Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether consultations were held with representatives of the Chagossian community prior to the decision to hand over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius and, if so, how many meetings were held; and what other steps were taken.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius, with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia. However, we recognise the huge importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests. Mauritius will be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands other than Diego Garcia, and we will finance a new trust fund for Mauritius in support of Chagossians. Working with Mauritius, we will also restart visits to all the islands for Chagossians. Ministers and officials will continue regular engagement with members of the community.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much they will pay per annum to lease Diego Garcia; and what is the expected total cost of the financial support that the UK has agreed to give to Mauritius, including any cost of annual payments.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The agreement is subject to the finalisation of a treaty which the Government intends to complete over the coming months. Further details will remain confidential until the final version of the Treaty has been signed by both sides. Details of financial arrangements are held in the confidential exchange of letters that accompanies the draft treaty, which we do not plan to make public unless compelled to by parliament in due course. While we continue to finalise the treaty, making these figures public would put into question our reliability as a negotiating partner and undermine the security of the base.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many government departments met the June target for having a costed and reviewed artificial intelligence adoption plan in place; and which, if any, did not meet that target.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

At the start of the year, Departments were sent a commission to submit initial returns on their plan for AI adoption: 17 Departments responded. Workshops were then held with a smaller number of prioritised departments to understand their AI adoption opportunities and challenges in detail, ahead of an expected spending review. This work was paused due to the general election.

The new government is fully committed to harnessing AI and other technologies to deliver the government’s five missions and improve citizens’ lives. However, rather than being bound by the commitments of the previous government, the government will instead set out revised plans for accelerating the adoption of AI in public services, in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, since the general election, what (1) number, and (2) proportion, of prisoners released early have been electronically tagged; and what assessment has been made by the Ministry of Justice and its arm's-length bodies as to whether Serco has had sufficient capacity to tag all the prisoners who it was originally deemed should be tagged.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Data on SDS40 releases forms a subset of data intended for future publication. The number of prison places projected to be saved by SDS40 releases are set out in the Impact Assessment (between 4,600 and 5,900 prison places for the male estate).

Serco had sufficient capacity in terms of both equipment levels and resources to tag all those being released from custody with an Electronic Monitoring requirement under this scheme. As with all releases from custody, prior notification was issued to Serco with licence notification paperwork to identify numbers and locations of those requiring tagging.

By 04 November, all required visits to attempt tag installation for SDS40 cases had been made.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the commitments set out in the Autumn Budget, by how much the Continuity of Education Allowance will increase.

Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

For Academic Year 2023-24, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) paid £88.6 million for Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to support the education of 4,005 children for 2,666 Service personnel. Following the Budget statement by the Chancellor on 30 October, the MOD confirmed that it would carry out an in-year re-rating of CEA. The increased cost of the allowance to MOD is unknown until the exercise completes in early December.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are their plans for the future of the Community Ownership Fund.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to Question UIN 11941 on 8 November

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what are the estimated costs of reversing the policy of the previous government to freeze Civil Service hiring and reduce staff numbers to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

In a public statement on 2 October 2023, the previous Chancellor announced a cap on civil service numbers. This statement includes data on the estimated financial impacts of this policy for the remainder of the SR21 Spending Review period, ending in March 2025. It can be accessed at GOV.UK.

The headcount cap announced by the previous administration was lifted in July in line with taking immediate action to stop all non-essential government consultancy spend in 2024-25 and to halve government spending on consultancy in future years. At Autumn Budget, the government committed to developing a strategic plan for a more efficient and effective civil service through phase two of the multi-year spending review.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 7 November (HL1811), which Chagossian groups or representatives they engaged with to ensure that the agreement to transfer sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius reflects the interests of Chagossians.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

There are a large number of Chagossian groups with a spectrum of views. Ministers and officials have sought to engage a range of Chagossian groups or representatives with an interest on a range of issues, including implementation of the agreement. We will continue to do so. We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many staff making decisions on asylum cases are employed by the Home Office; and how many additional staff they plan to recruit by the end of 2025.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

According to the regularly published data available online at Immigration and protection data: Q2 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), there were 2,464 FTE decision makers in place as of June 2024.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consultation process they undertook before announcing the recent reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief for inheritance tax.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government takes into account all representations made ahead of the Budget, and meets with stakeholders on a regular basis.

The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.

Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief (or those claiming agricultural property relief and business property relief together) each year are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.