Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to ensure travel agents, tour operators and other travel businesses are prioritised for support from the Business Rates relief fund announced on 25 March.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Funding for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that have not otherwise been eligible for existing reliefs will be available once the legislation relating to material change in circumstance provisions, the Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, has passed and Local Authorities (LAs) have established their own local relief schemes. The Government will support LAs to do this as quickly as possible, including through new burdens funding.
Formal guidance will follow in due course, setting out the specific considerations that LAs should have regard for when providing relief. Relief will be for LAs to award on a discretionary basis.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement that they have identified a £2.9 billion package of reductions in their planned Official Development Assistance spend, whether the budgets of other Government departments will be affected by those reductions; if so, which; and in each case, what will be the value of such reductions.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending departments have identified changes to their budget to make sure we meet, but do not exceed the 0.7% commitment. This package includes underspends, delaying activity and stopping some activity to maintain our flexibility in managing our ODA spending against an uncertain 0.7% position.
As normal, there will continue to be adjustments in-year to individual departmental ODA spend to meet the 0.7% commitment. Revised ODA allocations for 2020/21 will be published by HM Treasury at Autumn Budget and the Statistics for International Development to be published in 2021 will provide a full breakdown of the UK’s ODA spend for 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will conduct a review of providers of pre-payment plans, and of the sales practices of such providers, with a view to appropriate regulation of this sector.
Answered by Lord Bates
I have interpreted this question as relating to the pre-paid funeral plan market. The government launched a call for evidence into the regulation of the pre-paid funeral plan market in June 2018, having concluded that the current framework of self-regulation is not sufficient to ensure the fair treatment of consumers. We are currently reviewing the submissions and a response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Goudie (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the £660 million to be available to Northern Ireland and the southern border counties under PEACE IV, and other EU Structural Fund subventions, will continue to be made available to those areas.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
As the Prime Minister has made clear, while the UK remains a member of the EU, current EU funding arrangements continue unchanged. It will be for the government under the new Prime Minister to begin the negotiation to leave, and set out arrangements for those currently in receipt of EU funds.