Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what categories of persons are exempt from the normal application of death duties and under what circumstances; and which legislation enables any such exemptions.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The normal application of death duties is set out in the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) which includes a number of exemptions for specific categories of persons. For example, Armed Forces personnel who die in active service are exempt from inheritance tax under section 154(1)(a) IHTA 1984. IHTA 1984 does not apply in respect of the Sovereign who is not legally liable to pay inheritance tax. The Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation sets out the tax position for the Sovereign and The Prince of Wales.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation, published in March 2013, whether inheritance tax will be payable on any bequests from HRH The Prince Philip to (1) HM Queen, (2) HRH The Prince of Wales, and (3) other members of the Royal Family.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government does not comment on the tax affairs of individuals. The tax affairs of the late Prince are entitled to the same strict confidentiality as those of any other person. The Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation sets out the tax position for the Sovereign and The Prince of Wales. The normal inheritance tax rules will apply to other individuals.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what new customs IT systems have been identified by the Border and Protocol Delivery Group as being required from the end of the Brexit transition period; and if any such systems are required, (1) how many of those systems they expect to be fully operational and tested (a) now, (b) from 1 January 2021, and (c) after 1 January 2021; (2) when these systems will be available to businesses for training purposes, and (3) what contingency arrangements they have put in place to deal with any delays in the roll out of those systems.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The following systems are expected to be fully operational and tested (a) now, (b) from 1 January 2021, and (c) after 1 January 2021
New IT System | Fully Operational and Tested Now | To Be Fully Operational against the January requirements, and Tested From Jan 2021 | To Be Fully Operational and Tested After Jan 2021 |
NCTS | Y | Y |
|
GB S&S (ICS 2.0) | Y | Y |
|
GVMS |
| y |
It is expected that businesses will be fully operational for testing purposes to the time scales set out below:
IT System | Date Operational for Testing Purposes? DD/MM |
NCTS | 02/12/20 |
GB S&S (ICS 2.0) | 26/10/20 |
GVMS | 12/12/20 |
These systems will be fully operational against the January requirements.
The Government is ensuring that it is able to operate a model that fulfils its obligations and is working through contingency or fallback solutions in case of non-delivery of systems and lack of external readiness.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to set out further details of their planned review of The Green Book; and what steps they are taking to ensure (1) that they effectively consider their target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 in undertaking that review, and (2) that all Government departments treat reaching that target as a priority.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government’s review of the Green Book - the government’s core guidance on how to develop and appraise schemes against government objectives – is currently ongoing.
An updated Green Book will be published later in the year, and early findings will inform the allocations process at the Spending Review in Autumn.
The review is focused on ensuring that the guidance is consistent with the Government’s ambition to level-up opportunity across the country, and it is also considering more broadly how project approval decisions are being made and looking at what clearer guidance and support to practitioners can be provided.
.
The Green Book currently provides a framework for valuing the costs and benefits of interventions, including with regards to climate change mitigation and other environmental impacts. The guidance requires that environmental impacts for projects and programmes are assessed and that legal commitments such as net-zero must be considered as part of appraisal.
Tackling climate change is a priority for the Government. The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for net zero, increasing the ambition of our commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Climate Change Act 2008. The Government is committed to meeting that challenge.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority Annual Report on Major Projects 2019–20, published on 9 July, which shows that the successful delivery (1) of 32 projects were in doubt and categorised as amber-red risk, and (2) 11 projects appeared to be unachievable and categorised as a red risk, what cross-departmental steps they are taking to improve the (a) performance, (b) delivery, and (c) cost control, of major projects.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has a number of cross-departmental measures currently under way to improve the Government's delivery of major projects.
These include a new, more rigorous approach to accreditation for Government project delivery professionals, in order to drive skills in this area at all levels across Government.
The IPA is also strengthening the Government’s assurance regime, to ensure that processes are followed with rigour and improve quality across all departments and projects.
Finally, the IPA is working across Government to ensure better estimation of costs and timescales, better benchmarking capability and more consistent application of key principles of cost estimation as part of the Treasury’s ‘Green Book’ methodology.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they intend to adopt in assessing the possible awards for financial rescue under Project Birch; whether their preference is for a loan or equity; and how they will ensure that any such award does not create a dominant position in the sector concerned.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As part of its normal operations the government has always considered providing support?to strategically important companies that can reasonably be expected to have a long-term viable future, and whose failure or distress could cause disproportionate harm to the UK economy or society. Companies must have exhausted all other options before being considered, and any support given will be on terms that protect the taxpayer, with existing lenders and shareholders expected to contribute meaningfully to and share in the financial burden.
All interventions will be, by definition, bespoke. As appropriate, the Government will include provisions to allow the taxpayer to share in the benefits of a company’s recovery, including through equity, equity-like and hybrid instruments. Any intervention will be designed to minimise economic distortion and be on commercial, or close to commercial terms, as far as is practicable.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Earl of Courtown on 28 January (HL444), how much money each member of the Royal family received from the Duchy of Lancaster in the last financial year; whether any such money was for Royal or private purposes; and whether any such funds are tax deductible.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Opposition Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government does not hold this information as income from the Duchy of Lancaster forms part of The Queen's private income. It is largely used to meet official expenditure incurred by Her Majesty and other members of the Royal Family which is not met by the Sovereign Grant, and is taxed to the extent that the income is not used for official purposes.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Earl of Courtown on 28 January (HL443), how much of funding provided by the Sovereign Grant was spent on official trips by helicopter between royal residences.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Opposition Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
A list of journeys undertaken by members of the Royal Family and their staff during 2018-19 which had travel costs of £15,000 or more, met from the Sovereign Grant, is available on the Monarchy website – in the Royal Travel Appendix[1]. The Royal Travel Appendix also sets out that a further 204 journeys were undertaken by helicopter at a total cost of £688,845. Details of journeys below the £15,000 threshold are not published.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any travel costs for the Royal family funded by the Duchy of Cornwall can be claimed as an allowable business expense.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Opposition Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
Appendix B of the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation [1] sets out the rules for determining the income of the Duchy of Cornwall on which tax is to be paid.
Among the expenses to be taken into account are payments made to meet official expenses incurred by The Prince of Wales and any members of his family in assisting The Queen in carrying out Her official duties.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208633/mou_royal_taxation.pdf
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Earl of Courtown on 21 January (HL288), what advice they have given to the Royal Household about the relative environmental impact of chartering planes for long distance flights when scheduled services are available for the same, or similar, routes.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Opposition Deputy Chief Whip (Lords)
I refer the Noble Lord to the answer I gave him on 21 January 2020 to Question HL288.