Lord Hutton of Furness

The data we have is as below. Please see notes for further explanation.

Value of UK Trade (exports plus imports) with Cuba: current prices (£ million)

Sources are:

Goods: HMRC, Overseas Trade Statistics (OTS) database, figures are on a border basis, not seasonally adjusted.

Services: ONS, special request from the ONS, figures are on a balance of payments (BPM6) basis, seasonally adjusted.

Data on trade in goods with Cuba is available from HMRC and trade in services from the ONS. Services data on the most recent basis (new balance of payments method) are not available before 2007. The goods and services data are on a different basis as figures on the same basis are not available. This information has not been adjusted for inflation.

The process for leaving the EU and determining our future relationship will be a complex one, so we need to take time to think through our objectives and approach. We want to ensure the best possible outcome for Britain and the future UK-EU relationship. The Prime Minister has also said we would not trigger Article 50 until we have a UK approach and objectives.

The government published further information on its approach to the criteria for Transitional Energy Certificates on 21 April.

The Energy Independence Bill was announced in the King’s Speech, in which the government committed to manage existing oil and gas fields for their lifetime and show climate leadership by meeting the manifesto commitments.

Following the conclusion of the legislative process, the North Sea Transition Authority will set out further guidance.

The government is supporting private investment in long duration electricity storage (LDES) through the LDES cap and floor policy, which is being delivered by Ofgem. This will deliver the first LDES projects in Great Britain for over four decades.

On 26 June 2026, Ofgem published minded-to decisions for the first LDES application window, supporting 16 projects totalling 7.6GW of power and 137GWh of storage capacity.

The government’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap Update of 13 July 2026 contains further details on steps to deliver LDES, as well as other forms of energy storage such as hydrogen storage and power.

Once introduced, Transitional Energy Certificates may be issued to manage incidental production of petroleum from offshore activities including gas storage, hydrogen storage and carbon dioxide storage. Further detail on the application process and eligibility will be set out through legislation and subsequent guidance from the North Sea Transition Authority.

Underground gas storage plays an important role in supporting Britain’s energy security.

We recently consulted on whether any government action is needed to maintain gas security of supply across the energy transition, including possible measures to support current and potential new UK gas storage operators.

The government will publish its response to the Gas Security in Transition consultation in due course.

The Energy Independence Bill has now been announced in the King’s Speech. The Bill will legislate for the powers the government needs to fight people’s corner and go further and faster on the government’s clean energy mission. The Bill will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.

The template government officials use when completing a regulatory impact assessment for government policy already requires that information is provided to answer the question “what is the CO₂ equivalent change in greenhouse gas emissions” for the respective policy.

Information on the proportions of employees with workplace pensions is collected in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and published on the ONS website. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ashe/annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings-pension-tables/2013-provisional-results/index.html

Figure 1 shows that overall for the UK, 49.8 per cent of employees were members of workplace pension schemes in 2013. This is an increase from 46.5 per cent in 2012 and is the biggest rise in workplace pension coverage since figures began in 1997.

Figure 9 shows a breakdown of the proportion of employees with workplace pensions by sector and region. This shows a weak relationship between the region where the employer is located and the proportion of employees with a workplace pension. Overall membership was highest in Scotland (55.3 per cent) and lowest in East Midlands (46.7 per cent). In Wales it was 53.2 per cent.

This information is not held in the format requested.

This information is not held in the format requested.

Spend per head of population on the National Health Service in England is shown in table below and is stated in financial years.

Latest available spend per head figures are for the financial year 2012-13.

We have enjoyed excellent collaboration with the Irish government on activities to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Taoiseach agreed in March 2012 that we would do so “in a spirit of historical accuracy, mutual respect, inclusiveness and reconciliation”. On 31 July, His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland attended the dedication of a Commonwealth War Graves Cross of Sacrifice at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. presided over by the President of the Republic of Ireland, Michael D Higgins. On 4 August, President Higgins attended a ceremony at Saint Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons, Belgium with Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Henry of Wales, and the Prime Minister, to commemorate the entry of the UK into the war.

Government has undertaken a significant amount of work to assess the economic impacts of leaving the EU. This is part of our continued programme of rigorous and extensive analytical work on a range of scenarios on a sector by sector basis.

Our long-term analysis examined scenarios based on existing alternative models to EU membership. The Prime Minister has since ‎made clear however that the UK aims to agree an ambitious and comprehensive economic partnership with the EU that is of far greater scope and ambition than any existing free trade agreement

This is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are operationally independent from Government.

The question has been passed to the FCA, who will reply directly to the Noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Cuba has previously been subject to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s on-going Global AML/CFT Compliance Process due to concerns over strategic deficiencies in its systems for anti-money laundering (AML) and combatting terrorist financing (CTF). HM Government notifies the financial sector of FATF’s decision to list countries and the risks associated with transactions with identified countries. In October 2014, the UK welcomed Cuba’s significant progress in improving its controls and noted that Cuba was no longer subject to the FATF’s monitoring process. This was also communicated to industry.

There are no UK, EU or UN sanctions regimes restricting transactions between the UK and Cuba. The US has economic sanctions against Cuba. EU legislation (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96) provides protection against and counteracts the effects of the extra-territorial application of US Cuba sanctions within the EU. The Government does not provide advice on sanctions regimes outside UK jurisdiction and does not intervene in the decisions of banks or other financial firms when made on the basis of their internal risk assessments.

In addition to the National Army Museum, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) currently supports 69 regimental and corps museums across the UK through a combination of a grant in aid, salary costs, and providing utilities and some support running costs where a museum is located on a MOD site. It is not possible to disaggregate utilities or support costs but the table below shows the details of support provided, by financial year (FY), where available:

Notes:

1. Figures for FY 2016-17 are projected.

2. Salary information is not available for FY 2012-13 to 2014-15.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Minister for Defence Procurement (Harriett Baldwin), in the House of Commons on 17 October 2016 to Question 48369.

Regimental museums are provided and sustained by individual Regiments. However, I understand that the Royal Artillery intends to follow the precedent set by the National Army Museum, which is to close all access to the archives and collections during the transition of the Royal Artillery Museum to a new location. I understand that the Royal Artillery is examining ways to provide some access to a limited selection of archive materials whilst it develops longer term plans.

Such information has only been centrally recorded since February 2012. The number of occasions on which Defence Firefighters have attended accidents on the public highway since 2012 is as follows:

Decisions on funding post March 2025 are a matter for the Budget on October 30th.

We recognise the challenges this brings for some projects. We are working closely with local authorities and key stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to future funding, so communities continue to benefit from this vital support. In the meantime, officials remain available to discuss any issues impacting delivery.

In November 2015, the Government published criteria and guidance for the creation of pooled investment funds in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales, to be operational by April 2018. Eight LGPS asset pools have been established to manage the investments of the scheme.

Estimates provided by the LGPS pools indicate that across the scheme, total savings of around £155 million have been achieved over the period from 2015 up to March 2019. The pools have estimated total savings by 2033 at between £1 billion and £2 billion, with annual savings of up to £200 million.

In 2014 and 2015, significant reforms were made to public service pension schemes to address increases in the costs of providing pension benefits to public workers, and to place schemes on a more sustainable and affordable long-term footing. In the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), reforms were implemented from 1^st April 2014 and included moving the scheme from a final salary benefit structure to a career average benefit structure.

In May 2012, the Government published documents (attached)on the planned reforms to the LGPS including a costings analysis from the Government Actuary’s Department (http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2012-1614/Buildupofcostsandcostreconciliationtables-Final.pdf). This analysis outlined that the existing final salary scheme design was estimated to cost in total 21.73% of pay (p2) and the planned career average scheme was estimated to cost in total 19.51% of pay (p3), suggesting an overall saving of just over 2.2% of pay.

To ensure consistency with other public service pension schemes, the final design of the reformed LGPS was changed so that scheme members received revaluation of their in-year accrued pension immediately. This increased the costs of the career average scheme by an estimated 0.4% (see table 7.1 at (attached) http://lgpslibrary.org/assets/othergov/2013VRep.pdf

The Government is currently considering the changes to public service pension schemes which will be necessary to comply with the findings of the Courts in the McCloud and Sargeant cases (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-07-15/HCWS1725/) and these will have cost implications for the reformed scheme.

The Local Government Pension Scheme is the only major public sector pension scheme which maintains independent investment funds out of which member benefits are paid. Investment decisions are the responsibility of scheme administering authorities.