Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much of their legal aid budget is spent on asylum seekers’ appeals, in (1) percentage, and (2) gross, terms.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
Funding for legal aid is on a demand led basis, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not have a specific budget allocation for delivery of legal aid services in relation to specific categories of law. The table below sets out the total expenditure, on a closed case basis, in relation to asylum seekers’ appeals in gross terms and as a percentage of overall legal aid expenditure for the last 10 years.
Financial Year | Asylum Appeal Expenditure (£M) | Total Legal Aid Expenditure (£M) | Percentage of Legal Aid Expenditure spent on Asylum Appeals |
2013-14 | 13 | 2,017 | 0.6% |
2014-15 | 10 | 1,821 | 0.6% |
2015-16 | 12 | 1,650 | 0.7% |
2016-17 | 17 | 1,615 | 1.1% |
2017-18 | 17 | 1,652 | 1.0% |
2018-19 | 16 | 1,665 | 1.0% |
2019-20 | 18 | 1,679 | 1.1% |
2020-21 | 12 | 1,345 | 0.9% |
2021-22 | 12 | 1,656 | 0.7% |
2022-23 | 13 | 1,835 | 0.7% |
Legal aid is generally available for asylum cases, including appeals, under paragraph 30 of Schedule 1, Part 1 Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). However, not all cases will qualify for legal aid as eligibility is subject to an assessment of legal merits of the case and of the applicant’s financial resources.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what has been the cost of the Restoration and Renewal programme to date; and whether there are any plans to scale-back future costs.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The total cost of the R&R Programme, from 2020-21 until the end of 2022-23, is £297m. This includes the costs of the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body and Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority which were established in April and May 2020 respectively (including £5m of costs in April 2020 before the Delivery Authority was formally incorporated). It also includes the costs of Restoration and Renewal Client Team, which took over the sponsor function for the programme from the Sponsor Body in January 2023.
The total forecast spend for the current financial year (2023-24) is £83m, which includes the costs of the Delivery Authority and the R&R Client Team.
The Delivery Authority’s Main Estimate for 2024-25 is currently subject to parliamentary scrutiny and approval. As well as parliamentary approval being required for the initial budget provision, the Delivery Authority’s expenditure is subject to regular scrutiny and challenge throughout the financial year including by the R&R Client Team and House finance teams, Delivery Authority Board, R&R Programme Board, R&R Client Board and Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission.
The Delivery Authority’s funding is based on what is required to deliver the key activities tasked to it by the R&R Client Team. The Delivery Authority seeks to ensure that its expenditure remains taut and proportionate for the activities required to deliver the Programme and constantly re-assesses its resources, scaling up or down as appropriate. The R&R Programme routinely publishes information on costs, for instance in quarterly reports, annual reports, and memoranda provided to the Parliamentary Works Estimates Commission.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to restore VAT free shopping for foreign tourists.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
As set out at Spring Budget 2024, the government is considering the findings of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s review of the original costing of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping, published in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 6 March, alongside industry representations and broader data. The Government welcomes further submissions from stakeholders in response to the OBR’s findings. All taxes are kept under review.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total cost of eradicating homelessness in England.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Government has made the unprecedented commitment to end rough sleeping and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. In September 2022, we published our cross-government strategy ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’, and we are investing almost £2.4 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping between 2022 and 2025.
We are also taking action to prevent people from becoming homeless or rough sleeping in the first place. We are investing over £1.2 billion in the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years, including a £109 million top-up for 2024/25, giving councils the funding they need to prevent homelessness and help more people sooner.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of highway funding is spent on footways.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
This information is not held. In England local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highway network in their area, including footways. Further information and best practice on the Well-managed Highway infrastructure Code of Practice is available from the UK Roads Leadership Group. Based on previous research, the Department estimates that on average local highway authorities spend around 9% of their highway maintenance budgets on maintaining footways.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to investigate whether Fujitsu staff had unauthorised access to the Post Office’s Horizon software system; and, if so, whether there have been any alleged cases of fraud or theft of Post Office funds by Fujitsu staff.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The independent Post Office Horizon Inquiry was set up – and put on a statutory footing - to review all the evidence to establish a clear account of the implementation and failings of Horizon so that a scandal like this does not happen again.
Until Sir Wyn’s work is completed, and all the evidence is known, it would be premature for me to comment on every aspect of this scandal alongside this inquiry which is there to get to the bottom of the facts.