Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many instances of whistleblowing there were to the Prudential Regulation Authority in each of the past four years.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
I refer the Noble Lord to my answer HL8060 on 5th June.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing were (1) reported, and (2) investigated, by the Financial Conduct Authority in (a) 2020 (b) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The FCA has reported and investigated the following number of whistleblowing cases for each year given:
As a Prescribed Person under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, the FCA has made this information publicly available in its Annual Report and Accounts since 2017.
Figures for 2022-2023 will be published in July in the FCA’s upcoming Prescribed Persons report.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing were (1) reported, and (2) investigated, by the Prudential Regulation Authority in (a) 2020 (b) 2021, (c) 2022, and (d) 2023.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Prudential Regulation Authority has reported and investigated the following number of whistleblowing cases for each year given:
As a Prescribed Person under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, the PRA has made this information publicly available in its Annual Report and Accounts since 2015/16.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many cases of whistleblowing were reported and investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The FCA has reported and investigated the following number of whistleblowing cases for each year given:
As a Prescribed Person under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, the FCA has made this information publicly available in its Annual Report and Accounts since 2017.
Figures for 2022-2023 will be published in July in the FCA’s upcoming Prescribed Persons report.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 20 February (HL5473), what estimate they have made of the total cost of marriage tax allowance; and what recent assessment they have made of raising the threshold.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Marriage Allowance is estimated to cost £600 million in 2022-2023.
The Chancellor has made clear that the UK’s public finances must be on a sustainable path. For this reason, the Marriage Allowance has remained targeted at basic rate taxpayers, and those who earn below the Personal Allowance.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Penn on 14 March (HL Deb col 1282), what exemptions to the Banking Act 2009 they granted to HSBC as part of its purchase of Silicon Valley Bank.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
On Monday March 13, the government, in consultation with the Bank of England, used its powers under the Banking Act 2009 to broaden an existing exemption in ring-fencing legislation to facilitate HSBC’s purchase of SVB UK. This has allowed HSBC’s ring-fenced bank to provide preferential intra-group lending to SVB UK and ensured SVB UK has the necessary liquidity to continue operating.
Separately, as a result of this existing provision in legislation, SVB UK will be exempt from ring-fencing requirements for a four-year transition period. The government intends to lay in due course another statutory instrument to extend this exemption beyond the four-year transition period, subject to conditions. This exemption will ensure that SVB UK can remain a commercially viable stand-alone business as part of HSBC group. HSBC itself remains subject to the ring-fencing regime.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total amount of backdated marriage allowance payments that have been paid in (1) 2022, (2) 2021, (3) 2020, and (4) 2019; and what estimate they have made of how much has not yet been claimed.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The information requested is not readily available to HMRC and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support financial inclusion for blind and partially-sighted people.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government works closely with regulators, industry, and consumer groups to promote financial inclusion. The Economic Secretary recently invited the Royal Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to attend the latest Financial Inclusion Policy Forum for a discussion of accessibility issues and consideration of what further action can be taken.
The Government is also currently legislating to protect access to cash, while many firms offer services to make everyday banking and payments interfaces, including ATMs and Point of Sale terminals, more accessible for consumers.
Importantly, all service providers, including banks and building societies are bound under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments, where necessary, in the way they deliver their services.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much beef was (1) exported, and (2) imported, in the years (a) 2022, (b) 2021, (c) 2020, and (d) 2019.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff.
Beef falls within commodity code chapter headings 0201 and 0202. The full commodity code would depend on the specific compounds of the beef. There could be additional commodity codes that have not been included, that could be considered as ‘Beef’ depending upon the requestor’s specific definition.
The amount of beef exported from and imported to the UK in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 is in the attached table and can be found on the UK Trade Information website and on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the value of UK direct (1) imports, and (2) exports, to Somalia.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
The value of UK imports and exports, where Somalia has been declared as the country of dispatch (for UK imports) or country of destination (for UK exports) is as follows
Table 1: UK Trade values (£) with Somalia, January - November 2022 | Imports | Exports |
All commodities | 638,928 | 13,153,065 |
Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics | ||
Notes | ||
• Data for 2022 is aligned with the most recently published data, e.g. up to and including November 2022 | ||
• 2022 is an open year and is therefore provisional and is subject to change | ||
• Values are defined as statistical value. | ||
Further information can be found on the UK Trade Information website.[1]
[1] UK Trade Info