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 - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they first knew that the Building Safety Act 2022 removed protection from remediation costs from qualifying leaseholders who extended their lease.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether letters applying for Leave of Absence from the House of Lords are in the public domain.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
No. Members applying for leave of absence are required under Standing Order 21 to specify in their written application both their reason for seeking leave of absence and either a date by which they expect to return to the House or, if they are unable to specify a date, the circumstances which will allow their return. Letters requesting leave of absence may therefore contain sensitive personal information, which it would be inappropriate to disclose.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what penalties have been incurred by NATS Holdings for failure to meet service targets in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) sets targets and financial incentives on NATS (En Route) Plc’s service quality for three measures related to delays - average delay, peak delay and delay impact score and one environmental measure relating to flight efficiency. In the Reference Period (RP) 2 period (2015-2019), penalties were applied in relation to NERL’s delay performance for both 2016 (£0.42 million) and 2018 (£0.26 million) where it contributed to delays that were above its target levels.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker when the Leave of Absence Sub-Committee last met.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Under Standing Order 21(8) the Clerk of the Parliaments, in applying the provisions of the Standing Order, may seek the advice of the Leave of Absence Sub-Committee of the Procedure and Privileges Committee. The ex officio members of the Sub-Committee are the Senior Deputy Speaker (as Chair), the Chief Whips of the three largest parties and the Convenor of the Crossbench peers. The Sub-Committee last met formally on 13 July 2015, but the Clerk of the Parliaments consults me, and other individual members of the Sub-Committee as appropriate, when issues relating to the operation of the scheme arise.
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 - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are giving to shared-ownership leaseholders in buildings requiring remediation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Qualifying shared ownership leaseholders are protected from all cladding remediation costs. Additionally, where capped contributions for non-cladding and interim measure costs are required, they are reduced in proportion to their equity stake in the property. Where the landlord is associated with the developer, the landlord has an obligation to pay for all costs associated with the remediation of all defects and any associated interim measures.
All leaseholders can benefit from the funding available for cladding repairs for buildings over 18 metres through the Building Safety Fund and, potentially, the new scheme for 11-18 metre buildings (currently at pilot stage) where developers or building owners are not currently funding cladding remediation.
For those shared ownership leaseholders looking to increase or 'staircase' their ownership share, on 20 December 2022, the six largest mortgage lenders confirmed that lenders will consider mortgage applications on properties in buildings in England of 11 metres or 5 storeys and above in height with building safety issues, providing it is being self-remediated by developers, is covered by a recognised government scheme, or the property is protected by the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act.
For shared ownership leaseholders who need to move for work or family reasons, the Government has also made it easier for those living in buildings that require remediation to sublet their homes.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to disseminate the guidance published by the Department of Health and Social Care on gov.uk for government engagement with the tobacco industry to all of government, including executive, legislative and judicial branches of government at national and local level, as well as all public authorities.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has written to other Government Departments who may engage with the tobacco industry to inform them of the publication of ‘Guidance for government engagement with the tobacco industry’ that was published 19 June 2023. A copy attached. A version of the guidance tailored to local authorities developed in collaboration with the Local Government Association will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the proposed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities NPQ course will commence.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is currently developing the transition arrangements for introducing the National Professional Qualification for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators as the new mandatory qualification for those in the role.
All arrangements, including those around the delivery and start dates, will be communicated in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Young of Cookham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of their proposals contained in their consultation Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy, published on 22 December 2022, on their commitment to build 300,000 new homes a year.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer my noble friend to the impact assessment for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill here.