Tom Brake

The Government Equalities Office is part of the Department for Education. The Department’s single Departmental plan is currently being updated to allow for, amongst other things, the inclusion of the relevant parts of the Sustainable Development Goals. The revised plan is currently due to be published this spring.

My Department has had discussions with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) about papers, prepared by the LLDC, for the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. These papers explained the contractual arrangements relating to West Ham United Football Club's use of the Olympic Stadium.

I can confirm that the Commission considered these papers and reached a preliminary assessment that the contractual arrangements did not involve state aid and decided not to pursue their investigation any further.

Onshore wind has made a valuable contribution to the UK energy mix in recent years but has now reached the point where there is enough capacity in the pipeline to help the UK to meet its 2020 renewable commitments. The grace period arrangements that we have proposed are intended to protect investor confidence in the wider renewable sector and balance the interests of onshore wind developers with consumers, who pay the cost of renewable electricity generation through their energy bill.

DECC is engaging with developers, investors and stakeholders, as we implement the manifesto commitment. We will consider carefully the level of investment that developers are likely to bring forward under the proposals announced by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 18 June.

It is very difficult to predict exactly how much of the onshore wind pipeline would have come forward without the measures proposed to close the Renewables Obligation to onshore wind, and therefore to make an assessment on jobs affected.

We will consider carefully the level of investment developers are likely to bring forward under proposals announced on 18^th June.

We currently have enough projects in the pipeline to meet our 2020 renewable electricity objective of between 11-13GW of onshore wind capacity while remaining within the limits of what is affordable. This pipeline of projects will deliver new jobs across the UK.

The UK is continuing to make progress towards the 2020 renewables target of 15% of final energy consumption from renewable sources. We are on track to meet the next interim target for 2013/14, with provisional figures showing 6.3% of final energy consumption came from renewable sources, against a target level of 5.4%.

The Government has set out its plan to meet the target, including an ambition for at least 30% of electricity demand to be met by renewable sources. This includes between 11 – 13 GW of electricity to be provided by onshore wind by 2020. We have enough onshore wind in the pipeline, including projects that have planning permission, to deliver this.

We do not expect consumer bills to rise as a result of our proposals to end new subsidies for onshore wind. Indeed, those onshore wind projects unlikely now to go ahead would have cost hundreds of millions of pounds in Renewables Obligation (RO) subsidy over their lifetime. This Government is committed to bringing about the transition to low carbon generation as cost effectively and securely as possible.

There were an estimated 19,000 people employed in the onshore wind sector in 2013, including in the supply chain. [1] We currently have enough projects in the pipeline to meet our 2020 renewable electricity objective of between 11-13GW of onshore wind capacity while remaining within the limits of what is affordable. This pipeline of projects will deliver new jobs across the UK.

[1] The Size and Performance of the UK Low Carbon Economy: Report for 2010 to 2013 (March 2013): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416240/bis-15-206-size-and-performance-of-uk-low-carbon-economy.pdf

At Autumn Budget 2017, the Chancellor also set aside £1.5 billion of additional funding for EU Exit preparations in 2019/20. Departments will be invited to bid for 2019/20 EU Exit preparation funding later in the year. Details of timings and process will be announced in due course.

HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:

• £412m of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.
• £286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679738/PU2137_Supplementary_estimates_web.pdf.
• Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of which can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill will convert European Union law into UK law as it applies in the UK at the moment of exit. This will ensure that, wherever possible, the same rules and laws will apply the day after exit as they did before.

The Government is still making a detailed assessment of what corrections will be required to make that law function appropriately on exit day. The Government’s current estimate is that we will need to make between 800 and 1,000 statutory instruments to make exit a reality in UK law.

Within the Law Officer’s Departments, the Attorney General's Office, Government Legal Department and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate do not have a redeployment pool. The Crown Prosecution Service has eight staff currently in the redeployment pool and the Serious Fraud Office has less than five staff.

Primary Legislation would be necessary. The length of time a Bill would take to get through Parliament would be a matter for Parliament. The government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership.

The latest date in which an EU citizen can submit a European Parliament Voter Registration Form to register as an elector in the European Parliament elections is 12 working days before the date of the election. The 12 working day deadline is based on two provisions relating to the application process and the publication of, and alterations to, the register before the election. The provisions are contained in section 13B of the Representation of the People Act 1983 and regulation 29 of the Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001; and the equivalent provisions in the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001 and Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2008 as applied by Schedule 001 of the European Parliamentary Elections (Franchise of Relevant Citizens of the Union) Regulations 2001.
Council Directive 93/109/EC requires all Member States to send the details of any EU citizens’ declarations to their Home State to ensure an EU citizen does not vote twice, both here and in another EU country. The Council Directive specifies that this has to be done “sufficiently in advance of polling day”

The Cabinet Office does not hold information on the numbers of eligible electors nor information on the number of European nationals resident in the UK who register to vote in European Parliamentary elections.

Estimates of the number of eligible people on the registers for electoral events are published by the Electoral Commission following each poll, but do not include a breakdown of the numbers of EU citizens eligible to vote. The report on the 2014 European Parliamentary elections was produced by the Electoral Commission in July 2014 and is available online at: www.electoralcommission.org.uk.

Each Electoral Registration Officer maintains a register for their own local area. Some headline registration statistics by area are collated and published annually by the Office for National Statistics, however, this does not include a breakdown of the numbers of EU citizens registered to vote.

The latest bulletin is available at: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/elections/electoralregistration.

HM Treasury has allocated over £4.2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far.

This funding is to cover all exit scenarios, and is in addition to departmental efforts to reprioritise from business as usual toward preparations for the UK’s departure from the EU.

Work on no-deal exit preparations cannot be readily separated from other EU exit work. The Department is preparing for all eventualities and the resources available to support preparations are kept under constant review.

This expenditure breaks down as:

• £412m of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.
• £286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18). (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679738/PU2137_Supplementary_estimates_web.pdf)
• Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March 2018. (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)
• Over £2bn of additional funding for 19/20. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS1205, laid on the 18th December 2018. (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/)

It remains the Government’s intention to leave the EU with a deal and not participate in European Parliamentary elections.

In preparation for the delivery of elections, Returning Officers, who are statutorily independent, will work to deliver the polls, including through following guidance issued by the Electoral Commission.

The Electoral Commission’s guidance advises Returning Officers to prioritise postal ballot packs that are to be sent overseas in order to allow as much time as possible for the ballot pack to reach the elector and to be completed and returned. The Government has agreed to fund International Business Response Licences for the return of postal votes from overseas and has met with Royal Mail and British Forces Post Office to ensure there is effective planning in place for the dispatch and return of postal votes from overseas including those for service voters based overseas.

The Government has no plans to hold another referendum on EU membership. The Government remains committed to delivering on the result of the 2016 EU referendum by leaving the EU.

An Act of Parliament is required before any UK-wide referendum can be held, the terms of which are for Parliament to debate and agree, including provisions for setting the date, franchise and the question as well as incorporating adequate time to prepare for the poll and a minimum campaigning period.

The Cabinet Office is leading and coordinating the cross-departmental Prepare for EU Exit public information campaign to help fulfil the Government’s duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them, and to advise them on the steps they may need to take to prepare. In the coming weeks and months, we plan to use a range of paid-for and no-cost channels to direct citizens and businesses to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexit.

On 8 January 2019, we launched a series of three radio adverts - to citizens, businesses and travellers - across UK-wide commercial stations, encouraging listeners to visit the website.

The Cabinet Office has undertaken to publish information relating to ongoing expenditure on the public information campaign as part of the department’s monthly data transparency releases. The latest release is available at (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data)

All spending over £25000 is published in line with current guidnace on a monthly basis on GOV.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data

The Government has a duty to inform citizens and businesses about how leaving the EU might affect them and to advise on the steps they may need to take to prepare for EU Exit. We have developed a cross-departmental public information campaign to help achieve this.

Over the coming weeks, we will be using a range of channels to direct UK citizens, businesses, EU citizens living in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU to a dedicated area on GOV.UK at Gov.uk/euexit. Information on the costs associated with this campaign will be released in due course as part of normal data transparency releases.

Further to the Prime Minister’s Written Statement of 22 November (HCWS1100), the Government continues to give serious consideration to the examination of detainee issues and whether any more lessons can be learned and, if so, how.

It is the longstanding policy of successive British Governments not to comment on intelligence matters.

Any allegations of violations of electoral law are for the independent Electoral Commission to investigate. The Electoral Commission has published reports on its investigations into Vote Leave, BeLeave and Leave.EU, and transferred those cases to other organisations independent of government to investigate. As a matter of principle the Government does not comment on live law enforcement investigations.

I have nothing further to add to my Answer of 11 October to Question 175797.

At 30^th September 2018, (a) 140 members of staff in my Department, (b) 11 members of staff in Cabinet Office agencies, and (c) 23 members of staff in our non-departmental public bodies, were of non-UK EU nationality.

The Cabinet Office has reviewed the standard forms of contract it uses. There are clauses about interaction between the parties, how to protect the parties’ best interests and safeguard commercial and sensitive information which are long established in government contracts. These clauses are not intended to stop criticism of Ministers, the Department or its policies.

Since January 2011, details of central government contracts above the value of £10,000 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts published prior to 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://data.gov.uk/data/contracts-finder-archive

Those published after 26 February 2015 can be viewed at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search”

The EU (Withdrawal) Act places a duty on UK Ministers to report to Parliament quarterly on the steps the Government is taking alongside the devolved administrations to design and implement common frameworks, and on any use of the section 12 powers to temporarily ‘freeze’ devolved competence.

Crown servants are entitled to be registered for all UK elections and have to submit a Crown Servant declaration with their application. They are not subject to the current fifteen year rule provision for overseas electors. Crown servants could vote in the EU Referendum.

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer given by the Minister of State for Europe and the Americas on 12 September 2018, (reference 171734). Under the Memorandum of Understanding agreed with the ISC, the Government aims to respond substantively to their reports within 60 days, but in this case it has informed the ISC that it has decided to take more time to give careful consideration to the issues set out in the Committee’s reports.

The issue of electoral voting rights is part of the wider issue of the rights of EU citizens and UK expats that need to be considered during the Brexit preparations. The rights of both sides should be taken together. The UK pushed hard in negotiations for reciprocal voting rights for EU citizens in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU, but they will not form part of the Withdrawal Agreement. The Government has made clear that we will seek to discuss this issue bilaterally with individual Member States with a view to protecting the rights of UK nationals resident in those Member States, where they will not otherwise continue.

We do not anticipate any changes to the current UK primary legislative framework for candidacy and voting rights being made before the May 2019 English and Northern Ireland local elections. The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are responsible for their own franchises.

To provide certainty to prospective candidates, it will be the policy intent of the UK Government that candidates who are validly nominated and elected at or before the May 2019 local elections in England and Northern Ireland should be able to serve that term of office in full, notwithstanding any wider changes to voting and candidacy rights in the future.

HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This breaks down as:

- £412m of additional funding over the spending review period for the Department for Exiting the European Union, Department for International Trade and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office at Autumn Statement 2016.

- £286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/679738/PU2137_Supplementary_estimates_web.pdf.

- Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of which can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers- statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/)

The Cabinet Office was allocated £49.4m for costs arising as the UK leave the EU in the Spring Statement 2018. The final breakdown between programme and administration spend will be confirmed in the Supplementary Estimates.

British citizens living abroad retain strong links with the United Kingdom. Their stake in our country must be respected and this Government will not deny them the opportunity to have their say in the way their country is governed. The Government is committed to introducing “votes for life”, scrapping the rule that bars British citizens who have lived abroad for more than 15 years from voting.

Glyn Davies’ Private Member’s Bill on Overseas Electors successfully passed its second reading in the House of Commons on 23 February 2018. A detailed Impact Assessment considering costing for the Overseas Electors Bill has now been published.