Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the minutes and papers of the last seven meetings of the Joint Exchequer Committee.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The UK and Scottish governments publish a joint communique after each meeting of the Joint Exchequer Committee, it outlines what was discussed at the meeting. The negotiations are ongoing and require a private space in which discussions can make progress.
The UK government has no plans to publish any further minutes or papers from the Joint Exchequer Committee.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Joint Exchequer Committee's negotiations will conclude, and when the fiscal framework will be published.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Whilst there is no set date for the Joint Exchequer Committee to conclude negotiations on the fiscal framework, the UK government is doing everything it can to achieve an agreement.
The Business Managers and usual channels have agreed to move the final day in Committee on the Scotland Bill to Monday 22 February to allow more time for negotiations between the Scottish and UK Governments to progress.
The UK government is working towards a deal that is fair for Scotland, fair for the UK and meets all of the principles of the Smith Commission Agreement.
The fiscal framework document will be published shortly after it is agreed.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees how much it cost to procure the latest Microsoft Outlook system for use in Parliament; whether the system is working to specification; and what is being done about any problems encountered so far.
Answered by Lord Sewel
The latest version of Outlook was included in Parliament’s rollout of Microsoft Office 365 during 2014 as part of the Improved Access to Services (IATS) project. IATS also delivered other new services but the costs of that project identifiable as directly related to Microsoft Outlook were £355,667 in 2013-14 and £158,802 in 2014-15 (including VAT).
In addition, Parliament provides each user with Microsoft Windows and its associated Office 365 software at a cost of £98.75 (not including VAT) per user per year.
The service has been deployed to over 7,000 users on the Parliamentary network and the overall system is working to specification. A number of users have reported some issues. In particular they have raised concerns about the design of the new Outlook interface and some have reported problems with passwords needing to be re-entered. Both of these issues have been raised with Microsoft.
If any Member is experiencing difficulties then Parliamentary ICT (PICT) is ready to offer assistance.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what statistics they have on the number of accidents where a shared space pedestrian crossing has been installed; and whether those statistics indicate an increase in such accidents.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The design of traffic management schemes, including whether to install a shared space scheme, is the responsibility of local authorities. Shared space may incorporate what are sometimes called ‘courtesy crossings’, but these have no formal definition. They are similar in principle to informal dropped kerb crossings, which can be used to provide a crossing place where a controlled crossing is not justified.
The Department for Transport’s guidance on shared space schemes is given in the attached Local Transport Note 1/11: Shared Space.
The Department has also circulated to local authorities guidance produced by the National Federation for the Blind on ‘Access for Blind People in Towns’.
The Department receives correspondence on issues relating to all aspects of traffic management, including shared space. The correspondents range from individual members of the public to local authorities, engineering practitioners, and campaign groups.
The Department’s road safety statistics do not record whether an incident took place on a courtesy crossing, as these are not defined.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received any representations regarding the installation of shared space pedestrian crossings.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The design of traffic management schemes, including whether to install a shared space scheme, is the responsibility of local authorities. Shared space may incorporate what are sometimes called ‘courtesy crossings’, but these have no formal definition. They are similar in principle to informal dropped kerb crossings, which can be used to provide a crossing place where a controlled crossing is not justified.
The Department for Transport’s guidance on shared space schemes is given in the attached Local Transport Note 1/11: Shared Space.
The Department has also circulated to local authorities guidance produced by the National Federation for the Blind on ‘Access for Blind People in Towns’.
The Department receives correspondence on issues relating to all aspects of traffic management, including shared space. The correspondents range from individual members of the public to local authorities, engineering practitioners, and campaign groups.
The Department’s road safety statistics do not record whether an incident took place on a courtesy crossing, as these are not defined.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have given guidance to local authorities regarding the installation of shared space pedestrian crossings.
Answered by Baroness Kramer - Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Treasury and Economy)
The design of traffic management schemes, including whether to install a shared space scheme, is the responsibility of local authorities. Shared space may incorporate what are sometimes called ‘courtesy crossings’, but these have no formal definition. They are similar in principle to informal dropped kerb crossings, which can be used to provide a crossing place where a controlled crossing is not justified.
The Department for Transport’s guidance on shared space schemes is given in the attached Local Transport Note 1/11: Shared Space.
The Department has also circulated to local authorities guidance produced by the National Federation for the Blind on ‘Access for Blind People in Towns’.
The Department receives correspondence on issues relating to all aspects of traffic management, including shared space. The correspondents range from individual members of the public to local authorities, engineering practitioners, and campaign groups.
The Department’s road safety statistics do not record whether an incident took place on a courtesy crossing, as these are not defined.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the report by the London School of Economics and the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex on changes to benefits, income tax and income distribution.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The distributional analysis published alongside Autumn Statement 2014, and at every fiscal event since the government came into office, represents the most complete, rigorous and detailed record of the impact of this government’s policies on households. Unlike other analyses, it looks not only at the effect of direct tax and welfare decisions, but also the impact of changes to indirect tax (such as the freeze to fuel duty) and changes to spending on public services.
This analysis clearly shows that the richest households have made the largest contribution towards reducing the deficit. In fact, by 2015-16 the net cash contribution to reducing the deficit of the richest 20 per cent will be larger than the net contribution of the remaining 80 per cent put together.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the comments by Lord Freud in the Grand Committee debate on the Child Poverty Act 2010 (Persistent Poverty Targets) Regulations 2014, that the facts Lord McAvoy had quoted were "simply not true" (HL Deb, 25 November, col GC 263), how they were not true.
Answered by Lord Freud
I wrote to the Noble Peer on this issue on 4th December 2014. I have placed a copy of this letter in the library of the House and have also attached it to this response.
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees how many staff are employed by PICT in each senior pay band; and what has been the average yearly increase in salary for each band in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Sewel
PICT employs 1 member of staff at senior pay band 2 and 4 at senior pay band 1.
Pay for senior staff in the House of Commons, under whose terms and conditions PICT staff are paid, has increased over the last 5 years as follows:
Financial year | Percentage increase |
13/14 | yet to be agreed |
12/13 | 0% |
11/12 | 0% |
10/11 | 0% |
09/10 | 2.3% |
08/09 | 2.5% |
Asked by: Lord McAvoy (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, with regard to an interim constitution for Scotland; and what was the outcome of any discussions that took place.
Answered by Lord Wallace of Tankerness
There have been no discussions with the Scottish Government on an interim constitution for Scotland.