Information between 22nd May 2024 - 10th August 2024
Note: This sample does not contain the most recent 2 weeks of information. Up to date samples can only be viewed by Subscribers.
Click here to view Subscription options.
Calendar |
---|
Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Oral questions - Main Chamber Subject: Financial resilience of England’s water companies View calendar |
Wednesday 4th September 2024 Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Oral questions - Main Chamber Subject: Possible links between social disorder in major cities and economic and social policies View calendar |
Speeches |
---|
Lord Sikka speeches from: Public Spending: Inheritance
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (133 words) Tuesday 30th July 2024 - Lords Chamber HM Treasury |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [HL]
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (1,484 words) 2nd reading Tuesday 30th July 2024 - Lords Chamber HM Treasury |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Coronavirus: UK Deaths
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (68 words) Monday 29th July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department of Health and Social Care |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Post Office Horizon
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (73 words) Wednesday 24th July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Business and Trade |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Water Companies: Financial Resilience
Lord Sikka contributed 2 speeches (127 words) Tuesday 23rd July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Mail Carriage by Rail
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (64 words) Monday 22nd July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Transport |
Lord Sikka speeches from: King’s Speech (4th Day)
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (606 words) Monday 22nd July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Science, Innovation & Technology |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Diplomatic Missions: Congestion Charge
Lord Sikka contributed 1 speech (60 words) Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Lords Chamber Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office |
Lord Sikka speeches from: Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill
Lord Sikka contributed 3 speeches (739 words) Report stage Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Business and Trade |
Written Answers |
---|
Water Companies: Investment
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 23rd May 2024 Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of Ofwat giving water companies a return on capital invested based on an assumed level of equity even if they do not hold that level of assumed equity. Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller When providing company determinations, Ofwat set a sector wide allowed return, on the basis of the notional capital structure. The notional capital structure provides clear signals about the allocation of risk. It protects customers from bearing much of the risk of companies' actual financing decisions and provides strong incentives on companies to raise finance efficiently. This approach is consistent with other UK sectors that are subject to regulatory price controls and is recommended by the UK Regulators’ Network.
The actual achieved equity return for any company will depend on the company's unique actual capital structure and company performance. Considerations about the actual capital structure are matters for each company and its investors to manage, consistent with the clear allocation of risk and responsibility for a company's actual financing and capital structure. |
Water Companies: Nationalisation
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 23rd May 2024 Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have made for the nationalisation of water companies. Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller Water companies are commercial entities. However, as you would expect, the Government prepares for a range of scenarios across its regulated industries – including water – as any government would.
The Defra Secretary of State and Ofwat (with consent of the Secretary of State) have the power to request the court to place a company in Special Administration Regime so that its business can either be rescued or transferred as a going concern to new owners. |
Horizon IT System: Convictions and Prosecutions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 23rd May 2024 Question to the Department for Business and Trade: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they commissioned one or more independent legal opinions before deciding not to quash the convictions and prosecutions of sub-postmasters by the Department of Work and Pensions in relation to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel I can confirm that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) instructed Counsel to advise on its duty of post-conviction disclosure and that advice included a consideration of the nature of its prosecutions.
The advice considered cases that had been brought before the Court of Appeal in which DWP evidence was scrutinised. |
Water Companies
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: To ask His Majesty's Government whether water companies are required to have full and complete maps of their sewage network infrastructure, and if so how this is enforced. Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller Having a full and detailed map of sewerage assets is a vital part of understanding the network and identifying areas for improvements. Water companies are already required to map their assets under Section 199 of the Water Industry Act 1991. The section, and the requirement to map assets, is enforceable under powers laid out in Section 18 of the Act. Sewerage undertakers are not required to keep records of assets that were laid before 1 September 1989, but only if either:
1) the undertaker does not know of, or have reasonable grounds for suspecting, the existence of the drain, sewer or disposal main; 2) it is not reasonably practicable for the undertaker to discover the course of the drain, sewer or disposal main and it has not done so.
As part of the Environment Act 2021, a new duty has been created for sewerage undertakers in England to produce Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans (DWMPs). DWMPs set out how a sewerage undertaker intends to manage and improve their drainage and wastewater systems over the next 25 years. DWMPs will complement existing requirements to map the sewerage network, to facilitate a detailed understanding of the network and help ensure that drainage and wastewater services are better managed and properly supported, as well as delivering greater efficiencies for customers and supporting investment in nature-based solutions.
In addition, the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets out that the Government expects that water companies have maps of their sewer networks, to understand where properties with separate rainwater pipes are connected to their combined sewer network. |
Horizon IT System: Convictions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Business and Trade: To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the sub-postmasters’ convictions secured by the Crown Prosecution Service had an input from the Department of Work and Pensions. Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
Department for Work and Pensions: Sub Post Offices
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide a list of the cases of sub-postmaster prosecutions which have been initiated by the Department of Work and Pensions and subsequently passed to the Crown Prosecution Service; and the outcome of each of those cases. Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
State Retirement Pensions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 6 December 2021 (HL4310), what is the median state pension for (1) men, and (2) women, for 2024–25. Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
Post Offices: Prosecutions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Offord of Garvel on 13 May (HL Deb col 456), what were the titles of the 62 cases prosecuted by the Department of Work and Pensions against postmasters in England and Wales, and in each what was (1) the date of the case, (2) the location of the court, and (3) the outcome of the case. Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
Department for Work and Pensions: Sub Post Offices
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department of Work and Pensions has transcripts of court judgments and accompanying documents for all cases related to the prosecution of sub-postmasters that they have initiated. Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
Department for Work and Pensions: Sub Post Offices
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Friday 24th May 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government when the Department of Work and Pensions began their prosecution of sub-postmasters; how many cases were prosecuted; and what was the outcome of each case. Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member. |
Horizon IT System: Prosecutions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 8th August 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Department of Work and Pensions has transcripts of court judgments and accompanying documents for all cases related to the prosecution of sub-postmasters that they have initiated. Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions) Transcripts of court judgments are available upon application HMCT, DWP does not hold transcripts of court judgments. The DWP case files referred to in the question have been destroyed in line with data protection legislative requirements. |
Water Companies: Nationalisation
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 8th August 2024 Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 23 July (HL Deb col 364) that nationalisation of water companies “would cost billions of pounds”, whether they plan to provide details of that calculation. Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) The cost of nationalisation was calculated in a report published by the Social Market Foundation titled ‘The cost of nationalising the water industry in England’. The report estimated the costs of nationalising water companies would be £90 billion. This research draws on a range of existing academic studies, as well as publicly available data from Ofwat, the London Stock Exchange and the annual accounts of the water companies. The research can be viewed on the Social Market Foundation’s website www.smf.co.uk. |
Economic Growth
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Thursday 8th August 2024 Question to the HM Treasury: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the recommendations of Lord Myners published in March 2001 in Institutional Investment in the United Kingdom: A Review will form part of their growth and productivity plans. Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury) Institutional investment is vital for growth, and investment in starts ups and scale ups is an important part of that. The Myners Report contains valuable insights that are still valuable today. However, the pensions market in particular is now significantly different than it was in 2001. The Chancellor has launched a landmark pensions review which will focus on increasing investment, improving saver returns and tackling waste in the pensions system. This is alongside other major initiatives to drive economic growth such as the National Wealth Fund to mobilise private capital and institutional investment. |
State Retirement Pensions
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer) Tuesday 6th August 2024 Question to the Department for Work and Pensions: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 6 December 2021 (HL4310), what is the median state pension for (1) men, and (2) women, for 2024–25. Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data for 2024-25 as requested is not currently held by the department.
|
Parliamentary Debates |
---|
Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [HL]
23 speeches (16,796 words) 2nd reading Tuesday 30th July 2024 - Lords Chamber HM Treasury Mentions: 1: Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer) The noble Lord asked about the banking insolvency procedure, as did the noble Lord, Lord Sikka. - Link to Speech |
Water Companies: Financial Resilience
23 speeches (1,481 words) Tuesday 23rd July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mentions: 1: Lord Moylan (Con - Life peer) In response to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, she was very clear that the Government did - Link to Speech |
King’s Speech (4th Day)
161 speeches (62,658 words) Monday 22nd July 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Science, Innovation & Technology Mentions: 1: Lord Livermore (Lab - Life peer) He and the noble Lords, Lord Wigley and Lord Sikka, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Benjamin and Lady - Link to Speech |
Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill
28 speeches (3,888 words) Committee stage Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Business and Trade Mentions: 1: Lord Offord of Garvel (Con - Life peer) Amendment 1 in the names of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, and the noble Lord, Lord - Link to Speech |
Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill
15 speeches (2,166 words) Report stage Thursday 23rd May 2024 - Lords Chamber Department for Business and Trade Mentions: 1: None On the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, there is a concern around the DWP’s understanding of - Link to Speech 2: Lord Fox (LD - Life peer) Lord, Lord Arbuthnot—it is a shame that he is not here.To address the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord - Link to Speech 3: Lord Offord of Garvel (Con - Life peer) My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, for the attention he has brought to convictions - Link to Speech |
Bill Documents |
---|
May. 23 2024
HL Bill 73-I Marshalled list for Committee Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 Amendment Paper Found: LORD FALCONER OF THOROTON LORD SIKKA 1_ Clause 1, page 1, line 9, after “Service” insert “or |
May. 23 2024
HL Bill 90-I Amendment for Report Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 Amendment Paper Found: LORD SIKKA 1★_ Clause 1, page 1, line 9, after “Service” insert “or the Department for Work |
May. 23 2024
HL Bill 73-I Marshalled list for Committee Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024 Amendment Paper Found: LORD FALCONER OF THOROTON LORD SIKKA 1_ Clause 1, page 1, line 9, after “Service” insert “or |