Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that supported lodgings are fully integrated into the new Regional Care Cooperatives, and recognised as a core part of local sufficiency planning for older children in care and care leavers.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regional Care Cooperatives will plan and commission all placements for looked-after children in the region, including placements for older children in care.
The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations ensure that supported lodgings schemes are now registered and regulated by Ofsted, and must meet the supported accommodation standards to operate legally. This enables supported lodging to form part of local sufficiency planning for older children and care leavers.
Local authorities and Regional Care Cooperatives can therefore identify where registered provision exists and commission supported lodgings with the added level of quality assurance that regulation provides via registration and regular inspection.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they plan to have with the government of Cyprus and the Sovereign Base Areas to allow the dependents of UK Armed Forces to work in Cyprus.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
At present, there are no discussions planned on this topic. Immediate family members of UK Service personnel are frequently employed by the Sovereign Base Areas Administration (SBAA) and by British Forces Cyprus (BFC), in the UK’s Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) on Cyprus. They are also free to start their own businesses in the SBAs. Additionally, immediate family members may apply for employment in the Republic of Cyprus, following the same process as any other UK citizen.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to normalise tax laws to allow dependents of UK Armed Forces in Cyprus to work for UK companies while in Cyprus.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has no plans to amend its rules on the taxation of cross-border employment income as they apply to military dependents living in the Sovereign Base Area of Cyprus.
There are no UK tax rules that prevent a person from working for a UK employer whilst they are resident in Cyprus. This includes individuals living within the Sovereign Base Area. Whether a country has the right to tax employment income will depend on where the person is resident and how much time is spent working in the other country.
The UK has a comprehensive Double Taxation Agreement with the Republic of Cyprus. This is based on the Model Tax Convention produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and regulates which country has the right to tax income in which circumstances. The UK and Cyprus have well established international rules which address how income is taxed when a person is resident in one country and works in another. These rules operate so that an individual is not taxed twice on the same income.
Where a person is resident in the Sovereign Base Area, they are not considered a tax resident in either the UK or Cyprus; instead, they are subject to the tax rules of the Base. There is a provision within the law of the Sovereign Base Area allowing for a credit for any tax paid elsewhere. This ensures that residents of the Sovereign Base Area do not suffer double taxation on income earned from employment outside of the Sovereign Base Area.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether welfare benefits or tax credits, including disability benefits that a kinship carer receives for themselves or the child, will be impacted if they receive financial support through the Kinship Allowance Pilot.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Chapter Two of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005, and the provisions of the Special Guardianship statutory guidance, will apply to local authorities participating in the Kinship Allowance Pilot; and, if so how.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to improve consistency, fairness and transparency in the provision of special guardianship allowances concurrently with the Kinship Allowance Pilot.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the financial support paid under the Kinship Allowance Pilot will be means tested.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The kinship allowance pilot will provide financial support to eligible kinship carers with a Special Guardianship Order or a ‘lives with’ Child Arrangement Order where the child would have otherwise been in care. These carers will receive a weekly non-means tested allowance paid at the same rate as the national minimum fostering allowance, if they reside in the pilot local authorities.
The requirements under chapter 2 of the Special Guardianship Regulations 2005 (2005 Regulations) will not apply to the arrangements made under this pilot. Special Guardians receiving financial support under 2005 Regulations are barred from receiving this pilot's allowance to avoid the risk of double public-funding. We believe this will have minimal effect on financial support arrangements under the Special Guardianship Regulations because this pilot is only being run in a select few local authorities and for a specific period of time, so some Special Guardians will continue to prefer receiving financial support under the 2005 Regulations.
Further details of the pilot, including how payments made through the pilot will interact with social security benefits, will be made available when the pilot goes live.
The pilot will be independently evaluated to find out how best to deliver consistent financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are considering to encourage political engagement among young Britons living and working in the EU.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
It is for British nationals as individuals to decide whether they wish to become politically active while living and working in the EU.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on obtaining reciprocal voting rights in local elections for UK citizens in Italy; and whether these negotiations are a priority for the Government.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
We have existing bilateral agreements with Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Luxembourg, which were negotiated by the previous government. The UK is open to further, fully reciprocal bilateral voting agreements but these would be subject to the detail of future negotiations.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to prevent the sale of retrofitted LED vehicle headlight bulbs.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
There are no current plans to introduce legislation to prevent the sale of retrofitted LED vehicle headlight bulbs. The Government considers that the current provisions in both the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as amended) and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 (as amended) effectively regulate the sale of unapproved LED retrofit light sources.
Nevertheless, the Government recognises increased public concern around headlamp glare and has commissioned independent research. This is measuring light levels experienced by drivers during real driving on UK roads and considers factors like vehicle characteristics, weather conditions and ambient lighting. Careful consideration will be given to that work when it reports later this year to determine what future actions may be appropriate to ensure the safety of all road users.