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1124887

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Furniture: Fire Resistant Materials
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they taking to comply with the Stockholm Agreement and other agreements on the control of hazardous chemicals for any UK upholstered furniture containing a number of persistent organic pollutants with no available information or register of their chemical composition, in particular, flame retardants.
	tabling member printed	The Countess of Mar
	uin	HL15562
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The UK has some of the most rigorous chemical regulations in the world. The Government implements the Stockholm Convention through EU Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Chemicals in use also have to go through assessments under the REACH Regulation (No 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). All furniture placed on the market in the UK must comply with these regulations.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed to improving traceability of chemicals in products and waste and are working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on this.</p><p> </p><p>Specifically, the Government is reviewing the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988 and has consulted on whether to introduce a specific requirement for furniture labels to stipulate any flame retardants used in their manufacture. The Government’s response to the consultation will be published in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 20/05/2019 16:03:49 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
	tabling member	1861 label Biography information for The Countess of Mar

1124894

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Business
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Business Confidence Monitor Q2 2019, published in May, which suggests a decline in confidence of UK businesses due to ongoing Brexit uncertainty.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL15569
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The latest ICAEW Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) shows that business confidence has not fallen significantly this quarter.</p><p> </p><p>According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy picked up in the first three months of the year - Growth was 0.5% in the quarter, up from 0.2% in the previous three months. The employment rate (16-64) remained at 76.1%– at a record high. Employment increased by 99,000 on the quarter, standing at 32.7m – remaining broadly unchanged on the last labour market statistics release.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:08:29 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1124895

	registered interest
	date	07/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Biodiversity
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to remain closely aligned with the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy after Brexit; and if not, what plans they have to implement a long-term post-Brexit strategy on biodiversity.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL15570
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to ensuring that, when the UK leaves the EU, our existing environmental protections are maintained and, where possible, enhanced. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act ensures that the whole body of existing EU environmental law, including the Habitats and the Wild Birds Directives, continues to have effect in UK law following our departure from the EU.</p><p> </p><p>The EU Biodiversity Strategy implements commitments to halt biodiversity loss agreed in 2010 by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.</p><p> </p><p>Biodiversity policy is devolved in the UK. In England, those same international commitments to halt biodiversity loss are implemented through the Biodiversity 2020 Strategy and related documents such as the National Pollinator Strategy.</p><p> </p><p>In the 25 Year Environment Plan, we committed to developing a new strategy for nature to replace Biodiversity 2020. Our intention is to publish this strategy in early 2021 to take forward the new international commitments for biodiversity, in particular the new global biodiversity framework, to be agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, in 2020. It will also set out in more detail how we intend to take forward the ambitions for nature in the 25 Year Environment Plan.</p><p> </p><p>Under the new strategy, the Government will continue to work towards, among other things, clean, safe, healthy, productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas; and on land, restoring 75% of our protected sites to favourable condition by 2042 and establishing a Nature Recovery Network. The Nature Recovery Network will expand and connect wildlife rich habitat by developing landscape scale partnerships to manage land in a way that supports the recovery of our much loved wildlife.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 20/05/2019 16:09:40 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1125500

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Fracking
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 10 April (HL15067), in the event that any and all “other appropriate parties”, including other licensees or landowners, failed to decommission and return a fracking site to its former state, who would ultimately bear the financial burden.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
	uin	HL15595
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>There is no precedent for the scenario above arising, in respect of hydraulically fractured wells in the UK.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has been clear that the responsibility for decommissioning lies with the licensee and has sought to reinforce this principle. For example, as set out in the Written Answer of 10 April (HL15067) that as part of the associated application for Hydraulic Fracturing Consent, the Government looks at the financial resilience of all companies wishing to carry out hydraulic fracturing operations, including their ability to fund decommissioning costs. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will not issue Hydraulic Fracturing Consent unless he is satisfied this has been appropriately demonstrated.</p><p> </p><p>To date, there have only been two hydraulically fractured shale gas wells in the UK. The first, at Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in Lancashire, has been fully decommissioned and the land restored to its previous use. The second, Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road well-1z, is still operational.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:07:34 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

1125501

	registered interest
	date	08/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Fracking
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 10 April (HL15067), what assessment they have made of the potential liabilities for local authorities in the event that an operator and “other appropriate parties” do not decommission and return a fracking site to its former state.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
	uin	HL15596
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>There is no precedent for hydraulically fractured shale gas well decommissioning costs being borne by local authorities.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has been clear that the responsibility for decommissioning lies with the licensee and has sought to reinforce this principle. For example, as set out in the Written Answer of 10 April (HL15067) that as part of the associated application for Hydraulic Fracturing Consent, the Government looks at the financial resilience of all companies wishing to carry out hydraulic fracturing operations, including their ability to fund decommissioning costs. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will not issue Hydraulic Fracturing Consent unless he is satisfied this has been appropriately demonstrated.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Mineral Planning Authorities may require that bonds or other financial guarantees are taken to underpin a planning condition.</p><p> </p><p>To date, there have only been two hydraulically fractured shale gas wells in the UK. The first, at Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in Lancashire, has been fully decommissioned and the land restored to its previous use. The second, Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road well-1z, is still operational.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:08:10 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

1125838

	registered interest
	date	09/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Foxes
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 8 April (HL15102), what assessment they have made of the environmental impact of the disposal of the estimated 400,000 foxes killed each year in Britain, in particular to water courses.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hanningfield
	uin	HL15628
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Environment Agency has not been made aware of any largescale or widespread practice of dead foxes being disposed of in watercourses.</p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 20/05/2019 16:19:42 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
	tabling member	2650 label Biography information for Lord Hanningfield

1125844

	registered interest
	date	09/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Furniture: Fire Resistant Materials
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety of the use of decabromodiphenyl ethane in UK furniture; and what advice, if any, they have received from (1) the European Chemicals Agency, (2) the Health and Safety Executive, and (3) the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment on the risks of using decabromodiphenyl ethane.
	tabling member printed	The Countess of Mar
	uin	HL15634
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government is currently reviewing the operation of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and is taking account of evidence and advice from external sources such as academic papers as well as the views of experts from across government, including Chief Scientific Advisors.</p><p> </p><p>All furniture must also comply with the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and be safe before it can be placed on the market.</p><p> </p><p>DecaBDE is a persistent organic pollutant. The UK ceased production of this substance in 1996 and its use has declined sharply since then. Many other countries have also phased out its use. It was banned under the UN Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants in December 2018 and under the European chemical regulation regime, REACH, in March 2019. It will not be present in household soft furnishings and mattresses purchased after this ban comes into effect.</p><p> </p><p>Chemicals, including brominated flame retardants used in UK furniture, are regulated under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). REACH aims to provide a high level of protection for health and the environment from the use of chemicals including those used in products.</p><p> </p><p>In order to comply with REACH, companies must identify and manage the risks linked to the substances they manufacture and market in the EU. They have to demonstrate how the substances can be safely used, and they must communicate the risk management measures to the users. If the risks cannot be managed, authorities can ban or restrict the use of substances.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:06:25 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	1861 label Biography information for The Countess of Mar

1125850

	registered interest
	date	09/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Takeovers: Conflict of Interests
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to undertake a review of the management of conflicts of interest arising when, in a contested takeover situation, institutional investors hold shares for clients, or under their own account, in both the bidder and target companies.
	tabling member printed	Lord Myners
	uin	HL15640
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>It is not uncommon for some investors to hold shares in both the bidder and target companies and rules mandated by the Financial Conduct Authority provide transparency to the market about share ownership. Takeover decisions are ultimately a matter for shareholders and the UK’s takeover rules require bidders to secure the approval of a majority of shareholders in the target company.</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:06:53 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	3869 label Biography information for Lord Myners

1126299

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Business: Billing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 10 May (HL15375), what action, if any, they plan to take to penalise those companies who do not comply with the Prompt Payment Code; and whether this will include removing those companies from all Government tenders until such companies have demonstrated compliance.
	tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
	uin	HL15659
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Prompt Payment Code is a voluntary Code administered by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) on behalf of Government. Signatories to the Code sign up to pay 95% of invoices in 60 days, with an ambition to move toward 30-day payment terms. Signatories who do meet the standard are invited to submit a plan to CICM setting out clearly how they will improve their performance. Those who submit a satisfactory plan and subsequently demonstrate compliance are suspended from the Code and can be reinstated in the future. Those who do not engage with CICM, and fail to submit a plan, will be removed.</p><p>Starting in September this year, suppliers could be excluded from winning Government contracts if they fail to pay subcontractors on time. Under the new rules, suppliers who bid for government contracts above £5m per annum, who cannot show they are paying 95% of invoices within 60 days, risk being prevented from securing government contracts. We have contacted all suppliers reminding them of this initiative and their responsibilities on prompt payment.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/05/2019 16:05:42 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

1126326

	registered interest
	date	13/05/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Defence
	answering dept id	11
	answering dept short name	Defence
	answering dept sort name	Defence
	hansard heading	Ministry of Defence: Land
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps are being taken, if any, to make surplus Ministry of Defence land available to local authorities for the provision of affordable and social housing.
	tabling member printed	Lord Porter of Spalding
	uin	HL15686
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Government ensures that local authorities have the opportunity to express an interest in surplus Ministry of Defence land.</p><p> </p><p>In accordance with Her Majesty’s Treasury guidelines, once a site is declared surplus to Defence purposes it is placed on the cross-Government database managed by the Office of Government Property within the Cabinet Office. This database provides an opportunity for other public bodies including local authorities to express an interest in acquiring sites before they are placed on the open market. Sites stay on the data base for 40 working days.</p><p> </p><p>Treasury guidelines state that transactions such as sales between Departments should generally be at full market value even if transferred to other public sector bodies (including publicly sponsored housing associations).</p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 20/05/2019 16:48:14 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
	tabling member	4555 label Biography information for Lord Porter of Spalding