Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what are the criteria taken into account by the Lord Speaker when he is considering whether or not to accept a Private Notice Question.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
The Companion to the Standing Orders and Guide to the Proceedings of the House of Lords states that a private notice question (PNQ) gives members of the House the opportunity to raise urgent matters on any sitting day. The Lord Speaker, after consultation, considers whether the question is of sufficient urgency and importance to justify an immediate reply. The Procedure Committee’s 2nd Report of Session 2009-10 (HL Paper 51), recommended that the Lord Speaker’s decision, in respect of the admissibility of PNQs, be considered final. The House agreed this report on 16 March 2010.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 9 September (HL17697), what plans they have to review the legal framework under which public utility companies can obstruct the highway for urgent repairs particularly in the Greater London Authority; and which projects they are taking forward to modernise the current regime.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport is currently considering responses to a recent consultation on amending street works permit conditions relating to portable traffic signals and pavement working. We are encouraging the minority of authorities that have not yet moved to a permit scheme to do so as these are a more effective way of planning and managing street works. In 2018, the Government announced that authorities outside London and Kent, where pioneer schemes already existed, would also now have the option of operating a street works lane rental scheme to manage the impact of works on their busiest roads at busy times.
The Government has invested £10m in Street Manager, a new digital system for planning and coordinating street works, which will be used nationwide from April 2020. The Department is currently updating the technical guidance document, “Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways”, to bring it up to date and support innovation in the sector. Finally, the Department is starting to consider improvements to the street works inspection regime.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) male, and (2) female, convicted prisoners serving indeterminate sentences for public protection are currently held in England and Wales; and how many such prisoners have been released in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The information you ask for is routinely published and therefore available in the public domain; however, I have provided it below for ease of reference.
IPP population as at 30 June 2019:
|
| Men | Women |
Unreleased IPP |
| 2,273 | 42 |
Recalled IPP |
| 1,086 | 28 |
Total |
| 3,359 | 70 |
IPP first releases April 2018 to March 2019 inclusive:
Men | Women |
451 | 11 |
Between April 2018 and March 2019 inclusive, a total of 356 IPP prisoners were released following recall from the community. This data is not separated by gender.
As with any large-scale recording system, administrative IT systems are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the role of HMS Bristol.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
HMS BRISTOL provides an alongside maritime training and accommodation capability at HMS EXCELLENT in Portsmouth.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Goldie on 2 August (HL17439), who now owns HMS Bristol.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
HMS BRISTOL left active service in 1991 but remains a commissioned ship in the Royal Navy. She currently provides an alongside training and accommodation facility at the shore training establishment HMS EXCELLENT. Having been converted to provide this facility, she could not be returned to active service.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) destroyers, and (2) frigates, are presently on order for the Royal Navy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are currently six Type 45 Destroyers and 13 Type 23 Frigates in service with the Royal Navy.
There are no destroyers on order. Three Type 26 Frigates are currently on order. We plan to award a contract for five Type 31 Frigates by the end of 2019, and a contract for the second batch of five Type 26 Frigates in the early 2020s.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) destroyers, and (2) frigates, are presently in service with the Royal Navy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
There are currently six Type 45 Destroyers and 13 Type 23 Frigates in service with the Royal Navy.
There are no destroyers on order. Three Type 26 Frigates are currently on order. We plan to award a contract for five Type 31 Frigates by the end of 2019, and a contract for the second batch of five Type 26 Frigates in the early 2020s.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the authority that public utility companies have to obstruct the highway to carry out repairs and installations.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A range of legislation, statutory and other guidance applies to utility companies who carry out street works on the local road network to install, maintain and repair the infrastructure on which we all rely. These works are vital but that does not mean they should take longer than they should. My department constantly reviews the legal framework to reduce the impact works have on congestion and is taking forward a number of projects to modernise the regime.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many de-commissioned (1) destroyers, and (2) frigates, remain in the ownership of the Ministry of Defence; and how many of those, if any, could be returned to service.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The Ministry of Defence owns no decommissioned destroyers or frigates; therefore, none are available to be returned to service.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to change the pension arrangements for senior public servants, especially doctors in the NHS, as they approach retirement.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The government keeps public sector pensions policy under constant review in the context of the wider public finances.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will shortly publish a consultation on proposals for a new flexibility for senior clinicians in the NHS pension scheme via the introduction of a 50:50 option.