The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if aviation fuel were subject to the same rate of tax as fuel for motor vehicles.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
In accordance with its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel. Consequently, no such assessments have been made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how much revenue would be raised if all air fares for aircraft departing from UK airports were subject to a tax at 20 per cent.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Such a form of taxation would be in breach of the UK’s obligations under its bilateral Air Service Agreements, the 1944 Chicago Convention and EU law. Consequently, no such assessment has been made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to help Syrian refugees in the Jungle” camp at Calais who are in need of advice about applying to the UK for asylum.”
Lord Bates
A joint communications campaign, involving British officials speaking to migrants in Calais, has been taking place to inform migrants of the reality of life in the UK and of their rights to claim asylum in France. The frequency of these campaigns has been increased in line with the commitment in the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of how much revenue will be raised from Air Passenger Duty this financial year, and how much would need to be raised to compensate for the loss of fuel tax and VAT on air fares.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The government expects APD to raise £3.1 billion over the financial year 2015-16.
In accordance with the long standing 1944 Chicago Convention, its bilateral Air Service Agreements and EU law, the UK does not tax aviation fuel or charge VAT on air fares. Consequently, the government does not consider this lost revenue and no such estimates have been made.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research on the links between the risk of cancer and radiation spikes during the refuelling of nuclear power plants, whether nuclear power plants are currently required to report hourly or half-hourly radioactive emissions, and if not, whether they plan to require nuclear power plants to collect and publish hourly or half-hourly radioactive emissions statistics.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Radioactive discharges from nuclear power plants are subject to permitting by the UK and devolved environmental agencies. Permitted discharge and notification levels are set out in individual site permits. These limits are set well within the levels required to comply with the public radiation dose constraints that have been set out in UK and devolved legislation in line with international standards.
The environmental and food standards agencies jointly monitor actual levels of radioactivity in the environment and report annually in Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). The results of this programme indicate that discharge levels from nuclear plants are well within the permitted limits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Carbon Airports Commission calculated that air fares would need to rise in order to comply with the capped model, and what estimate they have made of the increase in air passenger duty that would be necessary to achieve that increase.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Airports Commission included an estimate of the impact of air fares in the carbon capped case in Chapter 4 of their interim report, copies of which are available in the Libraries of both Houses.
There are no such estimates alongside the updated forecasts in their final report, nor is there consideration of the interaction between carbon prices and air passenger duty.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research on the links between the risk of cancer and radiation spikes during the refuelling of nuclear power plants, whether they plan to publish statistics on spikes in radioactive emissions from nuclear power plants in the UK.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Radioactive discharges from nuclear power plants are subject to permitting by the UK and devolved environmental agencies. Permitted discharge and notification levels are set out in individual site permits. These limits are set well within the levels required to comply with the public radiation dose constraints that have been set out in UK and devolved legislation in line with international standards.
The environmental and food standards agencies jointly monitor actual levels of radioactivity in the environment and report annually in Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). The results of this programme indicate that discharge levels from nuclear plants are well within the permitted limits.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-02-29.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total budget for the National Benefit Fraud Hotline in 2014–15; how many allegations of suspected benefit fraud were reported via that hotline or the online reporting form in 2014–15; what was the total cost of investigating those allegations; and how much was identified in recoverable overpayments by those investigations.
Lord Freud
The Fraud and Error Service (FES), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the prevention, detection and where appropriate, investigation of Fraud and Error against all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.
The National Benefit Fraud Hotline (NBFH) is outsourced; therefore there is a yearly cost for outsourcing as opposed to a budget. The total outsourcing cost the NBFH for 2014/15 is £303,480. This figure covers the 52 week period commencing 31 March 2014.
The available data on allegations of benefit fraud reported via the NBFD or online only covers incidents recorded on the internal FES Fraud Referral and Information Management System (FRAIMS.) It does not give the total volume of enquiries and calls made to NBFH, only those that were entered onto FRAIMS. There are various reasons for allegations not being entered onto FRAIMS, including the fact that not all enquiries and calls are of an appropriate nature. In 2014/15 there were 207,600 cases of suspected benefit fraud reported via the NBFH that were entered onto FRAIMS or reported online.
We are unable to provide a precise response on the cost of investigating these allegations because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still on going. We are able to provide an estimate of the cost of investigations that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. We cannot distinguish the exact costs of investigating NBFH allegations from the total cost of investigating all allegations and so this figure is an estimate, calculated by apportioning total costs of Local Service that were undertaken in 2014/15 on the basis of Positive Outcomes as this is the main cost driver. This was estimated to be £16.9m. This figure only includes direct costs of Investigations – there are no overheads included.
As with the cost of investigation, we are unable to provide a precise response on the amount identified in recoverable overpayments because some of the investigations from the allegations made in 2014/15 are still ongoing. We have instead provided the value of overpayments that achieved an outcome in 2014/15 which were initially triggered by an allegation made through the hotline or online reporting. £46,068,848 was identified as recoverable.
Note that identifying overpayments also prevents a significant amount of future losses which are not included in the value of recoverable overpayments identified shown here. Referrals from members of the public therefore provide good value for money.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of research on the links between the risk of cancer and radiation spikes during the refuelling of nuclear power plants, whether they plan to carry out a meta-analysis of European epidemiology studies about incidences of leukaemia in children under five living within five kilometres of nuclear power plants.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Public Health England (PHE) has advised that it considers the conclusions reached by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) in their 14th report published in 2011 remain robust, that there was no evidence that living near a nuclear power station in the United Kingdom is associated with an increased risk of childhood cancer. PHE is not aware at this time of any plans for a meta-analysis of European epidemiology studies about incidences of leukaemia in children under five living within five kilometres of nuclear power plants.
COMARE is a Departmental expert advisory committee that provides independent advice to Government on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation. A copy of their 14th report is attached.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether waste operators can distribute Landfill Communities Fund monies directly to projects, or must do so through an environmental body.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Landfill operators can only distribute monies from the Landfilll Communities Fund to environmental bodies. In order to receive money directly from a landfill operator, a project would have to register as an environmental body with the scheme’s regulator, ENTRUST.