Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences for accountability including under data protection legislation of the use by banks and other financial services providers of the Symphony suite of software, which allows for the instant and permanent deletion of email files.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not directly regulate the activities of Symphony Communication Services LLC or any other electronic messaging platform. However, firms that are authorised by the FCA who use messaging services such as Symphony are subject to a range of applicable requirements, including the recording and storage of such tapes and electronic communications.
MiFID II extended the UK’s existing record keeping requirements for telephone conversations and electronic communications from six months to a minimum of five years (this change came in on 3 January 2018). This will give the FCA an enhanced ability to investigate historic concerns.
With regards to firms’ compliance with data protection legislation, it is the responsibility of the Information Commissioner to regulate compliance with the Data Protection Act. The Commissioner may act on complaints about companies which are not complying with the law.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what tax liabilities UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has generated since its inception; what estimates they have of the extent of these liabilities in this financial year and the next; and whether such tax liabilities will reduce the funds available to UKRI for distribution via Research Councils.
Answered by Lord Henley
Like many other non-departmental bodies, UKRI’s tax liabilities include VAT and business rates. As UKRI is a new body, we are working with HMRC and HMT to ensure it pays the necessary and appropriate levels of tax. While details are being worked out, UKRI is meeting all new costs centrally and there has been no impact on Research Council spending. UKRI estimates the potential additional tax impact on running costs, following the creation of UKRI, to be £15m per annum. Further to this, some of UKRI’s capital projects previously qualified for VAT relief, so the impact of UKRI’s new legal status on this is being assessed and will be factored into UKRI’s planning going forward. UKRI and BEIS remain focussed on maximising spend on frontline science and research.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of British fish quotas are controlled by British registered companies owned by non-UK nationals by (1) weight, and (2) value.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The information requested is not available. Such information as is available relates to the holding of fixed quota allocation units (FQA), the mechanism by which most quota is allocated in the UK.
We do not routinely keep information on the nationality of FQA holders. Analysis for 2016 suggests that a little over a tenth of UK FQA was held by non-UK nationals. This figure is based on a sample from the FQA Register, is approximate, and is intended as a guide only.
To address the issue of foreign holdings, an economic link condition was introduced to UK licences to make sure a genuine economic benefit is accrued to the UK from the fishing of UK quota. We are considering the economic link condition as part of the development of our future fisheries management arrangements post EU Exit.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of compulsory contributions by members of the military to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in the light of the current limits on annual and lifetime allowances for tax-free pension contributions.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Armed Forces Pension Schemes are non-contributory, defined benefit, final salary or career average schemes. They remain the only public-sector schemes that do not require their members to contribute to their future pension, and reflect the unique sacrifice the Armed Forces and their families make to this country. The Government has no plans to alter the schemes.
Annual and lifetime allowance limits have reduced. Consequently, more senior officers are breaching their annual and lifetime allowances and incurring a tax charge. Options are available to these individuals to mitigate a tax charge, including using unclaimed tax allowance from previous years or asking their pension scheme to pay the charge out of future benefits. The Department is keeping the impact on retention of the changes under review.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the retention of senior medical consultants in the Armed Forces of the effects of the non-voluntary contributions which the military requires to be made to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and current limits on annual and lifetime allowances for tax-free pension contributions.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Armed Forces Pension Schemes are non-contributory, defined benefit, final salary or career average schemes. They remain the only public-sector schemes that do not require their members to contribute to their future pension, and reflect the unique sacrifice the Armed Forces and their families make to this country. The Government has no plans to alter the schemes.
Annual and lifetime allowance limits have reduced. Consequently, more senior officers are breaching their annual and lifetime allowances and incurring a tax charge. Options are available to these individuals to mitigate a tax charge, including using unclaimed tax allowance from previous years or asking their pension scheme to pay the charge out of future benefits. The Department is keeping the impact on retention of the changes under review.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial consequences for senior medical consultants in the Armed Forces of the combined effect of annual non-voluntary contributions which the military requires to be made to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme and current limits on annual and lifetime allowances for tax-free pension contributions.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Armed Forces Pension Schemes are non-contributory, defined benefit, final salary or career average schemes. They remain the only public-sector schemes that do not require their members to contribute to their future pension, and reflect the unique sacrifice the Armed Forces and their families make to this country. The Government has no plans to alter the schemes.
Annual and lifetime allowance limits have reduced. Consequently, more senior officers are breaching their annual and lifetime allowances and incurring a tax charge. Options are available to these individuals to mitigate a tax charge, including using unclaimed tax allowance from previous years or asking their pension scheme to pay the charge out of future benefits. The Department is keeping the impact on retention of the changes under review.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask Her Majesty's Government with which companies they have strategic relations; and, in each case, who is the designated Minister.
Answered by Baroness Fairhead
There are currently 83 companies on the Strategic Relationship Management programme, they are listed in the table below. In light of the recent reorganisation of ministerial responsibility, the Department for International Trade is currently refreshing the allocation of contact ministers across government.
These will be updated online shortly.
Company |
3M |
ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) |
Airbus Group |
Amazon.com |
Apple Inc |
Associated British Foods (AB Foods) |
Associated British Ports |
AstraZeneca |
Babcock International Group |
BAE Systems |
Balfour Beatty |
BASF |
Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) |
Bombardier |
Bouygues |
British Petroleum (BP) |
British Telecom (BT) |
Caterpillar |
Centrica |
Cisco Systems |
Coca-Cola |
Diageo |
Dubai World |
E.On |
Eisai |
Electricite de France (EDF) |
Engie (GDF SUEZ) (Gaz de France) |
Ford |
General Electric (GE) |
GKN |
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
Google (Alphabet Inc) |
Hewlett-Packard (HP) |
Hitachi |
Honda |
HP Enterprise |
Huawei Technologies |
Hutchison Whampoa |
Iberdrola (Scottish Power) |
IBM |
Imagination Technologies |
Ineos |
Jaguar Land Rover |
JCB |
Johnson & Johnson |
Johnson Matthey |
Lockheed Martin |
Microsoft |
Mitsubishi Corporation |
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries |
Mondelez International |
National Grid Plc |
Nestle |
Nissan |
Novartis |
PCCW |
Pearson |
PepsiCo |
Pfizer |
Procter & Gamble (P&G) |
PSA |
Roche Group |
Rolls-Royce Group plc |
Royal Dutch Shell Plc |
RWE |
Sage Group |
Samsung |
Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) |
Scottish & Southern Energy |
Siemens |
SNC-Lavalin Group (Atkins) |
Softbank |
Statoil |
Syngenta |
Tata Group |
Telefonica |
Time Warner |
Toshiba |
Toyota Motor |
Unilever |
Vodafone |
Walt Disney |
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there has been any change in the terms on which indefinite leave to remain in the UK is (1) granted, and (2) applied to those who were previously granted such leave, in the past year.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In the past year there have been a number of policy amendments across specific ILR routes. Information relating to these amendments, and the specific ILR routes these affect, are communicated via the GOV.UK website.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=uk-visas-and-immigration
There has been no change in terms for those persons who have been granted ILR in the past year. Individuals who hold ILR in the United Kingdom have no restriction on their right to live and work in the United Kingdom. They are able to apply for benefits in the same way as British citizens.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether individuals who have been granted indefinite leave to remain are obliged to apply for British citizenship; if so, why; and if not, what information such individuals are given by the UK Border Agency in this regard upon arrival in the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Individuals who are settled in the UK are not obliged to apply to naturalise as British citizens. The Government believes that citizenship is a personal choice, and is a privilege and not a right, and it would not be appropriate to compel all those who settle in the UK to become British.
Entrants to the UK will normally need to remain in the UK for a period of at least five years before being eligible to settle in the UK and so it would be premature to provide them with information on citizenship at the point of their arrival. Where someone wishes to naturalise they can find relevant information on the GOV.uk website.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average waiting time for a mental health treatment referral in each Clinical Commissioning Group in London in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The information is not available in the format requested.