Contributions
1,831 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTrade BillThat the debate be adjourned.06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesI can give a little more detail. The noble Baroness is right: we do not know precisely the number of people caught up in the Troubles. A figure of 40,000 has come my way.…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesWe should always remember all those who were caught up in the Troubles. The Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for the delivery of the scheme and for processing…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesThe noble Baroness is putting cart before horse. As I said earlier, the money is there; it has never been a block. The point that I made earlier is that certain systems need to be…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesThe noble Lord’s question is unnecessary. The funding is there; it has never been a block. It comes through the block grant. In the background to the funding through the block…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesThe noble Baroness is right when she talks about the review. The judge made a clear ruling that the Executive Office was acting unlawfully in not designating a department. This is…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesThe Northern Ireland Office is doing its best to support the Executive in speeding up this process. I gave some indication earlier as to what is required and what has started to…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesPerhaps I can reassure my noble friend and play straight into his question. The Secretary of State is and always has been firmly committed to seeing that this scheme is introduced…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardI will take note of that point because, again, the noble Lord’s question takes us further from the point raised about the joint board.06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardIndeed, the noble Baroness is right, and I have taken on board her question. This is very much a matter for the Executive and I do not have in front of me the details of the…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardMy Lords, the first meeting of the joint board, which has oversight for transformation in health, education and justice where these draw on funding provided under the New Decade,…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardIt will not.06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardMy noble friend makes a good point about the services sector, and I saw for myself the site of “Game of Thrones” when I was in Northern Ireland three or four weeks ago. The…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardI cannot say what will be on the agenda beyond, as I said earlier, a discussion about the progress that the joint board has made so far. However, I will certainly take the point…06 Oct 2020HANSARDNorthern Ireland: Payments to Victims of the TroublesMy Lords, the UK Government brought forward legislation establishing a victims’ payment scheme in January. They did so both to fulfil their legal obligation and because they are…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardI think I picked up most of what the noble Baroness said. I know that some information has come out from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. One recommendation was for an…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardI admire the noble Lord’s ingenuity in steering the Question in that direction. However, I remind him that the purpose of the joint board is to review the use of funding provided…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardMy noble friend makes a good point about emphasising the union. This Government continue to want to show the importance of the union and how all parts of the UK, including…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardMy noble friend makes a very good point about the accountability of funds. He will know that part of the establishment of the joint board is setting up a fiscal council tasked…06 Oct 2020HANSARDUnited Kingdom Government-Northern Ireland Executive Joint BoardIt is not clear how many meetings will be held each year, but suffice it to say that with the last one held in July and one coming up shortly, they will be frequent enough. The…06 Oct 2020