Electoral Fraud

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Thursday 26th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

My noble friend has great expertise in this area and I listen carefully to what he says. It would be in the interest of those local authorities that have been identified as being at risk by the Electoral Commission to take part in the pilots that I have just referred to, to remove any doubts about the election results in those areas.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, we all want to see electoral fraud tackled and, as the Minister has indicated, it would help to re-establish the credibility of British politics. The Minister answered a Question yesterday on voter registration, and I want to ask him whether this is not the major priority with regard to our electoral system. After all, he listed five groups that gave great cause for concern on voter registration, namely,

“black and ethnic minority groups, social tenants, tenants in the private rented sector, young people and students”.—[Official Report, 25/1/17; col. 660.]

Will the Minister give the assurance, which he did not give yesterday, that this is the main priority?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

With respect, I did give those assurances yesterday. I remind the noble Lord that there is a record number of people on the electoral register at the moment, notwithstanding the removal of all the ghost entries when we moved over to IER. I also outlined yesterday a number of initiatives that we are undertaking to drive up registration among exactly those groups the noble Lord has just referred to. We have a specific pack aimed, for example, at social tenants. We are undertaking initiatives with students, and we have a whole range of packs for young people, including one called Rock Enrol!. We are anxious to do all we can to increase the numbers of those who register and then increase the turnout at elections.

Disabled Children: Tax Credit

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Wednesday 30th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for that suggestion. HMRC will be contacting the 28,000 families directly, automatically adjusting their award and by the end of January making a lump-sum payment backdated to April 2016. I am sure his suggestion of a future change to the law will be looked at sympathetically in order to try to streamline the system and to avoid the problems that he has identified in his Question.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government acknowledge the administrative error in the failure to pay the full entitlement for five years. I want to know, as I am sure does the House, on what principle the decision was taken by the Government, knowing that the families have no recourse to law, that the Treasury should shoulder something less than 10% of the total cost and the families should bear 90%.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

That is a question that I asked myself earlier this morning. The answer is that HMRC cannot by law backdate beyond the present tax year except in exceptional circumstances, and the circumstances where someone has failed to claim do not qualify. So there would be a risk of legal challenge were HMRC to compensate people in the way that the noble Lord has suggested.

Infrastructure Improvements: Funding

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Wednesday 23rd November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

There is only one answer for my noble friend: I will write to him.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, on the related issue of research and development, of course we welcome what the Chancellor said earlier today on the proposed increase of £2 billion up to the year 2020. However, does the Minister accept that even with this commitment, if it is realised, the United Kingdom will still be below the OECD average expenditure in this area and below the 3% of GDP that the OECD recommends to all developed countries?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

Again, the noble Lord is somewhat harsh in his judgment. I very much hope he will welcome the extra money that has been found at a time of great difficulty for investment in research and development.

Royal Bank of Scotland: Small Businesses

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Tuesday 15th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I endorse what the noble Baroness has just said about whistleblowers who put their careers at risk in order to bring malpractice into the public domain. It is not just the fees that are going to be compensated; direct losses will also be eligible for compensation, as will consequential losses where these are directly attributable to the actions of RBS. Established legal principles will be used to determine whether a consequential loss is factually and legally attributable to it. So it is not just the fees; it is direct losses as a result.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will recognise that the bank was bailed out by the taxpayer. Its malfeasances over the last few years—which have led to a very significant drop in its share price—mean that taxpayers are facing a very raw deal if they have to restore the bank fully at some stage in the future. The Minister must appreciate that, even in this latest examination of the issues which he has identified today, there are anxieties that market-sensitive information was leaked. Has the nation not had enough of really poor behaviour by this bank which necessitates more forthright action?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

The review covers the period 2008 to 2013, so I am not sure whether the point about malfeasances by the bank is particularly for one of the parties in this House. It is the Government’s intention, in due course, to return RBS to the private sector. That is not immediately practicable at the moment —the issue of Williams & Glyn has not been resolved and there are outstanding legal issues in the United States—but we hope to return the bank to the private sector in due course.

I am not sure to what the noble Lord is referring in his point about leaks. In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, Tom Scholar has firmly refuted any evidence of inappropriate behaviour by the Treasury. If the noble Lord is referring to action by RBS, that is a matter for RBS.

Brexit: Economic Impact

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Tuesday 18th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his support to the extent that he suggests there would be no great advantage in redoing this exercise. One of the things this exercise did not do was take into account any intervention by the Bank of England or Government after the decision. Since then we have seen monetary initiatives by the Bank of England, and the Chancellor has made it clear that in his Autumn Statement he is minded to take measures to protect the economy. For those reasons, there is no particular advantage in updating the forecast—which was not out of line with other forecasts made at the time.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, does it not become apparent that, with yet another wave of the ministerial hand, the Osborne legacy is being swept away and the Government are treading down paths they are unprepared to define? The Minister will have noticed that apart from the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, who can scarcely be defined as an independent voice, the two voices that have been expressed from this House with some force in recent weeks have been those of the noble Lords, Lord Hannay and Lord Kerr, both of whom have a vast amount of insight into the European Community and should be listened to carefully. Can we get one thing from the Government? I know they are prepared to say very little about what is meant to develop over the next few months and years, but can we get from them a commitment to the single market? Are all analysts not absolutely clear that abandoning the single market will be detrimental to livelihoods, to jobs and to public services? Therefore, should the Minister not at least say that the Government are seeking to protect, as far as they can, British membership of the single market?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I had hoped to get through this exchange without saying the Government do not provide a running commentary on negotiations. However, the noble Lord has not just asked for a running commentary but asked me to predict the result. The answer is no, I cannot give any of those commitments, apart from the one he asked about at the end. We will of course use our best endeavours to secure access for goods and services from the UK into the European Union.

High-Cost Credit and Debt Management

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Monday 10th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

If the calls come from overseas, obviously the response that we can take in this country is limited. But if they are calling on behalf of companies based in this country, we can take action because a high-cost credit or debt management company that takes information from a telephone company based overseas has a responsibility to make sure that that overseas company acted in accordance with the code in this country. So we can get at them through the companies based here.

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, how soon does the Minister expect that the change to the FCA will produce action? This problem has been with us and with large numbers of our fellow citizens for a very long time and the Government are saying, “We need a code”. We know exactly what these companies are doing wrong. It is effective identification and then punishment that are required.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

The FCA has brought right to the front of the queue the process of authorising the firms that the noble Lord referred to. It is going through that process as we speak and hopes to complete it relatively soon, depending on progress. As I said, if those firms do not meet the high standards set by the FCA, they will not be allowed to continue trading.

Tax Credits: Concentrix

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Lord Davies of Oldham

Wednesday 14th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)]

My Lords, the House will be grateful to hear that the contract is to be terminated, but it is quite clear that Concentrix will still be involved over the next seven months, despite its deplorable record. We should recognise just how badly affected those who are dependent on tax credits have been through the operations of this company.

Only yesterday, the House assented to the Finance Bill, in which cuts to corporation tax and capital gains tax which benefit relatively few were agreed, but today, we have this appalling story of ordinary people—there are 4 million and more people dependent on tax credits—vulnerable to the operation of an American company which provides a public service for profit and has made very many mistakes. We need to hear from the noble Lord about not just the patch-up over the next seven months but the future operation of tax credits.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his comments. I begin by apologising to all those who have been distressed by an unacceptable level of service, to which the noble Lord referred. I know from my experience in another place how distressing it can be if families who are, by definition, on low incomes, suddenly find that a flow of income is stopped. Referring to the action now being taken, a priority is to deal with those cases where payments have been stopped. As I said, HMRC has now seconded another 150 staff to tackle the backlog of cases, to see whether we can get them up to date. As for the future, the contract will not be retendered. At the moment, the bulk of the work is being done by HMRC and, as from next May, it will do all the work. Looking ahead, over the next six or seven years, those on tax credits will move over to universal credit, and that system will incorporate the lessons we have learned running the procedures under tax credits.