Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing persecution of religious minorities and Catholic clergy in Belarus, including the sentencing of Father Henrykh Akalatovich; and what steps they are taking to support freedom of religion or belief in Belarus through diplomatic or international channels.
Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK champions freedom of religion or belief around the world. We closely monitor human rights, including freedom of religion or belief, in Belarus and condemn the sentencing of Father Henrykh Akalatovich in a closed-door trial. We work with likeminded partners to raise the human rights situation with the Belarusian authorities and demand the release of political prisoners. Our Embassy in Minsk demonstrates UK solidarity with political prisoners using social media campaigns to highlight ongoing human rights violations, including discrimination based on religion or belief.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in response to reports of a recent raid of the Zion Church in Beijing and the arrest of Elder Qin Guoliang by Chinese authorities on 20 October 2024; and what steps they are taking in response to the persecution of unregistered churches in China and the continued crackdown on religious freedoms.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The environment for freedom of religion or belief in China is restrictive, which includes the persecution of Christians. This government stands firm on human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief. We raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary both raised human rights recently with their counterparts, President Xi and Foreign Minister Wang respectively. More broadly, this government champions freedom of religion or belief for all abroad. We work to uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief through our position at the UN, G7 and other multilateral fora, and through bilateral engagement.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue or replace the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme beyond its expiry date in March 2025.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Departmental settlements have been set following the Budget announcement on October 30. Individual programmes will now be assessed during the departmental Business Planning process.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent advice they have taken from the UK Statistics Authority on fulfilling their responsibility under the Abortion Act 1967 to produce abortion statistics.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967, all abortions in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. This information is used by the Department to monitor compliance with the act. The Department also publishes this data in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, to ensure it is available to commissioners and providers of abortion services and others with an interest in abortion in England and Wales. There is no legal duty placed on the Department to publish data collected through abortion notification forms.
The Department regularly consults the Office for Statistics Regulation, which is the independent regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority, and provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to update the assessment of abortion statistics by the UK Statistics Authority in order to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation.
Ed Humpherson, Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation
The Lord Moylan
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
19 December 2024
Dear Lord Moylan,
As Director General for Office for Statistics Regulation, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when His Majesty's Government plan to update the assessment of abortion statistics by the UK Statistics Authority in order to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics (HL3549).
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) was established in 2016 and is the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority (the Authority). OSR provides independent regulation of all official statistics produced in the UK. Before 2016, the Authority's Monitoring and Assessment team handled regulatory functions.
Accredited Official Statistics are official statistics that have been independently assessed by OSR to comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
Abortions Statistics for England and Wales produced by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (OHID, was previously Department of Health) were assessed as complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics in February 2012, and National Statistics designation was awarded[1].
It is a requirement of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 that the Code of Practice must continue to be complied with by the statistics producer in relation to the statistics. OSR regularly engages with the Head of Profession for Statistics for the Department of Health and Social Care to obtain general assurance on the Department’s compliance with the Code of Practice, but the OSR team has not discussed the abortion statistics specifically in these conversations.
Once a set of statistics has been assessed, OSR can re-assess them at any time. Reassessments can be initiated as a result of concerns raised with us by users, including citizens, academic experts and policy stakeholders. While we do not currently have any plans to re-assess the abortion statistics in this financial year, we are always open to hearing the concerns of people with an interest in the topic area.
To that end, if you have any concerns regarding the trustworthiness, quality and value of these abortion statistics not complying with the Code of Practice for Statistics, please do contact me through our general contact email regulation@statistics.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
Director General for OSR
[1]Statistics on Abortion: Letter of Confirmation as National Statistics, https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/statistics-on-abortion-letter-of-confirmation-as-national-statistics/
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect on international competitiveness of requiring airside transit passengers at UK airports to obtain and pay for an Electronic Travel Authorisation if there is no equivalent requirement for those transiting at airports in the European Union.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s number one priority is to keep the UK safe. By closing the current gap in advance permissions, the ETA scheme will, for the first time, give us a comprehensive understanding of those intending to travel to the UK and the ability to prevent the travel of those who pose a threat, including those in transit. A blanket exemption to the ETA requirement for passengers transiting UK airside would risk creating a permission-free route of travel into the UK, which we believe could be open to abuse in future. We will however keep this and other aspects of the scheme under review, including looking at other ways these risks might be mitigated.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which train operating companies they intend to bring under public ownership first, following the introduction of the Passenger Railway Services Bill.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State announced on 4 December that, under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, South Western Railway’s services will transfer into public ownership on 25 May 2025, followed by c2c’s on 20 July 2025 and Greater Anglia’s in autumn 2025.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 17 November regarding £1 billion in funding for bus services, when they will publish the formula for allocation.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The way funding has been allocated to local authorities represents a change from previous methodologies to a fairer and simpler system, moving away from a competitive process. This funding for local authorities to deliver their Bus Service Improvement Plans has been allocated based on local needs, considering three factors, equally weighted. These are:
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the rate at which His Majesty's Revenue and Customs are currently processing income tax returns compared to previous years, and what steps they are taking to improve the processing of income tax returns in advance of submissions in January.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
By the end of January 2024, over 11.5m tax returns had been submitted for the 2022/23 financial year. Around 97 percent of returns received were online and the majority were processed automatically.
HMRC carries out additional processing work on a small percentage of tax returns. This includes checks, addressing amends made by customers and manually working through returns which are made on paper. This year HMRC is on track to meet targets for processing paper Self Assessment returns which is consistent with previous years.
To ensure taxpayers get support to meet their obligations for filing 23/24 returns, HMRC has recently recruited and trained additional customer service advisors.
Asked by: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic impact on the south-east of England of planned strikes on London Underground services.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL. Thanks to constructive dialogue between TfL and the unions the strikes planned by both RMT and ASLEF for early November have now been called off.