The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2015-12-14.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether an impact assessment was conducted on the provisions contained in the Trade Union Bill that will change the current opt-out process to an opt-in process.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government intends to publish the impact assessment for the Trade Union Bill before Lords’ Committee Stage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the level of fund management fees charged to consumers reflects a competitive market, in the light of the variable performance of such funds.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is committed to the principle that people who have worked hard and saved should have access to appropriate and accessible investment options and understand the charges that they face. We appreciate the efforts that industry have made to fulfil this aim.
Since last April, the Government has ensured that trustees of defined contribution pension schemes report charges levied on members in schemes used for auto enrolment.
We are also engaging with international work on transparency, such as the legislation agreed at European Union level through the Packaged Retail and Insurance Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). MiFID II will introduce new measures to increase transparency of research costs for clients of portfolio managers. Under these new measures, portfolio managers may only pay for research through their own funds or from a specific research payment account funded by its clients and subject to specific controls, including a research budget.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also currently conducting a market study into asset management, which covers the issue of whether the level of fund management fees charged to consumers reflects a competitive market. We await the FCA’s assessment of competition in this sector. The FCA expect to publish an interim report in summer 2016 and a final report in early 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their policy that entertainment expenses either given or received by individuals in fund management companies and their clients and suppliers should be disclosed, and whether they will encourage pension trustees to require such disclosures in their management contracts.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is committed to the principle that people should have access to appropriate and accessible investment options and understand the charges that they face.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently conducting a market study into asset management. We await the FCA’s assessment of disclosure of costs and fees in fund management reporting, where these issues fall under the scope of the market study. The FCA expect to publish an interim report in summer 2016 and a final report in early 2017.
With respect to the disclosure requirements imposed on pension trustees, the Department for Work and Pensions and the FCA jointly undertook a Call for Evidence on disclosure of costs and charges in workplace pension schemes during 2015. We and the FCA are assessing the responses received and remain committed to making regulations and rules in this Parliament requiring publication of costs and charges, as per the legal duty in the Pensions Act 2014.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, in the light of the recent Panama papers scandal, of how many of the illegal assets subject to confiscation orders they will now be able to claim.
Lord Keen of Elie
On 10 April 2016 the Prime Minister announced a new cross-agency taskforce to obtain, analyse and take action on the information that has been made available from Mossack Fonseca and to take rapid action on any form of illegality that emerges.
A number of investigations are underway and the taskforce, which is accountable to the Home Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, will report on its progress later this year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when work on the impact assessment for the Trade Union Bill was commissioned.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government has published detailed Impact Assessments for the Bill – on the Trade Union Bill, on the Reporting of Facility Time in the Public Sector, and on the Prohibition on Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector. At a meeting with Peers in December, Ministers committed to publishing prior to the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, and they were published in good time on 21 January.
The Trade Union Bill’s impact assessment has been subject to scrutiny by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee, and its opinion has been published alongside the impact assessment.
They were reviewed and approved by the relevant Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. The Permanent Secretary has been kept informed of progress on all stages of the Bill.
Policy officials and analysts in both Departments have worked together to produce the impact assessments as quickly as possible while ensuring that the analysis was thorough.
We have not asked civil servants working on the Bill in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office to fill out time sheets.
We do not record which particular documents each special adviser reads. Special advisers have access to departmental papers in line with the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct and provide advice to Ministers.
I am placing copies of the relevant documentation in the Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to legislate to ensure that all fees charged to pensioners by fund managers are made publicly available monthly, including transaction and research costs and all other costs that investors bear.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is committed to the principle that people who have worked hard and saved should have access to appropriate and accessible investment options and understand the charges that they face. We appreciate the efforts that industry have made to fulfil this aim.
Since last April, the Government has ensured that trustees of defined contribution pension schemes report charges levied on members in schemes used for auto enrolment.
We are also engaging with international work on transparency, such as the legislation agreed at European Union level through the Packaged Retail and Insurance Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). MiFID II will introduce new measures to increase transparency of research costs for clients of portfolio managers. Under these new measures, portfolio managers may only pay for research through their own funds or from a specific research payment account funded by its clients and subject to specific controls, including a research budget.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also currently conducting a market study into asset management, which covers the issue of whether the level of fund management fees charged to consumers reflects a competitive market. We await the FCA’s assessment of competition in this sector. The FCA expect to publish an interim report in summer 2016 and a final report in early 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has been asked by the Department for International Development to analyse why Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen from three percent in 1970 to less than two percent in 2014.
Baroness Verma
DFID, BIS and the FCO form a joint Trade Policy Unit which collectively works on issues of trade policy and trade facilitation and regularly scrutinises sectoral trade and growth trends across Africa.
While Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen since 1970, this is mostly driven by the rise in manufacturing production in China and India. Manufacturing production is increasing across Africa, but with varying experiences across countries. African manufacturing grew at 3.5% annually in real terms over the last decade. However, manufacturing still represents on a small fraction of economic activity and it is our assessment that manufacturing in Africa is lagging.
The World Bank calculates that 18 million jobs need to be created in Africa every year until 2035 to keep up with this growth. The Department for International Development is currently scaling up our efforts to boost manufacturing in Africa to help create jobs and economic opportunities. This adds to DFID’s strong portfolio on unlocking industrialisation and trade in Africa.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-06-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what level of engagement they have had with the private sector in pursuit of the £1.6 billion of illegal assets calculated by the National Audit Office to be subject to confiscation orders but which will evade recovery.
Lord Keen of Elie
In 2014 the Home Office established the Serious and Organised Crime Financial Sector Forum, an initiative to bring together Government, law enforcement agencies, regulators and the financial sector in a public-private partnership to tackle crime. Under its auspices, the National Crime Agency has trialled sharing data on uncollected confiscation orders with the banks, and leads the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT), which brings together banks and law enforcement agencies to share information to tackle money laundering.
Work is continuing with the Financial Sector Forum to explore effective ways of sharing data between private sector entities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the original date set for the publication of the impact assessment for the Trade Union Bill.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Government has published detailed Impact Assessments for the Bill – on the Trade Union Bill, on the Reporting of Facility Time in the Public Sector, and on the Prohibition on Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector. At a meeting with Peers in December, Ministers committed to publishing prior to the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, and they were published in good time on 21 January.
The Trade Union Bill’s impact assessment has been subject to scrutiny by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee, and its opinion has been published alongside the impact assessment.
They were reviewed and approved by the relevant Ministers in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. The Permanent Secretary has been kept informed of progress on all stages of the Bill.
Policy officials and analysts in both Departments have worked together to produce the impact assessments as quickly as possible while ensuring that the analysis was thorough.
We have not asked civil servants working on the Bill in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office to fill out time sheets.
We do not record which particular documents each special adviser reads. Special advisers have access to departmental papers in line with the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct and provide advice to Ministers.
I am placing copies of the relevant documentation in the Library.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they track the performance of the fund management industry; and if so, whether they have identified any examples where managers have been able to reduce costs and passed those reductions on to investors.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The Government is committed to the principle that people who have worked hard and saved should have access to appropriate and accessible investment options and understand the charges that they face. We appreciate the efforts that industry have made to fulfil this aim.
Since last April, the Government has ensured that trustees of defined contribution pension schemes report charges levied on members in schemes used for auto enrolment.
We are also engaging with international work on transparency, such as the legislation agreed at European Union level through the Packaged Retail and Insurance Based Investment Products (PRIIPs) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). MiFID II will introduce new measures to increase transparency of research costs for clients of portfolio managers. Under these new measures, portfolio managers may only pay for research through their own funds or from a specific research payment account funded by its clients and subject to specific controls, including a research budget.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is also currently conducting a market study into asset management, which covers the issue of whether the level of fund management fees charged to consumers reflects a competitive market. We await the FCA’s assessment of competition in this sector. The FCA expect to publish an interim report in summer 2016 and a final report in early 2017.