Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of revenue that may be lost as a result of the implementation of the UK proposals for a new Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, published on 2 October.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
On 17 October the Government agreed a revised Northern Ireland protocol with the EU Commission. No estimate has been made of the impact on revenue of that protocol, or of the UK proposals published on 2 October.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 13 June 2018 (HL8293) and Baroness Manzoor on 29 January (HL12896), whether they have published a response to the consultation Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The United Kingdom Government, along with the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, consulted on high-level proposals to reform professional regulation of healthcare professions in the UK. Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation ran from 31 October 2017 to 23 January 2018.
A response will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 14 March (HL14167), whether the Accounting Officer issued an Accounting Officer Statement on no-deal ferry contracts in line with Cabinet Office-Treasury guidance; and, if so, whether they will publish it.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
An accounting officer assessment was completed in relation to the Department’s no-deal contingency planning for additional maritime freight capacity. The assessment concluded that the contracts met the requirements of Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many ministerial directions the Secretary of State for Transport has given his Accounting Officer since July 2016; and on which issues.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Bernadette Kelly, the accounting officer for the Department for Transport, sought a written ministerial direction on 7 February 2018 for expenditure on EU Exit preparations. This covered activity related to the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Bill in advance of the relevant supporting legislation receiving Royal Assent. The Bill subsequently received Royal Assent on 19 July 2018 and is now an Act of Parliament.
No other ministerial directions have been sought.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have evaluated the impact on revenues of the stamp duty reforms announced in the 2014 Autumn Statement.
Answered by Lord Bates
At Autumn Statement 2014 the government published costings of the reforms to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) which highlighted the anticipated revenue implications of the reform across the forecast period. HMRC also publish quarterly and annual statistics on SDLT revenue and transactions.
Residential SDLT receipts were just under £1.8bn higher in 2017-18 than they were in 2014-15, the last financial year before the Autumn Statement 2014 reforms.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what expenditure, if any, they have incurred on developing potential technological solutions to issues relating to the Irish border after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Consideration of policy options for the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union have been resourced from Departmental budgets and no figures are available as to the cost of consideration of specific options.
The EU and the UK have agreed in the Political Declaration to work together to exchange information on facilitative arrangements and technologies. The Prime Minister is seeking legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that deal with concerns on the backstop, while guaranteeing no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
There are a number of ways to secure a backstop that Parliament can support. We are engaging constructively with the details of proposals.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the Prime Minister on 20 July 2018 in Belfast, what assessment they have made of whether there may be technological solutions to issues relating to the Irish border after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Prime Minister in her 5 February speech in Belfast reaffirmed the UK Government commitment to delivering a Brexit that ensures no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, including any physical infrastructure. While technology could play a part in this, and alternative arrangements are being looked at, these must be ones that can be made to work for the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 13 June 2018 (HL8293), whether the Department of Health and Social Care has published a response to its consultation Promoting Professionalism, Reforming Regulation.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The four United Kingdom Governments’ consultation Promoting professionalism; reforming regulation closed on 23 January 2018. The Government with the devolved administrations are now considering how to take forward reform of professional regulation. A Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their current estimate of the combined cost of phases 1 and 2 of High Speed 2; and what was the estimated cost of phases 1 and 2 in 2010 when the scheme was reviewed.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
The current HS2 funding envelope is £55.73bn (at 2015 prices), as set out in the 2015 Spending Review settlement. This is split between phases, with Phase One set at £27.18bn and Phase 2a&b at £28.55bn.
At the 2013 Spending Review the HS2 funding envelope was at £50.1bn (at 2011 prices). This funding allocation was split as follows: Phase One £21.4bn, Phase 2 £21.2bn and Rolling Stock £7.5bn. Spending Review 2013 was the first time a long term funding envelope was established for the HS2 network.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what evaluation they have carried out of the benefits of the grant-in-aid they provide to the National Forest Company.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Since 1995, the grant in aid provided by Defra to the National Forest Company (NFC) has facilitated benefits to the environment, economy and communities with an increase in forest cover from 6% in 1991 to nearly 21% in 2018, planting 8.7 million trees and creating more than 7,000 hectares of new habitat. 70% of woodlands have been brought into active management and there has been an increase in the visitor economy of 30% with an economic impact of £428 million each year, supporting more than 5,000 jobs.
A report commissioned by Defra and the NFC (attached) in 2010 calculated a net present value for the National Forest of £721 million between 1991 and 2100. The report estimated that by 2100 the cost-benefit ratio of the National Forest will be 1:4.8 for regeneration, biodiversity, wildlife and non-use values, landscape, recreation, carbon sequestration and timber production. The largest contributor to the benefits is the recreational value. The additional indirect benefits of regeneration, ecosystem services, health, education and social care are not captured in this analysis.