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683622

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	High Speed 2 Line
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 1 February (HL4840), what estimate they have made of the percentage reduction in capital and operating cost of HS2 if the maximum operating speed were 320 kph rather than 360 kph; and whether there is to be a requirement that the manufacture or assembly of the trains will be undertaken in the UK.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL5185
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2017 answer text <p>The government believes that HS2 should be designed to a maximum speed of 360km/h, with a route alignment enabling up to 400km/h in the future. In 2012 HS2 Ltd advised that the cost of building the Phase 1 consulted route at 200km/h would be 9% lower than the cost of a route designed to a maximum speed of 360km/h. An intermediate speed option of 300km/h was considered to test the operating cost and value for money implications of a lower operating speed. This option increased journey times, reducing the forecast benefit-cost ratio of the Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst a lower operating speed – including 320 km/h - could result in marginally reduced rolling stock capital costs and some reduction to operating costs; these are more than offset by the significant loss in revenue and user benefits.</p><p>It is too early to confirm whether the manufacture or assembly of the trains will take place in the UK. However, when tendering, bidders will be required to make clear how their proposal in respect of designing, building, testing and maintaining the rolling stock will deliver the HS2 Programme’s strategic goals and objectives. These include the development of long term design and manufacturing skills, creation of employment opportunities and investment in workforce education to add value to the UK economy.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 14/02/2017 11:53:02 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

683623

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Transport: Rural Areas
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 concerning social aid for transport for residents of remote regions can be introduced in England; for what purposes; and what aid is already in place.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL5186
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2017 answer text <p>Article 51 of Regulation No 651/2014 is a permissive provision that specifies types of aid that will be deemed compatible with EU state aid rules. The Article itself does not require any action to be taken for it to be introduced in Member States; this is a Regulation and is directly applicable. The decision of whether to grant such aid is one for Member States.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 14/02/2017 11:50:18 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

683624

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Wines: Imports
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many imported bottles of wine were sampled in each of the last five years, in order to check for fraud and forgery, broken down by samples from (1) EU member states, and (2) the rest of the world.
tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
uin	HL5187
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2017 answer text <p>The information requested is not held.</p><p> </p><p>HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is responsible for protecting the Exchequer from alcohol duty fraud. The majority of this fraud in the UK relates to the diversion of genuine products, without payment of duty. HMRC has a published strategy for dealing with alcohol fraud. This is risk-based and sampling does not form part of this approach.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 15/02/2017 14:29:41 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

683625

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Wines: Labelling
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether sampling of Spanish and French wine has been increased in the light of allegations that cheap Spanish wine is being labelled as French wine.
tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
uin	HL5188
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/02/2017 answer text <p>Wine sampling is conducted by Her Majesty’s Government on a random and risk-led basis. It therefore remains fully adaptable to respond to actual and perceived risks faced by the wine sector and consumers.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Gardiner of Kimble question first answered 13/02/2017 14:16:21 answering member 4161 label Biography information for Lord Gardiner of Kimble
tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

683626

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Road Traffic Offences: Mobile Phones
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to amend the law to allow the automatic confiscation of a mobile phone that has been used illegally by a driver.
tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
uin	HL5189
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2017 answer text <p>The Government is increasing the fixed penalty notice for using a hand held phone when driving from 3 to 6 points and £100 to £200 from 1 March 2017. We plan to evaluate the effectiveness of this action. There are no further measures planned.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 14/02/2017 11:50:52 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

683627

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Defence: Expenditure
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the governments of NATO countries which spend less than two per cent of GDP on defence.
tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
uin	HL5190
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2017 answer text <p>The United Kingdom meets the Defence Investment Pledge from the NATO summit in Wales, and has committed to do so for the rest of this decade. NATO's ability to deter potential adversaries requires modern capabilities, and these need appropriate funding. Government ministers regularly encourage Allies to fulfil the commitments they have made to spend two per cent of GDP on defence by 2024 (and 20 per cent of that on equipment). Better burden-sharing is an important issue for the new US Administration, and we expect this to be a focus of discussion at the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting later this month.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Earl Howe grouped question UIN HL5236 question first answered 09/02/2017 15:47:47 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

683628

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	NATO
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total number of troops and units which the UK, USA and Canada have stationed in other NATO countries in Europe.
tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
uin	HL5191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2017 answer text <p>The most recent figures for UK military personnel based in European NATO countries can be found in the document entitled <em>'Quarterly location statistics: 1 October 2016', </em>which can be found on the gov.uk website at the following link:</p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/location-of-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-2016</p><p>The following units are based in Germany: HQ British Forces Germany; HQ 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade; The Queen's Royal Hussars; 26 Regiment Royal Artillery; 35 Engineer Regiment; 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment; 1 Medical Regiment; 3rd Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers; Theatre Fleet Support Unit (Germany).</p><p>The UK does not hold information on the personnel and units of the US and Canada based in European NATO countries.</p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 15/02/2017 16:07:15 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe attachment 1 file name 20170214 - HL5191 - UK military personnel based in other NATO countries in Europe.xlsx title HL5191 - Quarterly Location Statistics
tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra

683629

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept id	201
answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 28 December 2016 (HL4016), and in the light of the LuxLeaks trials in Luxembourg, whether they intend to review their policy of not offering immunity from prosecution to whistle-blowers in so far as it applies to cases where information has been supplied about aggressive tax avoidance schemes that have caused a significant loss to the public purse.
tabling member printed	Lord Harries of Pentregarth
uin	HL5192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not currently intend to review the law.</p> answering member printed Lord Prior of Brampton question first answered 14/02/2017 14:14:11 answering member 127 label Biography information for Lord Prior of Brampton
tabling member	3813 label Biography information for Lord Harries of Pentregarth

683630

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Tax Avoidance: Luxembourg
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 28 December 2016 (HL4016), and in the light of the involvement of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in the LuxLeaks trials in Luxembourg and the reported pressure placed upon one of the LuxLeaks whistle-blowers to sign a secrecy agreement, whether they intend to desist from conducting any further Government business with PwC.
tabling member printed	Lord Harries of Pentregarth
uin	HL5193
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/02/2017 answer text <p>As stated in my response of 21 December 2016 (HL4016), the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 ensures that workers who raise concerns of wrongdoing to their employer or a relevant external body (by making what is known as a ‘protected disclosure’) and suffer detriment as a result may seek redress through an Employment Tribunal.</p><p>When a finding of unlawful practices has been made against the organisation at a Employment Tribunal, a public body may exclude that organisation from participation in a procurement procedure. This is laid out in the discretionary exclusion grounds of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Such a finding has not been made against PwC as a result of the LuxLeaks trials.</p> answering member printed Lord Young of Cookham question first answered 20/02/2017 12:18:29 answering member 57 label Biography information for Lord Young of Cookham
tabling member	3813 label Biography information for Lord Harries of Pentregarth

683631

registered interest
date	02/02/2017
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Multinational Companies: Taxation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 18 January (HL Deb, col 212), and in the light of paragraph 17(7) of Schedule 19 to the Finance Act 2016 which provides for the Treasury to make regulations requiring group tax strategies to include a country-by-country report, what steps they are taking to ensure that transnational companies are fully transparent about the real centres of their economic activity and reveal any misalignment between that and where such companies declare their profits for tax purposes in their annual accounts.
tabling member printed	Lord Harries of Pentregarth
uin	HL5194
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2017 answer text <p>The Government believes that profits should be taxed where economic activities are performed. The UK has introduced the OECD model of country-by-country reporting. This will provide a clear overall picture of the global position on profit and tax of multinational groups to tax authorities, enabling them to make more informed assessments of where risks lie.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has set out its objective for a comprehensive and effective model of public country-by-country reporting that is agreed on a multilateral basis, to improve transparency over businesses’ tax affairs and build public trust in the tax system. The UK will continue to work with international partners with a view to delivering on that objective. This includes our continued participation in the discussions on the European Commission’s proposal.</p> answering member printed Baroness Neville-Rolfe question first answered 15/02/2017 14:28:44 answering member 4284 label Biography information for Baroness Neville-Rolfe
tabling member	3813 label Biography information for Lord Harries of Pentregarth