Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Crown Estate has notified the Treasury of any risks to its reputation, further to section 15.1 of the Treasury's Framework Document: The Crown Estate, published in June 2023.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Crown Estate provides regular updates to the Treasury on all matters of its business in line with its obligations set out in the Framework Document 2023. This includes notifying Treasury officials of any potential risks to its reputation during regular business engagement.
The Crown Estate meet with Treasury officials on a regular basis, including 6-weekly meetings to discuss business performance. Outside of performance meetings, there are open channels of communications between officials where information is openly shared in a timely manner.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect the draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and the Crown Estates to be published before consideration of the Crown Estates Bill is concluded in the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Yes. As committed at Second Reading of the Crown Estate Bill, the Government will publish a draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and The Crown Estate by November. This will be before Report stage of the Bill in the House of Lords.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Government Actuary was consulted by Reclaim Fund Ltd when it implemented the Internal Capital Guidance issued by the Financial Conduct Authority for reserves under the Dormant Assets Acts 2008 to 2022.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Internal Capital Guidance was set and implemented whilst Reclaim Fund Ltd was a private company, as such it did not have access to the Government Actuary‘s Department. Nonetheless Reclaim Fund Ltd received, and continues to receive, external specialist advice.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money has been paid out to claimants by The Reclaim Fund in each of the past five years, following enactment of the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Reclaim Fund Ltd (RFL) has distributed the following amounts in each of the past five years to dormant account owners:
Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Reclaims (£m) | 15.7 | 13.9 | 12.9 | 12.9 | 15.4 | 15.3 |
In line with its statutory obligation, RFL continues to meet customer reclaims in perpetuity. Reclaim rates have remained broadly consistent since the inception of the Dormant Assets Scheme in 2011.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase interest rates on National Savings & Investments accounts.
Answered by Baroness Penn
NS&I’s core purpose is to raise cost effective financing for the Government and must balance the interests of savers, taxpayers and the wider market when setting interest rates. On 30th June, NS&I announced increases to the rates on Direct Saver and Income Bonds to 3.40% and Premium Bonds to 4.00%, the highest rate since 2007.
NS&I continues to keep all interest rates under review.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of e-scooters imported into the UK in (1) 2020, (2) 2021, and (3) 2022.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HMRC is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website. From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff on the gov.uk website.
HMRC are unable to provide the requested information due to the way E-scooters are classified. E-scooters do not have their own specific commodity code. Instead, they are classified within more general codes, dependent on a few factors. For example, commodity code 8711601000 covers bicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles, with pedal assistance, with an auxiliary electric motor, and with a continuous rated power not exceeding 250 watts. However, there are other commodity codes that could also be applicable to E-scooters.
More information about any specific commodity code within the UK Trade Tariff can be accessed via UK import and export statistics on the UK trade information website.