Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of slowing wage growth on household finances and consumer spending; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any negative impact.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Real wages have increased for seven consecutive months and are 1.1% above their pre-pandemic level.
ONS retail sales volumes increased by 3.4% on the month in January, representing a full recovery of the decline seen in December 2023.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the draft Payment Services (Amendment) Regulations 2024, what steps they are taking to introduce legal safeguards to protect consumer rights and ensure transparency in the process of delaying payments for further investigation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime.
The government has published draft legislation that allows the sending of payments to be delayed where there are reasonable grounds to suspect fraud or dishonesty, and more time is needed to contact the customer or relevant third parties.
Subject to some exceptions to ensure Payment Service Providers (PSPs) meet other legal obligations, for example around tackling financial crime, PSPs will be obliged to inform the customer, set out the reasoning behind a delay, and what information or actions are needed to enable the PSP to decide whether to execute the payment.
The government intends to introduce this legislation in summer 2024 and, subject to Parliamentary approval, for it to come into force on 7 October 2024.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential (1) costs, and (2) benefits, of reintroducing tax-free shopping for international visitors, including the impact on (a) retail sales, (b) employment levels, and (c) economic recovery.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out at Spring Budget 2024, the government is considering the findings of the OBR’s review of the original costing of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping, published in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook on 6 March, alongside industry representations and broader data. The government welcomes further submissions in response to the OBR’s findings.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the UK Statistics Authority on the separation of functions and reporting arrangements, what steps they are taking to ensure greater transparency in the governance and enhancements of the statistical system.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The independent review of the UK Statistics Authority and the Government’s response to the recommendations were published on 12 March 2024. They can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-the-uk-statistics-authority-uksa-2023
The review made 19 separate recommendations to the UK Statistics Authority and Cabinet Office including amending the statistical legislation (Statistical and Registration Services Act 2007) to better reflect the governance arrangements in place and reflect the practical operation of the UKSA.
The Government agrees in principle with this recommendation but noted that - given that the report concluded the current arrangements were working in practice - this is not a current priority for legislation and will be a matter for the next Parliament to consider. However, in our response we said that the UKSA leadership in the meantime should take active steps to better communicate the current working arrangements to assure users and stakeholders that robust systems are in place to regulate the Office for National Statistics and the wider Government Statistical Service.
The Government also welcomed wider recommendations regarding transparency, such as establishing a triennial statistical assembly which will allow users and the Authority to discuss priorities in an open and constructive way.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address challenges faced by small businesses and importers due to the introduction of new border checks and paperwork requirements post-Brexit.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) sets out our new global regime of border controls that makes better use of technology and data to reduce friction and the cost of border controls for businesses and consumers when compared to the proposed July 2022 regime. It will create a radically simpler yet secure experience for traders moving goods across the UK border.
After engaging with stakeholders and considering the implementation challenges they raised, alongside the need to manage biosecurity risks, we have adapted the timeline we originally published in the draft version of the BTOM to give businesses and their supply-chains more time to prepare. Many goods, including more than 60% of animal product consignments, are now deemed low risk and either not controlled at all or only subject to pre-notification, and medium risk goods are subject to fewer physical checks than the EU’s regime.
Defra has also introduced several facilitations for groupage movements, as well as developing our Certification Logistics Pilot. Those facilitations include: relaxed official sealing requirements for animal products; greater flexibility in transporting groupage loads; elimination of 'Either/Or' sections in health certificates; the use of schedules allowing greater number of similar animal products under a single export health certificate, and greater flexibilities in the pre-notification and import declaration processes.
All businesses will also benefit from the Single Trade Window, a simple service gateway that serves as a single point of interaction between businesses and UK border processes, submitting information to the Government only once and in only one place ensuring administration costs are kept to a minimum.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the recent strengthening in sterling on inflation in the UK; and what assessment they have made of the effect this may have on the timing and magnitude of monetary policy adjustments made by the Bank of England.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the government’s official forecaster. They published their latest assessment of the economic and fiscal outlook (EFO) on 6th March. The OBR noted that the trade weighted sterling effective exchange rate had strengthened by around 2 per cent since their November 2023 forecast. Inflation has halved since its peak in October 2022 and was 4.0% in January 2024. In the March EFO, the OBR note that inflation has fallen more sharply than they expected in November, and now expect inflation to fall below 2% in Q2 2024 – a year earlier than previously expected.
Monetary Policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. Therefore, it is right the Government does not comment on the conduct of monetary policy.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate any risks associated with trading crypto-backed exchange traded notes by professional investors, particularly in relation to market manipulation and investor protection.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The question of whether to allow the listing of exchange-traded products that reference cryptoassets is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority as the independent regulator.Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recent fluctuations in the exchange rate of the pound sterling on the price of imports and exports.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Many factors have been relevant in driving movements in aggregate trade prices.
While movements in the exchange rate would likely have influenced these changes in trade prices, movements in broader global prices (such as energy and other tradable commodities) have been a far bigger factor in driving movements in aggregate trade prices.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to accelerate progress towards gender equality in the financial services industry.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has a wide programme of work aimed at tackling gender inequality and supporting women in the workplace.
Since 2017, organisations with 250 or more employees have been required to publish specific data on their gender pay gaps annually, ensuring they are aware of their gender pay gaps and are taking steps to improve gender equality in their organisation.
The Government has taken action to ensure that working parents can balance work and care by expanding childcare entitlements, making flexible working simpler to access, and introducing carer's leave.
Regarding the financial services industry specifically, the Government has taken action to ensure the sector remains world-class, and as productive, innovative and competitive as it can be. In 2016, the Government launched the Women in Finance Charter, which aims to ensure that the right talent is being attracted to the sector and that the best and brightest can continue to rise to the top, regardless of their gender.
The Charter’s Annual Reviews have consistently shown that the Charter has stimulated positive progress across the sector. Participation in the Charter is voluntary, and the first wave of signatories to the Charter started out with an average level of senior female representation of 27%. The signatory base has grown since then and average representation now stands at 35%.
The Treasury Committee’s Sexism in the City inquiry recently made a number of recommendations to the industry, the regulators and Government to consider in order to accelerate progress. The Government will respond to the report and its recommendations in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential environmental impact and carbon emissions associated with the development of gas-fired power plants.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Renewables need to be complemented by flexible technologies which can provide power when the wind is not blowing, or the sun does not shine.
The Climate Change Committee’s independent analysis finds that a power sector without unabated gas in 2035 would be “likely to increase costs and delivery risks”. Their power sector analysis sees unabated gas providing around 2% of total electricity generation in 2035.
In the future, unabated gas plants will only run a limited number of hours per year, and we expect all new plants to be net zero ready.