Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 29 November (HL3471), which said that the outturn for winter fuel payments for the year 2020/21 was £1,958 million in nominal terms, whether they have considered making winter fuel payments a taxable benefit; and if so, what estimate they have made of the tax yield that would result.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government has no plans to make Winter Fuel Payments taxable, and as such no analysis has been undertaken to estimate how much this would raise.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 22 November (HL3405), what plans they have, if any, to give an indication of (1) a timetable for the commencement of the independent review into the causes of disputes between those with parental responsibility and those responsible for the care or medical treatment of critically ill children, (2) details of the membership of the review, and (3) terms of reference for the review, which is due to report by 1 October 2023.
Answered by Lord Markham
We expect the commissioning process to be completed in the coming weeks. While the review will not have a fixed membership, it will engage with a range of interested or affected people and organisations. This will include health professionals and the families of critically ill children, to ensure it develops a balanced evidence base for identifying solutions. The organisation undertaking the review will be asked to publish its terms of reference shortly after it has been commissioned.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Kamall on 8 September (HL Deb, col 272), whether they will provide an update on the progress of commissioning an independent review into the causes of disputes between those with parental responsibility and those responsible for the care or medical treatment of critically ill children.
Answered by Lord Markham
The Department is currently examining the commissioning process for the review and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to maintain their decision to increase alcohol duty this year, and (2) to devise a strategy to bring the tax back in line to the level it was in 2010.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government keeps the duty rates under review during its yearly budget process and aims to balance the impact on businesses with its public health objectives.
On 17 October, the Chancellor announced a reversal of almost all of the tax measures set out in the Growth Plan that have not been legislated for in Parliament. This included the freeze of alcohol duty rates from 1 February 2023.
The alcohol duty uprating decision and interactions with the wider reforms to alcohol duties under the Alcohol Duty Review will be considered in due course.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the information regarding Harrods in the article “Amazon gets tough with workers over 35p pay rise”, published in The Sunday Times on 14 August; whether Harrods is classified as a “crucial public service”; whether supermarkets are classified as such; and what other services are included in that designation.
Answered by Lord Callanan
The legislation repealing regulation 7 applies to all employers in all sectors. It came into force on 21st July after debates in both houses of Parliament. It gives employers the choice to work with employment businesses to find suitably qualified staff when they are facing industrial action and offers agency workers the freedom to accept roles replacing staff on strike if they wish. It does not affect the ability of workers to go on strike and existing protections for striking workers are maintained. It does, however, balance the right to strike against the right of employers and third parties not to suffer disproportionate disruption. This is particularly important as we continue to recover from the pandemic and are faced with what are global economic challenges.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 27 June (HL854), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what assessment they have made of the report by Lord Skidelsky Economic Sanctions: A Weapon out of Control, published in April; and in particular, what assessment they have made of the conclusion that "They [sanctions] should come into play only after diplomacy has been exhausted, never as an alternative to it. This has not been the case in the present conflict".
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The UK uses sanctions as part of a broader political strategy, a comprehensive approach encompassing the full range of diplomatic actions. Russia's assault on Ukraine is an unprovoked, premeditated attack against a sovereign democratic state that threatens global security. There can be no negotiated settlement which replicates the Minsk Agreement, which came at the expense of Ukraine's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. Prior to Russia's further invasion, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and the Secretary of State for Defence visited Moscow and the Prime Minister spoke to Putin. However, Putin launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and has made clear he will not stop at Ukraine in his ambitions, but go further by targeting other sovereign nations. In the face of rising aggression we must be assertive in use of our economic levers such as sanctions, and the UK will continue ratcheting up economic pressure in order to cripple Putin's war machine.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the remarks by the new Chief of the British Army that "there is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle" represents Government policy.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The 2021 Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper set out a year ago that Russia poses “the greatest nuclear, conventional military and sub-threshold threat to European security”.
Warfighting capability remains the cornerstone of deterrence and the bedrock of a world-class British Army. The ability and willingness to commit hard capability to fighting wars is a fundamental foundation of our influence and deterrence.
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, therefore confirms why the UK must be ready to defend and deter threats emanating from our adversaries in a deteriorating global security environment.
We continue to review our capabilities and readiness levels as we deliver the transformation of the Army under Future Soldier.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the remarks by the new Chief of the British Army on 16 June regarding "fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle", (2) the potential for more fatalities as a result of the UK's involvement in the war against Russia; and what estimate they have made, if any, of the number of fatalities that would result from UK involvement in the conflict.
Answered by Baroness Goldie
The ability and willingness to commit hard capability to fighting wars is a fundamental foundation of our influence and deterrence. As outlined in the Integrated Review, we will continue to work with our Allies and partners to increase our interoperability and burden sharing, ensuring a united response to threats to global security, combining our military, diplomatic and intelligence assets in support of collective security.
We conduct a rigorous assessment of the risks associated with providing defensive capabilities to Ukraine. However, Ukraine is not a NATO member and Ministers have been clear that UK troops will not fight alongside the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We do not comment on hypothetical situations.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when section 177 of the Health and Care Act 2022 came, or will come, into force.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Section 117 of the Health and Care Act 2022 will come into force on 1 October 2022.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Lord Skidelsky Economic Sanctions: A Weapon out of Control, published in April.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government uses our sanctions regimes as part of an integrated approach to promote our values and interests, and to combat state threats, terrorism, cyber-attacks, and the use and proliferation of chemical weapons. The UK considers the impact and effectiveness of sanctions, and works with our international partners to ensure sanctions regimes support our objectives and minimise unintended impacts.
In lockstep with our allies, we have announced the strongest set of economic sanctions ever imposed against a major economy in response to Russia's unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine, cutting off funding for Putin's war machine. The UK's sanctions have been strategically coordinated with international allies to impose a severe cost. Sanctions imposed by the UK and its international partners are having deep and damaging consequences for Putin's ability to wage war, with around £275 billion - up to 60% of Russian foreign currency reserves - currently frozen.