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  • Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations and advice they have received from (1) the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, (2) the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, and (3) the Civil Nuclear Police Federation, regarding the normal retirement age of 60 for Civil Nuclear Constabulary officers.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Energy has met with the Chair of the Civil Nuclear Police Authority (CNPA) and the Chief Constable of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) on two occasions since taking office where the pension age of officers was discussed. In October 2015 and March 2016.

    The Minister of State has recently written to the Civil Nuclear Police Federation about meeting representatives of that organisation to discuss issues including the age at which CNC officers receive their pension.

    Officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change have worked closely with officials at the CNPA and CNC at all levels, up to and including the Chief Constable, on the issue of the pension age of CNC officers since May 2014. The Department has received frequent and substantial advice on all aspects of this issue. This includes, but is not limited to, the impact of fitness standards on CNC officers and how those standards affect deployability of officers, and the costs of administering a pension scheme with a lower effective pension age.

    The Minister of State has received two letters from the Civil Nuclear Police Federation outlining their legal case for a lower pension age. Officials have met with the Civil Nuclear Police Federation to discuss the pension age of CNC officers on two occasions in 2015.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they ascertain the number of local staff at a foreign embassy who are liable to pay tax.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Letters are issued annually on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Diplomatic Missions in the UK (Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates) requesting staff lists providing details of all locally engaged staff and private servants.

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a specialist team (the Embassy team) in place to deal with enquiries from locally engaged staff employed at Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations in the UK as detailed in ‘The London Diplomatic List’. In December 2015 HMRC wrote to all these bodies to ensure they held full and up-to-date contact information for the team.

    Locally engaged employees and private servants are expected to contact the Embassy team to notify their employment as soon as they are engaged.

    The Embassy team determines the employee’s liability to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. The team also carries out risk assessment activity and where it identifies individuals who have not notified their employment to HMRC, it takes action to ensure they pay the tax that is due.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, other than voluntarily registering for self-assessment, what tools are available to ensure that tax is paid by locally employed staff working in foreign embassies.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Letters are issued annually on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Diplomatic Missions in the UK (Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates) requesting staff lists providing details of all locally engaged staff and private servants.

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a specialist team (the Embassy team) in place to deal with enquiries from locally engaged staff employed at Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations in the UK as detailed in ‘The London Diplomatic List’. In December 2015 HMRC wrote to all these bodies to ensure they held full and up-to-date contact information for the team.

    Locally engaged employees and private servants are expected to contact the Embassy team to notify their employment as soon as they are engaged.

    The Embassy team determines the employee’s liability to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions. The team also carries out risk assessment activity and where it identifies individuals who have not notified their employment to HMRC, it takes action to ensure they pay the tax that is due.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the levels of public duty costs allowance for former Prime Ministers are determined.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Public Duties Cost Allowance (PDCA) was introduced to assist former Prime Ministers, still active in public life, with the costs of continuing to fulfil public duties. The PDCA is set in line with the annual Parliamentary Staffing Allowance allocated to Members of Parliament as determined by IPSA. In addition, former Prime Ministers are entitled to claim a pension allowance to contribute towards the pension costs of their staff. This is limited to a maximum of 10% of their staff salary costs.

    The Government is currently considering the decision of the First-Tier Tribunal.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the decision by the First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) in Gabriel Webber v the Information Commissioner (EA/2015/0194) on 22 March, whether they will now release claims made, with supporting receipts, of public duty costs allowances paid to former Prime Ministers, and if so, when.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Public Duties Cost Allowance (PDCA) was introduced to assist former Prime Ministers, still active in public life, with the costs of continuing to fulfil public duties. The PDCA is set in line with the annual Parliamentary Staffing Allowance allocated to Members of Parliament as determined by IPSA. In addition, former Prime Ministers are entitled to claim a pension allowance to contribute towards the pension costs of their staff. This is limited to a maximum of 10% of their staff salary costs.

    The Government is currently considering the decision of the First-Tier Tribunal.

  • Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Triesman on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a list of occupational pension schemes in local government, the NHS and publicly funded education registered in the UK as at 1 January.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government does not maintain a central list of pension schemes provided by each employer in local government, the NHS and education sectors. However, there are three principal occupational pension schemes covering these workforces, which are the Local Government Pension Scheme 2014, the National Health Service Pension Scheme 2015 (and 1995 and 2008 sections) and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme 2015 (and 2010 section).

  • Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Triesman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Triesman on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the support provided by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) to events celebrating the Commonwealth, and its wider role in addressing challenging social issues, including early and forced child marriage, how much financial support has been provided to the RCS in each of the last five financial years, and how much will be provided in this and the next financial year.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has contributed a total of £191,452 from 2011- 2015 to activities run by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and the Council of Commonwealth Societies (CCS) for whom the RCS organises events. A breakdown of this sum is listed below:

    2011

    £60,720.00

    2012

    £48,619.60

    2013

    £21,706.40

    2014

    £22,000.00

    2015

    £38,407.00

    This year the FCO has again provided £20,000 towards the cost of the CCS Commonwealth Service event in Westminster Abbey.

    Future funding requests for all Commonwealth organisations will be assessed on a case by case basis.

  • Baroness Young of Old Scone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Baroness Young of Old Scone – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Young of Old Scone on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of UK environmental and climate change legislation derives (1) from EU directives transposed into UK legislation, (2) from EU regulations without need for transposition, and (3) from wholly domestic legislation; and of the legislation that derives from EU directives, what proportion is dependent on the European Communities Act 1972.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    Although specific figures for environment and climate change are not available, the House of Commons library has concluded that across the full range of UK instruments, from 1997 to 2014, an average of 13.2% were EU-related. A copy of the report is attached.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of the US regarding the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015, which prevents British nationals from travelling to the US if they may have visited Iran, Sudan, Iraq or Syria in the last five years; and what assessment they have made of whether that implementation is discriminatory.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While US immigration processes are a matter for the US authorities, we have raised with the US administration the importance of clearly communicating changes to their immigration policy. The US Customs and Border Protection service has stated publicly that “the religion, faith, or spiritual beliefs of an international traveller are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the US”. We remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics of how many British citizens have been excluded from travelling to the US under HR158 of the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015; and if so, how many have been so excluded; and whether they are aware of any British Parliamentarians being refused entry under that rule.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    US immigration processes – including the collection of statistics – are a matter for the US authorities. A number of Members of Parliament have raised this issue on behalf of their constituents and we are aware of at least one Parliamentarian affected by the new legislation. We have raised the importance of clearly communicating changes to immigration policy with the US administration, and remain in close contact with the US Embassy in order to avoid inconvenience to British nationals travelling to the US.