Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what would now be the daily attendance allowance if it were adjusted for inflation, as measured by the retail price index, from the level of £300 set in October 2010.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Daily Allowance rate was introduced on 1 October 2010 at £300 per day. Retail Price Index (RPI) figures for October 2024 are expected to be released by the Office for National Statistics on 20 November 2024. It is therefore not yet possible to calculate a figure for the Daily Allowance adjusted for inflation by RPI for the month of October 2024.

Based on September 2024 RPI figures, if the Daily Allowance rate had been adjusted annually for inflation, it would be £515 oer day from 1 September 2024.

Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what has the cost been to date of the reconstruction of Peers' Entrance; and what is the budget for the total cost of this project.

Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble

For security reasons, the Houses do not publish capital expenditure on security mitigating projects as providing this level of detail could enable an individual to infer the extent and nature of the works, and thus the vulnerabilities which they were intended to mitigate.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to upgrade the A12 between Ipswich and Lowestoft.

Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)

Suffolk County Council is developing a Full Business Case for a scheme to improve junctions between the A12 / A14 Seven Hills and the A12 Woods Lane and provide dualling between the B1438 and the B1079. The Council plans to submit this to the Department in summer 2025. This will be considered in the light of the current Spending Review and the Department’s review of capital projects.

It is for the Council to identify any further improvement proposals on the A12 and to bid for Government funding as and when future funding opportunities arise

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide an address for pensioners who would like assistance with the cost of winter fuel to ask for advice.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department is committed to assisting customers with advice on Winter Fuel payments and the best way to seek advice is by contacting the Winter Fuel payment centre helpline on:

Telephone - 0800 731 0160; or

Textphone - contact Relay UK on 18001 then 0800 731 0160

Customers can also use the British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service to contact the department.

Customers may also contact the Winter Fuel payment centre through Gov.uk.

https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/contact-winter-fuel-payments-centre/contact-form

For those customers who wish to write to the department, the postal address is:

Winter Fuel Payment Centre
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LR

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan with a view to preventing the persecution of Christians in that country.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The UK condemns the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, in Pakistan. Minister Falconer underlined the importance of promoting religious tolerance and harmony when he met with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister Azam Tarar on 4 September. Officials at BHC Islamabad regularly raise our concerns surrounding the mistreatment of minorities with the Pakistani authorities, including law enforcement officials. We continue to support projects promoting the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan, including facilitating interfaith dialogue and protecting marginalised communities from hate speech online.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Serbia about the death of the UK resident Alexei Zimin, and whether any UK police will support the investigation into his death.

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

Subsequent to the answer to question 14475, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have been in contact with the Serbian authorities and provided consular support to Alexei Zimin's family following his death in Belgrade. It is for the Serbian authorities to decide whether to conduct investigations following deaths in Serbia. UK police do not have jurisdiction to investigate deaths overseas unless invited to by the relevant overseas authority.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people in the UK have died in prison while serving custodial sentences in each of the past ten years.

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

The number of deaths of prisoners[1][2][3][4] serving custodial sentences[5][6] in England and Wales, 2014 to 2023

Data Sources and Quality

These figures are derived from the HMPPS Deaths in Prison Custody database.

1. Figures include incidents during contracted out escorts. Figures include England and Wales only and not the whole UK as we only hold detailed data for England and Wales.

2. Figures do not include incidents at Medway STC. For more information on Secure Training Centres, please see Youth justice annual statistics at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-annual-statistics.

3. Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody. They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state has less direct responsibility.

4. In addition to deaths in prison custody, the figures include deaths in custody that occur in hospitals, hospices or nursing homes, and a small proportion will occur while in an ambulance on the way to hospital, while on escort.

5. Figures includes deaths of sentenced prisoners only, they do not include deaths of prisoners on remand, immigration detainees or non-criminal prisoners.

6. A breakdown of deaths by sentence type is published within the annual deaths tables, the latest annual deaths detailed data includes deaths up to 2023. Figures for 2024 deaths, including a breakdown by sentence type, will be published in January 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of people who are in the UK who crossed the Channel into Britain illegally during the last ten years, and applied for and were refused asylum.

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

The Home Office publishes statistics on detected small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ statistics release on gov.uk. Data on asylum applications from small boat arrivals and initial decisions on these applications (including refusals) is published in tables Irr_D02 and Irr_D03 respectively of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’. The latest data covers January 2018 to June 2024.

Found: issues include: Baroness Butler-Sloss K.C., Lord Carlile K.C., Lord Brennan K.C., Lord Forsyth, Lord Marlesford