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752410

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government (1) what contact they have had with, and (2) what support they intend to provide to, the Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, regarding (a) the rebuilding of 13,000 homes on the Nineveh Plains, and (b) the need to ensure that those Christians internally displaced from the Plains are provided with adequate food supplies.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL856
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK Government recognises the specific risks such as abduction and murder faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh, and is deeply concerned by reports of human rights abuses motivated by religious or ethnic identity.</p><p>All people in need, from any community, irrespective of religious affiliation, are eligible for humanitarian assistance. DFID’s humanitarian implementing partners, including the UN, consider a wide range of issues when assessing an individual’s vulnerability such as the impact of physical or mental disabilities, income, age, missing family members, and whether individuals are already receiving assistance from other sources.</p><p>The organisations through which we channel our support do not identify or record beneficiaries by their religion. The reason for this is because there is a risk that collecting information about the ethnicity or religion of people receiving aid could be obtained by others, including extremist groups, and used to persecute them.</p><p>We do not therefore hold information on how much UK-funded support is channelled to Yezidis and Christians either inside or outside camps. This year the UK will provide £40 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in Iraq and £4 million for the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS) to help rebuild communities affected by Daesh, including for minority communities in newly liberated areas in Iraq. The UK is also providing £500 million to support people, including refugees and internally displaced Syrians, affected by the Syria crisis in 2017. DFID does not fund the Bishops Emergency Committee.</p><p>The Nineveh Reconstruction Committee comprised of Church representatives has not contacted the UK Government or submitted a proposal for UK support for the construction of homes on the Nineveh Plains.</p><p>The UK is funding the UN’s Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilisation (FFIS), which is supporting 152 projects in mainly Christian communities in the Ninewa Plains and 70 projects in Yezidi communities in Sinjar, Rabia and Sinuni.</p><p>UN agencies are obliged to operate by the humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality which aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion; and to also ensure that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. DFID considers reports from a wide range of sources, including field visits by UK officials where these are possible, to assess the effectiveness of UN operations and their compliance with humanitarian principles. The UN carries out vital work in both Syria and Iraq, and UN staff frequently risk their lives to deliver assistance to people in need, including to areas where Daesh or the Assad regime seek to prevent aid being delivered.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL852 HL854 HL855 question first answered 25/07/2017 15:00:41 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

753278

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government how many convictions there were of persons charged with smuggling offences along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for the last two years for which figures are available.
	tabling member printed	Lord Empey
	uin	HL966
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/07/2017 answer text <p>HM Revenue &amp; Customs (HMRC) records statistics for smuggling offences does not have that level of detail required to answer. Therefore without referencing individual cases it is not possible to identify which ones involved smuggling.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 28/07/2017 12:36:54 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	4216 label Biography information for Lord Empey

752004

	registered interest
	date	13/07/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government how much funding has been (1) committed to, and (2) expended on the Cardiff and Swansea city-regions, and what level of expenditure is anticipated for these projects in this financial year.
	tabling member printed	Lord Wigley
	uin	HL839
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK government has committed to providing £500m over twenty years for the Cardiff City Deal, with funding matched by the Welsh Government. We have also committed £155m over fifteen years for the Swansea City Deal, with the Welsh Government providing £125m.</p><p> </p><p>For the Cardiff City Deal, at Budget 2016, the UK government added £10m in RDEL to the Welsh Government’s block grant in each of 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The annual commitment is anticipated to rise. The spending is ring-fenced with the Welsh Government’s budget and it is for the Welsh Government to account for this expenditure. Funding for the Swansea City Deal is expected to commence in 2018-19.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 24/07/2017 11:40:14 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	547 label Biography information for Lord Wigley

753955

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	hansard heading	Overseas Loans: Republic of Ireland
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government how much the Republic of Ireland owes the UK relating to the £338 million loan provided following the financial crisis; and what are the arrangements for repayment.
	tabling member printed	Lord Laird
	uin	HL1102
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/07/2017 answer text <p>I refer the noble Lord to the most recent statutory report which the Treasury provided to Parliament as required by Section 2 of the Loans to Ireland Act 2010. The last report was laid in Parliament on 18 April 2017 and is available in the Printed Paper Office.</p><p> </p><p>The timetable for repayment set out in this report remains unchanged.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 28/07/2017 12:52:24 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	2479 label Biography information for Lord Laird

751993

	registered interest
	date	13/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Nuclear Power
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government how they intend to ensure their emergency funding for displaced people from Mosul and the Nineveh Plains reaches displaced minorities such as the Yazidis and Christians; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which their policy of neutrality and impartiality will lead to the inclusion or exclusion of those who have been subject to genocide.
	tabling member printed	Lord Alton of Liverpool
	uin	HL828
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2017 answer text <ul><li>The UK Government recognises the specific risks faced by religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, including those who have suffered so horrifically at the hands of Daesh. We are aware of reports that fear of persecution or discrimination in camps may be deterring some people from using them, and are in close touch with our partners involved in the management of camps and the delivery of services within them, including UN agencies. They have clear guidelines, mechanisms and accountability frameworks in place to prevent discrimination by their own staff or those of their partners. DFID takes any allegations that these are not being applied effectively very seriously, and stands ready to follow up specific allegations with the partners concerned.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>The security of the camps and all those living in them is the responsibility of the appropriate civil authorities (e.g. in Iraq, it lies with the Government of Iraq) and is monitored by independent humanitarian actors such as UNHCR. UK officials stand ready to report any specific allegations of persecution or violence against religious minorities within the camps to those authorities. The Government is concerned about Daesh infiltration inside camps. In Iraq the Iraqi authorities carry out screening of those entering camps in order to seek to prevent such infiltration. UN agencies have set up grievance mechanisms that allow any minority member to anonymously report abuse, persecution or discrimination; these can also be used to report on suspected extremist activity.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>DFID’s funding for Iraq is targeted towards those who are most in need including vulnerable people from minority communities such as Yazidis and Christians. It is delivered in line with the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the whole of Iraq, which is based on comprehensive needs assessments carried out by a wide range of partners. The humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality aim to ensure that no one is excluded or discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, or religion, that the specific risks facing minorities are addressed and that assistance reaches those who need it most. In the difficult environments in Syria and Iraq, where access to vulnerable people is often very challenging especially as some actors such as Daesh and the Assad regime deliberately prevent humanitarian access, DFID regularly challenges our partners to demonstrate that they are doing all they can to meet the needs the most vulnerable people, including those from religious minorities. We welcome information from all sources to help us to hold them to account.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>DFID is not aware of scheduled meetings in 2015 with Christian representatives in Iraq that officials did not attend, but DFID officials regularly meet with representatives of Iraqi Christian and Yezidi communities. DFID Ministers have also met representatives of these communities.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>DFID has received Dr Russell Blacker’s correspondence and has responded suggesting a meeting is organised with Dr Blacker, Lord Bates and Mr Burt to discuss together.</li></ul> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL829 HL830 HL831 question first answered 20/07/2017 16:23:20 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	738 label Biography information for Lord Alton of Liverpool

752451

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2017
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government under what circumstances a Government financial guarantee to a capital investment project will lead to the definition of expenditure on that project being classified as public expenditure.
	tabling member printed	Lord Lansley
	uin	HL897
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/07/2017 answer text <p>If a capital investment project involves both the private sector and the public sector, an assessment is required to determine the level of government intervention in a project. This will also determine whether government is bearing a majority of the risks and rewards associated with the project and therefore incurring public expenditure for the capital investment of the project. The assessment would be made by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the national accounts conceptual framework, the European system of national and regional accounts in the European Union (ESA10)<sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup> enforceable EU Regulation No. 549/2013 and associated guidance in the Manual on Government Deficit and Debt<sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup> and a guide to the Statistical Treatment of PPPs<sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup> published by Eurostat.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>[1] http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/Annexes/nasa_10_f_esms_an1.pdf</p><p>[2] http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/7203647/KS-GQ-16-001-EN-N.pdf/5cfae6dd-29d8-4487-80ac-37f76cd1f012</p><p>[3] http://www.eib.org/epec/resources/publications/epec_eurostat_guide_ppp</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 28/07/2017 12:36:22 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	123 label Biography information for Lord Lansley

752498

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking concerning the reported confiscation and destruction of EU-funded humanitarian aid projects in the West Bank.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Tonge
	uin	HL944
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2017 answer text <p>We have repeatedly made clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concern at the increase in demolitions and confiscations in Area C of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The European Union (EU) has not to date asked for compensation for EU-funded infrastructure. No decision has been made yet as to whether to claim compensation in the future.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 24/07/2017 13:48:35 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	200 label Biography information for Baroness Tonge

752497

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking concerning the reported delays in ambulance response times to treat injured and sick Palestinians.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Tonge
	uin	HL943
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2017 answer text <p>Ambulance and permit delays can lead to missed appointments and interrupted treatments, endangering the health and lives of patients. The UK has consistently called on the Israeli Government to ease movement and access restrictions that reduce access to medical care for Palestinians. The UK supports essential health services in the Occupied Palestinian Territories through funding to the Palestinian Authority and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 24/07/2017 13:51:16 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	200 label Biography information for Baroness Tonge

752493

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to support those living in Gaza who have been deprived of electricity and of phone and internet access.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Tonge
	uin	HL939
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK is working closely with the United Nations (UN) to monitor the situation in Gaza. We urge all the parties to find a sustainable solution to the current energy situation that is affecting services such as electricity and phone and internet access. In Gaza, the UK is funding basic service delivery through the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, enabling reconstruction work, and investing in job creation.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 24/07/2017 13:48:11 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	200 label Biography information for Baroness Tonge

752014

	registered interest
	date	13/07/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what action they have taken to ensure that UK funding which is intended to mitigate the migration crisis in the central Mediterranean is not used to finance the indefinite detention of migrant and refugee children.
	tabling member printed	Lord Judd
	uin	HL849
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2017 answer text <p>The UK contribution to the Mediterranean migration crisis is delivered through trusted humanitarian agencies such as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Through these agencies, UK aid in detention centres is specifically designed to protect migrants’ and refugees’ human rights and meet basic needs, including by advocating for alternatives to detention for vulnerable groups like children. We also assist migrants to return home, if they wish to do so.</p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 20/07/2017 16:25:24 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	1660 label Biography information for Lord Judd