Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 20 February (HL5518), why revealing only the cost of (1) a car and driver, and (2) security protection, will affect the security arrangements; and whether they will now reconsider and answer the question put.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Across successive governments, it has been long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on the security arrangements for protected individuals. To do so could compromise the integrity of those arrangements and affect the security of the individuals concerned.
Whilst the requested information in isolation may seem innocuous, granular information on spending – especially if mixed with other information - could allow specific individuals perceived to have lower levels of protection to be targeted by hostile actors.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the forecasted annual cost of the provision to former Prime Minister Rt Hon Liz Truss MP of (1) a car and driver, and (2) security protection.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
It has been the practice of successive Administrations not to comment on the security arrangements of protected individuals.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Cabinet Office received any declaration of interests by Baroness Mone or Doug Barrowman regarding their links to PPE Medpro during the COVID-19 PPE procurement process.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further while the National Crime Agency investigation is ongoing.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, or intend to make, to (1) the Scottish Ministers, (2) the Welsh Ministers, and (3) the Northern Ireland Executive, regarding their attention to reserved issues.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
UK Government Ministers regularly speak to Ministers in the Devolved Administrations on a wide range of areas. It is vital that engagement takes place across the UK on the challenges that we face together, such as our recovery from COVID-19, supporting the NHS and protecting jobs across the UK. The UK Government reports quarterly on our intergovernmental engagement and activity with the Devolved Administrations and will continue this practice in line with our commitments to transparency and accountability.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 1 March (HL12487), whether they will now commission a report from the Head of the Civil Service on the conduct of civil servants involved in (1) the preparation for the trial HM Advocate v Salmond, and (2) the alleged collusion in the Scottish Government regarding the bringing of charges relating to that trial.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
These remain matters for the Scottish Government. I would refer the noble Lord to the Deputy First Minister’s public statement of 23 March, which sets out that “The Scottish Government will carefully consider the recommendations from the Committee, alongside the other two review reports, in order to put improvements and an implementation plan in place.”
As with civil servants who support HM Government, the Civil Service in Scotland is accountable to Ministers in the Scottish Government and those Ministers are in turn accountable to the Scottish Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many non-Irish EU citizens over the age of 65 they estimate live in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, (3) Northern Ireland, and (4) England.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Rt Hon. the Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
20 April 2021
Dear Lord Foulkes,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many non-Irish EU citizens over the age of 65 are estimated to live in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, (3) Northern Ireland, and (4) England (HL14730).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have estimated from data gathered by the Annual Population Survey that the numbers of non-Irish EU citizens over the age of 65 living in the countries of the UK are as shown in Table 1 below. This has been published on the ONS website[1].
Table 1, Annual Population Survey estimates of non-Irish EU nationals, aged 65 and over, residing in the UK, by UK country, July 2019 to June 2020, in thousands
UK Country | Estimate | +/- Confidence interval |
England | 105 | 18 |
Wales | 2 | 2 |
Scotland | 5 | 3 |
Northern Ireland | 1 | 1 |
Source: ONS
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission a report from the Head of the Civil Service into the conduct of the civil servants involved in (1) the preparations for the trial HM Advocate v Salmond, (2) the allegations of collusion within the Scottish Government in relation to the bringing of the charges relating to that trial, and (3) the reports of problems relating to submissions to the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
This is a matter for the Scottish Government. There is an ongoing process to consider these issues in the Scottish Parliament. It would be premature and inappropriate to speculate on further action that may be taken until that process has concluded.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to instruct the intelligence agencies to produce a plan to address any interference by the government of Russia in UK (1) democratic processes, and (2) society.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Security and Intelligence Agencies produce and contribute to regular assessments of the threat posed by Hostile State Activity. We keep such assessments under review and, where necessary, update them in response to new intelligence. It is, and will always be, an absolute priority to protect our democracy and elections. In July 2019 we announced the Defending Democracy programme to bring together government, civil society and private sector organisations to ensure our democracy stays open, vibrant and transparent.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the National Security Council (1) last met, and (2) will next meet. [T]
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It is a long established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, as well as when and how often they have met, is not shared publicly.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement UK-wide constitutional reform; and what steps they intend to take ensure that any such plans are inclusive of all devolved nations and regions within the UK.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government has announced its intention to develop proposals to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates. Further announcements on this will be made in due course. We will of course consult across the UK, including with the devolved administrations, on any issues that would affect devolved competence or where devolved nations will have a significant interest.
The Government has no plans to establish a UK wide constitutional convention.