Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Baroness Adams of Craigielea, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
Baroness Adams of Craigielea has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Baroness Adams of Craigielea has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The grounds for the exclusion of bidders from public procurement procedures are set out in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. These rules set out the circumstances in which bidders must, or may, be excluded from a public procurement process.
In all cases, individual departments and other public sector bodies are responsible for their own decisions on these matters, and will hold their own records. This information is not held centrally.
As a result of expanding and reforming the scheme in England and Wales, the Government estimated in the final impact assessment that 160,000 more households, where a person has a disability or long-term illness, will receive a rebate.
These changes do not apply in Scotland, where customers apply for a Broader Group rebate through their energy suppliers, who can set their own eligibility criteria.
The Government has set up a number of Energy Affordability Schemes to support low-income customers with energy prices such as Energy Bills Support Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee which all households will benefit from.
As announced in the Spring Budget, the Energy Price Guarantee has been extended at £2,500 for an additional three months to the end of June 2023 to further support households with energy bills.
The Autumn Statement set out a commitment to work with consumer groups and industry to consider the best approach to consumer protection from April 2024.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living payments. Pensioners will receive a £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment alongside their Winter Fuel Payment. The Warm Home Discount will also provide £150 per eligible household for the financial year 2023/24.
The Government makes information on benefits widely available to all those who may wish to claim, including disabled people and people with health conditions, through a variety of channels including GOV.UK. In addition, information is available from a wide range of other sources, including organisations and charities, who provide advice and support. The DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available to encourage people to claim the benefits they may be entitled to.
We are committed to extending the benefits of our Freeports programme across the UK and to working with stakeholders from sectors and places across Northern Ireland on how best to do so. Of course we need to see a restored Northern Ireland Executive before those discussions can be progressed further, similar to our engagements with Scottish and Welsh governments on proposals there.
The Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting (CFAMM) was organised and hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat on 15 March 2023. The Foreign Secretary made clear the UK's desire to work with partner nations to deliver tangible benefits for Commonwealth countries and citizens, in particular on trade and investment, climate and values. The Commonwealth Secretariat published details of the meeting on their website: https://thecommonwealth.org/news/commonwealth-foreign-affairs-ministers-meet-discuss-responses-global-crises.
Reasonable Grounds decisions will be made as soon as possible following referral. Statistics on the timescales of Reasonable Grounds decisions for victims of modern slavery are not currently published.
The attrition rate for case-working staff only is not held in a reportable format.
The Government does agree that the Vagrancy Act is antiquated and not fit for purpose, and therefore we have committed to repealing it. We made that commitment during the passage of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. Our commitment to repealing it has always been dependent on introducing modern replacement legislation to ensure that police and other agencies continue to have the powers that they need to keep communities safe and protect vulnerable individuals.
I cannot give a specific date when we will bring the legislation in. We will bring forward suitable replacement legislation in a future legislative vehicle.
The number of asylum decision makers employed by the Home Office each month from January 2020 to December 2022 can be found in the ASY_05 (M) tab of the published migration transparency data located here: Immigration and protection data: Q4 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Data for 2023 will be published in future releases.
The attrition rate of decision makers is not routinely published but have been released to the Home Affairs Select Committee. The response can be found here: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/31774/documents/178754/default/
To reduce attrition rates and help maintain our decision-making experience we have also implemented a recruitment and retention allowance. We have already doubled our decision makers over the last 2 years, and we are continuing to recruit more. This will take our expected number of decision makers to 1,800 by summer 2023 and 2,500 by September 2023.
We have not yet entered into any Third Country Asylum Processing (TCAP) agreements with any other countries.
The UK government remains committed to tackling the heinous crime of modern slavery and supporting victims. The Illegal Migration Bill will prevent people who come to the UK through illegal and dangerous journeys from accessing the provisions of the National Referral Mechanism.
It is right that the government takes steps to address the threat to public order posed by individuals making dangerous journeys that cause loss of life and are inherently unsafe, both for themselves and First Responders.
We support thousands of victims each year and will continue to do so following the implementation of the Illegal Migration Bill.
We are working on developing guidance regarding the operation of these measures, including any potential impacts and how they relate to victims of Modern Slavery, to be introduced when it is appropriate to do so once the Illegal Migration Bill has progressed through Parliament.
His Majesty’s Passport Office are working to manage the impact of strike action, whilst ensuring they can continue to deliver vital services to the public, with comprehensive contingency plans in place.
There are currently no plans to change our guidance which states that it takes up to ten weeks to get a passport.
An economic impact assessment will be published for the Illegal Migration Bill in due course.
As the Minister for Defence Procurement (Alex Chalk) highlighted in his Oral Statement to the Commons on 14 March, all nuclear reactors for the SSN-AUKUS Class submarines will be built by Rolls Royce in Derby.
The Freeport policy model features a generous package of funding for local authorities to help them drive local regeneration, including by meeting local infrastructure and other needs. This encompasses £1 million of funding to support local capacity to deliver, £25 million of funding for local capital works, and potentially hundreds of millions of flexible funding through local retention of business rates, to be used in line with local priorities.
Businesses authorised by HMRC to operate on specific, secure 'customs sites' within Freeports can take advantage of a special customs procedure which builds on facilitations available elsewhere in the UK. The details of this procedure can be found (attached) in HMRC's guidance on customs sites.
With the majority of English Freeports now fully up-and-running, we are starting to see them attract new investment to their regions. Following the construction of new facilities and infrastructure, this investment will deliver thousands of high-quality, long-term jobs for local communities. For example, SeAH Wind Ltd are investing £400 million in the Teesside Freeport to build an offshore wind manufacturing facility that will create around 1,500 jobs.
That is just one example: English Freeports expect to create 130,000 direct and over 80,000 indirect jobs. On top of this, we recently announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland, which estimate they will create over 75,000 new, high-skilled jobs. These forecasts will be reviewed through a baselining exercise in early 2023 and performance against them tracked and reported on as part of the UK Freeports Programme Annual Report (attached). The next Annual Report is due to be published towards the end of this year.
There is a zero rate of secondary Class 1 national Insurance contributions on the earnings of new employees who spend 60% or more of their working time within Freeport tax sites. This rate can be applied on the earnings of all new hires up to £25,000 per annum from April 2022 and for 36 months per employee.
Freeports will maintain the UK's high standards with respect to workers' rights and Freeport areas are subject to the relevant legislation to ensure this, including relevant UK employment laws and protections.