Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote investment by the insurance industry into applied research, new technologies, and infrastructure; whether information about any such investments will be published on an annual basis; and if so, where.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The treatment of infrastructure investment by insurance undertakings for the purposes of prudential regulation is set by the Solvency II Directive. In March 2019, the EU adopted new Solvency II rules to help insurers to invest in equity and private debt and to provide long-term capital financing. This means that insurers will be able to hold less capital for such investments and will therefore find such investments more attractive. The Government does not collect information about such investments, but individual insurance firms often include such details in their annual reports.
The government provides competitive R&D tax reliefs to support businesses to invest. Support for businesses through R&D tax reliefs rose to £3.7 billion in 2015-16, up by almost a quarter from the previous year. The government is also carrying out the Infrastructure Finance Review, to support private infrastructure investment and ensure that infrastructure projects, including those using new technologies, are able to access the finance they need. The review will conclude alongside the National Infrastructure Strategy in the Autumn.
In 2018, the UK Government provided £20m of ‘pioneer funding’ through the Next Generation Services Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to explore how new technologies could transform the UK accountancy, insurance and legal services industries
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to introduce standards to minimise the risk of the malfunctioning of electronic financial transactions and data storage by financial and public organisations; and what information is available to the general public to enable them (1) to choose which organisations and services to use, and (2) to know whether or not to use electronic systems depending on those services.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
On 18th March, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, Matthew Hancock, announced that the new National Cyber Security Centre will work with the Bank of England to produce advice for the finance sector for managing cyber security effectively. This will build on tools such as the Cyber Essentials scheme, which sets out the technical controls organisations should have in place to demonstrate that they are following a basic level of ‘good practice’ in terms of their cyber security.
It is the responsibility of firms to ensure the resilience of their Information Technology (IT) systems. Through the Dear Chairman Exercise I and II, the Financial Authorities have assessed large UK deposit-takers’ technology resilience, and are working with firms to ensure that further improvements are made and customers are protected.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce changes to make motor vehicle tax proportionate to the emissions of gaseous and particulate pollutants from motor vehicle engines.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Motoring taxation generally reflects the environmental impact of driving. In particular, Vehicle Excise Duty and Company Car Tax vary by CO2 emissions and reduced rates of fuel duty are available for low-emissions fuels.
From 1 September 2015, all new cars sold in the UK must be compliant with new European-wide air pollutant standards, known as Euro 6 standards, which include gaseous and particulate pollutants.
The combination of new Euro 6 standards and tougher vehicle approval regulation for air quality pollutants known as Real World Driving Emissions Testing (RDE), which come into force from 2017, will significantly reduce air pollutant emissions from all new vehicles including diesel models.