Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 2 May (HL7140), which states that the Home Secretary’s comments reported in the Daily Mail on 1 April about sexual abuse of females by perpetrators described as “almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values”, related only to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, whether they will ask the Daily Mail to publish this clarification.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is clear that child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion. The Home Secretary’s comments relate to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, which showed that perpetrators in those cases were overwhelmingly British-Pakistani men, and the victims were white girls. However, of course child sexual abuse offenders come from every walk of life, every ethnicity, and every background – as do their victims.
The Home Secretary has made her comments clear, including through the Written Answer mentioned and through her publication in The Spectator on 22 April 2023.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their justification of the levy of import tariffs on goods and produce that are not produced by UK manufacturers and producers.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Global Tariff (UKGT) applies when exceptions, such as preferential treatment under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or the Generalised Scheme of Preferences, do not apply.
In designing the UKGT, the Government balanced the interests of UK producers and consumers, and strategic trade objectives such as its FTA agenda and its commitment to developing countries to reduce poverty through trade. For example, tariffs on certain goods have been retained to maintain preferential access for developing countries.
As with all policy, we welcome feedback which can be submitted using the feedback form available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tariffs-on-goods-imported-into-the-uk
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statements that “Research has found that group-based CSE offenders are most commonly White” and “there is no factor which makes any group of children uniquely vulnerable” in the Home Office report Group based Child Sexual Exploitation: Characteristics of Offending, published in December 2020, what new evidence they received following that report which led the Home Secretary to claim that perpetrators of child sexual exploitation are “almost all British-Pakistani” and that victims are “overwhelmingly white girls from disadvantaged or troubled backgrounds”.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We know that child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture, community, race or religion. The Home Secretary’s comments relate to the findings of local reviews into child sexual exploitation cases in Rotherham, Telford and Rochdale, which showed that perpetrators in those cases were overwhelmingly British-Pakistani men and the victims were white girls.
The 2020 Home Office report on group-based Child Sexual Exploitation set out the best evidence on ethnicity, age, offender networks, the context in which these crimes are committed and implications for national and local policy. As noted within the report, beyond those specific high-profile cases, the academic literature highlights significant limitations to what can be said about links between ethnicity and group-based child sexual exploitation.
It is essential for police and local authorities to have a good understanding of offender characteristics and the drivers of child sexual exploitation in their areas, so that they can uncover and tackle offending effectively. That is why the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have announced a number of steps to improve our data on, and our response to, group-based child sexual exploitation, including a new Taskforce, regional analysts in every police region, a new Complex and Organised Child Abuse Database hosted by the Taskforce and the roll out of the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme, which brings together force-level, regional, and national data and intelligence.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Sentencing Council Animal Cruelty Guidelines, published on 10 May 2022, why the Sentencing Council have proposed changing the maximum penalty for animal cruelty from five years as agreed in the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021, to three years' custody for the most serious offending.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The maximum penalty for any statutory offence is prescribed by Parliament. There are no plans to reduce the maximum penalty for animal cruelty offences from the current five years.
Sentencing guidelines are produced by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which is independent of the Government. The guidelines set out factors which courts must consider when deciding on a sentence and are designed to increase consistency and transparency in sentencing.
The Sentencing Council has consulted on revisions to the animal cruelty guideline to reflect recent legislation. The Council has proposed a sentence range of a fine up to three years imprisonment. As the consultation document explains, the upper limit for a sentence range is often lower than the maximum penalty set out in legislation to allow headroom for sentencers dealing with cases of exceptional seriousness. In such cases, statute permits a sentencer to step outside the offence range and impose any sentence up to the maximum.
The Sentencing Council’s consultation closed on 1 August. The Council is expected to publish the final guidelines in May of this year, having taken time to consider the consultation responses and make any revisions that they consider appropriate. Once published they would come into effect in July 2023.The consultation paper can be found here: Animal cruelty sentencing guidelines consultation (sentencingcouncil.org.uk).
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what legal asylum or immigration routes there are for Afghan academics who worked with visiting British academics under the Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) scheme, and who have subsequently been threatened by the Taliban regime, but have had their application to come to the UK under Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) rejected.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
The UK has made one of the largest commitments to support Afghanistan of any country and, so far, we have brought around 23,000 people affected by the situation in Afghanistan to safety. This includes more than 6,300 vulnerable Afghan nationals through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
This is one of the most ambitious resettlement schemes in our country’s history and we are proud to offer a safe and legal route to those affected by events in Afghanistan.
Those who are not offered resettlement under the ACRS or ARAP including Afgan academics will need to apply to come to the UK under our existing economic or family migration rules. Further information can be found on the website at:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration
Whilst the UK has made a generous resettlement commitment, we must bear in mind the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and therefore difficult decisions about who will be prioritised for resettlement have to be made.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether His Majesty’s Treasury has done any economic modelling on the impact of the new alcohol duty bands on the consumption of alcohol; and if so, whether this modelling predicts that they would (1) incentivise alcohol drinkers to drink lower-alcohol drinks, and (2) reduce their overall consumption of alcohol.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The UK’s complex and archaic alcohol duty system has been widely criticised by independent commentators including the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), the Institute of Alcohol Studies, and the World Health Organization, with many of them advocating for a strength-based system.
We are undertaking the biggest reform of alcohol duties for over 140 years and moving to a system where all alcohol will be taxed by strength. We are also introducing a new lower duty band for products between 1.3% and 3.4% ABV. As under the current duty system, products below 1.2% ABV will not incur alcohol duty. Higher ABV bands will have higher rates of duty, to reflect their greater potential for harm.
In October 2020, the Government launched a call for evidence which sought the views of stakeholders on how the system could be reformed. This closed in November 2020 with 106 responses. In parallel to the call for evidence, the Government also undertook a series of roundtables with groups of stakeholders, including public health groups, trade associations and economists. After analysing the responses to the call for evidence, the Government then launched a consultation on alcohol duty reform at Autumn Budget 2021. This consultation closed in January 2022 and received over 350 responses. Responses and evidence are published on the government website.
Similarly, the Government considered evidence which suggested that heavier drinkers consumed proportionately higher ABV drinks. For example, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published analysis that suggested that adults drinking 40 units per week consumed drinks at 18% ABV average, whereas those drinking 10 units per week consumed drinks at 14% ABV average. By failing to tax products consistently in line with their ABV, the duty system is not effectively targeted at the most harmful drinking.
The new alcohol duty system has been widely welcomed by public health stakeholders on this basis and is in line with WHO’s recommendation to base a duty system on alcoholic strength. Evidence suggests alcohol harm is linked to affordability, and the Government is addressing this through the alcohol duty reform.
These reforms have public health at its heart and the new strength-based duty system will incentivise consumption of low alcohol drinks, whilst reducing the consumption of stronger drinks more associated with alcohol harm. The Government has committed to evaluating the policy and its impacts after implementation.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the innovation principle was not included as one of the principles in the draft environmental principles policy statement published in May 2022; and whether they will include it in the final statement.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The environmental principles in the policy statement are set out in section 17 of the recent Environment Act.
Determining which principles were included in the Act involved thorough consideration, including a public consultation and significant engagement with stakeholders. The five internationally recognised principles are the integration principle, the prevention principle, the rectification at source principle, the polluter pays principle, and the precautionary principle.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, given the absence of the innovation principle from the draft environmental principles policy statement published in May 2022, what plans they have to encourage innovation in creating a cleaner and sustainable environment.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The policy statement outlines how the five principles should be interpreted and proportionately applied when making policy. The draft policy statement recognises the importance of innovation. For example, the precautionary principle incentivises innovation by encouraging development of alternative policy options that reduce risk and uncertainty.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to modernise, and (2) to automate, the gift aid system.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government recognises the important work the charity sector does in the UK, which is why we currently provide tax reliefs to charities and their donors worth over £5 billion per year, including over £1.3 billion in Gift Aid. The Government has received ideas from the sector on developing Gift Aid for the digital age and continues to keep all aspects of this important tax relief under review.
Last year 99% of Gift Aid claims were already made online by charities with only 1% submitted by paper, but HM Revenue and Customs has been engaging further with the charity sector to understand the remaining challenges. This work remains ongoing and is considering all aspects of the service including whether it meets the needs of its users, as well as the registration and claims process. One way this has taken place is through inviting charities to complete a short survey about the process.[1]
[1] https://zwgy80l7.optimalworkshop.com/questions/z6n2hh7v
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay on 8 December 2022 (HL4451), what steps they are taking to encourage place-based giving schemes following the end of the Growing Place-based Giving Programme.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Charitable giving has a proud tradition in the UK, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is keen to highlight the importance and impact of such giving.
Last year the Department encouraged charitable giving by supporting the Small Charity Week campaign (20–24 June 2022), aimed at promoting the work of small charities. As part of that work, the Department encouraged people to think about a local cause or small charity about which they care and, if they were able to do so, to consider supporting it by donating money, goods, or time.
The Department continues to endorse Payroll Giving, which allows tax-free donations to be made to charity directly from an individual’s pay or pension. In 2021 this scheme raised £137 million for charities.