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169686

	registered interest
	date	11/12/2014
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	House of Lords: Catering
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees what is the mechanism employed by the House of Lords to dispose of surplus food from House of Lords catering outlets.
	tabling member printed	Lord Empey
	uin	HL3673
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>Catering and Retail Services seeks to reduce the amount of food waste generated through careful menu management and the use, where appropriate, of pre-prepared ingredients. Food waste is controlled in each outlet through reuse in other outlets. Approximately 50% of unsold prepared food products are either recycled through other outlets or reused (subject to food safety procedures). Typical examples of this include roast beef, chicken or baked ham being used for cold meat platters or as ingredients for other dishes, and vegetables being used as ingredients for soups.</p><p> </p><p>The estimated food waste generated by House of Lords outlets each month for the year 2013–14 is shown in the table below.</p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong> Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total cost of waste (£)</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2013</p></td><td><p>2,183.99</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2013</p></td><td><p>2,608.50</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2013</p></td><td><p>3,933.41</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2013</p></td><td><p>5,381.78</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>August/September 2013</p></td><td><p>1,775.02</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2013</p></td><td><p>4,370.16</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2013</p></td><td><p>4,507.32</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2013</p></td><td><p>3,545.60</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2014</p></td><td><p>5,416.39</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2014</p></td><td><p>4,787.02</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2014</p></td><td><p>6,359.75</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>44,868.95</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>The above figures represent prepared unsold food at cost value that cannot be reused or recycled. To put this into perspective, total food waste for the period above is 4.5% of total food consumption. The highest proportion of food waste is from the cafeterias and self service outlets.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Unsold food waste is either bagged or passed through a commercial waste disposal unit which extracts most of the water content, resulting in a dry mass which is bagged. The food waste is collected daily by a waste contractor and sent to a local facility for anaerobic digestion. No food waste produced in the House of Lords is sent to landfill.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel grouped question UIN HL3671 HL3672 question first answered 17/12/2014 17:42:38 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	4216 label Biography information for Lord Empey

170871

	registered interest
	date	16/12/2014
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	Peers
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees (1) how many Members of the House of Lords are over 70 years of age in each of the following categories: Conservative; Labour; Liberal Democrat; other, and (2) on average, how many Members attend the House each week.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hoyle
	uin	HL3818
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>There are 128 Conservative Peers, 122 Labour Peers, 45 Liberal Democrat Peers, 101 Crossbench Peers and 19 other Peers over 70 years of age.</p><p>The Administration does not collect average weekly attendance figures but the average daily attendance in this Session is 479.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 05/01/2015 12:38:40 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	1000 label Biography information for Lord Hoyle

170930

	registered interest
	date	17/12/2014
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	House of Lords: Catering
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees what has been (1) the expenditure, and (2) the profit or deficit, for the years 2012–13 and 2013–14 of each catering outlet in the House of Lords.
	tabling member printed	Lord Avebury
	uin	HL3837
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2015 answer text <p>The turnover, expenditure and profit or loss of each Catering and Retail Service outlet in 2012-13 and 2013-14 are set out in the tables below.</p><p> </p><p><strong>2012-13</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Outlet</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Turnover (£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Profit/loss (£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Peers' Dining Room</p></td><td><p>491,364</p></td><td><p>1,308,224</p></td><td><p>-816,860</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Barry Room</p></td><td><p>238,267</p></td><td><p>498,307</p></td><td><p>-260,040</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Home Room</p></td><td><p>44,838</p></td><td><p>182,122</p></td><td><p>-137,284</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>River Restaurant</p></td><td><p>257,041</p></td><td><p>689,116</p></td><td><p>-432,075</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bishops Bar</p></td><td><p>51,399</p></td><td><p>111,197</p></td><td><p>-59,798</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Peers Guest Room</p></td><td><p>59,952</p></td><td><p>56,524</p></td><td><p>3,428</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lords Bar</p></td><td><p>99,612</p></td><td><p>130,914</p></td><td><p>-31,302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Millbank House</p></td><td><p>90,139</p></td><td><p>205,036</p></td><td><p>-114,897</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>2013-14</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Outlet</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Turnover (£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Expenditure (£)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Profit/loss (£)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Peers' Dining Room</p></td><td><p>554,236</p></td><td><p>1,441,232</p></td><td><p>-886,996</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Barry Room</p></td><td><p>204,882</p></td><td><p>466,362</p></td><td><p>-261,480</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Home Room</p></td><td><p>29,503</p></td><td><p>163,502</p></td><td><p>-133,999</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>River Restaurant</p></td><td><p>258,457</p></td><td><p>703,978</p></td><td><p>-445,521</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bishops Bar</p></td><td><p>60,090</p></td><td><p>125,399</p></td><td><p>-65,310</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Peers Guest Room</p></td><td><p>60,045</p></td><td><p>75,335</p></td><td><p>-15,290</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Lords Bar</p></td><td><p>106,561</p></td><td><p>102,746</p></td><td><p>3,815</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Millbank House</p></td><td><p>91,430</p></td><td><p>240,236</p></td><td><p>-148,806</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 06/01/2015 14:28:32 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	1665 label Biography information for Lord Avebury

172628

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	House of Lords: Unpaid Work
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees how many internships are offered by the House of Lords Administration.
	tabling member printed	Lord Storey
	uin	HL3962
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The House of Lords Administration offers three internships: one in the Committee Office and two in the library. These posts are salaried. In addition, the Administration offers an apprenticeship in the library and up to 24 work experience placements for school students.</del></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The House of Lords Administration does not offer any internships. The three posts erroneously identified as internships are Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) fellowships usually for PhD students, funded by the UK Research Councils, learned societies and charities. Further details of that scheme are available from the Parliamentary website: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/bicameral/post/fellowships/" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/bicameral/post/fellowships/</a></ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 21/01/2015 15:25:47 question first ministerially corrected 03/02/2015 17:40:13 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel previous answer version 39538 answering member printed Lord Sewel answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	4238 label Biography information for Lord Storey

173020

	registered interest
	date	12/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	House of Lords: Restaurants
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees why new chairs have been placed in the River Restaurant; how much they cost; whether estimates were obtained for the cost of chairs with and without the Portcullis; what happened to the old chairs; and what was the salvage value of the old chairs.
	tabling member printed	Lord Palmer
	uin	HL4092
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/01/2015 answer text <p>The chairs recently placed in the River Restaurant were previously in storage and so there was no cost in this financial year. The new chairs provide greater back support than the benches formerly used. Those benches have been placed into storage; no estimate has been made of their salvage value.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 22/01/2015 11:51:35 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	3192 label Biography information for Lord Palmer

174938

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	Parliament: Software
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees how much it cost to procure the latest Microsoft Outlook system for use in Parliament; whether the system is working to specification; and what is being done about any problems encountered so far.
	tabling member printed	Lord McAvoy
	uin	HL4317
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2015 answer text <p>The latest version of Outlook was included in Parliament’s rollout of Microsoft Office 365 during 2014 as part of the Improved Access to Services (IATS) project. IATS also delivered other new services but the costs of that project identifiable as directly related to Microsoft Outlook were £355,667 in 2013-14 and £158,802 in 2014-15 (including VAT).</p><p>In addition, Parliament provides each user with Microsoft Windows and its associated Office 365 software at a cost of £98.75 (not including VAT) per user per year.</p><p>The service has been deployed to over 7,000 users on the Parliamentary network and the overall system is working to specification. A number of users have reported some issues. In particular they have raised concerns about the design of the new Outlook interface and some have reported problems with passwords needing to be re-entered. Both of these issues have been raised with Microsoft.</p><p>If any Member is experiencing difficulties then Parliamentary ICT (PICT) is ready to offer assistance.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 03/02/2015 11:56:24 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	4158 label Biography information for Lord McAvoy

174959

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	Parliament: Correspondence
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees how many items of correspondence were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2014; and, of those, what proportion was received in the House of Lords.
	tabling member printed	Lord Norton of Louth
	uin	HL4338
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2015 answer text <p>In total, 2,234,763 items of mail were received in the Palace of Westminster in 2014.</p><p> </p><p>The Administration does not count which House each item goes to but estimates that approximately 25 per cent (558,691) of these items were destined for the House of Lords. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 28/01/2015 13:50:37 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	3187 label Biography information for Lord Norton of Louth

175343

	registered interest
	date	22/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	House of Lords: Staff
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees how many staff working on the House of Lords estate and undertaking work for the House of Lords Administration are (1) employed directly by the House of Lords, and (2) employed indirectly through third parties; and whether there are any plans to change the number of staff employed indirectly through third parties.
	tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
	uin	HL4346
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2015 answer text <p>The House of Lords Administration directly employs 572 staff (including part-time staff); a small number of these staff may not necessarily work all the time on the estate.</p><p> </p><p>The number of staff employed indirectly through third parties is not centrally counted but the two Houses have a contract for approximately 180 office and property service staff employed through an agency (whose work is not necessarily confined to the Lords estate) and the Catering and Retail Services of the House of Lords employed 321 agency staff in 2014 for a total of 16,732 hours to supplement their core workforce.</p><p> </p><p>The above figures do not include shared services and joint departments where the House of Commons is responsible for their employment, such as Parliamentary ICT and the Parliamentary Estates Directorate.</p><p> </p><p>The House also employs, from time-to-time, consultant staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Presently there are no plans to change the number of staff employed indirectly through third parties.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 06/02/2015 11:37:36 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

176651

	registered interest
	date	29/01/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	Parliamentary Digital Service
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees what plans there are to act on recommendations 31 concerning access to data and 33 regarding the skills and staffing of the Parliamentary Digital Service, of the Speaker of the House of Commons’ Commission on Digital Democracy in so far as they are relevant to the House of Lords.
	tabling member printed	Lord Norton of Louth
	uin	HL4560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/02/2015 answer text <p>The recommendations from the Speaker of the House of Commons’ Commission on Digital Democracy are presently being actively considered by the relevant bodies in each House, including comparing existing plans and projects to the recommendations made. As most of the recommendations in the Report concern the House of Commons this answer only covers ongoing work which involves the House of Lords.</p><p> </p><p>The Digital Democracy Report recommended that all published information and broadcast footage produced by Parliament should be freely available online in formats suitable for re-use. In July 2014 the House of Lords Management Board, in parallel with its House of Commons equivalent, committed to making this happen. Significant work has already been completed to develop the data.parliament.uk platform which publishes parliamentary data in easily re-usable formats. The aim is that all parliamentary data that is in the public domain will be available on data.parliament.uk but for some types of information this will take significant work. Current House of Lords Hansard is already published on data.parliament.uk in XML format; Hansard archive data going back to the year 1803 is also available as XML files. The Register of Lords’ Interests is another dataset published on data.parliament.uk platform; this is available as an API which returns data in various formats including JSON and XML. A full list of datasets currently available can be found from the Parliamentary website: <a href="http://www.data.parliament.uk/dataset" target="_blank">www.data.parliament.uk/dataset</a>. Further sets of data will be added in the coming months</p><p> </p><p>Parliament encourages the reuse of material made available. Use of Parliamentary material is governed by the terms of the Open Parliament Licence (further details can be found on the Parliamentary website: <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/open-parliament-licence" target="_blank">www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/open-parliament-licence</a>). The Open Parliament Licence is designed to allow Parliamentary material to be used freely and flexibly, consistent with the way public sector information is made available for use under the Open Government Licence.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The new Director of the Parliamentary Digital Service will join Parliament in March 2015 and take responsibility the new Service from April 2015. He will be tasked with developing and implementing a digital strategy for Parliament that will put digital first, making the best use of digital technology to strengthen the United Kingdom’s key democratic institution while enabling citizens to access Parliament in new and meaningful ways. The new digital strategy will outline the resources and skills needed to deliver it, as well as policies about data and plans for future ICT projects.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 11/02/2015 15:25:51 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	3187 label Biography information for Lord Norton of Louth

177295

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2015
	answering body	The Lord Chairman of Committees
	answering dept id	200
	answering dept short name
	answering dept sort name	Chairman of Committees (HoL)
	hansard heading	Parliament: Data Protection
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to the Written Answers by Lord Bates on 19 January (HL4242 and HL4243), why it was decided to store parliamentary data on Microsoft servers in the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland; and whether any attempt by the United States authorities to access those records will be made on a mutual legal assistance basis.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laird
	uin	HL4662
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2015 answer text <p>The move to Office 365, which necessitated the storage of parliamentary data on Microsoft servers, was a core part of Parliament’s ICT Strategy to deliver improved services, connecting Members to the information that they need from anywhere, at any time and from any device.</p><p> </p><p>Parliamentary ICT worked in collaboration with the Parliamentary Security Director, the Senior Information Risk Owners of both Houses, counsel, other parties and the supplier to assess the risks of the proposed new arrangements. Any risks in relation to conventional cyber-attacks were assessed to be sufficiently mitigated and the risk of potential cross jurisdictional action was considered to be negligible (for example, under the USA PATRIOT Act) given the reassurances that were received.</p><p> </p><p>It would not be for me to comment on possible or actual activities of another country’s authorities.</p> answering member printed Lord Sewel question first answered 13/02/2015 15:34:48 answering member 2124 label Biography information for Lord Sewel
	tabling member	2479 label Biography information for Lord Laird