Tag: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-12-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the grant from Viridor Credits to Twickenham Rowing Club was audited by ENTRUST, and what assessment they have made of the environmental objectives that grant fulfils.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

The Landfill Communities Fund is a tax credit scheme. It allows landfill operators to gain a tax credit against 90% of the voluntary donations they make to environmental bodies for spending on certain prescribed objectives.

The prescribed objectives include:

• the restoration of a building of historic interest or place of religious worship; and
• the maintenance or improvement of a public amenity;

within the vicinity of a landfill site.

ENTRUST, the independent regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund assesses and approves applications for project funding to ensure they meet the objectives of the scheme. ENTRUST also carries out a programme of assurance under which a cross-section of projects are selected for audit to ensure they meet the prescribed objectives, and that funds are spent compliantly.

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 2015-10-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people currently receive Universal Credit, and at what cost to the public purse.

Lord Freud

The Universal Credit programme publishes official experimental statistics which are available on GOV.UK.

The statistics to 10 September show that 125,877 people were on the Universal Credit caseload. Cost information for the current UC caseload is not available for publication.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Local Government Association’s assessment of the impact of spending reductions on the long-term financial sustainability of adult social care services.

Earl Howe

Adult social care expenditure and the future demand for services will be reviewed as part of the Spending Review before decisions on future funding are made. The Department is aware of the work undertaken by the Local Government Association and will involve both them and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services in this process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to extend their definition of a notifiable crime to include (1) all driving offences, or (2) all driving offences that cause injury.

Lord Bates

There are no plans to extend the definition of a notifiable crime to include all driving offences or all driving offences that cause injury.