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168445

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisons: Publications
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to comply with the High Court ruling that the ban on sending books to prisoners in England and Wales is unlawful.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL3475
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/12/2014 answer text <p /> <p>We need to await the terms of the Court Order before we can decide how best to fulfil the ruling of the Court.</p><p>The judgment in this case was surprising, as there was never a specific ban on books. The restrictions on parcels have been in existence across most of the prison estate for many years and for very good reasons. Prisoners have access to the same library service as the rest of us, and can buy books through the prison shop.</p> answering member printed Lord Faulks question first answered 22/12/2014 16:53:10 answering member 4183 label Biography information for Lord Faulks
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

168446

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Pay
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the recent report of the International Labour Organisation on changes in real wages in the United Kingdom compared to those in other G20 countries.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL3476
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>Wage flexibility in the UK has helped support employment levels and household income. The government’s strategy for delivering sustainable increases in living standards is to support economic growth and get more people into work. Since the election the UK has had the fastest employment growth in the G7 (plus Australia). Employment has increased by 1.7 million since the Coalition came to power and this Government has taken decisive action to support working families, by raising the personal allowance, freezing fuel duty, and introducing tax-free childcare.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton question first answered 19/12/2014 12:52:52 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

168447

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Public Sector: Workplace Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the total United Kingdom public pension liability.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3477
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>The 2012-13 Whole of Government Accounts show that the annual spend on public state pensions was £83.8bn, up from £78.1bn in 2011-12.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton question first answered 19/12/2014 12:51:04 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168448

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Government Departments: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the Government Employee Pension liability.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3478
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>The Whole of Government Accounts for 2012-13 showed that the value of public service pension liabilities was £1,171.6 billion</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton question first answered 19/12/2014 12:51:29 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168449

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the current level of the Local Government Pension Scheme deficit.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3479
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>The Scheme conducts an actuarial valuation every three years. The 2013 valuation estimated that the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales had a funding level of 79% and a deficit of £47 billion.</p><p> </p><p>The shadow Scheme Advisory Board has also brought together the funds’ triennial valuation reports to provide a view of the Scheme’s overall position (<a href="http://www.lgpsboard.org/index.php/schemedata/scheme-valuation" target="_blank">http://www.lgpsboard.org/index.php/schemedata/scheme-valuation</a>). The Government has asked the shadow Board to identify and assess alternative ways to address the deficit and looks forward to receiving their proposals.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government introduced a reformed Local Government Pension Scheme from 1 April 2014, which will help the funds to reduce this deficit and ensure the scheme remains affordable in the long term and fair to both scheme members and taxpayers. Furthermore, the Government’s consultation <em>Opportunities for collaboration, cost savings and efficiencies</em> set out how the funds could reduce their investment costs by a further £660 million each year by working together and investing more efficiently.</p><p> </p><p>The consultation is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies</a></p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 16/12/2014 13:21:43 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168450

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they estimate that savings could be made to the administration of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the operation of its sub-funds if the management of the funds were moved from active managers to tracker funds; and if so, to what extent.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3480
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>The consultation <em>Opportunities for collaboration, cost savings and efficiencies </em>set out how the Local Government Pension Scheme could deliver annual savings of £660 million by reforming the way the funds make their investments. Advice commissioned by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Minister for Local Government using the Contestable Policy Fund was used to inform the consultation. Of the £660 million savings identified, the analysis showed that £420 million could be found by using passive, rather than active management of listed assets such as bonds and equities. Over 200 consultation responses were received and a Government response will be published early in 2015.</p><p> </p><p>Both the consultation and supporting analysis are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies</a></p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 16/12/2014 13:20:28 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168451

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the performance of active fund managers has been over the last six years in the 89 sub-funds of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3481
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on the performance of active fund managers working Local Government Pension Scheme funds.</p><p> </p><p>The consultation <em>Opportunities for collaboration, cost savings and efficiencies </em>was developed using analysis provided to the Minister for the Cabinet Office and the Minister for Local Government using the Contestable Policy Fund. The analysis examined the investment returns of the Scheme as a whole in each of the major equity markets as well as for bonds and gilts. The evidence demonstrated that over the ten years to 31 March 2013, regardless of whether active or passive fund managers were used, the aggregate performance of the Scheme had been in line with each market index.</p><p> </p><p>Both the consultation and supporting analysis are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-opportunities-for-collaboration-cost-savings-and-efficiencies</a></p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 16/12/2014 14:33:40 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168452

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Local Government: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what fees have been paid (including management, performance and trading costs) by all the managers of funds in the Local Government Pension scheme.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL3482
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department for Communities and Local Government publishes statistics about the Local Government Pension Scheme each year, using data provided by each of the 89 administering authorities in England and Wales. In the financial year 2013-14, the authorities reported fund management costs to be £494 million and administration costs to be £133 million.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 15/12/2014 17:43:57 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

168453

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Asylum
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what improvements to the procedures of the Detained Fast Track for the better protection of applicants they have introduced since the decision of the High Court on 9 July 2014.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL3483
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>In July 2014 the High Court upheld the principle of a Detained Fast Track (DFT) process as lawful. However, the Court found that the DFT process as operated carried an “unacceptable risk of unfairness” with regard to vulnerable applicants within the system. This was primarily because they were not guaranteed access to lawyers sufficiently soon after induction to enable instructions to be taken and advice to be given before the substantive interview. The Home Office took immediate steps to address this and other criticisms of the process.</p><p> </p><p>Screening:</p><p>The judgment observed that the current asylum screening process did not do enough to identify and exclude from DFT vulnerable people or those with particularly complex claims. We have since changed the questions asked in the screening interview to help address this issue and there is an ongoing review of the screening process that incorporates discussions and input from external stakeholders.</p><p> </p><p>Detention Centre Rule 35:</p><p>Detention Centre Rule 35 requires doctors in immigration removal centres to issue reports to Home Office officials with responsibility for authorising, maintaining and reviewing detention, if they have concerns about issues of particular vulnerability. Those issues include particular ill-health, suicide risk and concerns that the detainee may have been a victim of torture. Whilst acknowledging that a Rule 35 report issued by a medical practitioner relating to possible torture concerns may sometimes reflect only the detainee’s own claim and so not require automatic release, the judgment nonetheless concluded that the evidence did not show the process to operate as well as it should.</p><p>Releases can and do result from Rule 35 reports and a recent sampling exercise has reconfirmed this position and identified some other issues for improvement. We have already taken steps to improve awareness of existing process requirements. We have consulted external partners on improvements to the operation of Rule 35 and further measures will introduced in the coming months to ensure that the process operates as effectively as possible.</p><p> </p><p>Access to legal representation:</p><p>The judgment stated that in some cases, legal representatives were allocated to asylum applicants too late in the DFT process, which was considered significant enough to carry a high risk of unfairness for those who may be vulnerable. On the 14th and 15th of July the Home Office implemented new arrangements, that ensured that legal representatives were are allocated to asylum claimants that require them (around 50% of asylum claimants arrive with a lawyer already) on the day of induction to DFT or, where that is not possible, no later than 2 working days after induction. In addition we are now ensuring that there are 4 clear working days between the allocation of a lawyer and the asylum interview except where the asylum claimant and lawyer advise that they want an earlier interview.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 18/12/2014 15:17:54 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

168454

registered interest
date	08/12/2014
answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept id	16
answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
hansard heading	Bahrain
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 3 December (HL3112), what specific measures to prevent torture and maltreatment of persons in custody they consider have resulted from British expert assistance to Bahrain.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL3484
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government has supported the establishment of the Office of the Ministry of Interior’s Ombudsman and the Prisoners’ and Detainees’ Rights Commission (PDRC) in Bahrain through the provision of UK training and expertise. In 2013, we funded Northern Ireland Cooperation Overseas’ (NICO) work with the Office of the Police Ombudsman on several priority areas. This included sharing UK best practice on complaints procedures, investigation reports and the role of prison inspection. We have built on this work, and since early 2014 we have been supporting NICO to deliver a 15 month package of support to help build the capacity of the Ombudsman's Office, increase accountability and public confidence. We have also provided UK-based training to all PDRC members through Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) including sharing best practice on inspection procedures.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Anelay of St Johns question first answered 17/12/2014 14:38:56 answering member 3474 label Biography information for Baroness Anelay of St Johns
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton