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House of Lords Business

See what is going on in the House of Lords today, as well as what has happened since June 1998. This includes the relevant Order Paper, Minutes of Proceedings, questions tabled and edition of House of Lords Business. These documents can also all be downloaded.

Questions for Written Answer for 22 November 2023

Tabled on 21 November 2023 and due for answer by 5 December 2023.

Lord Allan of Hallam to ask His Majesty's Government what meetings and correspondence they have had with the messaging service Telegram since 1 January.  HL454
Answered
Lord Allan of Hallam to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of measures to encourage the adoption of Unique Property Reference Numbers in government databases.   HL455
Answered
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Religious Freedom and Business corporation, in cooperation with the APPG for International Freedom of Religion or Belief, Building Freedom of Religion or Belief Through Faith-And-Belief Friendly Workplaces: A Call to Action, published on 20 November.  HL456
Answered
Earl Attlee to ask His Majesty's Government whether the Financial Conduct Authority regularly undertakes spot checks of firms offering loans to ensure that the contract details accurately reflect the advertised annual percentage rate of the financial product.  HL457
Answered
Earl Attlee to ask the Senior Deputy Speaker,  following the professional and technical advice received by both Houses that a partial decant is both more risky and expensive than a full decant, why a partial decant is still being considered as an option for Restoration and Renewal of the Palace of Westminster.  HL458
Answered
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental impacts from including saponins, phosphorous peroxide, and other substances which are irritants or otherwise harmful to worms and other soil organisms, in products labelled as "soil conditioners" or "anti-worm caster"; and what guidance they have issued about the le… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text
Answered
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle to ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish the new National Planning Policy Framework; and what assessment they have made of the impact of any delay in its publication on the production of local plans.  HL460
Answered
Lord Clement-Jones to ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Camrose on 3 April (HL6992), whether the incumbent operator in each area have informed consumers that before committing to a new two year full fibre service contract with them they can research other full fibre options available to them in their area.  HL461
Answered
Baroness Hoey to ask His Majesty's Government why is the absence of a working executive a reason for not including Northern Ireland in the third round of the Levelling Up Fund when in previous years the absence did not stop funding.  HL462
Answered
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment it has made of the governance arrangements at the Royal Marsden Foundation Trust following reported concerns by external auditors about a £9 million donation it made to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.  HL463
Answered
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on patient safety of the reported failures of the Sciensus medicine manufacturing unit.  HL464
Answered
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the partial suspension of Sciensus's manufacturing licence.  HL465
Answered
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to require the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to publish the report of its investigation into the medicine manufacturing unit of Sciensus.  HL466
Answered
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to indicate to NHS England that urological conditions and continence services should be afforded a higher priority in the future planning of services.  HL467
Answered
Lord Jackson of Peterborough to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Policy Exchange report The Wicked and the Redeemable: A Long-Term Plan to Fix a Criminal Justice System in Crisis, published on 4 November.  HL468
Answered
Lord Jackson of Peterborough to ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to review the evidence arising from the Family Courts transparency pilots at (1) Leeds, (2) Cardiff, and (3) Carlisle.  HL469
Answered
Lord Jackson of Peterborough to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to present to Parliament their response to the Family Courts transparency pilots.  HL470
Answered
Lord Jackson of Peterborough to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications for freedom of speech of (1) transparency orders, and (2) privacy injunctions, used in family courts, which may restrict named individuals from discussing the case with third parties including family and media outlets.  HL471
Answered
Lord Jackson of Peterborough to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the use of transparency orders in family courts to prevent proceedings being open to media scrutiny, including (1) those made under the auspices of the Family Courts Transparency Pilots, and (2) those made in other general family court proceedings.  HL472
Answered
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch to ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 5 June 2018 (HL8200), what testing and examination was carried out to ensure that any artificial intelligence software supplied for use in the Department for Work and Pensions is safe and without risks, as required by section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. A… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text
Answered
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch to ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Viscount Camrose on 20 November (HL Deb col 594), what percentage of people working in research and development (R&D) are expected to be recruited from overseas by 2027; and what immigration constraints apply to those seeking to work in the R&D sector in the UK.  HL474
Answered
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering to ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more GPs to practice in rural areas.  HL475
Answered
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to restore the balance in funding between primary and secondary care to ensure primary care has the resources to train, recruit and retain GPs.  HL476
Answered
Lord Mendelsohn to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact to the NHS of the 16.9 per cent uptake rate, as at 29 October, for the autumn COVID-19 booster vaccine by immunocompromised patients; and what steps they will take to increase uptake among that cohort before the vaccination programme is due to end on 15 December.  HL477
Answered
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick to ask His Majesty's Government when the revised service specification for molecular radiotherapy is expected to be implemented by NHS England.  HL478
Answered
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick to ask His Majesty's Government what plans (1) they have made, and (2) are already in progress, to expand molecular radiotherapy service capacity.  HL479
Answered
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional inequalities in access to molecular radiotherapy services; and what plans they have to reduce inequalities in access to those services.  HL480
Answered
Lord Roberts of Llandudno to ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the costs incurred to date of the asylum transfer scheme with Rwanda.  HL481
Answered
Lord Roberts of Llandudno to ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with governments of countries other than Rwanda about the transfer of asylum seekers.  HL482
Answered
Lord Roberts of Llandudno to ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers are currently housed on the Bibby Stockholm; and for how long they intend for asylum seekers to be housed there.  HL483
Answered
The Lord Bishop of St Albans to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to request a meeting of the UN Security Council to address the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya.  HL484
Answered
The Lord Bishop of St Albans to ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reconsider the cuts made to aid for the humanitarian response for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.  HL485
Answered
The Lord Bishop of St Albans to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children living in homes with damp; and the impact of damp and mould on children's health in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022.  HL486
Answered
Baroness Scott of Needham Market to ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the incidence of HGVs hitting railway bridges.  HL487
Answered
Lord Scriven to ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum are being accommodated in hotels before they are placed with a local authority.  HL488
Answered
Lord Scriven to ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have been placed in hotels awaiting placement to a local authority have gone missing for more than a week in the last six months; and of those, how many are still missing.  HL489
Answered
Lord Scriven to ask His Majesty's Government, following the Supreme Court judgment on the use of Rwanda for extradition of those seeking asylum who arrive to the UK by irregular routes, what assessment if any they have made of each of the countries listed in Schedule 1 to the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Countries or territories to which a person may be removed) to determine if the… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text
Answered
The Lord Bishop of Sheffield to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the damage caused by flooding following (1) Storm Babet, and (2) Storm Ciarán; and what steps they are taking to combat the increase in the frequency and severity of flooding caused by climate change.  HL491
Answered
Lord Strasburger to ask His Majesty's Government whether police forces can use facial recognition technology to search against photographs from (1) the passport database, (2) the EU Settled Status database, and (3) the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database, to identify people suspected of offences.  HL492
Answered
Lord Strasburger to ask His Majesty's Government what threshold applies before police can conduct facial recognition searches against (1) the passport database, (2) the EU Settled Status database, or (3) the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency database, in the course of their investigations.  HL493
Answered
Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask His Majesty's Government, following the rise in demand for food banks, what steps they are taking to support families experiencing food poverty.  HL494
Answered
Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask His Majesty's Government what steps they took before committing funding to the Golden Valley Cyber Centre in Cheltenham to ensure that job opportunities arising from the creation of that centre are accessible to individuals from diverse backgrounds.  HL495
Answered
Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) benefits, and (2) risks, associated with deploying drones as first responders; and what steps they will take to ensure the (a) secure, and (b) ethical, use of this technology.  HL496
Answered
Baroness Wolf of Dulwich to ask His Majesty's Government how many apprenticeship starts there were in 2022–23 on the level 7 Senior leader standard; what estimate they have made of the total cost of off-the-job training for level 7 Senior Leader apprentices in 2022–23; and what proportion of this expenditure was for apprentices employed by levy-paying employers, and so set against… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text
Answered
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