Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had about possible anti-trust issues following Veolia's agreement to acquire SUEZ Group.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Competition investigations into mergers are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is an independent non-Ministerial department. In the normal course of an investigation, the CMA may reach out to relevant stakeholders, including other regulators or relevant government departments to assist in its understanding of the market. The CMA is currently considering whether to refer Veolia’s acquisition of a minority shareholding in Suez and Veolia’s proposed public takeover bid for the remaining share capital of Suez for an in-depth review. The CMA will publish updates on its review of this transaction on its website.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend the data subject rights of UK citizens under the General Data Protection Regulation after the end of the Brexit transition period.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As with all policy areas, the UK will control our own data protection laws and regulations in line with our interests, after the end of the transition period.
We want our data protection law to remain fit for purpose, and to support the future objectives of the UK. The UK will continue to operate a high-quality regime that promotes high data protection standards, growth and innovation, and underpins the trustworthy use of data as the UK economy becomes increasingly digital and data-enabled.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their obesity strategy which recommends the use of digital technologies for the monitoring of weight loss and lifestyle improvements, what steps they will take to protect personal data collected by fitness trackers and apps.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) digital products complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment. This assessment is reviewed by their Data Protection Officers prior to launch to ensure the processing complies with the requirements of data protection law. ?
PHE stores information such as weight, age, sex and ethnic group in the Weight Loss App but PHE does not store any personally identifiable information.
On Monday 27 July, PHE launched an adult health campaign, ‘Better Health’, encouraging adults to kick start their health by losing weight, eating better and getting active.
The campaign directs people to a variety of free tools and apps including the 12-week NHS Weight Loss Plan, Couch to 5k, Active10 and Easy Meals. These tools were reviewed ahead of the campaign launch and approved by PHE Data Protection Officers.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to instruct the Competition and Markets Authority to undertake an anti-trust investigation into the practices of companies providing consumer Internet of Things devices, following reports of restrictive practices regarding data access and interoperability that may be designed to distort competition.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the independent non-Ministerial department responsible for investigating competition issues in the UK. The Government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers to investigate and act if it finds that companies are behaving anti-competitively in a market.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enforce the right of data portability and other interoperability requirements to ensure that individuals with existing devices and tools such as smart meters can exercise this right.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under Article 20 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumers have the right to obtain and reuse their personal data, including smart metering consumption data that they have provided to the energy supplier. Energy consumers’ rights under the GDPR are not affected by switching energy supplier.
In order to ensure that energy consumers have control over their energy consumption data, the Government established the smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework, which is implemented through energy licences and codes and complements wider data protection legislation. Energy suppliers are required to make available to domestic consumers with meters in smart mode, upon request, up to 24 months of data relating to consumption in each day, week, month and year. The data must be made available free of charge and in a readily understandable format.
The Information Commissioner's Office is responsible for upholding information rights, while the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets is responsible for regulating energy suppliers’ compliance with licence obligations.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the ability of consumers to exercise their right to data portability under Article 20 of the General Data Protection Regulation when switching between energy suppliers using smart meters, and (2) whether such switches are being hindered by a lack of compliance by energy companies with this right.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under Article 20 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consumers have the right to obtain and reuse their personal data, including smart metering consumption data that they have provided to the energy supplier. Energy consumers’ rights under the GDPR are not affected by switching energy supplier.
In order to ensure that energy consumers have control over their energy consumption data, the Government established the smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework, which is implemented through energy licences and codes and complements wider data protection legislation. Energy suppliers are required to make available to domestic consumers with meters in smart mode, upon request, up to 24 months of data relating to consumption in each day, week, month and year. The data must be made available free of charge and in a readily understandable format.
The Information Commissioner's Office is responsible for upholding information rights, while the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets is responsible for regulating energy suppliers’ compliance with licence obligations.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many grants and loans have been (1) applied for by, and (2) paid to, new and existing recipients from (a) the £750 million targeted support fund announced on 20 April for the most R&D intensive SMEs, and (b) the £40 million Fast Start investment scheme announced on 20 May; and what is the total value of these grants and loans.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given to the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation) on 17th June 2020 to Question 57218.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will announce further details of the two-year post-study work visa.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Graduate route will be introduced in the summer of 2021. Information on the route was provided in the factsheet published in October 2019 https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2019/10/14/fact-sheet-graduate-immigration-route/.
Further details of the route will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of providing greater financial support for learners on shorter higher education courses.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises the importance of studying part-time and the benefits that it can bring to individuals, employers and the wider economy, including the opportunities it can provide to develop new skills, which will be especially important in the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
In recent years, we have made a number of changes to support part-time and mature learners. Students who started a part-time degree level course from 1 August 2018 onwards are able to access full-time equivalent maintenance loans. We have removed the “equivalent or lower qualification” restrictions, for all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) part-time degree courses. Students on these courses who already hold a degree can now access support through student loans. We have also made funding available through the teaching grant to providers to recognise the additional costs of part-time study.
Evidence shows that shorter, accelerated degree courses appeal to those who want to retrain and to enter the workplace more quickly than a traditional course would permit. Graduating one year sooner means that accelerated degree students have one less year of tuition fees and save on the living costs of the final year of standard degree study. If a student is required to attend their course for more than 30 weeks and 3 days in an academic year (which is very common for accelerated degree courses), they can apply for a means-tested Long Courses Loan in addition to the standard loan for living costs.
The Independent Panel led by Philip Augar, set up to provide input into the Review of Post 18 Education and Funding, considered different ways to support learners who want to study higher education more flexibly. The government is considering the Independent Panel’s report carefully but has not yet taken decisions with regards to the recommendations put forward. The government will conclude the review alongside the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to encourage those who have lost work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to develop new skills through part-time higher education.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government recognises the importance of studying part-time and the benefits that it can bring to individuals, employers and the wider economy, including the opportunities it can provide to develop new skills, which will be especially important in the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.
In recent years, we have made a number of changes to support part-time and mature learners. Students who started a part-time degree level course from 1 August 2018 onwards are able to access full-time equivalent maintenance loans. We have removed the “equivalent or lower qualification” restrictions, for all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) part-time degree courses. Students on these courses who already hold a degree can now access support through student loans. We have also made funding available through the teaching grant to providers to recognise the additional costs of part-time study.
Evidence shows that shorter, accelerated degree courses appeal to those who want to retrain and to enter the workplace more quickly than a traditional course would permit. Graduating one year sooner means that accelerated degree students have one less year of tuition fees and save on the living costs of the final year of standard degree study. If a student is required to attend their course for more than 30 weeks and 3 days in an academic year (which is very common for accelerated degree courses), they can apply for a means-tested Long Courses Loan in addition to the standard loan for living costs.
The Independent Panel led by Philip Augar, set up to provide input into the Review of Post 18 Education and Funding, considered different ways to support learners who want to study higher education more flexibly. The government is considering the Independent Panel’s report carefully but has not yet taken decisions with regards to the recommendations put forward. The government will conclude the review alongside the next Spending Review.