Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of income tax receipts is accounted for by income tax on property income.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The information on income tax is not readily available, however, information published by HMRC about taxable incomes is as follows.
The 2018-19 Survey of Personal Incomes provides an estimate for income from property in Table 3.7 and total income estimates are provided in Table 3.3. Income from property was estimated at £21.5 billion in 2018-19 and total income across all income types was estimated at £1,120 billion. Income from property therefore represents around 2 per cent of total income.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in order to estimate the revenue yield of a one per cent increase on all income tax rates payable on property income, they can draw on the data in Table 3.7 from the Survey of Personal Incomes, which compiles numbers of taxpayers and associated estimates of property income.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
While the Survey of Personal Incomes offers information on the amounts of property income received by Income Tax payers, additional analysis would be required to assess the revenue raised by increasing the rates of Income Tax on property income. This would need to include an assessment of interactions with other aspects of Income Tax, such as the application of allowances and thresholds and the behavioural response to the policy change.
The Government has not made an assessment of the revenue that would be raised by increasing income tax rates applicable to property income by one per cent.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the revenue that would be raised by increasing all income tax rates applicable to rental income by 1.25 per cent.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has not made an assessment of the revenue that would be raised by increasing all income tax rates applicable to rental income by 1.25 per cent.
The government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review and any decision on future changes will be taken as part of the annual Budget process in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have carried out a cost-benefit analysis of bat surveys in planning applications; and, if so, what value they placed on the life of a bat, disaggregated by indigenous species.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
This government has committed to leave the environment in a better state than we inherited it, underpinned by our target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. Protecting and conserving bat populations, including species like the serotine bat, is an important part of this.
Natural England (NE) has not carried out a cost-benefit analysis of bat surveys in planning applications. However, NE is in the process of evaluating the benefit to bat conservation from actions taken as a result of regulatory work. It is expected that the initial findings will be published in early 2022/23.
NE is currently testing a new approach to bat licensing through the Bat Earned Recognition Pilot. The pilot aims to streamline the licensing process through accrediting ecologists, enabling them to have greater discretion to progress low risk cases, estimated to be up to 90% of all applications. This will reduce costs and delays for customers whilst providing better outcomes for bats. The pilot is well advanced and is currently in the process of accrediting ecologists, with a view to being operational from early in 2022.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much revenue would be raised by increasing the income tax rate applicable to Schedule A income by 1.25 per cent.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As a result of the Tax Law Rewrite, taxation of Schedule A income for individuals was repealed in 2005, and for companies in 2009. As a result, it would only be possible to estimate the revenue raised through an increase to the tax rate of Schedule A at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any meeting took place between the then Cabinet Secretary and Lex Greensill on 7 November 2017; and if so, what record exists of that meeting.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The then Cabinet Secretary and Lex Greensill met on 7 November 2017, as detailed in the relevant transparency return. The Cabinet Office does not hold a written record of the meeting.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on fish exports.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the UK has secured tariff free access for fisheries products caught or from aquaculture and a substantial transfer of quota from the EU which will benefit fishing communities across the UK. We recognise the temporary issues the fishing industry is facing, and know businesses involved in the export of highly perishable goods, such as fish, will be more affected by delays at the border. That is why, we have announced a £23 million scheme which will provide crucial support for fishermen and seafood exporters, who have experienced delays and a lack of demand for fish from the restaurant industry in the UK and Europe. This is in addition to the £100 million fund announced by the Prime Minister last month.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what actions they are taking to rectify issues with commodity codes that are reportedly causing trucks exporting fish to France to be delayed at the UK–France border.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Fish Export Service (FES) went live on 29 December 2020, providing the functionality to create a UK catch certificate for fish and shellfish caught by UK flagged vessels for export. The FES service included a simplified commodity code selection process designed to assist users as much as possible. FES launched with 1957 commodity codes, covering most fish and shellfish products. Since this date, following user feedback, the system has been further improved and updated to include 1959 commodity codes.
Following further industry feedback since this date, a commodity code review panel has been set up to continuously assure and update commodity code reference data as more traffic comes through the system. The department is also actively engaging with other departments, including HMRC customs leads, to jointly review and respond to feedback being raised by exporters of fish and shellfish products.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much (1) has been spent to date, and (2) they estimate will be spent this financial year, on the NHS Test and Trace service.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The spend across Test and Trace for the year to September is £2.7 billion. The Government's winter plan announced an additional £7 billion of funding which will allow NHS Test and Trace to increase testing and continue to improve contact tracing, taking the overall budget for Test and Trace this financial year to £22 billion.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what occasions since 1 January 2012 Cabinet Office officials have met Lex Greensill.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
Details of Cabinet Office senior official (Permanent Secretary) meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis, and are available on GOV.UK.