House of Lords Business

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which delays by Network Rail undertaking infrastructure improvements on the East Coast Main Line were a legitimate basis for the existing East Coast franchise operator to seek to reduce premium payments contracted under that franchise; and by what amount that franchise will be reduced in ea… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government what infrastructure improvements by Network Rail had been (1) contracted, and (2) announced, in respect of the East Coast Main Line at the time the contract with Virgin Rail Group and Stagecoach Group for the East Coast franchise was signed; and what precise contractual obligations lay with (a) HM Government, and (b) Network Rail, to ens… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Comptroller and Auditor General was informed, prior to the announcement on 29 November, of the decision to terminate the Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group East Coast franchise three years early; and if so, whether he raised any issues or concerns.  HL3791

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government further to the statement by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679-682), whether any rail franchise operator, other than Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, will be eligible to terminate their existing franchise early and forge a public private partnership instead.  HL3792

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government what was the traffic performance of each of the train companies operating rail franchises in the first six months of 2017; and how that performance compares to the projections of traffic for that period in those companies' final bids for the franchises.  HL3793

Lord Adonis to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Sugg on 29 November (HL Deb, cols 679–82), whether any other rail company, besides Stagecoach Group and Virgin Rail Group on the East Coast franchise, has indicated to HM Government a desire to end its existing franchise early and forge a public–private partnership; and if so, which.  HL3794

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been spent in (1) the past 12 months, and (2) each year since 2014, on the administration of Employment and Support Allowance mandatory reconsiderations in (a) England, (b) Scotland, and (c) Wales.  HL3795

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government how much money has been spent in (1) the past 12 months, and (2) each year since 2014, on the process of administering Employment and Support Allowance tribunals in (a) England, (b) Scotland, and (c) Wales.  HL3796

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government what is was the value of Pension Credit in each year since it was introduced from 2010–11; and what is their estimate of what that value would be from April 2018 if Pension Credit had been increased by the triple lock which has applied to the Basic State Pension.  HL3797

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government how many single (1) women, and (2) men, over 80 years old are in receipt of Pension Credit.  HL3798

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of people aged (1) 50–59, (2) 60–69, (3) 70–79, (4) 80–89, and (5) 90 or over, who own ISAs; and for each age group, what is the average holding.  HL3799

Baroness Altmann to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of people aged over 65 who own ISAs; and what is the average value of their holdings.  HL3800

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government how many arrests were made in each of the last three years relating to offences of (1) a common prostitute loitering in a street or public place, (2) a common prostitute soliciting in a street or public place, (3) a person persistently loitering, and (4) a person persistently soliciting, for the purpose of prostitution, broke… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 30 November (HL3469), whether, in their recent dialogue with the government of Saudi Arabia, that government has offered to destroy Royal Saudi Air Force stocks of UK-made BL-755 weaponry; and if so, when that offer was made.  HL3802

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to (1) endorse, and (2) commit to implement, the Safe Schools Declaration; and in particular, what steps they intend to take to reduce the use of educational facilities for military purposes and spare them from attack where feasible.  HL3803

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government whether aid has been provided in transitional livelihood support to former Al-Shabaab supporters through Adam Smith International on behalf of the Department for International Development's Somalia and Somaliland programmes, in each of the last six years; and if so, how much.  HL3804

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of correspondence detailing operational and reputational risks relating to the Department for International Development's Somalia programme; and what assessment they have made of the conclusion of the report by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, UK Aid in… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the ability of (1) the Department for International Development, and (2) the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, to measure the impact of their operations in Somalia on conflict and fragility, with particular regard to whether they are doing more good than harm.  HL3806

Lord Beecham to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Shailesh Vara MP on 25 February 2015 (HC 224618), what proportion of the total work undertaken in magistrates' courts was presided over by (1) lay magistrates, and (2) district judges, on 1 April in each year from 2015 to 2017.  HL3807

Lord Beecham to ask Her Majesty's Government when they last published figures relating to the number of homeless EU citizens deported from the UK; if more than one year ago, why those figures have not been updated; and how many such persons have been deported from the UK in 2017 to date.  HL3808

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication in November of the Social Mobility Commission report, State of the Nation 2017: Social Mobility in Great Britain, what steps they intend to take to ensure that every person has the opportunity to build a good life for themselves, regardless of their family background.  HL3809

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 1 August (HL1112), in what ways their Industrial Strategy will better support social enterprises.  HL3810

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government, following comments by Mr Brian Ferguson, Chief Economist of Public Health England, in his blog Investing in prevention: the need to make the case now, what (1) amount, and (2) proportion, of each ministerial departmental budget was (a) allocated to, and (b) spent on, preventive activities in each of the last five years.  HL3811

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 28 July (HL954), in what ways, and by which means, (1) ministers, and (2) departments, work together to tackle the root causes of poverty, including through (a) committees, (b) units, (c) taskforces, and (d) forums.  HL3812

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of, and what plans they have to improve, mental health services for those who are homeless or rough-sleeping.  HL3813

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions, if any, they have had with the devolved administrations since 2010 about possible coordinated actions across the UK to reduce (1) poverty, and (2) child poverty; whether they have learned any lessons from specific initiatives introduced by those administrations that may now be applied in England; and if so, what.  HL3814

Lord Birt to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to require local authorities to conduct planning and conservation processes speedily and within set timeframes.  HL3815

Lord Boateng to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on mental health workforce requirements of their proposals for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in schools.  HL3816

Lord Boateng to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on schools budgets and those of NHS Trusts and commissioning bodies of their proposals for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in schools.  HL3817

Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty's Government how many major highway enhancement schemes, costing more than £5 billion, were completed in the period 2010–15; what were the value for money criteria on which those projects were authorised; how much of any assessed benefit was attributed to time savings by road users; and whether the anticipated savings have been realised.  HL3818

Lord Green of Deddington to ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage the promotion and upholding of freedom of religion or belief for all in Egypt, with particular reference to recent changes to laws concerning church buildings in that country.  HL3819

Lord Green of Deddington to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent attacks on church buildings in Egypt and the impact of those attacks on freedom of religion or belief in that country.  HL3820

Lord Green of Deddington to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make representations to the government of Egypt on the risk that reconciliation following religiously motivated violence may become a means of avoiding justice.  HL3821

Baroness Hamwee to ask Her Majesty's Government how many detainees in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) have committed suicide in the last 12 months; and what was (1) the name and nationality of the person committing suicide, and (2) the IRC where they were detained, in each case.  HL3822

Baroness Hamwee to ask Her Majesty's Government how many detainees in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) have unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide in the last 12 months; and what was (1) the nationality of the person attempting suicide, and (2) the IRC where they were detained, in each case.  HL3823

Baroness Harris of Richmond to ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of implementing the recommendations of the Normington Review in England and Wales.  HL3824

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of former staff of NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts who moved to employment with a wholly owned subsidiary of those Trusts who have opted to come out of the NHS Pension Scheme in return for higher wages.  HL3825

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government what independent advice was made available to staff of NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts who, in moving to employment by a wholly owned subsidiary of that Trust, opted to come out of the NHS Pension Scheme.  HL3826

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government how many NHS employees in England were paying into the NHS Pension Scheme in each year since 2010.  HL3827

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government how many NHS employees in England there were who did not pay into the NHS Pension Scheme in each year since 2010.  HL3828

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they give to staff of the NHS on the merits of the NHS Superannuation Scheme.  HL3829

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to extend the VAT exemption enjoyed by local authorities to the NHS; and if so, how and when.  HL3830

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government what was their response at the time to the appeal made on 23 August 2016 to lift international sanctions against Syria by three Christian Patriarchs residing in Damascus; and whether they intend to give the matter renewed consideration.  HL3831

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria is included in the Geneva Peace Negotiations; and if not, why not.  HL3832

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Building Young People’s Resilience to Violent Extremism in the Middle East and North Africa, published on 15 November; what action they have taken in the past two years to support the building of such resilience; how much, if any,… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make representations to (1) the government of Egypt, and (2) the Palestinian National Authority, about re-opening the Rafah crossing permanently.  HL3834

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to call in the Turkish Ambassador following the recent statement by President Erdogan about clearing Afrin Canton, in Syria, of militias.  HL3835

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, published on 23 October; and how they assess what is a reasonable and expeditious time period for bringing the occupation to a close.  HL3836

Lord Laming to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the finding by the Competition and Markets Authority that elderly people in care homes who pay their own fees are subsidising those whose places are paid for by councils by up to £12,000 a year; and whether they intend to take any action to prevent such cross-subsidisation.  HL3837

Baroness Masham of Ilton to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they treat sky lanterns as a form of litter; if not, why not; and whether they have any plans to ban (1) the use, and (2) the mass release of, sky lanterns.  HL3838

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children who are excluded and subsequently home-schooled.  HL3839

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of pupils who were taken out of school to visit families abroad, in (1) Pakistan, and (2) elsewhere, and who are subsequently home-schooled following their return in the last five years; and what proportion of those students were teenage girls.  HL3840

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government how many pupils in the last academic year were taken out of school to be home-schooled.  HL3841

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government to whom schools report if a pupil is taken off-roll to be home-schooled.  HL3842

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ofsted asks schools about pupils who have been removed from the school roll to be home-schooled.  HL3843

Baroness Morgan of Huyton to ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the number of children in unregistered schools who are notionally home-schooled.  HL3844

Lord Myners to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to consider introducing a windfall tax on profits resulting from their Help to Buy Scheme.  HL3845

Lord Naseby to ask Her Majesty's Government, what assessment they have made of the estimate by the Civil Aviation Authority that 1.5 million drones will be sold this Christmas; and what actions they propose to take to publicise safeguards for the use of drones.  HL3846

Lord Naseby to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to contact relevant retailers and online operators to seek co-operation in publicising safeguards for the use of drones.  HL3847

Lord Naseby to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to mount a short-term campaign across all media around Christmas publicising safeguards for the use of drones.  HL3848

Lord Ouseley to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 28 November (HL3456), how they assess and evaluate (1) progress in tackling poverty, and (2) the impact of their fiscal and welfare policies on those vulnerable groups of people they have pledged to assist.  HL3849

Lord Ouseley to ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following recent moped-related snatch crimes and acid attacks, they intend to introduce special measures to tackle those crimes.  HL3850

Lord Patel of Bradford to ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication in 2016 by the ONS of statistics showing the highest rate of drug-related deaths amongst women since records began in 1993, what steps they have taken to tackle the specific issues faced by female drug misusers and to reduce any barriers to accessing treatment.  HL3851

Baroness Quin to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to ensure that all NHS users over 50 years old have access to Fracture Liaison Services to identify the link between any fracture and the bone health of the patient.  HL3852

Baroness Quin to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to ensure that women over 60 years old are routinely offered bone density scans to ascertain bone health.  HL3853

The Lord Bishop of St Albans to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made representations to the government of Iran relating to the case of Naser Navard Gol-Tapeh, an Iranian convert to Christianity who has had his 10-year prison sentence for missionary activities upheld after losing his appeal.  HL3854

Lord Scriven to ask Her Majesty's Government how many asylum claims were made between 1 July 2015 and 31 March 2017; and how many were (1) accepted, (2) rejected, and (3) went to appeal and were overturned.  HL3855

Lord Shipley to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to re-open the Leamside railway line between Sunderland, Washington and Durham; if so, what steps they are taking to achieve this; how much progress has been made; and when they expect that line to re-open.  HL3856

Lord Steel of Aikwood to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments by Doddie Weir, reported on 1 December, concerning his frustration that there have been no new drugs to treat motor neurone disease developed in the last 22 years; and what steps they are taking to promote research into such treatments.  HL3857

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government what action they intend to take to ensure that free speech is maintained in university settings following guidance issued to universities by the Higher Education Funding Council for England under their Prevent counter-extremism strategy.  HL3858

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government what representations are they making to the government of Israel regarding the construction of a new section of the Israeli separation barrier that divides the Cremisan valley vineyards and olive groves, cutting many Palestinians off from their land.  HL3859

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel following reports of the recent killing of a Palestinian farmer by Israeli settlers, and of the failure of Israeli forces to prevent such crimes.  HL3860

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government how many Palestinians living in (1) Israel, and (2) the occupied territories of Palestine, have been refused entry to the UK in each of the last five years; and how many Jewish Israeli citizens have been refused entry during the same period.  HL3861

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government what action they intend to take following the vote on the motion at the UN General Assembly in New York, "that any actions by Israel, the occupying Power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem were illegal and therefore null and void".  HL3862

Baroness Tonge to ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they give to British citizens, including those with dual nationality, regarding service in the military of other nations, including that of Israel.  HL3863

Lord West of Spithead to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 30 November  (HL3468), whether any honorary five-star officers are in regular service.  HL3864

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for Universities and Science on 30 June 2015 (HC3640), when they expect to publish the 2014–15 Student Income and Expenditure Survey; and why there has been a delay in publication.  HL3865