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514677

registered interest
date	21/04/2016
answering body	Department for Education
answering dept id	60
answering dept short name	Education
answering dept sort name	Education
hansard heading	Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Fund
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have for the future of the pilot Access to Elected Office Fund.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL7823
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/05/2016 answer text <p>The Access to Elected Office Fund was a pilot established in 2012 to test this type of support for disabled candidates. We are now reviewing the findings of the assessment of the pilot and anticipate making an announcement in due course.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 05/05/2016 12:33:52 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

514304

registered interest
date	20/04/2016
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 whether they will now update the benefit-cost ratios for both Phase 1 of HS2 and the complete project to allow for: (1) extra costs arising from the mitigation and compensation that has already been agreed or should be allowed for as a contingency to cover recommendations of the House of Commons High Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Select Committee and other Parliamentary committees or official bodies, and negotiations between the Government and affected parties; (2) any extra expenditure required to strengthen the track in order to run trains at the proposed speed, in the light of the research conducted by Professor Peter Woodward; (3) any other costs extra to those allowed for in previous benefit-cost ratio calculations; (4) revised estimates of benefits; and (5) delays in construction and the start of operations not anticipated in previous benefit-cost ratio calculations.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL7794
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2016 answer text <p>The Government intends to publish updated benefit-cost ratios for different phases of the scheme at the next iteration of the relevant business cases, including Phase 1, reflecting all the latest information on costs and benefits.</p><p> </p><p>All published benefit-cost ratios for HS2 account for unexpected costs. For Phase 1, the benefit-cost ratio published in October 2013 in the <em>Economic Case for HS2</em> included contingencies for unforeseen costs. There is therefore no increase to overall costs as a result of the Parliamentary process, as the cost estimate included provision for that process. The benefit-cost ratio was also tested against a range of different cost assumptions.</p><p> </p><p>For the rest of the project, the cost estimates were adjusted for optimism bias. The benefit-cost ratio estimates for the full Y and Phase 2a in latest update, published in November 2015 in the <em>West Midlands to Crewe Economic Case</em>, also accounted for the risk of construction inflation exceeding general inflation over the next five years. This information has been placed in the libraries of the House.</p><p> </p><p>There is no change to the planned opening date for HS2 and HS2 Ltd remain on track to start construction in 2017.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 29/04/2016 11:53:24 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

510226

registered interest
date	11/04/2016
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Landfill Communities Fund
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL7432
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/04/2016 answer text <p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord O'Neill of Gatley question first answered 25/04/2016 14:58:02 answering member 4536 label Biography information for Lord O'Neill of Gatley
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

455976

registered interest
date	29/02/2016
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits: Fraud
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL6556
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/03/2016 answer text <p>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.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>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<strong>.</strong> This figure covers the 52 week period commencing 31 March 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Freud question first answered 10/03/2016 15:29:04 answering member 3893 label Biography information for Lord Freud
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

451145

registered interest
date	08/02/2016
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Aviation: Excise Duties
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL6011
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord O'Neill of Gatley question first answered 22/02/2016 17:22:11 answering member 4536 label Biography information for Lord O'Neill of Gatley
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

451146

registered interest
date	08/02/2016
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Aviation: Taxation
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL6012
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>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.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord O'Neill of Gatley question first answered 22/02/2016 17:25:57 answering member 4536 label Biography information for Lord O'Neill of Gatley
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

451147

registered interest
date	08/02/2016
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Air Passenger Duty
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL6013
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2016 answer text <p>The government expects APD to raise £3.1 billion over the financial year 2015-16.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord O'Neill of Gatley question first answered 22/02/2016 17:06:05 answering member 4536 label Biography information for Lord O'Neill of Gatley
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

451148

registered interest
date	08/02/2016
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Air Passenger Duty
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL6014
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/02/2016 answer text <p>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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 15/02/2016 12:25:46 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

434093

registered interest
date	03/12/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Roads: Norwich
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the reasons for the increase in the contract target costs of the Norwich Northern Distributor Road.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL4212
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2015 answer text <p>No assessment was made by the Department for Transport of the reasons for the increase in the contract target costs of the Norwich Northern Distributor Road. Norfolk County Council officials provided the Department with information on this and with the papers provided to their Councillors prior to the meeting on 6 November where the revised cost of the scheme was approved.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 17/12/2015 11:55:59 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

434094

registered interest
date	03/12/2015
answering body	Department for Transport
answering dept id	27
answering dept short name	Transport
answering dept sort name	Transport
hansard heading	Roads: Norwich
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what process was used to assess the value-for-money that would be achieved from the additional Department for Transport funding provided to Norfolk County Council in relation to the Norwich Northern Distributor Road project.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
uin	HL4213
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2015 answer text <p>A value for money assessment was undertaken on the full revised cost of the Norwich Northern Distributor Road which showed that it remained very high value for money under the Department’s value for money assessment with an adjusted Benefit Cost Ratio of 6.07.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 17/12/2015 11:58:53 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb