Vol. 769 Thursday No. 8 21 January 2016 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS WRITTEN STATEMENTS AND WRITTEN ANSWERS Written Statements ................................ ................. 1 Written Answers ................................ ..................... 5 [I] indicates that the member concerned has a relevant registered interest. The full register of interests can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords-interests/ Members who want a printed copy of Written Answers and Written Statements should notify the Printed Paper Office. This printed edition is a reproduction of the original text of Answers and Statements, which can be found on the internet at http://www.parliament.uk/writtenanswers/. Ministers and others who make Statements or answer Questions are referred to only by name, not their ministerial or other title. The current list of ministerial and other responsibilities is as follows. Minister Responsibilities Baroness Stowell of Beeston Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal Earl Howe Minister of State, Ministry of Defence and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office and Department for Transport Baroness Anelay of St Johns Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Baroness Altmann Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions Lord Ashton of Hyde Whip Lord Bates Minister of State, Home Office Lord Bridges of Headley Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Wales Office and Whip Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen Whip Earl of Courtown Whip Lord Dunlop Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scotland Office Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Whip Lord Faulks Minister of State, Ministry of Justice Lord Freud Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions Lord Gardiner of Kimble Deputy Chief Whip and Spokesman for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Lord Keen of Elie Advocate-General for Scotland Lord Maude of Horsham Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Lord Nash Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education Baroness Neville-Rolfe Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Culture, Media and Sport Lord O’Neill of Gatley Commercial Secretary to the Treasury Lord Prior of Brampton Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health Baroness Shields Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture Media and Sport Lord Taylor of Holbeach Chief Whip Baroness Verma Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International Development Baroness Williams of Trafford Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government Viscount Younger of Leckie Whip © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2016 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/ Written Statements 21 January 2016 Page 1 Resolution Fund, the Bank Recovery and Resolution Written Statements Directive and the Deposit Guarantee Scheme Directive. Thursday, 21 January 2016 Combatting VAT fraud in the EU: Use of the reverse charge mechanism Childcare Bill: Joint Online Childcare An exchange of views was held in relation to widening Application the use of the reverse charge mechanism to combat VAT fraud in the EU. [HLWS472] Counter terrorist financing Lord Nash: My honourable friend the Parliamentary The Commission updated ministers on progress to bring Under-Secretary of State for Childcare and Education (Mr forward new proposals to reinforce the European Sam Gyimah) has made the following Written Ministerial framework in the fight against the financing of terrorism. Statement. The Council welcomed the update and will re-visit the During second reading of the Childcare Bill my right issue in February. honourable friend - the Secretary of State for Education - announced that our extended childcare entitlement will be Family Justice delivered via a joint online application being developed by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). [HLWS475] As I outlined during Committee Stage of the Childcare Lord Faulks: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Bill, the Department for Education will be providing Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Minister for the HMRC with funding for the development of the joint Courts and Legal Aid (Shailesh Vara) has made the online application and eligibility checking system. following Written Statement. I can confirm today that for 2015-16, urgent "Just prior to the Christmas recess, an error was expenditure estimated at £1million will be met by identified in an online version of Form E. This is the form repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund. provided by Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service in order to enable people to disclose financial information The development of the joint online application will during divorce and similar proceedings. mean that parents and children who will be eligible to benefit from both the extended entitlement and Tax-Free This fault meant that the automatic calculator in the Childcare will be able to apply for both schemes through form calculated the wrong total for an individual’s net one simple and straightforward system, saving them assets by failing to deduct certain liabilities. valuable time. The Ministry of Justice was alerted to the fault on 10 December 2015 and a corrected version of the form was ECOFIN: 15 January 2016 put online on 14 December. However the wider implications of the faulty form were not immediately [HLWS473] recognised. Lord O'Neill of Gatley: My right honourable friend As soon as I was made aware of this issue on 16 the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) has December, I ordered an urgent investigation. today made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The investigation found the faulty formula was present A meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs in versions of Form E which were online between April Council was held in Brussels on 15 January 2016. 2014 and mid December 2015 and between April 2011 Ministers discussed the following items: and January 2012. Current Legislative Proposals A total of 36,527 cases contain a version of Form E The Presidency updated the Council on the state of play filed from these periods. HMCTS staff have now of financial services dossiers. reviewed all these cases and found that 3,638 files – 10 Presentation of the Presidency Work Programme per cent – contained the faulty calculator version of Form The new ECOFIN chair, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, provided E with an incorrect figure for net assets figure in the an outline of the Dutch Presidency’s work programme. summary table. European Semester 1,403 of these cases are still live, allowing HMCTS to intervene immediately to clearly flag these cases to the The Council adopted conclusions on two European courts in order to avoid the error affecting the final orders Semester reports: the Annual Growth Survey and the in these cases. Alert Mechanism Report. A Council recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area was also approved The remaining 2,235 files – 6.1 per cent – were closed and will be sent to February European Council for cases. Although the faulty form was used in these cases, it endorsement. will not necessarily have had any effect on the ultimate outcome. Form E is only a part of the material used by the Implementation of the Banking Union parties and the court and is used at an early stage, so the The Commission gave an update on implementation of information is often disputed or superseded by further several dossiers linked to the Banking Union: the Single information introduced during proceedings. Page 2 21 January 2016 Written Statements Following the error coming to light, HMCTS One of these institutions is the Independent established a dedicated email address which people could Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR). This will use if they were concerned about their own case: be an independent body designed to enable victims and [email protected]. This email address was survivors privately to receive information about the advertised on our website and also in all responses to Troubles-related deaths of their next of kin. As set out in media enquiries. As of 21 January, 51 members of the the Stormont House Agreement, and building on the public have emailed us about their case. precedent of the Independent Commission on the I have instructed HMCTS to write to all parties in the Location of Victims’ Remains, the ICIR will be an 2,235 closed cases. The letter expresses our sincere regret international body. To that end, the UK and Irish for the error, sets out what happened and explains that, Governments have signed an international agreement to although Form E is just one part of the evidence used in enable the establishment of the ICIR and to set out its their case, there remains a possibility that the error functions. Today I have placed a copy of this treaty in the affected the final outcome. libraries of both Houses. The letter sets out options available to people involved The ICIR will be an important institution which will in these cases. Some may wish to do nothing, if, for help victims and survivors to seek information which it example, they know that the error was corrected during has not been possible to obtain by other means. the proceedings or they do not wish to re-open their cases. Engagement by families with the ICIR will be entirely If people think they have been affected by this error then voluntary. Information provided to the ICIR about deaths they can apply to the court to vary or set aside their order. within its remit will not be admissible in court, something My officials consulted the President of the Family which families will always be told in advance.