Category: Questions

Oral & written questions in the Lords and Commons

Bishop of Exeter asks about produce exports

The Bishop of Exeter asked a question about support for produce exports during a debate on food imports and security on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Exeter: I thank the Minister for his responses here, but, given the current value of the pound, which is making our exports so attractive, what are His Majesty’s Government doing to seize this opportunity to grow our exports of British produce and therefore support and really encourage our fantastic and hard-working farmers?

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Bishop of St Albans asks about reported crimes against various ethnic groups in China’s Xinjiang region

The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answer on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports that crimes have been committed against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China; and what steps they are taking in response to ensure that the perpetrators of any such crimes are brought to justice.

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Bishop of Chelmsford asks about the Homes for Ukraine scheme

The Bishop of Chelmsford received the following written answer on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to address pressures on those hosting Ukrainian refugees through the Homes for Ukraine scheme in order to avoid unintended consequences, such as relationship breakdown or homelessness, where alternative solutions cannot be found for their guests.

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Bishop of Coventry asks about conscientious objectors in Azerbaijan

The Bishop of Coventry received the following written answer on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Coventry asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the treatment of conscientious objectors by the authorities in Azerbaijan; and what representations they have made to the government of Azerbaijan about the introduction of a civilian alternative to military service on the grounds of conscience.

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Bishop of Durham asks about asylum claims by children and families

The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Durham asked His Majesty’s Government when they will publish the next version of the Processing children’s asylum claims guidance.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con): The Processing children’s asylum claims guidance is under review.

The current version of the guidance does not yet reflect changes under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, where those came into force on 28 June 2022. Other guidance reflecting those changes made under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which are relevant to children’s asylum cases, are available on GOV.UK.

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Bishop of Chelmsford asks about affordable housing

The Bishop of Chelmsford received the following written answer on 24th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford asked His Majesty’s Government whether they plan to include a revision of the definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Policy Framework review.

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Bishop of St Albans asks about support for warm hubs

The Bishop of St Albans asked about government support for warm hubs on 20th October 2022:

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to support the establishment and maintenance of warm hubs in England.

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Bishop of Oxford asks about government support for behaviour change on the pathway to net-zero

The Bishop of Oxford tabled a question for short debate on 20th October 2022, concerning the pathway to net zero emissions:

The Lord Bishop of Oxford: To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to support behaviour change as part of the pathway to net zero emissions.

My Lords, I appreciate the time given to this debate, despite all that is happening elsewhere in Westminster today. We face many challenging issues as a country and a world, but none is more serious than climate change and the environmental crisis. The context of our debate is the real prospect of global heating of more than 1.5 degrees by the middle of the century, with escalating extreme weather events in the UK and across the world, rising sea levels, devastating fires and floods, significant loss of life and damage to infrastructure, wars over scarce resources, shifting patterns of harvest, an increase in zoonotic disease and a massive displacement of people as large parts of the earth become uninhabitable.

Your Lordships may well have seen the final episode this week of BBC documentary “Frozen Planet II”, detailing the effects of global warming on people and wildlife. The most sinister pictures for me were of the small bubbles of trapped methane being released in great quantities from the permafrost, with devastating consequences for the earth.

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Archbishop of York asks whether benefits will rise with inflation

The Archbishop of York asked a question about benefits rising with inflation on 19th October 2022, during a debate following a statement on the economy:

The Lord Archbishop of York: My Lords, I do not pretend to know the ins and outs of exactly where we find ourselves but I serve communities in the north. I think particularly of people I have met recently in Middlesbrough and Hull, where there were great hopes for levelling up. It now seems a distant dream. I recently visited a school where children go in the morning with an empty lunch box for them to fill up with food from the food bank in the playground at the end of the day. The budget for school meals has gone up by 2% yet food inflation has gone up by more than 10%. We need to make tough decisions—I am glad to hear that the triple lock will remain in place—but, on behalf of the communities where I serve, I must ask this: will benefits rise in line with inflation? If not, millions of people will be moved into poverty. Those who recently donated to food banks are now visiting them themselves.

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Archbishop of York asks about government’s policy regarding refugees

The Lord Archbishop of York asked a question during a debate on the government’s Rwanda Asylum Partnership on 19th October 2022:

The Lord Archbishop of York: My Lords, the UK’s population, about 67 million, is five times that of Rwanda at about 13 million. Yet Rwanda, which is a country far poorer than us, as has already been pointed out, hosts one refugee for every 90 people whereas the figure here is one refugee for every 500 people. I do not think I can put my hand on my heart and say that the UK is doing its bit in a global crisis. I wonder whether the Minister would like to say what we are going to do to play our part in taking refugees here.

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