Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to construct a national water grid.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government recognises the need to increase the long term security of water supplies. Water transfers can play a strong role in securing resilience, alongside other new infrastructure and the reduction of demand and leakage. The Government made this clear in its strategic policy statement to Ofwat and in the 25 Year Environment Plan.
There is already a large quantity of water transferred across the country, giving water companies greater flexibility to meet demand. Water companies have recently consulted on their draft water resource management plans in which further regional transfer schemes are being considered.
Interim Parliamentary Under Secretary of State David Rutley made clear the importance of joined up working between regulators and industry to achieve the best solutions for future resilience in his recent letter to the chief executive of Ofwat, the economic regulator. The letter provided the Government’s initial view on the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on water and has been published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for the future of RAF Northolt following the recent announcement concerning a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
RAF Northolt remains a core Station with over 1,800 personnel based across 33 diverse units, from all three of the Armed Forces and wider Government. Alongside 32 (The Royal) Squadron undertaking VIP and operational command support flying, there are many other major units at the station in ground roles including an operational and ceremonial RAF regiment unit, an Army bomb disposal squadron and the British Forces Post Office.
Air Traffic at RAF Northolt already operates in very close co-operation with Heathrow with procedures aligned to ensure that mutual operations can take place safely. The Ministry of Defence continues to work closely with Heathrow and National Air Traffic Services on the implications of the third runway to ensure that these mutually safe operations continue. Further work is focused on requirements to revise procedures and enhance co-ordination in future.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the first Dreadnought-class nuclear submarine to enter service.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The first Dreadnought Class nuclear-armed submarine will enter service in the early 2030s.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they expect to be in a position to release, on licence or otherwise, more prisoners serving indeterminate sentences following the introduction of tags incorporating GPS-based electronic location monitoring.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
GPS location monitoring will be available next year and may be used to monitor a licence condition. Although it is not possible to predict whether this will result in more prisoners serving indeterminate sentences being released, a recent pilot has demonstrated a demand for this technology in the management of individuals released by the Parole Board.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers ministers have in relation to national security in cases of proposed takeovers of British defence-related manufacturers.
Answered by Lord Henley
Under the Enterprise Act 2002, Ministers have powers to intervene in mergers that raise public interest considerations of national security, media plurality and financial stability.
In October 2017, the Government also published a Green Paper on proposals for long-term reform of the arrangements for the scrutiny of investments in relation to national security. The public consultation has now closed and the Government will bring forward a White Paper later this year.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their plans for the future of Charing Cross Hospital in west London.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Any possible significant change to services is a matter for the local National Health Service. It is right that these decisions are led by local clinicians, who best understand the healthcare needs of their local populations, and in consultation with local people
The North West London (NWL) Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) was published on 10 November 2016. A core component of the NWL STP is a programme called Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF). The SaHF proposals underwent full public consultation in 2012. This included proposals for changes to accident and emergency (A&E) services at Charing Cross Hospital which is run by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT).
ICHT will not make any changes to the A&E department at Charing Cross Hospital during the current Comprehensive Spending Review period, which lasts until 2021.
The Trust invested £8 million in Charing Cross last year, to refurbish urgent and emergency care wards, theatres, outpatient clinics and lifts and to create a patient service centre and the main new facility for North West London Pathology.
Works commenced in January 2018 on the Charing Cross site which will expand the space available for mental health and ambulatory patients.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to clarify the criminal law relating to the use of mobile phones and similar devices by motorists.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Government imposed tougher penalties last year for the offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, and continues to keep the legislation under review.
The Department for Transport is currently consulting on an isolated amendment to the mobile phone offence to permit the use of hand-held and mobile communications devices as a means of performing remote control parking manoeuvres. The Department will consider changes to the regulations and to the Highway Code following that consultation.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect Woodlands Lane Bridge over the M3 motorway at Windlesham to re-open.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Woodlands Bridge, near junction 3 of the M3, has been rebuilt by Highways England as part of the project to upgrade the M3 to a smart motorway. The bridge had been closed to traffic since October 2016 and reopened on Friday 22nd December 2017.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people are currently serving indeterminate prison sentences in the UK (except Scotland); and how many of those have now served longer than the maximum sentence for the offence for which they were convicted.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The number of people currently serving indeterminate prison sentences in England and Wales can be viewed in the table below.
Data on the number of people currently serving indeterminate prison sentences who have now served longer than the maximum sentence for the offence for which they were convicted is not routinely collected, so could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Table 1: Number of people currently service indeterminate prison sentences in England and Wales
On 30 September 2017 | |
Unreleased | 10,378 |
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) | 3,162 |
Life (all variations) (1) | 7,216 |
Recalled | 1,177 |
Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) | 792 |
Life (all variations) (1) | 385 |
(1) Includes mandatory, discretionary, automatic life sentences and those relating to young adults and juveniles held in prison custody.
Asked by: Lord Trefgarne (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements, if any, they propose to put in place to enable the free movement of racehorses following Brexit.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is negotiating our exit from the European Union. Defra is working with the Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future arrangements including for the health conditions that will be applicable to movements of animals between the UK and the European Union.