Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken, or plan to take, to create an ISA dashboard, based on the same principles as the Pensions Dashboard project.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government notes the Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group’s proposals regarding ISAs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer keeps all tax policy under review and information provided to us is considered as part of this process.
The Government wants to continue to support people to save in the way that is right for them, which is why there are a range of options to help people make their money go further.
ISAs form part of this support, and remain an incredibly popular product with around half of UK households having one.
In April 2017, the ISA allowance increased by a record amount to £20,000. This, combined with the introduction of the Personal Savings Allowance in April 2016, has given savers more flexibility when choosing the product most suitable for them and means that over 95% of people have no tax to pay on their savings income.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have given consideration to scrapping the annual ISA savings limit in favour of a £1 million lifetime contributions limit, as proposed by the cross-party Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government notes the Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group’s proposals regarding ISAs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer keeps all tax policy under review and information provided to us is considered as part of this process.
The Government wants to continue to support people to save in the way that is right for them, which is why there are a range of options to help people make their money go further.
ISAs form part of this support, and remain an incredibly popular product with around half of UK households having one.
In April 2017, the ISA allowance increased by a record amount to £20,000. This, combined with the introduction of the Personal Savings Allowance in April 2016, has given savers more flexibility when choosing the product most suitable for them and means that over 95% of people have no tax to pay on their savings income.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the recommendations of the cross-party Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group, that (1) the ISA name should be removed from the Help to Buy scheme, and (2) the Lifetime ISA should be closed to new entrants, and (3) all remaining ISAs should be folded into a single "Everything ISA".
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government notes the Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group’s proposals regarding ISAs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer keeps all tax policy under review and information provided to us is considered as part of this process.
The Government wants to continue to support people to save in the way that is right for them, which is why there are a range of options to help people make their money go further.
ISAs form part of this support, and remain an incredibly popular product with around half of UK households having one.
In April 2017, the ISA allowance increased by a record amount to £20,000. This, combined with the introduction of the Personal Savings Allowance in April 2016, has given savers more flexibility when choosing the product most suitable for them and means that over 95% of people have no tax to pay on their savings income.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to address the decline in use of the cash Individual Savings Account; and how investment in 2016–17 compared to 2015–16.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government notes the Association of Accounting Technicians Individual Savings Account Working Group’s proposals regarding ISAs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer keeps all tax policy under review and information provided to us is considered as part of this process.
The Government wants to continue to support people to save in the way that is right for them, which is why there are a range of options to help people make their money go further.
ISAs form part of this support, and remain an incredibly popular product with around half of UK households having one.
In April 2017, the ISA allowance increased by a record amount to £20,000. This, combined with the introduction of the Personal Savings Allowance in April 2016, has given savers more flexibility when choosing the product most suitable for them and means that over 95% of people have no tax to pay on their savings income.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Brexit, whether the UK will continue to participate in the Unified Patent Court; and whether the central division dealing with pharmaceuticals and life sciences will continue to be based in London, in accordance with the announcement by Baroness Neville-Rolfe at the October 2015 EU Competitiveness Council.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government confirmed in November 2016 that the UK will proceed with preparations to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement. Those preparations are progressing. No decision has been taken on our future involvement in the court once we have left the EU. That will be part of the negotiations which have not yet begun. It would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance but the Government’s efforts will be focussed on seeking the best deal possible in the negotiations with our European partners.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the UK will continue to participate in the EU Intellectual Property Office following Brexit; and if so, what will be the mechanism by which this will be achieved.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The UK's future relationship with the European Union Intellectual Property Office is a matter for negotiations with the EU. It would be inappropriate to set out unilateral positions in advance.
Officials in the Intellectual Property Office, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Exiting the European Union are considering the options available to us with the aim of achieving the best outcome for UK right holders and the UK as a whole.
Meanwhile, UK businesses will continue to be able to apply to the European Union Intellectual Property Office for EU Trade Marks and Registered Community Designs covering the member states of the EU.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the oral answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 27 March (HL Deb, col 355), and in the light of the call by the Coalition for a Digital Economy in its report <i>Global Britain: From local startups to international markets</i>, published in February, to allow the highly skilled into the country through a minimum six-month visa to enter the UK and seek work, whether they intend to take steps to provide visas more quickly for such workers who are invited to work in the UK; and if so, what are those steps, and what is the proposed timescale for the implementation of any necessary changes to the visa application process.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The current Points Based System already provides for ways in which highly skilled migrants from outside the European Economic Area can work in the UK. The Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) route allows leading digital technology talent endorsed by Tech City UK to enter the UK without needing a job offer from a sponsoring employer.
The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains open for business and continues to grow and thrive – and ensuring our new relationship with the EU works for employees and employers will be important in the months ahead.
For individual skilled migrant workers invited by an employer to work in the UK, their visas are routinely processed within three weeks, with premium services available for applicants who need faster decisions. Some jobs in digital technology, as identified by the independent Migration Advisory Committee, are recognised shortage occupations and are exempt from the Resident Labour Market Test.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the oral answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 27 March (HL Deb, col 355), and in the light of the finding by the Coalition for a Digital Economy in its report <i>Global Britain: From local startups to international markets</i>, published in February, that one third of technology start-ups’ first ten hires came from outside the UK, what is their estimate of the shortage of specialist technical staff needed by the digital technology sector in the UK; and what estimate they have made of future staffing needs in that sector.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
DCMS is leading a review focused on identifying the current and future advanced and specialist digital skills gaps in the UK’s digital technology sector and wider economy. This work will give DCMS a greater understanding of the characteristics of the existing advanced and digital specialist workforce in the UK, current and future advanced and specialist digital skills needs in the UK, and will inform how to focus efforts on developing the UK digital skills pipeline. We anticipate the review will be completed by summer 2017.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the oral answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 27 March (HL Deb, col 355), whether they intend to address the need for people from overseas with the requisite digital technology skills to be able to come to work in the UK during the Brexit negotiation process; if not, what assessment they have made of the impact of failing to address that need in the short-term on the UK economy; and if so, what steps they are taking to support access to the skills required in that sector.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
We seek to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who are already living in Britain, and the rights of British nationals in other member states as early as we can. This remains an early priority for the forthcoming negotiations. We will control immigration so that we continue to attract the brightest and the best to work or study in Britain, but manage the process properly so that our immigration system serves the national interest. As part of that it is important that we understand the impacts of different options on different sectors of the economy and the labour market. We are taking action across the entire education and training pipeline to ensure we have the digital skills to maintain our world leading digital economy.
Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much EU funding is currently accessible by UK universities and research bodies; and what assessment they have made of the impact of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU on (1) such funding in the future, and (2) UK universities’ and research bodies’ ability to develop and sustain world-class research and educational programmes.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The main streams of funds available to UK universities and research bodies are Horizon 2020, Erasmus Plus and aspects of the European Structural and Investment Funds.
Under Horizon 2020, the current Framework Programme, the UK has been awarded €1.84bn to date[1] (excluding the Euratom nuclear research and training programme).
In 2014, the first year of the Erasmus Plus Programme, the UK obtained €79.08 million for mobility grants to 36,734 people from all educational sectors to study, train and volunteer abroad. A further €30.66m was obtained for cooperation projects[2].
The UK’s strategy[3] for its 2014-2020 allocations from the European Structural and Investment Funds sets out that €1.6bn was earmarked for the theme of research, technological development and innovation.
As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged, including those that apply to students, researchers, and businesses. It will be for the Government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to leave, and set out arrangements for those currently in receipt of EU funds.
The UK economy is fundamentally strong and our research and innovation are world leading. The Government intends to maintain and enhance the strength of our research base.
UK participation in H2020 and FP7, BIS occasional (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-participation-in-horizon-2020-and-framework-programme-7)
Ref: https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/press/british-council-ecorys-uk-delighted-win-erasmus.