Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answers by the Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith) on 4 July 2018 (HL8851) and 18 July 2018 (HL9279), what hereditary peer by-elections have taken place under the terms of the House of Lords Act 1999 since the retirement of the Earl Baldwin of Bewdley on 9 May 2018; and in each of those by-elections, how many (1) candidates, and (2) electors, there were; and what was (a) the number of votes cast for the winning candidate, and (b) the percentage of the electorate who voted, in each case.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
Since the retirement of Earl Baldwin of Bewdley there have been hereditary peer by-elections held following the deaths of Viscount Slim and Lord Skelmersdale and the retirements of Lord Northbourne and Lord Glentoran. The details of each by-election are as follows:
Vacancy created by | Number of candidates | Number of electors | Number of votes cast for winner | Turnout | Full details |
Lord Glentoran | 11 | 47 | 26 | 91.48% | |
Lord Northbourne | 11 | 31 | 14 | 93.54% | https://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/2018/Result-by-election-28-11-18.pdf |
Lord Skelmersdale | 16 | 785 | 110 | 32.99% | https://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/2019/Result-by-election-23-01-19.pdf |
Viscount Slim | 14 | 31 | 18 | 90.32% | https://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/2019/Result-by-election-27-03-19.pdf |
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 28 November (HL3261), whether the Answer indicated that they accept the calculations of the total annual UK contributions to the EU and its predecessors since 1973 in real (2016) prices set out in the House of Commons Library briefing paper The UK’s contribution to the EU Budget; whether they maintain their own statistics on those contributions; and if so, where those statistics are published.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government provides cash figures for the UK contribution to the EU budget, through HM Treasury’s annual publication European Union Finances (previously HM Treasury’s Statement on the 19XX Community Budget). The Government do not maintain real price statistics of historical EU contributions.
The Government’s cash figures have been used in the House of Commons Library briefing paper The UK’s contribution to the EU Budget in the calculation to determine the real price equivalents. The Government has not reviewed this calculation.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the total net contribution of the UK to EU expenditure for the past 20 years, expressed in 2017 prices.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government does not hold estimates of the total net contribution of the UK to EU expenditure in 2017 prices.
Using the Office for National Statistics’ GDP Deflator, as of March 2017, the House of Commons Library briefing paper The UK’s contribution to the EU Budget has calculated the total annual UK contributions to the EU and its predecessors in real (2016) prices, dating back to 1973.
Both gross and net contributions are given in Table 3, page 10 of the document. The totals for net contributions do not account for payments made directly from the EU to private sector bodies.
All other underlying assumptions used are detailed in the publication.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 12 December (HL3687), whether they have made a separate assessment of the accuracy of the forecasts for the economy and public finances made by the Office for Budget Responsibility since 2010.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011 requires the Non-executive members of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to commission an external review every five years, to examine the content and quality of the reports published by the OBR. To this end, the Page review was published in September 2014. HM Treasury published its own review of the OBR in 2015, building on evidence from the Page review.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the growth forecasts made by the Office for Budget Responsibility since 2010; and what assessment they have made of the accuracy of each of those forecasts.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Office for Budget Responsibilities (OBR) forecasts for the economy and public finances are available in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook publications. The OBR regularly publishes Forecast Evaluation Reports, in which they compare their forecasts to subsequent outturns and explain any forecast errors.
Asked by: Lord Grocott (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's speech to the Centre for Transatlantic Relations in Washington on 26 June, of how many jobs in each sector is the 3.3 million that the HM Treasury analysis says are connected to Britain's place in the European Union comprised.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Treasury estimate that 3.3 million jobs in the UK may be related to exports to other European Union countries. This figure is based on the assumption that the share of UK employment associated with UK exports to the EU is equal to the share of output that is exported to the EU, making allowance for the composition of the UK economy. It is not an estimate of the impact of EU membership on employment.
Allocating all of these jobs to specific sectors is challenging in the absence of data providing both a sectoral and geographical breakdown of exports. Such estimates would be very sensitive to the further assumptions required to allocate jobs to sectors.