Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to undertake a detailed review of the effectiveness of the Barnett formula and its effect on allocations of finance to devolved governments within the UK.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Whilst the effective operation of the funding arrangements for the Devolved Administrations is monitored on an ongoing basis, the UK Government currently has no plans to undertake a formal review of the Barnett formula.
The Barnett formula is simple, efficient and provides a clear and certain outcome. For this reason, it has stood the test of time.
The Barnett formula ensures the same change in funding per person across the whole of the UK, while the underlying baseline funding reflects that needs are higher in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The devolved administrations are receiving over 20% more funding per person than equivalent UK Government spending in other parts of the UK.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for reviewing the maximum legal alcohol limit in relation to driving motor vehicles as measured by breathalyser tests.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
While the Government keeps this issue under review, there are not currently any plans to change the drink drive limit.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made, if any, of the safety of vaping; and what action they propose in consequence.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s assessment of the safety of vaping are based upon a series of evidence reviews commissioned over the past several years. The most recent and final in the series, the 2022 Nicotine Vaping in England report, was published in September 2022. 'A copy of Nicotine vaping in England 2022 report' has been placed in the Library due to the size of the data.
The report focuses predominantly on the potential health risks of vaping and concludes that in the short and medium term, vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking, but that vaping is not risk-free, particularly for people who have never smoked. The report carried out reviews on biomarkers of exposure to nicotine and potential toxicants; biomarkers of potential harm to health cutting across several diseases, including cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases; biomarkers specifically associated with cancer, respiratory, cardiovascular or other health outcomes; poisonings; fires and explosions; nicotine and flavours.
The Government only recommends regulated vaping products to help adult smokers to quit smoking and vapes should not be used by people under 18 year olds or non-smokers.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in dealing with compensation claims by Windrush victims.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The victims of the Windrush scandal suffered terrible injustices, and this Government remains steadfast in our commitment to do everything in our power to right the wrongs. We are determined to ensure everyone who was affected receives every penny of the compensation to which they are entitled. We are making significant progress towards achieving this aim, and we have now paid or offered more than £75 million in compensation as at the end of May 2023. Over 66% of claims received by the end of May 2023 have had a final decision.
Since its launch, the Home Office has continued to listen and respond to feedback from affected communities and stakeholders about how the Scheme operates and its accessibility. The changes we made to the Scheme in December 2020 and August 2022, mean people receive significantly more money more quickly. Last year we published redesigned claim forms and refreshed casework guidance, with the aim of reducing the time taken to process claims and improving individuals’ experiences of applying to the Scheme. We also made changes to the Homelessness category and created a new category, ‘Living Costs’, to compensate close family members for certain contributions to a primary claimant’s living costs. These significant and positive policy changes were made following consultation with claimants and stakeholders.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 13 June (HL8243), what assessment they have made of whether or not banks are passing on higher interest rates to savers; and what discussions they have had with banks on this matter.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Treasury is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and can access a wide range of competitive savings products.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) monitors the speed and extent of banks’ pass-through of interest rate rises to their savings products, and has made clear that firms should be able to justify these decisions. Banks are expected to pass through higher interest rates to savers as they do to mortgage holders, and we are working closely with the FCA on this important issue.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need for reform of the United Nations organisation.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a strong proponent of UN reform to make it inclusive, dynamic and reinvigorated. The UN Security Council (UNSC) must become more representative of the world today and the UK has long called for its expansion, in both the permanent and non-permanent categories. Beyond the UNSC, we support the UN Secretary-General's vision for Our Common Agenda (OCA), including its goal of a UN 2.0, better adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. We are engaging to shape the OCA initiatives in order to accelerate the delivery of the Sustainable Developments Goals, and support the recipients of the UN System.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the genocide at Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Srebrenica was a genocide, as confirmed by the international courts, and we must never forget the victims. It is important that such a significant anniversary is appropriately commemorated, and we will work with the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to support their plans. The British Embassy Sarajevo has previously participated in commemoration events in BiH, and will continue to do so. Furthermore, the UK Government continues to support the Srebrenica Memorial Centre in its work to become a world-leading centre for the study and prevention of genocide.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures are in place to ensure that the devolved administrations and His Majesty's Government learn from each other and, where appropriate, co-ordinate policy decisions.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government and the devolved administrations jointly agreed improved ways of working in January 2022. The new intergovernmental system ensures that ministers and officials are working together, across all areas, maintaining open channels of communication, discussing best practice and sharing learning from across the governments. Tackling our challenges is a shared endeavour and already this year there have been over 60 ministerial meetings between the Government and DAs on a wide range of issues
This collaboration has been vital in ensuring UK-wide join up, from tackling cost of living pressures to delivering the Homes for Ukraine which has helped over 117,000 people.
As set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, the UK Government is determined to do more to enable the sharing of evidence between the government and devolved administrations. The Concordat on Statistics provides a framework for statistical co-operation between the government and devolved administrations, and the UK Statistics Authority continues to lead on a suite of work to improve the UK-wide coherency of evidence in public policy-making.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect a decision to be reached about the delivery of a permanent fitting memorial to those who lost their lives in the Grenfell fire tragedy.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government is unequivocally committed to supporting the independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and the community, in their creation of a lasting memorial to honour those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
The Commission published its first report in May 2022, which can be found on its website. The Commission is continuing to engage with the community to develop a proposal for a memorial, and is working towards its final report, which is expected to be published in autumn 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have in place to encourage banks to pass on higher interest rates to savers.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government is committed to ensuring people are supported to save, and that they can access a wide range of competitive savings products. The retail savings market currently offers a range of competitive options to savers, who can now access the highest rates in recent years on a variety of instant access and fixed-term products.
The Government launched the Help to Save scheme in September 2018 to directly encourage those on lower incomes to save. This encourages saving for those on Working Tax Credit or receiving Universal Credit. These savings accounts provide a bonus of 50p for every £1 saved over 4 years.
The Government has also introduced other measures in recent years to encourage saving. Individuals can save up to £20,000 into their ISA each year and coupled with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers, around 95% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.
The Lifetime ISA is a long-term savings product to encourage younger people to save for their first home or for later life. The government provides a 25% bonus on savings of up to £4,000 each year, provided the savings are kept for the long-term.