Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much of the £63 billion of inward investment announced as a result of the International Investment Summit had been previously identified or announced.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The International Investment Summit resulted in £63 billion of private investment commitments. It will see billions of pounds flowing into our tech, digital, manufacturing and life sciences sectors, spurring growth in all four nations of the United Kingdom and creating almost 38,000 new jobs in the process.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any inducements were offered, discussed or agreed to persuade DP World to attend the International Investment Summit.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
No benefits – financial or otherwise – were offered, discussed or agreed to persuade DP World to attend the International Investment Summit.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many licences for arms export to Israel were granted in (1) July, and (2) August; and how those numbers compare to the number granted in the first half of 2024.
Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The UK operates one of the most transparent export licensing systems in the world. We publish quarterly and annual statistics on all our export licensing decisions, including information on export licences granted, refused and revoked. On 11 June 2024, we published an ad hoc data release on export licensing relating to Israel. That ad hoc release was done due to the exceptional circumstances and the Parliamentary and public interest at the time. Since then, in June 2024, the Government released Official Statistics covering all licensing decisions from July to December 2023. Official Statistics for July and August 2024 have not yet been published. Information covering January to July 2024 are planned to be released by November 2024.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether any of the £85 million recently announced to tackle antimicrobial resistance will be used to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) globally, given the commitments outlined on WASH in the new national action plan, Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK has committed up to £85 million in additional funding to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Of this, up to £50 million will be used to support low- and middle-income countries improve access to essential antimicrobial drugs; up to £25 million will be used to support action on AMR in the Caribbean; and up to £10 million will support a new independent science panel for AMR. It is not anticipated that these three components will directly be used to support improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The UK recognises the key importance of WASH for preventing infections and thereby preventing the emergence of AMR. In 2022, the UK invested £48 million in water supply and sanitation in developing countries. For example, we fund the multi-year £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme, which supports governments in six developing countries to strengthen the systems that provide sustainable WASH services - a key part of reducing the global infectious disease burden.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 25 April (HL3766), when they sought permission from the EU to extend the sunset clause for enterprise investment schemes and venture capital trust schemes.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The government’s engagement with the EU Commission on the extension of the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) sunset clauses is ongoing.
The government believes the schemes continue to be consistent with subsidy control principles and address an evidenced market failure.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of motor vehicles which are subject to a 'statutory off road notification' but are currently on UK highways.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The outcome of the most recent roadside survey, which provides an estimate of the number of unlicensed vehicles in traffic, was published in December 2023. This showed that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were correctly licensed, which equates to an estimated 498,000 unlicensed vehicles and an evasion rate of 1.3 per cent.
The survey indicated that five per cent of the estimated 498,000 unlicensed vehicles were subject to a statutory off-road notification.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of untaxed vehicles driving on UK highways.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The outcome of the most recent roadside survey, which provides an estimate of the number of unlicensed vehicles in traffic, was published in December 2023. This showed that 98.7 per cent of vehicles across the UK were correctly licensed, which equates to an estimated 498,000 unlicensed vehicles and an evasion rate of 1.3 per cent.
The survey indicated that five per cent of the estimated 498,000 unlicensed vehicles were subject to a statutory off-road notification.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to remarks by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 21 February (HL Deb col 666) with regard to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in the context of engaging with the EU for approval for extending the enterprise investment scheme (EIS) and venture capital trust (VCT) scheme, whether the subsidy control provisions of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement apply to EIS and VCT relief, in particular the requirement under Article 363 of that agreement that a subsidy must be selective.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The government is extending the sunset clause for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme to 2035.
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is now the primary framework governing subsidy control between the UK and EU. As such, EU State aid rules no longer apply to the UK, save for the limited circumstances covered by the Windsor Framework.
For the EIS and VCT schemes, the government is engaging with the EU, under the Windsor Framework, due to Northern Ireland’s unique access to the EU Single Market.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support healthcare facilities in developing countries to have clean water, decent toilets and better hygiene, as a cost-effective means for reducing the global infectious disease burden.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
The UK is committed to supporting access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), including in healthcare facilities, as part of our approach to Ending Preventable Deaths. Our £18.5m WASH Systems for Health programme will support governments in low- and lower-middle income countries to develop stronger systems crucial to the delivery of sustainable and climate resilient WASH services - a vital part of reducing the global infectious disease burden. Additionally, the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition, funded by the UK, trained 460,000 health workers on hygiene improvements, and supported 14,800 facilities with WASH supplies.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential (1) gain, or (2) loss, to the Treasury of equating capital gains and income tax votes.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Sums arising which meet the definition of carried interest are properly assessed as chargeable gains subject to capital gains tax (CGT) of 18 per cent or 28 per cent for higher rate taxpayers.
In some circumstances, it is possible for sums meeting the definition of carried interest to be subject to income tax and additionally, capital gains tax. Here, double taxation would be a disproportionate outcome so relief is provided from this higher rate CGT charge to reduce the effective taxation, but only down to the higher of the two rates.
No assessment has been made of the cost of relieving these instances of double taxation.
In 2020, the then Chancellor commissioned the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) to carry out a review of Capital Gains Tax (CGT). The OTS provided a costing on aligning CGT rates with those of Income Tax. Please see Paragraph 2.19 of the attached publication.