Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made on reforming procedures in the UK’s Overseas Territories to eliminate (1) tax avoidance, and (2) money laundering.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Overseas Territories are committed to meeting international standards on illicit finance, tax transparency and anti-money laundering; including those set by the OECD and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Overseas Territories have their own democratically elected governments that set their financial services and fiscal policy. The Overseas Territories are all introducing publicly accessible registers of company beneficial ownership and they already share confidential information on company beneficial ownership with UK law enforcement bodies under the Exchange of Notes Arrangements. Information provided has enabled the seizure of illicit funds, including information to support the National Crime Agency's first Unexplained Wealth Order, which froze approximately £25 million. All Overseas Territories with financial centres are committed to global tax transparency standards such as the OECD Common Reporting Standard, an agreement to automatically exchange financial account information with other jurisdictions. The UK Government welcomes these commitments, which demonstrate that the Overseas Territories are responsible jurisdictions that will implement changing UK, EU and global norms.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contracts were awarded to Infosys in the last five years by the Home Office; and what was the cost to the taxpayer of each of those contracts.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Two contracts were awarded to Infosys in the last five years, both have been published on Contracts Finder where further detail on the values can be found.
ERP Test Services - Contracts Finder
QAT013 Infrastructure Testing - Contracts Finder
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contracts were awarded to Infosys in the last five years by the Department of Health and Social Care; and what was the cost to the taxpayer of each of those contracts.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has not held any contracts with Infosys in the last five years. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, an executive agency of the Department, currently holds one contract with Infosys with a value of £350,000.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce measures in the current parliament to eliminate the need for food banks.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation.
The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We will spend over £242bn through the welfare system in 2022/23 including £108bn on people of working age and over £134 billion on pensioners. Of the total amount, around £64 billion will be spent on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain.
We understand the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and have taken action to support and help families worth over £22 billion in 2022-23. The recently announced package of support worth £15 billion to help households with rising energy bills, brings total government support to £37 billion.
Government is also providing an additional £500 million from October to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, £421m will be used to extend the Household Support Fund (October 2022 – March 2023). At least a third of the extension funding (£140m) will be spent on pensioners and at least another third (£140m) will be spent on families with children.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to dispose of offices currently (1) owned by, (2) leased to, or (3) vacated by, civil service departments.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Government Estate Strategy 2018 set out our goals for better use of the estate. This included reducing the number of office buildings in which central government operates and a long-term ambition to reduce the number of offices within London (from over 65 in 2018) to no more than 20, enabled by our Places for Growth programme to relocate civil service roles from the Capital to across the UK. A new Government Property Strategy is being prepared, which continues to focus on consolidating the government estate. It is the aim of the government to critically review and seize opportunities to break a lease or dispose of a property, where possible and appropriate.
Each civil service department is required to develop and maintain a strategic asset management plan which sets out their occupational needs. Summary plans are usually published on gov.uk; publication was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic but is planned to resume this financial reporting year.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many food banks (1) are operating in England, and (2) were set up in each year since 2010; and what assessment they have made of the factors which led to food banks being established.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
No assessment has been made.
Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a national level.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the conviction rate for burglaries in (1) Gloucestershire, (2) Somerset, (3) Devon, and (4) Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, over the next three years.
Answered by Lord Stewart of Dirleton - Advocate General for Scotland
Burglary is a terrible crime which can have a long-lasting impact on victims. The CPS is committed to bringing robust prosecutions against offenders who commit the offence of burglary and works with the police to ensure that the strongest possible evidence is put before the court. In 2020-21, the CPS prosecuted 8,703 cases of burglary with a conviction rate of 87.4%. CPS South West, which covers the above regions, had a conviction rate of 91.2%, which is above the national average.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how may Russian citizens designated under any Russia-related international sanctions regime imposed following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 have held Tier 1 (Investor) visas.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We do not comment on national security matters, nor do we comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Russian citizens designated under any UK sanctions regime since Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 have held Tier 1 (Investor) visas.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We do not comment on national security matters, nor do we comment on individual cases.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) resources, and (2) processes, they have in place to conduct due diligence on visa applications in relation to (a) national security, and (b) illicit finance, risks.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office and wider law enforcement have resources and processes in place to ensure that the UK offers no safe space for illicit finance, nor individuals who seek to undermine UK national security. Security checks are undertaken as part of all visa applications.