Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 12 July (HL1536), what if any access the National Audit Office has to private emails which they regard as amounting to “substantive discussions or decision generated in the course of conducting government business” but which have not been copied to a government email address.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As set out in the answer to HL1536, material amounting to “substantive discussions or decision generated in the course of conducting government business“ should be transferred to the official record and, as such, will be accessible by the NAO in the usual way. In addition, and as set out in Managing Public Money, when the NAO investigates any public sector organisation, it should get full cooperation in provision of papers.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the National Audit Office have the power to access the private emails of either (1) civil servants, (2) special advisers, or (3) ministers, if these have been used for government business relating directly to their investigations.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Under the National Audit Act 1983, the Comptroller and Auditor General has a right of access to all documents in the custody or under the control of a department that he reasonably requires for carrying out National Audit Office value for money examinations. There is a similar provision in the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 in relation to examinations by the Comptroller and Auditor General of a documents relating to a department’s accounts.
The 2013 Cabinet Office Guidance to departments on the use private email is clear that the originator or recipient of a communication should consider whether the information contained in private emails amounts to substantive discussions or decisions generated in the course of conducting government business, and take steps to ensure the relevant information is accessible (e.g. by copying it to a government email address).
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prioritise companies which support UK environmental and climate targets for financial support administered as part of COVID-19 support programmes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced in decades. Alongside the focus on supporting the economy, the Government continues to take its environmental responsibilities very seriously.
The Government’s support for business includes paying workers’ wages through the furlough scheme, deferring tax payments, over [£27] billion of government-backed loans and [£18.9] billion of corporate financing through the Bank of England. We will assess the impacts of potential interventions against their contribution to our environmental goals, including our climate change and air quality targets.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of those who will be working at HMRC's new building at 3 Arena Central in Birmingham will be able to store their bikes in the building; and whether there are any plans to increase the number of HMRC employees cycling to that workplace, in line with their active travel strategy.
Answered by Lord Bates
HMRC is committed to supporting its staff to make sustainable and active travel choices. HMRC is developing a comprehensive Sustainable Travel Plan for each Regional Centre and published the first such plan, for Croydon Regional Centre, in July 2017.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 3 January (HL4167), how many of the 687 employers named and shamed for non-compliance with the national minimum wage since October 2013 identified further arrears, not included in the sum of arrears for which they were named, under the self-correction mechanism introduced by HM Revenue and Customs in 2015; what is the combined total of those further, self-corrected arrears; and to how many workers those further, self-corrected arrears were owed.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Self-correction was introduced in 2015 and additional arrears recorded in 2015-16 data. Employers are not named for additional self-corrected arrears. Due to the small number of cases involved in addition to those provided in response to Written Question 52385, publishing aggregate self-correction data could allow individual employers to be identified, and would amount to naming them.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether waste operators can distribute Landfill Communities Fund monies directly to projects, or must do so through an environmental body.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Landfill operators can only distribute monies from the Landfilll Communities Fund to environmental bodies. In order to receive money directly from a landfill operator, a project would have to register as an environmental body with the scheme’s regulator, ENTRUST.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if all air fares for aircraft departing from UK airports were subject to a tax at 20 per cent.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Such a form of taxation would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law. Consequently, no such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if aviation fuel were subject to the same rate of tax as fuel for motor vehicles.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
In accordance with its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel. Consequently, no such assessments have been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how much revenue will be raised from Air Passenger Duty this financial year, and how much would need to be raised to compensate for the loss of fuel tax and VAT on air fares.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The government expects APD to raise £3.1 billion over the financial year 2015-16.
In accordance with the long standing 1944 Chicago Convention, its bilateral Air Service Agreements and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel or charge VAT on air fares. Consequently, the government does not consider this lost revenue and no such estimates have been made.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to Twickenham Rowing Club was audited by ENTRUST, and what assessment they have made of the environmental objectives that grant fulfils.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.
The prescribed objectives include:
within the vicinity of a landfill site.
ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.