Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) tools, and (2) criteria, the Department for International Trade will use to monitor Pakistan's compliance with the human rights and labour provisions of the Developing Countries Trading Scheme.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government believes that secure and growing trading relationships can enable open conversations with partners on a range of issues, including human rights and labour rights. At the same time, the Government is committed to working with international partners and businesses to ensure global supply chains are free from the use of modern slavery and other human rights abuses.
Countries - including Pakistan - that will benefit from the Developing Countries Trading Scheme may have preferences suspended if they have engaged in serious and systematic violations of human rights and labour rights contained in 16 international conventions.
The tools to monitor compliance may include reports from international convention bodies, reports produced by international organisations and reporting from the Government’s diplomatic network.
The criteria the Government may consider include the nature, scale, impact, frequency and pattern of violations.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking or plan to take to implement the recommendations of the Bishop of Truro's independent review of the FCDO support for persecuted Christians: assessment of recommendation's implementation, published on 4 July.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We welcome the expert review on progress of implementing the Bishop of Truro's recommendations and, in line with the findings, accept their assessment for the need to continue to work to promote and strengthen freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental human right for all.
Our work on this important human rights issue will never be complete, and we will continue to champion global efforts on FoRB. We will continue to ensure that the changes we have made are embedded and to look for opportunities to make FoRB central to the FCDO's wider human rights work.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role the Foreign Policy and Security Council will play in co-ordinating inter-departmental collaboration between the Department for International Trade and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Foreign Policy and Security Council is no longer operational. Instead, as set out in its Terms of Reference, the National Security Council, will consider matters relating to trade strategy, amongst other issues including national security and foreign policy. The National Security Council (Europe) will consider matters of trade in relation to Europe.
The Cabinet Secretariat continues to support the Prime Minister and the chairs of Cabinet Committees in the conduct of government business, including international trade.
The full list of Cabinet Committees is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cabinet-committees-system-and-list-of-cabinet-committees
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to announce the arrangements for a committee to carry out a review of the operation of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, in pursuance of section 7(4)(a) of the Act.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government has made a commitment, in the manifesto and the Queen's Speech, to take forward work to repeal the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. Announcements about the statutory review Committee will be made in due course.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost to date of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse; and when they estimate that Inquiry will conclude.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse publishes financial statements on a quarterly basis on its website https://www.iicsa.org.uk/. The most recent financial statement, covering the Inquiry’s 2019/20 spend as at 31 March 2020, can be found here: https://www.iicsa.org.uk/key-documents/18739/view/inquiry-financial-report-q4-2019-20-ending-31-march-2020.pdf.
The Inquiry expects its public hearings to conclude by the end of 2020. The Inquiry will then turn to writing its final report. Providing the complete information requested would exceed the word limit for responses to written parliamentary questions. However, the information requested is available through the links provided.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the report of Lord Dunlop's review into UK Government Union capability.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Lord Dunlop reported to the Prime Minister in the Autumn and the UK Government is carefully considering its recommendations.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 26 February (HL13715), when they propose to publish the White Paper referred to; and whether any public consultation is planned either before or after that publication.
Answered by Lord Henley
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has stated his intention to publish the energy white paper. We will provide more details in due course.
Where it is necessary and appropriate to do so, we will consult over detailed policy proposals alongside the white paper or following its publication.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any officials or ministers of the Scottish Government were directly involved in meetings between Her Majesty's Government and representatives of the governments of the Faroe Islands and Denmark about the negotiations of the UK–Faroe Islands Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has regular engagement with the devolved administrations (DAs) on all trade continuity agreements (TAC), including on the UK-Faroe Islands Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Engagement takes place on a regular basis both at Ministerial and official level, sharing progress and inviting the DAs to highlight particular agreements of importance or concern. We also already share the full treaty text; supporting Explanatory Memorandum and Parliamentary Report and welcome their view as progress is made.
DIT has agreed with DAs that further engagement would be appropriate. We have reflected on the process for agreeing continuity agreements and can confirm that it is our intention to share treaty texts with the DAs prior to them being signed. This complements our existing engagement.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the devolved administrations about the negotiation of the UK–Faroe Islands Free Trade Agreement.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
The Department for International Trade (DIT) has regular engagement with the devolved administrations (DAs) on all trade continuity agreements (TAC), including on the UK-Faroe Islands Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Engagement takes place on a regular basis both at Ministerial and official level, sharing progress and inviting the DAs to highlight particular agreements of importance or concern. We also already share the full treaty text; supporting Explanatory Memorandum and Parliamentary Report and welcome their view as progress is made.
DIT has agreed with DAs that further engagement would be appropriate. We have reflected on the process for agreeing continuity agreements and can confirm that it is our intention to share treaty texts with the DAs prior to them being signed. This complements our existing engagement.
Asked by: Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any Feed-in Tariff currently used for a specific renewable technology device or machine on which maintenance is conducted will be annulled after 2019.
Answered by Lord Henley
In our response to the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) consultation published on 18 December 2018 we indicated our intention to consult on detailed proposals to allow existing FIT generators to replace any element of their plant and retain their current generation tariff. This will be subject to developing cost control measures which would need to be effective and proportionate from an administrative perspective.