Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they continue to support the admission of Turkey to the EU.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government supports the process of Turkey’s EU accession, which remains the most effective means of encouraging reform, stability and democracy in Turkey. But as the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has made it clear that the question of Turkey actually joining the EU is 'not remotely on the cards', indeed that he does not believe it will happen 'for decades'. Every Member State has a veto, at every stage of the process. It is the Government's policy not to agree to any further enlargement of the EU without a new system of controls on the movement of workers being put in place. Under the European Union Act 2011, any new Accession Treaty would require primary legislation before it could be ratified.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether it is appropriate for Scottish MPs to vote on trading hours in other parts of the UK.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
MPs from all parts of the United Kingdom can vote on all legislation before the House of Commons. The introduction of English Votes for English Laws has given English MPs a greater say over matters affecting England only. However, clause 33 of the Enterprise Bill, which related to Sunday trading laws, included provisions that extended to Scotland meaning that Scottish MPs were rightly entitled to vote at every stage in the legislative process.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 22 February (HC Deb, col 22), how they reached the conclusion that the cost of EU regulation will be going down, not up.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to Parliament on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
Under our new settlement the European Commission has agreed for the first time to set specific targets to reduce the overall burden on businesses in key sectors. The European Council Declaration on Competitiveness commits to ‘doing more to reduce the overall burden of EU regulation, especially on SMEs and micro enterprises’.
To implement this, the European Commission has agreed to introduce a new burden review mechanism. It will conduct an annual survey of the burdens imposed on businesses at the EU level. This process will identify legislation that should be revised or repealed to bring costs down, and will mean that limiting the cost of regulation will be a priority when proposals are developed, negotiated and agreed.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any discrepancy between the net migration numbers and the number of EU citizens registering for the first time for National Insurance in the UK.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of Detective Superintendent McDonald's description of child abuse allegations against Sir Edward Heath, Lord Bramall and Lord Brittan as "credible and true", and whether they have made representations to the Metropolitan Police Service that an apology should be issued regarding that statement.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government is clear that allegations of child abuse should be thoroughly and properly investigated. However decisions about arrest and charge are an operational matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service and it would be inappropriate for the Home Office to comment further.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the UK overseas aid budget is devoted to job creation.
Answered by Baroness Verma
DFID has committed to increase spending on economic development to £1.8 billion by 2015/16. This will help to create more and better jobs, including for women and youth, supporting countries to lift themselves out of poverty and aid dependency.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue to abide by the NATO principle urging all member states to spend two per cent of gross domestic product on defence.
Answered by Lord Astor of Hever
This Government is committed to spending 2% of GDP on Defence and we expect to do so through the end of this Parliament. Decisions on Defence spending after financial year 2015-16 will be determined in the next Comprehensive Spending Review. NATO assess the UK to be the largest defence spender in the EU, the second largest in NATO and one of only four countries in NATO currently meeting the NATO 2% GDP guideline.
Asked by: Lord Renwick of Clifton (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how it is intended that the proposed £650 million United Kingdom contribution to a global green climate fund will be spent; and what role the United Kingdom will have in its disbursement.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The Green Climate Fund is aiming to spend 50% of funds helping developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and 50% helping them adapt to the adverse effects of climate change (with the aim that at least 50% of the adaptation funding goes to the most vulnerable countries).
The Fund is governed and supervised by a Board of 24 members, composed of an equal number of members from developing and developed countries that will have responsibility for funding decisions.
The UK holds one of the Green Climate Fund Board seats, meaning we will be fully involved in disbursement decisions.