Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Committee stage
Thursday 23rd February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

There are a number of broader powers in different pieces of legislation. I can get the noble Baroness confirmation in writing, but clearly if it is retained EU law it is also subject to the powers in this Bill.

As I was saying, an effective and efficient intellectual property system is fundamental to the Government’s economic ambition. In common with the rest of the Committee, we continue to support a strong and effective IP system that delivers for all those who rely on it. As part of that, assessing retained EU law on intellectual property as a consequence of this Bill will only help to ensure that this remains the same.

Ministers across government are already working closely with their devolved Government counterparts on their retained EU law plans, taking decisions on whether to preserve, reform or revoke legislation, and developing delivery plans to ensure that all necessary action is taken well before the sunset date. Once this process is complete, the Government will update the House on their intentions for the areas where they will focus on reform.

Finally, I turn to Amendment 145, tabled by the noble Earl, Lord Lindsay. A digital markets, competition and consumer Act is not expected to exist when this Bill receives Royal Assent. As such, it is not possible for this Bill to reference that Act if it does not exist. The powers in the Bill will be used as necessary to ensure that all reforms proposed by a forthcoming digital markets Act will operate as intended. I hope that has provided noble Lords with reassurance and that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment and the others will not be moved.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

Forgive me for interrupting at this late stage, but could the Minister tell the Committee how much time he thinks will be necessary to update the House on what is happening to the 4,700—and growing—pieces of legislation?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

If the noble Baroness has been listening to the debate so far, she can reference the dashboard with the 4,700 pieces that are listed. As has been said in previous debates—we have been through this at great length now—the dashboard will be updated as the Government’s intentions, once this review has been carried out, become clear.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

The Minister said that, once decisions had been taken, he would update the House on the outcome for the 4,700 pieces of legislation. It was that I was querying.

Hospitality Industry

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

As I said in reply to an earlier question, the Home Office keeps visa policies under constant review. Where there are demonstrable shortages of labour in certain sectors, I am sure that the Home Secretary and other Ministers will want to look closely at them.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, one of the problems affecting the tourism industry is the lack of tax-free shopping. We are sending people to France and Italy when they should be coming here, at a time when our hotels and hospitality industry need that business. Will the Minister commit to reconsidering that policy and looking at the effects of it?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Again, noble Lords are tempting me to go down the path of Treasury policy. I know that the Chancellor has heard many of the representations that were made to him about tax-free shopping. If he has anything to announce, I am sure we will hear about it in the Budget.

REUL Bill: Trade Unions and Workers’ Rights

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Monday 23rd January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, has the Minister recently read or listened to the speeches of Tony Danker, the director-general of the CBI? He is very clear that his members do not want this legislation; that they find it, even as potential legislation, damaging to their markets; and that, should it go ahead, it will undoubtedly shrink the market further for British exports, which have suffered enough already.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I have not seen the comments which the noble Baroness attributes to the director-general of the CBI, but I will certainly look at them. However, I am not sure how our repealing redundant pieces of legislation in this House affects overseas markets.

Four-Day Working Week

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Monday 5th September 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Again, my noble friend makes an interesting point. Of course, there are many different ways of defining it. He is right to point out that productivity is the key to this. If there is evidence that people will work smarter and harder during the time they are at work, of course that would be a good thing and it would help to bring it about.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister has quite rightly stressed the importance of businesses being able to decide this sort of thing for themselves—what is right for them. So can he give the House an assurance that, under this Government, there will be no return to a three-day week, whatever happens in the energy crisis?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Well, we have no plans for a four-day week; we certainly do not have any plans for a three-day week.

Energy Storage Capacity

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 5th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend’s question deserves a long answer because it is a complicated subject. We need to differentiate between short-term storage, particularly from batteries and elsewhere, which is currently expensive—although prices are coming down—and longer-term storage provided by the likes of pump storage stations such as Dinorwig. That has been around for decades, and there are similar schemes in Scotland too. We need to do all these things. We need to get more offshore wind because it is a very cheap form of power, but it is intermittent, so we also need storage capacity to balance out that intermittency. As the noble Lord, Lord Fox, said, we also need more nuclear for baseload power.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, storage is a long-term solution, so can the Minister tell me whether Dungeness B, which was finally decommissioned only last year, might be brought back into service? Has the department examined the possibility of doing that as a short-term solution?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Of course we will want to ensure that the existing nuclear stations, of which Dungeness B is an excellent example, will continue into their lifespan as long as possible, but we will need to replace many of these ageing nuclear stations, which is why we recently passed the nuclear financing Act.

North Sea Oil and Gas

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Thursday 10th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Baroness makes some good points. As I said in response to my noble friend earlier, we keep these matters under review. If it can be demonstrated that fracking can be carried out in a safe and reliable manner, then of course we need to consider it. But we have to be realistic about this: it is not going to be the answer to our short-term difficulties. In preparation for this, I was chatting to some specialist officials and they said it could easily be 10 years—even if we got rid of the moratorium tomorrow and overcame all the environmental problems that were caused—before any fracked gas came on stream.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the oil companies, including BP and Shell, have been making record profits. Yet for their North Sea operations they have had a negative tax rate for several years. Given the current circumstances, might the Government re-examine the fiscal regime in the North Sea? Can the Minister tell the House?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Of course, I leave all tax decisions to the Chancellor. But, again, I think that the noble Baroness is wrong and looking at this too simplistically. First, most of the profits announced by the companies in recent days were made in worldwide operations; a very small percentage came from British domestic production. Secondly, it was only last year or the year before that they were making net losses; I do not remember the noble Baroness or others saying that we should give them taxpayer support. Thirdly, where do these profits go? First, they pay more corporation tax and, secondly, they go to UK pension funds, shareholders and people who need that income to help them though the crisis. There are no easy answers; the idea that there is some magical, mythical pot of money that we can just extract from to solve all of our problems is not true, I am afraid.

Private Equity Takeovers

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Thursday 21st October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, we benefit in global terms from being an open and accessible economy. That brings in billions of pounds-worth of inward investment. My noble friend Lord Grimstone, who is in charge of the Office for Investment, works extremely hard to attract overseas investment. We must be very careful not to send out the message that we do not welcome inward investment into this country. That was something recognised by the previous Labour Government and certainly something recognised by this Government. Of course we keep these matters under review. We have introduced the National Security and Investment Act, which gives us additional powers to intervene on national security grounds, and we extended the grounds on which the Secretary of State can intervene under the Enterprise Act.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, some private equity companies are good managers of businesses, others rather less so. Does the Minister agree that, given the need of the Treasury to bring in extra cash, the treatment of carried interest—the favourable tax treatment of private equity operators—is no longer sustainable?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, I have never noticed any lack of interest from the Treasury in extending the tax base whenever it possibly can, but the current tax rules reflect the hybrid nature of this reward. If investment managers realise their carried interest gain within three years, that gain is treated as income and taxed accordingly. This approach is also followed by other comparable jurisdictions.

Sovereign Defence Capability: Meggitt Takeover

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 15th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I can indeed reassure my noble friend that the UK’s replacement warhead will be designed and manufactured in the United Kingdom. While work continues with US counterparts to ensure that the UK replacement warhead remains compatible with the Trident missile system, the requirements, design and manufacture of the warheads are sovereign to each nation.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the undertakings given by Parker-Hannifin last for only one year. Does the Minister believe that they should be extended if jobs in this country, and other things, are to be safeguarded by those undertakings? Could he update the House on how the investigation into the Chinese takeover of Britain’s largest computer chip manufacturer is progressing?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Those are competition concerns. I am in a difficult position, as noble Lords will understand. It is a quasi-judicial process, and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the details of the specific commercial transactions of any security or competition assessments that are currently taking place.

Steel Sector

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Monday 12th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend is right to point to the problems for the sector. I mentioned in an earlier answer that we have provided more than £550 million in relief to the steel sector for its electricity costs but, of course, we keep these matters under constant review. We are aware of the problems that high electricity prices cause for the sector. On his question on scrap, we want to ensure that the metals recycling market continues to work effectively for all stakeholders, whether that is for metals recycled by steel producers or the cast metal sector.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, the UK steel industry has shrunk drastically over the last quarter of a century. In 2019, we produced just 7 million tonnes, which put us eighth in the league of EU producers. Does the Minister have in mind a figure for what the UK steel industry should be able to produce in order to fulfil the plan for growth? Will he also say whether in providing subsidies for automobile manufacturers in the UK, there is a stipulation that they should buy their steel in the UK?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I understand the points that the noble Baroness makes. My noble friend Lord Grimstone is looking forward to considering the outputs of the procurement task force. However, we should recognise the importance of continuing to treat suppliers equally and fairly through open competition. Keeping our procurement market open to international competition ensures better value for taxpayers and for UK industry.

Global Navigation Satellite System

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 10th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Indeed. I know that my noble friend has great experience in these matters. Collaboration with partners and industry will be vital for success in this field. A new UK capability could offer opportunities to deliver more on global Britain through strengthening our international relationships. We would most likely seek to use our overseas territories for ground-based stations.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]]

My Lords, it is highly regrettable that our Brexit negotiations failed to secure a deal over Galileo. Are there any plans to try to revisit that and negotiate a deal, rather than ploughing our own course? Could the Minister also tell us about the National Space Council, which was announced in June 2019? How often has it met? Was it consulted over the purchase, which others have mentioned, of OneWeb, which was done against the advice of the Civil Service?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The answer to the noble Baroness’s first question is no. The UK National Space Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, will continue to play an important role in future government affairs.

Workers’ Rights

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations have preserved the terms and conditions of many employees who find themselves working for a new employer after a transfer of business. With very many more businesses likely to change hands due to the effects of Covid, does the Minister believe that the TUPE rules are still fit for purpose?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Yes, indeed I do.

Construction Industry: Retention Payments

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Thursday 14th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

That is indeed one of the policy suggestions we are looking at, but given the complexity of the policy issues, it is premature to commit to the introduction of a retention deposit scheme. We will continue to seek consensus and work with industry to find a way forward.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]]

Can the Minister estimate the construction payments retained by the public sector, specifying the extent of the payments to Carillion retained by the Government? Given that there were only 55 responses to a consultation that concluded in February 2018, why did it take two years to publish those findings on what he terms an “important matter”?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I do not have figures for the public sector, but not withholding retentions is government policy—although I am aware that some departments and agencies do. Unfortunately, we do not have the power to instruct local authorities in this matter. If there are any figures available, I will of course let her have them.

Covid-19: Small Businesses

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Thursday 29th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I am pleased that the noble Lord has been able to take advantage of one of our loan schemes. He made an interesting suggestion about a national Government—but I hope he will accept that that is way above my pay grade.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, in the time of Covid, small businesses are having to rely increasingly on internet platforms such as Amazon and Google to market their products. The digital services tax, which was supposed to ensure that these platforms pay their fair share, is being passed on to those small businesses, which cannot afford to pay the extra 2% they are being asked for. So will the Minister revisit the digital services tax, which is clearly not working as it was supposed to?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Again, the noble Baroness is tempting me to enter the territory of the Chancellor. We have been clear that the digital services tax is temporary, and businesses are liable to it only when they have worldwide revenues of more than £500 million, and more than £25 million of those revenues is derived from UK users. So it applies only to the very largest businesses.

Retail Businesses: Financial Support

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Monday 21st September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord is right to be concerned about the high street, and I am sure that Weston-super-Mare is no exception. As he will no doubt be aware, we abolished business rates for 12 months for all eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. That support was worth almost £10 billion. We also gave local authorities grants worth £11 billion to distribute to help local businesses.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, retail is a dynamic sector that was undergoing radical change even before Covid hit. The rise of internet shopping has changed the shape of retail. Does the Minister accept that there is no point in propping up retail businesses which would not have survived the course anyhow? Perhaps the Government ought to be looking at helping more community shops get under way so that, particularly in rural areas, people can get what they want on their doorsteps.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Baroness is right to draw attention to the massive changes taking place in the retail sector, some of which were exacerbated by the Covid dynamic. There has been a lot of switching to online shopping, but many high street premises are engaged in online business as well. So, there is a vast range of innovative things happening throughout the sector.

REACH and CE

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Lord Callanan

Thursday 17th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Yes, I can give the noble Lord that guarantee. We will keep the transition to UK REACH as simple as possible. We have put in place measures to minimise the cost to businesses and maintain access to both the EU and the UK market.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House how many different EU product regulation systems currently govern UK trade with the EU and what progress the Government have made in providing some sort of replacement for them?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I can tell my noble friend that there are a number of distinct EU regulatory regimes, including bespoke regimes for chemicals, automotive products, aerospace products, cosmetics and medicines, as well as the CE marking regime, which covers a range of goods. Some but not all of these include registration requirements. Cosmetics and medical devices, as well as chemicals, are examples of areas that include registration or notification requirements. I can confirm that all the necessary regulation and systems will be in place for 1 January 2021.