Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the income from the Crown Estates for the past five years; what proportion of this is allocated to the Royal Family and for what purpose; and what plans they have, if any, to review this allocation.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The net revenue surplus from The Crown Estate (TCE) is in the public domain and can be obtained from the TCE annual accounts.
Information for the last five years is set out below :
The King surrenders this revenue from The Crown Estate to the government. In exchange, the King receives public funding in line with the Sovereign Grant Act 2011. The Act specifies that the Sovereign receives a grant each financial year.
Under the Act, the Grant is currently based on 25% of The Crown Estate's revenue account profit in the year two years prior to the funding year. The Act also requires that the Royal Trustees (the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Keeper of the Privy Purse) periodically review whether the percentage used remains appropriate.
The Royal Trustees’ second periodic review of the percentage value used to determine the Sovereign Grant is expected to conclude shortly. This will take account of expected changes to The Crown Estate’s revenues. Any change in the percentage value will then be used in the calculation of the Grant for 2024-25.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what occasions, and for what purposes, the Duchy of Cornwall has (1) sought, and (2) been given, approval to start arbitration proceedings under the Duchy of Cornwall Management Act 1863.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The requirement for the Duchy of Cornwall to seek Treasury consent before referring a matter to arbitration are contained in section 18 of the Duchy of Cornwall Act 1863.
This requirement would only arise in very specific and narrow circumstances, where both the Duchy and the counterparty with whom the Duchy has a dispute elect that the matter be settled by arbitration. Treasury consent is not required where the Duchy is otherwise statutorily bound to enter into arbitration proceedings.
Since the start of 2001, His Majesty’s Treasury has received no applications to start arbitration proceedings under the Duchy of Cornwall Management Act 1863. The costs of establishing whether any application was received prior to that date could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 28 June (HL1076), whether (1) His Royal Highness the Duke of York, (2) His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, and (3) the Duchess of Sussex, are members of the Royal Family for the purpose of receiving Sovereign Grant funding when conducting official duties on behalf of Her Majesty.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
No; only those Members of the Royal Family who currently undertake official duties on behalf of Her Majesty, The Queen receive funding from the Sovereign Grant.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they funded the return charter flight for the Duke of Sussex from the United States to the UK for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
No public money was used for the charter flight for the Duke of Sussex from the United States to the UK.The Government provides financial support to the Queen known as the Sovereign Grant, to fund The Queen's official duties and maintain the Occupied Royal Palaces. Funding from the Sovereign Grant only covers expenses incurred by other Members of the Royal Family when they undertake official duties on behalf of Her Majesty.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much taxation revenue was collected from each of the three cross-Solent ferry operators in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HMRC is bound by a strict duty of confidentiality, as laid down in the Commissioners for Revenue & Customs Act 2005, with respect to all the information it holds. Therefore, HMRC is unable to provide identifiable customer information in connection with its functions.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Annual Report on Major Projects 2020–21 by from the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, published on 15 July, (1) why historical data of eight years of 'amber/red' or 'red' colour ratings has been deleted, (2) why the HS2 project has been separated into Phases 1, 2a and 2b, and (3) on what (a) costs, (b) benefits, and (c) timetable, are the revised assessments of Phases 1 and 2b made; and what steps they plan to take to ensure these are assessed as 'amber' or 'green' in the 2021–22 report.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The IPA is not responsible for the individual GMPP projects, and the decisions to re-assess, or cancel a project belong to the relevant Departmental Accounting Officer.
The previous Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) rating colours for HS2 are not shown as this is the first time that the individual phases of the project have been presented in the IPA’s Annual Report, previously HS2 has been presented as a single project.
The IPA will continue to work closely with all departments and delivery bodies, including the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to ensure efficient and effective delivery to drive construction innovation and capture and share lessons learned.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Annual Report on Major Projects 2020–21 by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, published on 15 July, in respect of the projects categorised 'red', what plans they have (1) to reassess the need for these projects, and (2) to cancel these projects; and what estimate they have made of the savings that would result from cancelling these projects.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The IPA is not responsible for the individual GMPP projects, and the decisions to re-assess, or cancel a project belong to the relevant Departmental Accounting Officer.
The previous Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) rating colours for HS2 are not shown as this is the first time that the individual phases of the project have been presented in the IPA’s Annual Report, previously HS2 has been presented as a single project.
The IPA will continue to work closely with all departments and delivery bodies, including the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd to ensure efficient and effective delivery to drive construction innovation and capture and share lessons learned.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what categories of persons are exempt from the normal application of death duties and under what circumstances; and which legislation enables any such exemptions.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The normal application of death duties is set out in the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) which includes a number of exemptions for specific categories of persons. For example, Armed Forces personnel who die in active service are exempt from inheritance tax under section 154(1)(a) IHTA 1984. IHTA 1984 does not apply in respect of the Sovereign who is not legally liable to pay inheritance tax. The Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation sets out the tax position for the Sovereign and The Prince of Wales.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation, published in March 2013, whether inheritance tax will be payable on any bequests from HRH The Prince Philip to (1) HM Queen, (2) HRH The Prince of Wales, and (3) other members of the Royal Family.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government does not comment on the tax affairs of individuals. The tax affairs of the late Prince are entitled to the same strict confidentiality as those of any other person. The Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation sets out the tax position for the Sovereign and The Prince of Wales. The normal inheritance tax rules will apply to other individuals.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what new customs IT systems have been identified by the Border and Protocol Delivery Group as being required from the end of the Brexit transition period; and if any such systems are required, (1) how many of those systems they expect to be fully operational and tested (a) now, (b) from 1 January 2021, and (c) after 1 January 2021; (2) when these systems will be available to businesses for training purposes, and (3) what contingency arrangements they have put in place to deal with any delays in the roll out of those systems.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The following systems are expected to be fully operational and tested (a) now, (b) from 1 January 2021, and (c) after 1 January 2021
New IT System | Fully Operational and Tested Now | To Be Fully Operational against the January requirements, and Tested From Jan 2021 | To Be Fully Operational and Tested After Jan 2021 |
NCTS | Y | Y |
|
GB S&S (ICS 2.0) | Y | Y |
|
GVMS |
| y |
It is expected that businesses will be fully operational for testing purposes to the time scales set out below:
IT System | Date Operational for Testing Purposes? DD/MM |
NCTS | 02/12/20 |
GB S&S (ICS 2.0) | 26/10/20 |
GVMS | 12/12/20 |
These systems will be fully operational against the January requirements.
The Government is ensuring that it is able to operate a model that fulfils its obligations and is working through contingency or fallback solutions in case of non-delivery of systems and lack of external readiness.