Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 17 December (HL12096), whether the adoption of the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration would not make any criticism of immigration a criminal offence; and if so, what plans they have to mitigate any such impact on freedom of speech.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK Government is supportive of the United Nations’ Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, both as a step forward in international co-operation to tackle irregular migration and as a framework to help us deliver our commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals. The Secretary of State announced the UK’s support for the Migration Compact at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, and Minister Burt attended the intergovernmental launch event in Marrakesh in December 2018.
Well-managed migration is in everyone’s interests. But uncontrolled migration erodes public confidence, damages economies, and places people on the move in situations of great vulnerability. The UK is taking significant steps to tackle uncontrolled migration both in our domestic policy work and in our ODA-funded programmes by:
The Global Compact for Migration supports delivery of these efforts within the international system and enhances cooperation between states without affecting the sovereignty of all countries to control their own borders. The Compact will not in any way create legal obligations for States, nor does it seek to establish international customary law or further interpret existing treaties or national obligations. It does not establish a ‘human right to migrate’ or create any new legal categories of migrant. The GCM emphasises that migrants are entitled to the same universal human rights as any human being and does not create any new ‘rights’ for migrants.
The Compact commits to protecting freedom of expression for the press and public. The freedom of the media to debate all issues of importance to society, including the issue of migration in all its aspects, is fundamental to a liberal society and the UK Government attaches the highest importance to this. The UK reiterated the importance of this when the UN adopted the Global Compact in December 2018.
It also includes proposals which will help the UK make a strong contribution to the delivery of the global Sustainable Development Goals. This includes those relating to orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people; and those intended to eradicate forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking, and child labour.
The final draft of the Compact is available online at:
https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/180711_final_draft_0.pdf
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the practice whereby shares lent for short selling are sold without the explicit knowledge of the beneficial owner, and (2) whether regulatory authorities are able to ensure that those using this practice comply with relevant legislation.
Answered by Lord Bates
This practice is regulated under the terms of the EU’s Securities Financing Transactions Regulation and the UK Money Markets Code. The European Supervisory Authorities, Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England are responsible for enforcing the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to adopt the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration; and if so, what assessment they have made of the impact of such an adoption, particularly in relation to whether doing so would make any criticism of immigration a criminal offence; and whether they have any plans to mitigate any such impact on freedom of speech.
Answered by Lord Bates
Well-managed migration is in everyone’s interests. But uncontrolled migration erodes public confidence, damages economies, and places those on the move in situations of great vulnerability. The UK is taking significant steps to tackle uncontrolled migration both in our domestic policy work and in our ODA-funded programmes by:
Addressing the root causes of migration, through our targeted assistance for livelihoods, healthcare, education and economic development;
The Global Compact for Migration is one way in which we are working to ensure that UK migration priorities are embedded throughout the international system. It is a step forward in international co-operation to tackle irregular migration and helpful framework to help us deliver our commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Compact is not legally binding. It creates a framework that will allow countries to work together to make migration more beneficial for everyone. It protects every State’s right to determine its own immigration policies, including in areas such as asylum, border controls and returns of illegal migrants.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to seek compensation for the UK's contributions to the European Space Agency for those EU programmes it will no longer be able to participate in after Brexit; and if so, how much.
Answered by Lord Henley
The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organisation, independent of the European Union. We have been clear that we will continue membership of ESA and an independent report has shown that the UK gets on average a return of £10 for every £1 it invests with ESA.
The EU’s space programmes are not funded by ESA, but by the EU itself (and, by extension, Member State contributions to the EU’s budget).
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost to the Exchequer of the tax foregone due to tax relief on charity investment income (1) in the last year, and (2) over the last five years; and what is the breakdown of the total cost over the last five years per taxpayer, per year.
Answered by Lord Bates
Tax relief is available on donations to charity by individuals and organisations, and to charities for their activities, including investment income.
Information about tax relief on charities’ investment income, and on charitable donations by organisations is not readily available.
Estimates for tax reliefs on charitable donations by individuals are published in “UK charity tax relief statistics”. The table below is an extract from the latest edition.
Extract from Table 2: Estimates for UK charities tax reliefs. Updated June 2018. Restricted to those reliefs for which accurate figures can be estimated
£m | Reliefs paid to charities | Reliefs paid to individuals | ||||
Tax Year | Gift Aid | Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme | Inheritance Tax | Payroll Giving | Gifts of shares and property | Higher Rate Relief on Gift Aid |
2013-14 | 1060 | 10 | 660 | 40 | 60 | 410 |
2014-15 | 1210 | 20 | 700 | 40 | 60 | 480 |
2015-16 | 1300 | 30 | 800 | 40 | 70 | 500 |
2016-17 | 1280 | 30 | 840 | 40 | 70 | 490 |
2017-18 | 1270 | 30 | 860 | 40 | 70 | 490 |
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the annual cost to the Exchequer of the tax foregone due to tax relief on charitable donations (1) in the last year, and (2) over the last five years.
Answered by Lord Bates
Tax relief is available on donations to charity by individuals and organisations, and to charities for their activities, including investment income.
Information about tax relief on charities’ investment income, and on charitable donations by organisations is not readily available.
Estimates for tax reliefs on charitable donations by individuals are published in “UK charity tax relief statistics”. The table below is an extract from the latest edition.
Extract from Table 2: Estimates for UK charities tax reliefs. Updated June 2018. Restricted to those reliefs for which accurate figures can be estimated
£m | Reliefs paid to charities | Reliefs paid to individuals | ||||
Tax Year | Gift Aid | Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme | Inheritance Tax | Payroll Giving | Gifts of shares and property | Higher Rate Relief on Gift Aid |
2013-14 | 1060 | 10 | 660 | 40 | 60 | 410 |
2014-15 | 1210 | 20 | 700 | 40 | 60 | 480 |
2015-16 | 1300 | 30 | 800 | 40 | 70 | 500 |
2016-17 | 1280 | 30 | 840 | 40 | 70 | 490 |
2017-18 | 1270 | 30 | 860 | 40 | 70 | 490 |
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that tougher emissions checks under the new MOT system may leave diesel car drivers facing expensive repair bills or the need to scrap their cars; and whether they will consider introducing a compensation scheme for drivers of cars that fail their MOT as a result of recent changes to emissions standards.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Amendments to MOT testing for cars, which took effect on 20 May, include a test of emissions control systems on diesel vehicles. Where these are visibly defective, modified, or missing, or where smoke of any colour is emitted, a major fault will be recorded and the vehicle will fail its MOT. Some cars will not meet these standards, for example where diesel particulate filters have been removed, and these vehicles will require repairs in order to pass the MOT test if they are to remain in use. However, the Government is clear that vehicles using public roads must comply with the air pollutant emissions standards they were designed to meet. The Government currently has no plans to introduce a scrappage scheme for vehicles failing their MOT as a result of these changes.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the report from the Competition and Markets Authority Legal services market study published in December 2016, what plans they have, if any, to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to suggest to law firms that they should publish their hourly rates online.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has no plans to collect data on the uniformity of hourly rates charged throughout the legal profession, or to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to suggest to law firms that they should publish their hourly rates online.
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government and the Legal Services Board is the oversight regulator. The regulatory bodies are taking forward measures to achieve greater pricing transparency in the sector. The Legal Services Board is monitoring progress on this.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 28 March (HL6178), given that litigation costs are a minor proportion of legal fees, what plans they have, if any, to begin collecting data on the uniformity of hourly rates charged throughout the legal profession.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Government has no plans to collect data on the uniformity of hourly rates charged throughout the legal profession, or to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to suggest to law firms that they should publish their hourly rates online.
The legal profession in England and Wales is independent of Government and the Legal Services Board is the oversight regulator. The regulatory bodies are taking forward measures to achieve greater pricing transparency in the sector. The Legal Services Board is monitoring progress on this.
Asked by: Lord Vinson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 19 March (HL6520), why they have not estimated the number of tax residency self-certification forms that have been completed or will be completed annually in future; and what assessment they have made of the extent to which a full regulatory impact assessment can be prepared without such estimates.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is the global standard for the exchange of financial account information. Under the CRS financial institutions are required to obtain and report the tax residence information of their account holders. The information that tax authorities will receive under the CRS is a vital part of global efforts to tackle offshore tax evasion and increase tax transparency. Under the CRS financial institutions are required to carry out due diligence procedures, including obtaining tax residency self-certifications from some account holders.
HMRC does not consider estimating the number of tax residency self-certification forms received by financial institutions or estimating how many account holders annually will self-certify in future to be a useful exercise at this time. A Tax Information and Impact Note was published on 18 March 2015 in accordance with the government’s tax policy making process.
HMRC continues to monitor the impact of the CRS through information collected through the information exchange arrangements, competent authority discussions, tax returns and compliance work undertaken by HMRC.