House of Lords Business

Lord Ahmed to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of any British citizens being held as political prisoners in Ethiopia; and what representations they have made to the government of Ethiopia regarding their release.  HL4578

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 19 December 2017 (HL3873), what assessment they have made of the World Economic Forum report, The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that "social skills, such as persuasion, emotional intelligence and teaching oth… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the proportion, availability and affordability of transitional housing, including on areas of disused public land.  HL4580

Lord Bird to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Professor Mariana Mazzucato's recent evaluation of innovation-led growth and strategic public investment.  HL4581

Lord Blencathra to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 18 July 2017 (HL423), whether the Home Office will now refer Leigh Day to the National Crime Agency for investigation of any possible misconduct.  HL4582

Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty's Government how much they estimate it would cost a local authority, or local authorities acting together, in England to implement civil enforcement powers under the Traffic Management Act 2004, covering 100,000 people.  HL4583

Lord Bradshaw to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 9 January (HL4413), what information they have on how often the weighbridges referred to are used.  HL4584

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 9 January (HL Deb, col 113), which projects funded by the Homelessness Prevention Programme have been successful in reducing family and relationship breakdown.  HL4585

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 9 January (HL Deb, col 113), which projects funded by the Fair Chance Fund have been successful in reducing family and relationship breakdown.  HL4586

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to disburse the £330 million of funding made available from dormant bank and building society accounts, which was announced on 4 January.  HL4587

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government by what specific process charitable organisations should apply for funds to be disbursed from the £330 million fund drawn from dormant bank and building society accounts, which was announced on 4 January.  HL4588

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to use the £330 million fund drawn from dormant bank and building society accounts, announced on 4 January, to provide emergency funding to well-governed charitable organisations which find themselves in financial difficulty as a result of changes to local authority funding structures.  HL4589

Lord Farmer to ask Her Majesty's Government whether their forthcoming internet safety strategy will address the harms of pornography to adults, including to their interpersonal relationships; whether any measures to mitigate such harms were included in the Internet Safety Strategy green paper published in October 2017; and, if not, why not.  HL4590

Lord German to ask Her Majesty's Government how many education projects have been supported by the British Council in (1) Swaziland, (2) Botswana and (3) Lesotho, in each of the last five years.  HL4591

Lord German to ask Her Majesty's Government which aid programmes they have supported in (1) Swaziland, (2) Botswana, and (3) Lesotho, since May 2015.  HL4592

Lord German to ask Her Majesty's Government which functions of the Environment Agency they are proposing to transfer to the Canal and River Trust.  HL4593

Lord German to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are proposing to make further changes to the contractual or financial arrangements of the Community Rehabilitation Company following the recent inspection report of HM Chief Inspector of Probation, Quality and Impact inspection: The effectiveness of probation work by the National Probation Service in London.  HL4594

Lord Harries of Pentregarth to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that mining companies listed on the London Stock Exchange are engaging in illegal land grabs in protected tribal lands in India.  HL4595

Lord Hylton to ask Her Majesty's Government how many transit visas were issued to non-EEA nationals to enable them to work (1) on UK-based fishing vessels, and (2) on cruise and other ships operating from British ports, in each of the years 2015, 2016, and 2017; and whether and how many seamans' discharge books were issued in addition to transit visas.  HL4596

Lord Mawson to ask Her Majesty's Government, for each of the last five years, what percentage of those taking the DVLA theory test have sat that test more than three times.  HL4597

Lord Mawson to ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the fee for the DVLA theory test is allocated to the contractor responsible for delivering those tests; and what is their estimate of the proportion of those fees that represents profit for the contractor.  HL4598

Lord Mawson to ask Her Majesty's Government why those who fail the DVLA theory test are not provided with a read out of which questions they failed and what the correct answers to those questions were.  HL4599

Lord Morris of Aberavon to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 December 2017 (HL3493), what significant increase in the decision-making powers for the devolved administrations they are considering; and whether they will retain any of the powers returned from Brussels which are currently vested in the devolved administrations.  … Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Northbourne to ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all state funded schools adequately prepare their pupils for the responsibilities of probable future parenthood.  HL4601

Lord Norton of Louth to ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what is the estimated earliest date by which both Houses of Parliament could decant the Palace of Westminster in the event of a decision so to do for the purposes of the restoration and renewal of the Palace; and what is the estimated cost to the public purse for the repair and maintenance of the Palace in the period between no… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Razzall to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to negotiate continued membership of the European Aviation Safety Agency after Brexit.  HL4603

Lord Razzall to ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they intend to put in place after Brexit to ensure equivalent air safety standards with the EU in the event of discontinuation of membership of the European Aviation Safety Agency.  HL4604

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any, they are taking to regulate the operation of Scottish limited partnerships.  HL4605

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the National Crime Agency about the operation of Scottish limited partnerships.  HL4606

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government whether ministers have had discussions with the government of Scotland about the operation of Scottish limited partnerships.  HL4607

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any, they are taking to prevent the use of Scottish limited partnerships for money laundering and the avoidance of legal limits on financial activity.  HL4608

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government whether Caledonian MacBrayne registered their sea-going employees in a company registered in Guernsey; and, if so, how much revenue was foregone by HMRC in employer's national insurance contributions.  HL4609

Lord Robertson of Port Ellen to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any assessment of the UK meeting the Sustainable Development Goal target of halving the number of road traffic fatalities by 2020.  HL4610

Lord Scriven to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 9 January (HL4382), on the basis of what information other than the structure of the oversight bodies in Bahrain they have made the assessment that the Ombudsman service in Bahrain is independent.  HL4611

Lord Scriven to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 January (HL 4423), what is the process for signing off each individual programme; and what assessment they carry out on each individual programme to ensure that it complies with domestic and international human rights obligations.  HL4612

Lord Scriven to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 January (HL 4423), what assessment they have carried out on the effectiveness of each programme they have funded; and whether this information is publicly available.  HL4613

Lord Sharkey to ask Her Majesty's Government what are the headline figures for net immigration into the UK for each of the last ten years; and what is the margin of error in thousands in each case.  HL4614

Lord Sharkey to ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms are used to calculate annual net immigration into the UK; what is the level of confidence in these figures; what attempts are being made to improve their accuracy; and by when they expect any improvements will be made.  HL4615

Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to offer any assurances to those industries that received notification from the European Commission, in December 2017, of the lack of an automatic right to operate in the single market, and the potential termination of operating licences, following Brexit.  HL4616

Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to offer reassurance to financial industries regarding their capability to continue to operate in the EU, in the light of comments by Mr Michel Barnier in December 2017 suggesting that UK financial firms would “lose the financial services passport” following Brexit.  HL4617

Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received from representatives of the UK steel industry that the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill might not provide sufficient future protection against unfair "dumping" of goods from other nations; and what action they are taking in response.  HL4618

Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prepare for a "no deal" Brexit; and what impact the absence of a designated "no deal" Minister will have on such preparations.  HL4619

Lord Taylor of Warwick to ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the results of the British Chambers of Commerce quarterly economic survey, published on 10 January, which reported skills shortages at “critical levels”.  HL4620

Lord Truscott to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 9 January (HL Deb, cols 130–34), whether they intend to make representations to the BBC regarding their duties under the Equality Act 2010.  HL4621

Lord Warner to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 5 January (HL4335), what evidence they have for the statement that “there are far fewer unregistered schools than many had believed to be the case”, in the light of a recent report by the London Borough of Hackney Scrutiny Commission which stated that between 1,000 and 1,500 Chare… Item text truncated - open link to view full item text

Lord Warner to ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 5 January (HL4335), what steps they are taking to ensure that the 34 unregistered schools that ceased to operate as a result of Ofsted action will not re-establish themselves elsewhere, given that no operators of the illegal closed schools were prosecuted.  HL4623

Lord Warner to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider extending the definition of a school to cover part-time religious settings and expand the powers of entry, inspection and enforcement for local authorities to deal with unregistered schools in the light of recent findings in the London Borough of Hackney of the problems caused by such schools.  HL4624

Lord West of Spithead to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to remove the statement for the Royal Navy to "Fight and Win" found in naval recruitment literature.  HL4625