Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they propose to maintain the state aid regime following the UK’s departure from the EU; and if so, how.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government is aware that the EU negotiating mandate explicitly refers to state aid in the context of any future trade agreement between the EU and UK. This future relationship is subject to negotiation.
While the Government cannot speculate on outcomes at this stage, any future regime will be based on the principles of open and fair markets. As my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister said in Florence the Government believes “it would be a serious mistake to try to beat other countries’ industries by unfairly subsidising one’s own”.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in reforming stamp duty land tax, it was their policy intention to reduce receipts and transactions in properties over £1million in 2016–17.
Answered by Lord Bates
Housing market activity is affected by a wide variety of factors, of which Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is just one. The Autumn Statement 2014 reforms were introduced to reduce distortions and improve the fairness of the tax system. The reforms led to 98% of purchasers paying less, unless they are buying an additional property. The government believes it is fair that those who can afford to buy the most expensive properties contribute the most.
Overall, total residential SDLT receipts increased between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to help British nationals stranded on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Providing assistance to vulnerable British Nationals affected by Hurricane Irma has been a consistent priority. Fifty two British Nationals have been assisted to leave St Maarten. We have deployed consular teams to Curacao and Guadeloupe to help those who have left.
For those that remain on the island, a two person Foreign and Commonwealth Office Rapid Deployment Team is assisting British Nationals at the airport, while an Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) team, made up of 59 nurses, doctors and building experts, is providing support elsewhere on the island. We are in close contact with the Dutch, French, German and US Authorities who are providing aircraft for assisted departures. Those persons wanting to leave St Maarten will be prioritised through a triage system at the airport with the most vulnerable people given priority.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 20 February (HL5112), whether they intend to update the table on housing sales and stamp duty land tax to include data for 2016–17.
Answered by Lord Bates
Statistics on residential property transactions and Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) receipts, based on financial year, are published annually in HMRC's 'Annual Stamp Tax Statistics' publication, on gov.uk. Statistics for 2016-17 are due to be published in September 2017.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of plans for a Garden Bridge in London.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Transport was provided with a business case for a garden bridge in London in 2014. The business case was assessed in accordance with normal Departmental procedures.
It is a matter for the Garden Bridge Trust to manage the project going forward.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of public spending was accounted for by (1) national insurance-funded pensions, including SERPS and the additional pension, and (2) UK health expenditure, in (a) 1979, (b) 1997, (c) 2010, and (d) 2016.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The requested information is set out in the following table:
| 1978-79 | 1996-97 | 2009-10 | 2015-16 |
(1) National insurance-funded pensions (£billion)([1]) | 7.6 | 32.0 | 66.8 | 89.3 |
as a percentage of Total Managed Expenditure | 9.5% | 9.9% | 9.7% | 11.9% |
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(2) UK Health Expenditure (£billion)([2]) | 7.8 | 42.8 | 116.9 | 138.7 |
as a percentage of Total Managed Expenditure | 9.8% | 13.2% | 16.9% | 18.4% |
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Total Managed Expenditure (£billion)([3]) | 79.7 | 323.9 | 692.5 | 753.0 |
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(3) Data published by the Office for National Statistics consistent with the Public Expenditure | ||||
Statistical Analyses 2016. |
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[1]. Benefit expenditure and caseload tables published by the Department of Work and Pensions.
[2]. Table 4.2 of Public Expenditure and Statistical Analyses 2016 published by HM Treasury, and the equivalent table for 1978-79 data
[3]. Data published by the Office of National Statistics consistent with the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2016
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many residential property transactions over £1.5 million there were, and how much Stamp Duty Land Tax revenue those transactions generated, in (1) 2013, (2) 2014, (3) 2015, and (4) 2016.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Historical statistics on residential property transactions and Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) receipts, by financial year, are published in HMRC's 'Annual Stamp Tax Statistics' publication, available on Gov.uk. The latest available data is for the financial year 2015-16.
The statistics in the table below are aggregates from the publication and do not include residential properties taxed at the ‘corporate bodies’ rate.
Financial year | Property transactions over £1.5 million (thousands) | SDLT revenue from these transactions (£ million) |
2012-13 | 6 | 1,025 |
2013-14 | 8 | 1,325 |
2014-15 | 9 | 1,580 |
2015-16 | 9 | 1,855 |