Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which Cabinet minister has overall responsibility for constitutional issues.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Prime Minister has overall responsibility for constitutional issues. How responsibilities across government are allocated and how the Prime Minister is supported in the discharge of responsibilities is set out in the List of Ministerial Responsibilities, the last version of which was published on 3 March 2022.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Acts of Parliament enacted in the 2010–15 and 2015–17 Parliaments and eligible for post-legislative review by Government departments have not yet been the subject of such review; and what plans they have to increase the number that are reviewed.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
There is no centrally held record of the number of post-legislative reviews submitted by Government departments. The decision on whether a review should be submitted to the relevant departmental select committee is a matter for discussion between departments and the committee. There will be occasions when the department and committee may agree that a memorandum is not required, for example where an Act has already been repealed, has only a very limited policy or practical significance, a review has already been committed to or carried out (e.g. following a pilot); or a department has already submitted relevant evidence in connection with another inquiry by the committee.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) Cabinet ministers and (2) other ministers have undertaken professional development programmes to prepare for their roles in government in the current Parliament.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Information on professional development programmes taken by individual Ministers is not held centrally by the Government.
Ministers are able to access advice on specific subjects, including professional development programmes, such as the short modular training programme on major project delivery, designed by the Infrastructure Projects Authority and University of Oxford Saïd Business School.
The declaration on government reform published in June states a commitment to ensuring Ministers receive training in how to assess evidence, monitor delivery, and work effectively with Civil Service colleagues. This work is underway.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements they put in place in 2020 to ensure that Government Departments complied with the requirements of section 3(6) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The Civil Service Code sets out that civil servants advising ministers should be aware of the constitutional significance of Parliament, and of the conventions governing the relationship between Parliament and the government.
The Code is part of the terms and conditions for civil servants. Each department or agency has a duty to make civil servants aware of the Code and its values.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answer by Lord McFall of Alcluith on 23 January 2018 (HL4602), what is the estimated cost to the public purse for the repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster in each year from 2022/23 to 2026/27; and what is the estimated risk of a catastrophic failure within the Palace during that period.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The forecast cost of repair and maintenance of the Palace of Westminster in each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25, as per the most recent Medium Term Financial Plans, is set out in the table below. This includes the forecast spend on both maintenance and major projects on the Palace. There is not yet a reliable forecast for repair and maintenance beyond the 2024/25 financial year.
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
Planned preventative & Reactive maintenance | £7,821,724 | £8,156,641 | £8,134,727 | £8,218,493 |
Minor projects | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 | £2,212,473 |
Maintenance team | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 | £5,013,950 |
Maintenance and Minor projects | £15,048,146 | £15,383,063 | £15,361,149 | £15,444,916 |
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Major projects | £102,393,805 | £140,357,071 | £98,586,481 | £23,504,834 |
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|
|
|
|
Total | £117,441,951 | £155,740,134 | £113,947,630 | £38,949,749 |
The risks of failure relating to the physical condition of the Palace of Westminster are reviewed and mitigated as part of the operation and maintenance of the Parliamentary Estate. These risks include fire, hitting uncharted underground services, unexploded ordnance, and failure of legally required services, all of which have mitigation plans in place to reduce the risk of failure. The table below shows the current assessment of the likelihood of the top five risk events in relation to catastrophic failure.
Top 5 Risk Events in relation to Catastrophic Failure | Likelihood |
Fire during construction work | Low |
Collapsing structures | Very Low |
Uncharted underground services | Very Low |
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) or other hazardous materials | Very Low |
Failure of legally required services (e.g. water) | Medium |
Source: In-House Services and Strategic Estates Health and Safety & maintenance team risk registers
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many items of postal correspondence were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2020; and of those, how many were received in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Touhig
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. 858,483 mail items were received on the Parliamentary Estate in 2020. The Administration does not count which House each item goes to but estimates that approximately 15 per cent of these items were destined for the House of Lords.
Please note that this figure refers to the whole Parliamentary Estate, not just the Palace of Westminster, and these figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 11 August (HL7467), whether a feasibility study of using a site in York for the House of Lords or a government department has been commissioned by the Cabinet Office; and whether discussions about such a site have taken place with York Central Partnership.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
There are already Civil Servants based in York. Through the Places for Growth Programme, the Cabinet Office is exploring opportunities to relocate Civil Service roles across the UK. By relocating more Civil Service roles, including senior grades and decision-making roles, out of London, the Government wants to create and distribute opportunity, jobs and investment across the whole United Kingdom.
In that context, the Government has engaged with the York Central Partnership, and, as part of this, explored whether the space would allow for Parliamentary activity, should it be required.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord True on 14 July (HL Deb, cols 1542–6), whether any feasibility study or costings have been undertaken by the Cabinet Office on moving the House of Lords to York; and, if so, which minister authorised the study.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
As part of the strategic review for the Restoration and Renewal Programme, the Government believes the Sponsor Body should consider decant locations outside London, including York. The location of the House is a decision for a sovereign Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many police forces employ integrated street triage for mental health services; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of such provision; and whether they plan to encourage more police forces to employ this practice.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
There is no single generic model for mental health crisis “street triage” services and the Home Office does not routinely collect information on such schemes. However, the 2018 report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) on policing and mental health recorded that mental health triage schemes were operational in 42 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
There have been a number of local and academic evaluations of such schemes, however HMICFRS noted that evaluation of schemes was not always consistent and recommended that all forces should review their arrangements using practice guidelines developed by the College of Policing to help forces benchmark their triage activity. HMICFRS will be inspecting on progress as part of their integrated PEEL assessments inspection framework. It is an operational matter for Chief Officers to determine whether to establish or maintain street triage schemes.
Asked by: Lord Norton of Louth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many items of correspondence were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2019; and of those, how many were received in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Laming
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. In total, 1,254,748 items of mail were received on the Parliamentary Estate in 2019. The destination of mail is not recorded but it is estimated that approximately 15 per cent of these items were destined for the House of Lords. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.
Please note that this figure refers to the whole Parliamentary Estate, not just the Palace of Westminster.