Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that once buildings are remediated, there is a mechanism to remove the non-qualifying status so that it does not affect (1) property valuation, (2) mortgage lending, and (3) saleability in perpetuity.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There is no test of ability to pay for freeholders; the £2 million ‘contribution condition’ merely determines whether freeholders must meet all remediation costs for qualifying leaseholders or whether they can seek capped contributions from them. Likewise, the ‘annual profit condition’ of £10 million is an initial level above which we are seeking to apply the Responsible Actors’ Scheme to developers; it is not a figure below which developers are somehow exempt from meeting the cost of remediation.
Once a building is remediated, the qualifying status of a lease should not have an impact on valuation, or mortgage lending. Major mortgage lenders made clear in a statement in March 2022 they would lend on buildings subject to remediation and guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published in December 2022 provides a clear approach on valuing properties impacted by building safety issues.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the green levy on energy bills will be introduced from 1 July after a six-month interval rather than after a two-year suspension as per their previous stated policy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the 2022 Growth Plan, the Government pledged to provide £150 to cover the costs ofgreen leviesincluded in energy bills for two years through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG). By the end of June, this Guarantee will have saved a typical household in Great Britain around £1,100 in total, including the £150 we committed to.
From July 2023, the Ofgem price cap will be set at £2,074, below the EPG discount level of £3,000 for a typical household.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to return smart motorways to ordinary motorways in the interests of safety.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 16 April, the Government announced that all plans for new smart motorways have been cancelled, recognising the lack of confidence felt by drivers and cost pressures. This means no new smart motorways will be built.
We are focused on investing £900m to add further safety improvements to existing smart motorways, including constructing 150 extra emergency areas – so that people can continue to get around easily and with increased confidence.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the historic vehicle tax exemption by altering the 40-year rule to 30 years.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
At Budget 2014 the Government announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) exemption for classic cars in recognition of their important contribution to UK heritage and culture.
The Government has set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from those that are simply older vehicles and there are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age to 30 years.
As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the pot holes on the A1(M) to have been repaired.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Safety inspections on the A1(M) are carried out by National Highways on a weekly basis and since January this year they have identified and repaired 16 potholes on the A1(M) between junctions 15 and 16 (Alconbury to Peterborough). There are no further potholes identified or awaiting repair. A maintenance scheme to resurface and address surface defects on the northbound carriageway of this stretch of the road is planned for September/October 2023.
In the same period, National Highways has also identified over 340 potholes on the A1(M) in both directions between junctions 6 and 10. To date, they have repaired 323 and plan to carry out minor surface repairs to address the remaining 19 potholes over the next two months.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they monitor whether local authorities are using funds provided by central Government for repairing potholes for that purpose.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport (DfT) allocates capital funding to local highways authorities under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 (“the Act”) so that they can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective networks, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances, and priorities.
Section 31 grant funding is not ringfenced as set out in the Act; it is up to the highway authority how to spend this funding to fulfil its statutory duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980. Local decision makers are democratically accountable for the decisions they take.
DfT strongly encourages authorities to spend their allocations on highways maintenance activities and advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as gulleys, bridges, cycleways, and lighting columns – and not just the fixing of potholes.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why there are over 90 empty care homes in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not monitor or publish data on the number of empty care homes within England. Adult social care services are provided through a largely outsourced market of commercial organisations and charities. Local authorities have a duty to promote the efficient and effective operation of their local adult social care market and are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to recent meetings between Treasury ministers, food suppliers and retailers and the Competition and Markets Authority, what assessment they have made of the existing benefits to consumers of price competition between major supermarkets.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury spoke to supermarket representatives on 11 May 2023, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer met with food manufacturers on 23 May 2023 about the cost of food in the UK.
The Competition and Markets Authority announced on 15 May 2023 that it would conduct further work in the grocery sector to understand whether any failure in competition is contributing to grocery prices being higher than they would be in a well-functioning market. Once published, the Government will consider the Competition and Markets Authority’s findings.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the illicit vaping enforcement squad will commence work.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Trading Standards, who are delivering the vaping enforcement work, have already commenced work on data collection and intelligence analysis of the illicit vaping market. Other activity, for example at the border, test purchasing and testing of illicit products, is likely to commence in the Autumn.
Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the list of items used to calculate the core inflation figure were last reviewed.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
The Rt Hon. the Lord Naseby
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
05 June 2023
Dear Lord Naseby,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking when the list of items used to calculate the core inflation figure were last reviewed (HL8157).
The list of items used to calculate Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Consumer Prices Index, including owner occupiers’ Housing costs (CPIH), and their core equivalents, is updated on an annual basis.
Prices were first collected for the most recent update in January this year. In 2023, 26 items were added to the CPIH basket, including e-bikes and frozen berries. 16 items were removed, including digital compact cameras and non-chart CD albums bought in store.
Further information can be found in our Consumer price inflation basket of goods and services: 2023 release [1].
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/ukconsumerpriceinflationbasketofgoodsandservices/2023