Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on (a) barristers and (b) other lawyers as part of the (i) litigation related to the First-tier Tribunal and (ii) freedom of information requests made by Dr Andrew Lownie on the Mountbatten diaries and letters; and if he will make an estimate of the cost of civil service time spent in handling all aspects of this matter.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
To provide this information would exceed the threshold and incur a disproportionate cost to the Cabinet Office. Civil servants do not record the proportion of time that they spend on individual matters, and cover a range of responsibilities, including Freedom of Information and litigation.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential utility of an augmentation task force of experienced UK former (a) officials and (b) military personnel to work on preliminary plans for the reconstruction of Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in London demonstrated the UK's commitment to Ukraine's reconstruction. It is for Ukraine to lead reconstruction planning in accordance with the National Recovery Plan it unveiled in 2022. Through the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, we, alongside partners, are working with Ukraine to determine its immediate recovery priorities. We are considering initiatives to support Ukraine's early recovery and reform programme. At the URC, we announced £240 million of bilateral assistance this year for Ukraine's humanitarian, early recovery and reform needs. FCDO's Civilian Stabilisation Group already provides rapidly deployable specialist conflict expertise to target priority conflicts.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £87,500 lump-sum payment will war widows who have remarried or started cohabiting receive after taxation; and if he will make it his policy to either make the payments tax-exempt or increase the level of the payments so that each recipient receives £87,500 after tax.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
There is nothing we can do to bring a loved one back, and no amount of money will ever change that. This payment is not intended to put a value on a widow’s loss. But this is a meaningful amount in recognition that remarriage or cohabiting with a new partner does not erase the bereavement.
The rules for this recognition payment include that it is taxable. This was taken into consideration when the figure was set at £87,500. The amount received after taxation will depend on individual circumstances.
Ministry of Defence and Treasury officials are working on the details and rollout.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to the United Nations Human Rights Council against the appointment of Iran’s ambassador to the UN as chairman of its Social Forum 2023; and for what reason no alternative candidate was nominated by the UK.
Answered by David Rutley
The Iranian Government is responsible for persistent, widespread and serious human rights violations and can have no international credibility in this sphere. This is why we worked with partners in December to ensure Iran was expelled from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The Social Forum is a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council which the UK does not traditionally attend. The chair rotates between members' ambassadors according to region and this year is the turn of the Asia-Pacific region. The UK will continue to work closely with our partners to hold Iran to account in international fora; to that end we regularly meet with UN representatives, both in the UK and overseas through UK Missions in Geneva, New York and around the world.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the average number of tuition hours not accessed by university students as a result of strike action by university staff in the last year; whether her Department issues guidance to (a) universities and (b) students on reimbursement of (i) fees and (ii) other costs for tuition hours not accessed by students as a result of (A) strikes and (B) other factors affecting the delivery of academic services by the university; what data her Department holds on the reimbursement of such costs to students by universities in such cases; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Compensating students for disruption is the responsibility of higher education (HE) providers, which are independent from government.
The Office for Students (OfS) has made clear that they expect universities to abide by the conditions of registration, maintain the delivery of HE and minimise disruption to students in the event of any industrial action. The OfS has also highlighted providers’ obligations under consumer protection law in relation to the impact of industrial action.
The OfS have wide-ranging powers to ensure that students’ interests are protected, and they expect providers to do all they can to avoid disruption to students.
The OfS’s powers include the ability to impose one or more specific ongoing conditions of registration, impose a monetary penalty, refuse to renew a provider’s access and participation plan, suspend aspects of a provider’s registration, vary or revoke a provider's authorisation for degree awarding powers, revoke a provider’s authorisation to use ‘university’ in its title, or deregister a provider.
The OfS has advised HE providers that, in the event of disruption caused by industrial action, students may be entitled to repeated learning opportunities or tuition fee refunds. These remedies are determined by the contents of the provider-student contract, as well as relevant consumer protection law.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what grounds a hospital can change its records regarding a patient's next of kin (a) after the patient has been admitted and (b) without the consent of the (i) patient and (ii) patient's next of kin as designated at the time of admission; and what processes are in place for (A) recording and (B) changing hospital records on a patient's next of kin.
Answered by Will Quince
National Health Service trusts may ask a patient to nominate their next of kin on admission to hospital. A hospital will not ordinarily change a patient’s next of kin unless the patient has requested this. In the event a patient does not have a next of kin, health professionals may use their discretion to liaise with family and friends to appoint one.
If it is an emergency and it is unclear who the patient’s next of kin is, and the patient is unable to communicate their choice, the hospital will normally seek advice from the person they believe is closest to the patient and allocate one. Where the next of kin has been changed, both the general practice and hospital records would be duly updated.
NHS England provides further information on amending patient and service user records, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the UK Armed Forces Families Strategy 2022 to 2032, published on 19 January 2022, what steps his Department is taking to negotiate permission for the spouses or partners of service personnel to be able to work when accompanying personnel on deployment overseas; if he will make an assessment of the impact of negotiating those permissions on levels of early resignation from the armed forces by affected personnel; whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the experience of that Department of negotiating those permissions for the families of diplomats posted abroad; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
Armed Forces families are at the heart of the Defence community and the UK Armed Forces Families Strategy 2022 to 2032 acknowledged the importance of making their recognition and care a priority. The Strategy seeks to offer choice and flexibility in allowing personnel to serve and raise a family simultaneously, with benefit to all. In developing the Strategy, we were guided by the evidence of families to focus our attention on their key areas of concern; one such was enabling a partner to manage their career alongside the service person.
Officials from the Ministry of Defence have had initial conversations with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the subject of spousal employment. However, the parallel between Armed Forces families and those of diplomats is not a direct one. The legal position of our Armed Forces and their families overseas is determined by local agreements or memoranda, and thus differs from diplomatic staff.
Overseas assignments present families with diverse and unique experiences, but the support available can vary, depending on the host nation and the specific assignment. As part of the Armed Forces Families Strategy, we are working to help inform those families of the support that is available to them prior to their departure overseas to ensure that they are able to make well-informed decisions.
In the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS), spouse/partner career is often cited as one of the top three factors influencing intentions to leave, although this is not an issue uniquely linked to overseas deployments. This question in AFCAS measures intentions, rather than actual behaviours, so this does not necessarily mean that availability of spousal employment leads to early resignation.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to help support Malawi with the impacts of Cyclone Freddy.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is working closely with the Government of Malawi and international agencies to respond to Cyclone Freddy. We are supporting the Emergency Operations Centre established in Blantyre and working closely with partners to rapidly identify the needs of those affected. We are looking at options for further UK support including how we can help those still stranded, help manage trauma cases and extend our support to tackle the ongoing cholera outbreak.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2023 to Question 148519 on Nuclear Test Veterans, whether the results of blood tests on personnel who witnessed nuclear test events (a) are held at the Atomic Weapons Establishment and (b) will be made available on request to the (i) veterans and (ii) surviving members of the families of deceased veterans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) do not hold the blood test results for Nuclear Test Veterans. AWE holds a small number of references to blood and urine tests which were included in scientific documentation related to nuclear weapons trials. Veterans or members of their family are entitled to request information that may be held by AWE through Subject Access Requests, which will be handled in a routine manner.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will take steps to ensure that all domestic energy customers are offered the facility to pay energy bills by cheque; and if his Department will issue guidance to energy suppliers on enabling customer payment by cheque.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The setting of tariffs, and associated payment methods, are a commercial decision for the energy companies. Regulation of the sector is the responsibility of independent regulator Ofgem.