Asked by: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether a compulsory retirement age of 70 years old for Church of England clergy has legal sanction; and whether they plan to encourage the Church of England to allow incumbent ministers to remain in post for longer, where they have the capacity to do so.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There is a mandatory retirement age of 70 prescribed by section 1(3) of the Ecclesiastical Offices (Age Limit) Measure 1975 which applies to all Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, residentiary Canons, parish incumbents and curates. Archbishops may be continued in office until the age of 71 at the Sovereign's discretion. Clergy other than Archbishops may continue beyond the age of 70 provided they hold Common Tenure, which covers almost all clergy; they are covered by regulation 29A of the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009. That Regulation makes comprehensive provision for holding office beyond the age of 70. For bishops and certain other clergy, their period in office can be extended until they reach the age of 75. For parish clergy, they can be extended in office beyond the age of 70 where certain conditions are met; there is no upper age limit in these cases. The Archbishops’ Council has issued guidance under regulation 29A of the attached.
Asked by: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to ensure that the police return confiscated phones to individuals who have not been charged with any crime.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
Sections 21 and 22 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and associated Codes of Practice, in particular, PACE Code B 2023, stipulate how the police should deal with the retention and return of seized property. Property seized as evidence may only be retained for so long as is necessary and the officer in charge is responsible for ensuring that the property is returned as soon as practicable.
A person who wishes to claim property seized by the police may also apply to a Magistrate's court under the Police (Property) Act 1897.
Asked by: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential in the UK for additional pumped storage hydro electricity generation; and whether such facilities can be accommodated within the capacity mechanism without the need for further legislation.
Answered by Lord Henley
We recognise that electricity storage technologies, including pumped hydro storage, provide an important source of flexibility to our energy system. We currently have around 3GW of storage capacity on our system, of which the vast majority is pumped hydro storage. The Electricity System Operator estimates that, by 2050, there could be 12-29 GW of total storage capacity on our system.
Our 2017 Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan and 2018 Progress Update set out a range of actions to remove barriers to storage and ensure flexibility is fairly valued in our energy markets. Pumped storage hydro is able to access the Capacity Market in the same way as other technologies, though a number of issues were raised in the recent Capacity Market review “Call for Evidence” which we will be considering.
Asked by: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current state of the monitoring in the United Kingdom of the industrial chemicals present in groundwater and river water, in particular pseudo-oestrogens (xenoestrogens) and those substances itemised in Directive 2008/105/EC.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In England, the Environment Agency has an extensive monitoring network over both surface and groundwaters, to comply with European groundwater legislation (2006/118/EC) and requirements under the EU Priority Substances Directive (2008/105/EC and its update, 2013/39/EU). It monitors surface waters for priority substances (set at EU level), and also certain other chemicals of a national, but not European, concern.
The Environment Agency are developing a programme to monitor priority substances that accumulate in biota (e.g. in fish or shellfish) at a number of freshwater sites in England.
The Environment Agency is shortly to start contributing to the European-wide surveillance of a number of emerging substances of concern (the watch list) required under Directive 2013/39/EU. This monitoring will include the xenoestrogen ethinyloestradiol.