Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton on 12 March (HL Deb col 1905), how much money the United Kingdom pays to the European Union annually; on what that money is spent; and what plans they have, and to what timescale, for its reduction.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Details of how much money the UK has paid the EU under the Withdrawal Agreement, its purposes, forecasts of future payments and timings are set out in the annual European Union Finances Statement. The most recent version covers payments made in 2023 and is available in the library of the House and on Gov.uk.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 27 March (HL3259), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, how much money the United Kingdom pays to the European Union annually; on what that money is spent; and what plans they have, and to what timescale, for its reduction.

Answered by Lord Roborough - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

At the Spring Budget 2020 following withdrawal from the EU the OBR estimated that there was £42.3bn more to spend on public services between 2020-21 and 2024-25 than would have been the case had we stayed in the EU. This additional spending has been included in the overall spending plans set out at Spending Reviews since we left the EU.

The financial settlement as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement ensures the UK only pays its past obligations as a departing Member State and does not relate to any continuing or future arrangements. As set out in the European Union Finances Statement 2023 (available in the library of the House and on Gov.uk), the UK is estimated to have paid £6.1bn in net liabilities in 2023 as part of this settlement.

Where the UK has decided it is in its interests to cooperate with the EU further, for instance on Horizon Europe, details of payments are set out in the relevant departments’ annual account.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to assess the service provided by Vodafone and other mobile operators in remote areas to ensure that they are complying with their operating licences.

Answered by Viscount Camrose - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

The coverage outcomes that the mobile network operators committed to as part of the Shared Rural Network and that were then added to their spectrum licences are overseen by Ofcom, with regular reporting throughout the life of the programme to ensure agreed obligations and targets are met. Compliance with these obligations will be assessed by Ofcom at the end of June 2024, by when each operator has committed to have reached 88% geographic coverage of the UK, and 2027 when each operator has committed to have reached at least 90% geographic coverage of the UK. Progress towards these outcomes is published in the regular Ofcom Connected Nations reports.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent conviction of Stephen Green, whether they intend to introduce legislation to amend the Public Order Act 2023 to ensure that it is not a criminal offence to display publicly Psalm 139 anywhere.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Government respects people’s rights provided under Article 9 (freedom of thought, religion and belief), Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 11 (freedom of association and assembly) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Government has recently consulted publicly on non-statutory guidance for section 9. We are currently analysing all responses to the consultation, which closed on 22 January, and we will publish the final guidance in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what is the cost of sending the UK delegation to the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai, how many UK representatives this covers, and how many of them travelled by (1) private, and (2) public, jet aircraft.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Although the COP28 climate conference concluded on the 13th December, it is not yet possible to put an accurate figure on the cost of attendance by the UK delegation, as final costs will need to be gathered and reviewed. A total cost will be available for audit in January 2024 at the earliest.

The UK Delegation included 11 Ministers from multiple departments.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the World Climate Declaration.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Government has not made a specific assessment of the World Climate Declaration but uses a range of scientific evidence to inform government policy, in particular the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which is the global authority on climate science.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 12 December (HL880), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, how much money the UK pays to the EU annually; for what purpose; and for how long such payments are expected to continue.

Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton

The financial settlement under the European Union Withdrawal Agreement Act 2020 (WA) represents the negotiated agreement over the UK’s historical financial commitments to the EU and those of the European Union (EU) to the UK. This financial arrangement is related to the UK’s past obligations as a departing Member State and does not relate to any continuing arrangements.

Details of how much money the UK has paid the EU, its purposes, forecasts of future payments and timings are set out in the annual European Union Finances Statement. The most recent version covers payments made in 2022 and is available in the library of the House and on Gov.uk.

Additionally, departments make payments in areas of continuing cooperation with the EU. These include the Peace+ programme and, from 2024, the Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes. Details of payments are set out in the relevant departments’ annual accounts.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by Malcolm Newsam and Gary Ridgeway Independent assurance review into historic child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rochdale, published on 15 January, what percentage of those involved in the grooming gangs were Muslim.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The independent review into historic child sexual exploitation in Rochdale identifies widespread organised sexual exploitation of children involving multiple ‘grooming gangs’. It also highlighted that many potential perpetrators were never investigated or identified.

The report does not disaggregate known offending by individual ‘grooming gang’ nor by ethnicity or religion. However, there are references throughout the report to perpetrators in these particular cases being predominantly ‘Asian’ or British-Pakistani men.

The 2020 Home Office report on Group Based Child Sexual Exploitation sets out the best evidence on ethnicity, age, offender networks, the context in which these crimes are committed and implications for national and local policy. As noted within the report, beyond specific high-profile cases such as in Rochdale or Rotherham, the academic literature highlights significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and group-based child sexual exploitation.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of their Draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on Gender Questioning Children, published in December 2023, whether they will ask the Teaching Regulation Authority to reconsider their findings and sanction in the report of 2023 concerning Mr Joshua Sutcliffe.

Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)

It is important that processes relating to teacher misconduct are progressed without any political involvement. Decisions on whether to progress cases are taken independently by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA).

An independent professional conduct panel is appointed to hear cases and determine whether the evidence proves unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute, or a conviction of a relevant offence. If so, the professional conduct panel will make a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Education about whether to prohibit the individual from teaching.

In the case of Mr Joshua Sutcliffe, after hearing all live evidence and mitigations, the independent appointed panel made a recommendation to the Secretary of State decision maker to prohibit him from the teaching profession, with a two-year review period.

Following recommendation, the decision to impose a prohibition order is taken by a senior TRA official.

Although that decision is taken on behalf of the Secretary of State, neither she nor any other Minister in the department can have any involvement in these independent investigations, related processes, and decisions.

Mr Sutcliffe has appealed this decision to the High Court, as is his right. It is now for the High Court to carefully consider Mr Sutcliffe’s grounds of appeal. It would not be appropriate to comment on or discuss ongoing litigation further.

Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether he intends to reinstate the word "Peers" on the door to the gentlemen's toilets adjacent to the Prince's Chamber, and if not, why.

Answered by Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall

The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. There are no plans to reinstate the word “Peers” on the door to the gentlemen’s toilets adjacent to the Prince’s Chamber as the use of the toilets is not limited to members of the House.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued on whether teachers should be required to use preferred gender pronouns for pupils whose legal sex remains the same as their biological sex.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of the Gender Questioning guidance for schools.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department is looking carefully at the consultation responses before setting out next steps to take the Gender Questioning guidance forward. The department will also consider this in light of the evidence published in the Cass Review. This will include consideration of the appropriate guidance to give on the use of pronouns in school settings.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to respond to the consultation on the draft guidance for schools and colleges on gender-questioning children, published in December 2023.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

Children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of the Gender Questioning guidance for schools.

It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department is looking carefully at the consultation responses before setting out next steps to take the Gender Questioning guidance forward. The department will also consider this in light of the evidence published in the Cass Review. This will include consideration of the appropriate guidance to give on the use of pronouns in school settings.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 12 September (HL Deb cols 168GC–172GC), what assessment they have made of excluding cattle from the catchment areas of salmon spawning streams.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only. A specific national assessment on excluding cattle from the catchment areas of salmon spawning streams has not been undertaken because the potential impacts of cattle on salmon spawning streams are well documented.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possible implications of the proposed World Health Organization Pandemic Preparedness Treaty for British sovereignty; what assessment they have made of the benefits of the treaty; and whether they intend to sign it.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As the COVID-19 pandemic showed, and the current outbreak of Mpox has reminded us, infectious diseases do not respect borders. That is why the Government is committed to working with our international partners to negotiate a Pandemic Accord (the Accord) that enhances global health security across the world.

The Government is satisfied that the Accord does not have implications for British sovereignty. No proposals have been introduced in negotiations that would cede sovereignty to the World Health Organization in making domestic decisions on national measures concerning public health. The Government would not accept any such proposals, in any case.

Agreeing a meaningful Accord is firmly in the global and the United Kingdom’s interest. An effective Accord should improve the world’s collective ability to prevent, detect, and respond to disease threats, and could stop some from becoming pandemics in the first place. The Government will decide whether to sign the Accord once the agreement has been finalised.