, alerting drivers to their nearest place to stop in an emergency.
Significantly, Highways England has also made a commitment that no ALR motorways will open without the radar technology to spot stopped vehicles, enable lanes to be closed where necessary and get help to drivers quickly. Work to update The Highway Code to provide more guidance about driving on ALR motorways has also been brought forward and is due to be published this year ahead of schedule, subject to Parliamentary approval.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve (1) the newborn screening programme, and (2) the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) regularly reviews over 100 conditions, including some rare diseases, to ensure that we continue to offer a world class screening programme. In the Newborn Screening Programme, the UK NSC has recently reviewed Adrenoleukodystrophy and is in the process of reviewing 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome to assess its suitability for a population-based screening programme. It is important that the addition of any new conditions to the newborn blood spot programme or any population screening programme, is supported by robust peer-reviewed evidence.
The UK Rare Diseases Framework provides the high-level direction for rare diseases including improving diagnosis rates. The Framework’s priorities will be implemented through nation-specific action plans which will outline the specific commitments from each UK nation.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had this year with the government of Zimbabwe about pension arrears owed to former Crown servants; and what was the outcome of those discussions.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
While we have received repeated assurances from the Government of Zimbabwe that they will resume payment of pensions when the economic situation allows, we remain concerned. The Government of Zimbabwe is facing an array of challenges economically, which have been exacerbated by COVID-19. Regrettably, we therefore do not see these pensions being paid in the near future. We will, however, continue to raise the matter with the Government of Zimbabwe and the UK's Ambassador to Harare raised the issue with senior Ministry of Finance officials on 2 June.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on the publication of impact assessments in relation to (1) primary legislation, and (2) secondary legislation.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government publishes individual impact assessments in relation to both primary and secondary legislation for all measures where a significant impact on business has been identified and, where applicable, the RPC opinion, alongside either the relevant consultation document on GOV.UK or the relevant legislation on www.legislation.gov.uk.
For regulatory measures without an impact assessment, the relevant explanatory memorandum should set out the key impacts and include the rationale for not providing an impact assessment.
The current requirement for publication of impact assessments is part of the administrative process in the Better Regulation Framework as agreed across Government.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission a public inquiry into the Post Office.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry was set up in September 2020. My Hon. friend the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets announced to the House on 19 May that the government will put the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry to a statutory footing on 1 June. This will ensure that the Chair, Sir Wyn Williams, has all the powers he needs to get to the bottom of what happened.
Following the change to a statutory Inquiry, the final report will now be delivered by Autumn 2022, so that Sir Wyn will have more time to determine what went wrong at the Post Office during this period to ensure the right lessons have been learnt and avoid the situation being repeated in the future.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government which bills they intend to subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in the present Session of Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
The Government intends to subject three draft bills to pre-legislative scrutiny in the present Session of Parliament: Downstream Oil Resilience, Victims, and Online Safety, and is in discussion with the Liaison Committees in both Houses regarding how the draft bills will be scrutinised. As in previous years, it is possible that additional draft bills will be added to the list and therefore this list is not exhaustive.Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about the resources available to the Criminal Cases Review Commission; and what has been their response.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
We are aware that the Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice, set up by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Miscarriages of Justice, has made recommendations regarding the funding of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
The funding allocation the CCRC is reviewed each year internally within MoJ – and in consultation with the CCRC itself – as part of setting budgets. At each Spending Review the overall MoJ budget is reviewed with HM Treasury. Annual budgets for departments and their Arm’s Length Bodies are part of the Main Estimate, which is laid before Parliament each year by HM Treasury.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the future funding of the Voluntary Service Overseas.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The impact of the global pandemic on the UK economy has forced us to take the tough but necessary decision to temporarily reduce our aid budget.
We are now working through the implications of these changes for all individual programmes and partners, including Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).
Volunteers and volunteering organisations like VSO make an important contribution. We have offered VSO a short-term funding extension for the Volunteering for Development programme, while the review process continues.