Questions
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to Master’s degree funding opportunities.[HL3385]
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con): At Autumn Statement 2014 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Government’s intention to introduce an income contingent postgraduate loan of up to £10,000 for those students aged under 30 studying for a 1 year full-time, or 2 year part-time, Master's course. BIS will launch a public consultation in the New Year on the loan terms and eligibility criteria, before finalising the design of the scheme.
Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the repayment terms for the proposed postgraduate student loan system will be.[HL3436]
Baroness Williams of Trafford: Repayment terms for taught postgraduate loans announced at Autumn Statement have not been finalised. The Government will launch a consultation early in the New Year to inform the design and terms of the loan before final decisions are taken.
Postgraduate taught loans will be designed so that most individuals will repay in full, in recognition of the high private return to individuals, but they will beat commercial rates. One way of doing this is to charge an interest rate of RPI+3%, with repayments of 9% of income above a threshold of £21,000, frozen for 5 years, repaid concurrently with undergraduate loans.
Radicalism
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they consider to constitute “extremist” speech.[HL3567]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bates) (Con): The Government’s definition of extremism, as set out in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, is vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. This includes calls for the death of members of our armed forces, whether in this country or overseas. The Home Office now has responsibility for a new counter-extremism strategy to tackle extremism in all its forms, which will be published next year.
Shipping: Exhaust Emissions
Question
Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they supported the creation of European Union rules requiring shipping companies to use more low emission fuel; and what assessment they have made of the estimate by P&O Ferries that it will result in increases in fares from £160 to £210 for a family of four travelling from Dover to Calais by sea.[HL3535]
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Baroness Kramer) (LD): The rules concerning low emission fuel to which the Noble Lord refers are part of the International Maritime Organization’s MARPOL Convention, a treaty to which the UK is a party. The UK supported the development of these standards when they were negotiated in the International Maritime Organization. The Government also supported these standards, but not any ‘gold-plating’ of them, in the subsequent negotiations on an EU Directive covering sulphur emissions from ships. The shipping industry has known that it would need to comply with these international rules ever since they were adopted by the International Maritime Organisation in October 2008.
The Government’s aim is to implement the sulphur limits in a way that minimises the economic impact on the industry. We have not made a detailed assessment of the costs to P&O Ferries which have been reported in the media. We recognise that ticket prices may have to increase to cover the cost of low sulphur fuel, but falling oil prices should offset at least some of this increase. We are looking at ways of helping industry meet the new regulatory requirements. We have already been successful in 2014 in supporting shipowners and ports who applied for EU assistance under the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme to help purchase innovative technologies. We propose to take matters further and identify additional options for financial assistance to affected parts of the UK shipping and ports industries.
Smith Commission
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish impact and risk assessments on the Smith Commission's recommendations.[HL3594]
The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Wallace of Tankerness) (LD): The Government has committed to producing draft clauses by Burns’ Night, 25 January 2015. Individual parties have made commitments to introduce legislation to Parliament following the General Election in May 2015. It is expected that formal introduction of legislation will be accompanied by supporting documents in the usual way, including Impact Assessments.
Sudan
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Sudan about religious freedom in that country and reports of police persecution of the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church.[HL3433]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Anelay of St Johns) (Con): We raise our concerns about freedom of religion with the Government of Sudan as part of our regular engagement on human rights issues. Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum most recently raised this issue with the External Affairs Secretariat of the National Congress Party (the ruling party in Sudan) and the government’s National Human Rights Commission. We have highlighted our concerns about the case involving Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church and are seeking a meeting with the Government of Sudan.
Telecommunications
Question
Asked by Lord West of Spithead
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce a communications data bill in this Parliament.[HL3589]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bates) (Con): The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which is currently before Parliament, includes provisions for data to be retained to enable the resolution of IP addresses.
The provisions in the Bill will not bridge all of the gaps we face in our communications data capabilities, including, in particular, those relating to so-called “weblogs”. This is something that will need to be addressed in the next Parliament.
Terrorism: Northern Ireland
Question
Asked by Lord Browne of Belmont
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support services are currently available to victims and survivors of Northern Ireland-related acts of terrorism in Great Britain.[HL3355]
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Faulks) (Con): Individual victims and survivors of Northern Ireland related acts of terrorism who are resident in England and Wales are able to apply for funding from the Victims and Survivors Service (VSS) in Northern Ireland. The VSS is the main funder of victims’ groups in Northern Ireland and provides a tailored package to meet the individual needs of victims and survivors including counselling, physiotherapy and the purchase of equipment such as wheelchairs.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own devolved arrangements for supporting victims of crime.
Thailand
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether British Embassy officials are attending the trials in Thailand of British citizen Andy Hall.[HL3323]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Anelay of St Johns) (Con): Officials from our Embassy in Bangkok attended three days of Mr Hall's recent criminal defamation trial, including the opening and closing day, in order to observe proceedings. We also encouraged officials from other EU Member States to attend. We are pleased to note that one case of criminal defamation against Mr Hall has been dismissed.
Officials, both in Bangkok and London, are in regular contact with Mr Hall, and will continue to monitor Mr Hall’s case closely, ensuring that his case is raised with the Thai authorities where appropriate and reminding the authorities of their obligations to ensure international human rights standards are upheld.
Tobacco: Packaging
Questions
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish the results of the consultation on the standardised packaging of tobacco products. [HL3444]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con): A consultation on the introduction of regulations for standardised packaging of tobacco products closed on 7 August 2014.
A summary report of this consultation will be published in due course.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products in other countries may have led to an increase in the consumption of cigarettes; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.[HL3445]
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that the adult smoking rate in other countries may have increased following the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.[HL3446]
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that youth smoking rates in other countries may have increased following the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom.[HL3447]
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of indications that there has been an increase in the consumption of illegal tobacco in countries which may have introduced plain packaging of tobacco products; and how they plan to take such findings into account before deciding whether to introduce such a policy in the United Kingdom. [HL3448]
Earl Howe: The Government continues to consider carefully all issues relevant to the introduction of standardised packaging of tobacco products, including emerging evidence from Australia.
No final decision has been made on whether to introduce regulations to require standardised packaging of tobacco products.
UK Membership of EU
Question
Asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Livingston of Parkhead on 19 November (HL2689), what research they have conducted since 1992 to determine the impact on United Kingdom trade of the free trade agreements negotiated on the United Kingdom's behalf by the European Commission.[HL3676]
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Livingston of Parkhead) (Con): The Department conducts Impact Assessments of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) between the European Union (EU) and other major economies, including, as far as possible, impacts on United Kingdom (UK) trade. Impact Assessments
have been published on the FTAs between the European Union and Korea; and between the EU and the Andean countries (Colombia and Peru). These are available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2010/328/pdfs/ukia_20100328_en.pdf and http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2013/151/pdfs/ukia_20130151_en.pdf.
The Department published research into the potential impact on the UK of an FTA between the EU and the United States (US) in 2013. This research has informed the Government’s approach to the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP), currently under negotiation. This research estimates a long-term permanent annual increase in bilateral trade between the UK and US of around £38 billion. The study is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/198115/bis-13-869-economic-impact-on-uk-of-tranatlantic-trade-and-investment-partnership-between-eu-and-us.pdf.
To assess the impacts of other FTAs on the UK, the Department draws on analysis conducted by the European Commission. The European Commission has conducted research into the estimated impact on the EU of FTAs it has negotiated and is negotiating on the UK’s behalf. The studies also consider the impact of FTAs on bilateral trade. These Impact Assessments are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/policy-making/analysis/sustainability-impact-assessments/assessments/
The European Commission has also commissioned an evaluation of the impact on EU trade of several Free Trade Agreements concluded since 1992, including with Chile and South Africa. This found that the FTA with Chile had increased the EU’s exports to Chile by 148% and the FTA with South Africa had increased the EU’s exports to South Africa by 63% compared to what would have been without the FTAs. This study is available at: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2011/may/tradoc_147905.pdf.