15/12/2017 Lords Questions

Making sense of the stories shaping

our world.

I beg you to ask the question set

down.

My lords, the budget has

provided a very significant impact

for the north-east of England,

transforming cities on the Tees

Valley and an investment fund of 600

million over 30 years as part of the

devilish deal for the north of time.

My lords, the funding for the

Tyneside Metro is welcome. The big

announcement in the budget was a

half baked and does the Minister

realise it has none of the

transport, health and social care

powers, and still less the social

funding and other counties like

Manchester, it has a boundary

cutting rates through the middle of

Tyneside and focuses on the election

that very few people want. What, if

anything, while the steel do for the

rural areas of Northumberland so

often outvoted on the Tyneside areas

on which the student focus?

The

rolling stock and some 40 years out

of date. It is 40 years old and not

as real viable as it should be on

the new stock will make it better.

As far as the dealers concerned, for

those not familiar with the stories

of four, seven local authorities in

the north-east approach the

Government under the umbrella of the

north-east combined authority for a

devolution deal and this was in

accordance with the Government's

wish to decentralise decision-making

and give local areas more powers and

resources. Halfway through the

discussions, four of those local

authorities with crew and those who

understand the social political

dynamics of the north-east and the

tribal tensions of the time we

understand why, but I don't. The

decision for the Government was

whether the three remaining

authorities, Northumberland,

Newcastle, and North Tyneside should

go ahead. They want to proceed, so

do the business community and so

does the local enterprise

partnership. For those reasons, the

Government is minded to proceed

under the ball now rest in the Court

of the local authorities to go

through the statutory consultation.

Well my noble friend agree?

interest as a member of one of the

tribes in question. Educational

attainment is the key contributor to

economic attainment. Many children

are living in poverty, more than the

national average. While the

Government now seek to improve the

life chances of these children by

replicating in the north-east of the

very successful London challenge

were transformed education in the

capital?

I have no objection at all

to rolling out from successful

experiments in London or anywhere

else to other parts of the country

that could benefit from them. So far

as the north-east is concerned,

there was quite a lot in the budget

to help the north-east on House,

healthy local health, transport.

Adult education would be devolved to

the new combined authority. On the

specific question, perhaps I could

take advice from the colleagues and

come back to him.

Well my noble

colleague agreed that there is money

in the Budget and the industrial

strategy to improve connectivity

general areas? Will he ensure these

measured our use across the whole of

the north of England to ensure that

the access to the broadband is

improved to enable these rural

businesses to compete?

I entirely

agree. She will know that the

industrial strategy, that was

launched at the same time as the

budget promised to make the UK a

more connected country with high

speed, fixed and mobile access

available in all areas, including

rural areas, and also aiming to make

decisions on infrastructure and more

geographically balanced, so that is

at the heart of the industrial

strategy. She will have an

opportunity to develop her arguments

after Christmas.

The support

mentioned by the noble lord, the

Minister,'s... The noble lord may

not have a handle on the conflicts

in the north-east. I have a slightly

better handle on the tribal

conflicts in Yorkshire. There is a

real worry now that the whole of the

east of the Pennines is losing out

in relation to resources that would

otherwise be available if elected

mayors in the city regions east of

the Pennines had actually been

carried through. If they were to

occur in the months ahead, with the

noble lord give an assurance that

the resources which are earmarked

for those authorities with the

letter players will be available and

backdated for and authorities that

move forward with unelected mayor in

the way he has described?

There is a

Sheffield regional city devolution

deal with unelected mirror. That is

in the process of being set up with

unelected Labour election scheduled

for May next year. If other parts of

Yorkshire want to approach the

Government and offer a similar

devolution deal, of course we would

listen. I think my colleagues in the

Treasury might pause before signing

up to backdated deals. What we don't

want to do is have an all Yorkshire

deal which would undermine the deal

going ahead with Sheffield city

region. Any work that the noble lord

can do to encourage more authorities

to come forward with devilish and

deals, the Government would listen

to them very warmly.

The Minister is

quite right to welcome the support

that has been given to the

north-east and in particular the

support for Teesside, where the

steelworks are being closed and work

in a Conservative mayor has been

working closely with the Labour

authorities to ensure the success of

that approach to the Government. The

position on Tyneside is quite

disastrous. I was chairman of the

Port of Tyne authority for a number

of years and within international

passenger terminal on one side of

the river and dogs on the other side

of the river, working with different

authorities working across the river

will be most difficult. While he

seeks to do whatever he possibly can

to bring the river authorities on

the south side of the river to join

their colleagues on the north of the

river in order to set up a single

authority for the whole area?

He may

have more influence than I- seeking

the reconciliation that he promotes

in view of his knowledge and

commitment to the area. On Tees

Valley, Chancellor announced £123

million of new funding to ensure the

ongoing safe and secure management

of the former steelworks and I

welcome the close working between

the mayor and the local authority.

On the north-east, on Tyneside,

whether it is too late for the

authorities to change their mind, I

don't know, but obviously we would

like to go ahead with the previously

proposed authority with all seven

local authorities involved.

I beg

leave to ask the question with my

name on the order paper and

declarer.

Allegations of noncompliance act

seriously regardless of where it

takes place in the world. HRC are is

looking very closely at information

the icy AJ has publicly released in

the Paradise papers to see if it

reveals anything new. That could add

to the existing needs and

investigations.

If that the

government may be looking closely,

but they have looked closely at it

for a long time with very limited

action. When will the government

accept there is a deep anger amongst

taxpayers in this country about the

revelations about the rich and

powerful are able to get away with

aggressive tax avoidance. And also

the transparency is the best

antidote. Will the government giving

six to date by which the overseas

territories and the dependencies

will have to open a public register

of the beneficial interests,

beneficial ownership within their

jurisdiction?

You're right, we have

acting for a very long time. And

since 2010, we have introduced

almost 100 measures. That is more

than a combined health budget that

for England, North Ireland and

Scotland. We have one of the lowest

tax gaps in the world, one of the

lowest on record in this country. We

have been working very hard and it

was very seriously and we will

continue to do so. As we go on to

overseas territories and Crown

dependency, again and has been taken

very seriously, again two weeks

ago... The Prime Minister stressed

the importance of this, we already

have central registers in four of

those authorities, including

Bermuda... And in terms of

Montserrat... They will publish

registers, they will have registers

by April next year. And in relation

to tax and... They have been

particularly affected so they have

been given extra time. But we are

clear action needs to be taken.

The

Council of the European Union

meeting in Brussels, week last

Monday, issued their blacklist of

tax havens and their conclusions

reveal that a number of British

dependencies and overseas

territories on the greatest have

entered into commitments of the EU

to implement tax governance

principles. Specifically Bermuda,

the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the

Isle of Man and Jersey have

undertaken to address concerns about

the tax regimes which produce

profits without real economic

activity. Does the government

support the EU in this initiative

and will it impose the same

sanctions on long compliant

countries as the EU proposed after

Brexit?

We certainly support the

work undertaken in producing this

report. And the whole process, we

have been at the forefront of this.

We recognise the statements made

about long commitment of those

jurisdictions which are cooperative.

That is a very important point to

stress. None of the Crown

dependencies or territories were

under the list of noncooperative.

They were all on cooperative lists

and it has been identified as the

areas they want to take action and

they we are fully supportive of it.

My lords, the disinformation

surrounding this issue is

staggering. As is the confirmation

of illegal tax evasion, lawful tax

avoidance and money laundering.

Would my friend the Minister agree

that the new gold standard of

proactive reporting and transparency

in favour of tax authorities in

respect of the capital income of any

legal person, trust individual using

the financial services industry is

in fact it Cayman Islands?

Well, the

Cayman Islands are one. They have

work to do as all jurisdictions. In

this area. To meet the standards set

down. It is true to say in terms of

the Cayman Islands that with their

centrally held register, they are

going above and beyond what is

required by the financial action tax

falls. We are certain we want to

make sure all UK citizens pay all

tax due by them. Whether held in the

world -- wherever it is held in the

world. We intend to ensure all

jurisdictions holder that.

Given the

level of public shock at what was

revealed in the Paradise papers, the

ministers answers today follow the

pattern the same emergent pattern of

recent years. Well, we are doing

what we can, we are getting certain

proceeds, and yet, what the Paradise

papers reflected, it's a massive

scale, whole range of individuals

and companies who owe tax. ...

Putting themselves under the

jurisdiction of these islands and

escaping taxation which is owed to

this country. I do ask the Minister

to respond to the questions my noble

friend asked. With a degree of

forthrightness.

I think the question

was about publicly registered. The

UK is the first major economy to

issue a public register, a foreign

owned companies. The UK is leading

in this, a commitment given at the

global anti-corruption Summit which

David Cameron actually initiated,

which took a land mark innings. It

is not required that others have to

make sure it is a public register.

Another jurisdictions, it has to be

available to tax authorities and

also to security authorities in the

case of counterterrorist finances.

That is what is happening. In those

jurisdictions at the present time.

There is still more to be done and

we are far from complacent about it.

Does the Minister think this

proposal will go away, we have

problem with defence and security of

overseas territories and we are so

few ships now we can't do it and if

we are unable to actually defend

them, maybe they should no longer be

British Overseas Territories?

The

overseas territories and the Crown

dependencies are very important part

of the British family and will be a

part of global Britain going

forward. It is very important that

it is part of that family that

everybody works together to ensure

those people who have assets held

overseas actually make sure they are

reported in an accurate and timely

way to the tax authorities of their

countries.

I'd like to draw houses

attention to my declared interests.

My lords, the transfer of

responsibilities is designed to get

higher education providers...

Equality act. There are many

specifications in that act, on

exclusivity and good practice. The

experience of disabled students in

higher education is of equal

importance is about non-disabled

students and we will continue to

review the need of best actors

guidance as necessary.

My lords,

thank you the noble Minister for

that reply. May I ask, if the

surgeon nation has ripped through

improved since we did the higher

education Bill? -- the situation.

When I was looking at higher

education as a route to excellence

paper, there was no guidance in it.

When asked where it was, I was told

an official we would entrust the

courts to sort it out. In a

subsequent meeting, I was told by

the disabled student sector

leadership group under Professor

layout which was the author of it,

don't worry, almost half the

institutions have a policy in place.

How can his students navigate the

system? And what do they do if

something goes wrong without having

to take the full weight of a legal

challenge on the rain-soaked

shoulders? -- on their shoulders.

Can I just say, there are a number

of good guidance is available from

the disabled sector leadership

group, the office for the

Independent adjudicator and achieve

AA has also issued guidance for

inclusivity across teaching,

learning and assessment. And hefty

have also undertaken their own

review and there was a 76% response

and there is more to do, but higher

education providers have got the

message and they are looking at what

more they need to do in order to

provide the right facilities for the

disabled students.

Schoolchildren

with disability and autism are

excluded by many of their peers

throughout their school life and

teachers are not often equipped to

be able to help and resolve

problems. Can I ask, what is the

government doing to ensure this

experience does not continue when

these young people into higher

education?

As mentioned before,

there are specific duties laid out

under the equalities act 2010 and I

think the noble lord was referring

to schools, let's talk about schools

and higher education institutions.

There are clear remit down for them

to adhere to ensuring that all of

them are looked after properly.

Challenges to students with

disabilities such as dyslexia, low

vision and blinders is the

accessibility of academic text books

and journals. With the advent of

digital technology, this problem is

now solvable. Indeed, in the United

States, universities now require

publishers to provide textbooks that

meet accessibility standards. The

problem with the transfer of

responsibility for student support

is that UK universities do not know

what is possible or how to make it

available. With the minister be

willing to convene a Round Table

involving the University

authorities, publishers and

representatives of disabled people

with knowledge of good practice in

this area in order to put a system

in place that would provide a final

solution to the problem of making

academic material accessible.

The

best answer I think I can give is

that I will pass his question and

his request on to Joe Johnson. And I

am sure he will look at that

carefully. Also, one of the

important parts of policy is to

ensure institutions are able to

decipher -- decide for themselves

how to best look after the needs of

dyslexic students. At the House will

know, very greatly in size and the

type of course they offer and within

the institutions, there is great

variation on the way the course is

delivered. Disabled students

themselves very greatly in the type

and level of support they need. We

do think the autonomy... So usually

debated should be left to that

extent.

My lords, it makes little

sense is somebody who has been

clinically diagnosed with dyslexia

through school then has to be

reassessed at university for

dyslexia. Therefore, I'm very

grateful to the noble lord Lord Accu

who wrote to me to say this will be

reviewed. Can my noble lord -- noble

friend and say in terms of the

review and when this review will be

completed?

Indeed. I am aware of the

note made. But the review will start

to take evidence from those invited

early in the New Year and we hope

the review will report that in a few

months. Little bit more detail, it

will consider the evidential

requirements for students applying

for disabled student allowances with

specific learning difficulties and

particularly for those with

dyslexia.

He is relying on the

autonomy of universities and various

bits of guidance, but has Lord Adler

has said, by July, barely half of

universities actually had a policy

in place. The experience of students

will be very variable where they

have a disability and where they

need special requirements. I would

ask the Minister because the

universities are producing such a

patchy performance, we need to have

some reassurance there will be some

kind of regulatory intervention if

they do not get their act together.

We do not think it is right we go

for regular tree action or even

legislation. It is not just because

of so much guidance, it is also let

me refer the House to the review

where we have the 70% response.

Nearly all respondents have recently

carried out view of support or plans

to do so in the future. Some

providers have made significant

progress, particularly focusing on

lecture capturing -- captioning.

Research also highlights the need

for sustained development to support

students who are disabled. And an

effort to make the necessary

changes. There is more work to done.

I beg leave to ask the question on

the order paper.

The government is

supporting the Royal Borough of

Cannington and Chelsea to rehouse

survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire

as quickly as possible. Rehousing

this procedure to pace which

respects the needs, wants and

situation of survivors. Bureaucratic

inertia must not add to the delay.

In line with the recent task force

report, expect the council to do

whatever is necessary to ensure

households can move into homes as

swiftly as possible.

Today is six

months as the tragedy of Grenfell

Tower. Remember, the victims and

survivors of that terrible night. I

paid about -- tribute to the

emergency service workers, public

sector staff, the voluntary sector

and the communities. Who are working

to get the community back on its

feet. Six months is a very long time

to be living in hotel accommodation

and no way to spend Christmas.

Vulnerable, unsettled and

traumatised. Can the Lord tell the

-- below noble lord tell what

specific action the government is

sticking to get these families into

accommodation in the New Year. We

want to be talking about going

forward and housing families in

permanent accommodation. Because

what despite what the local

authority says, the situation of the

majority of family needs

Does what the Lord said about the

father service in the community

response, a response which was paid

tribute to only Today programme by

the Archbishop, who spoke very

movingly about this? To bring the

House up to date, 151 homes were

lost in the fire. Some of those were

overcrowded, other had

multi-generational hassles. 210

households who formerly lived in

Grenfell Tower need to be rehoused.

Many have accepted an offer of

temporary or permanent

accommodation, 99 have moved on. 111

or an emergency accommodation with

66 yet to accept an offer of

accommodation. The noble lord asks

what action is being taken. The

Royal Borough of Kensington and

Chelsea plan by Christmas to have

acquired a 300 homes set against the

210 that we need. They are acquiring

two holds a day. I quite agree that

Christmas is now time to spend an

emergency accommodation, the

Government is acutely aware of that,

and in the four hotels where most of

the families are, specific

arrangements were made for the

family still have space of their own

to meet each other and entertain

their wider families if they want

to. A lot of services are plain on

by voluntary groups over the

Christmas period to support those

families. We hope that by June next

year, everyone will have moved into

permanent accommodation. But

families need to move on their own

time. Some are in an emergency

accommodation not wanting to move

into temporary accommodation because

they may have to move twice in the

Royal Borough of Kensington and

Chelsea is doing in terms of work

alongside the families, finding out

what accommodation they need and

seeking to match it with the 300

houses they are acquiring. I very

much hope by June everyone will have

been offered and accepted permanent

accommodation.

May I join in paying

respects to those who died in the

Grenfell Tower Fire six months ago?

This question is about what the

Government is doing and I wonder

whether the Minister does accept

that local people have now lost

confidence in their local council.

Could I remind the Minister that in

the Government statement on the fire

on the 19th of October, they were

expected to be 300 super Moordown so

professional... Could I ask the

Minister whether he has confidence

in the local council to deliver or

whether it may be time for the

Government to intervene more

directly?

The Government has no

plans to put commissioned into the

Royal Borough of Kensington and

Chelsea. They have a new leader and

you Chief Executive and the

Government has established a task

force to make sure they live up to

the expectations everyone has of

what they plan to do. Some of those

in temporary accommodation once that

temporary accommodation to become

their permanent home and the Royal

Borough is approaching the relevant

Londoners to see if that can take

place. Some of those in emergency

accommodation have already accepted

permanent accommodation, but it

takes time to complete, fit out the

House, putting the white goods for

the families to move on. I am aware

there is an impatient to make

progress but I'm confident the Royal

Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,

who are planning to spend nearly a

quarter of £1 billion acquiring

property, have now got the message

and the lack of emotional

intelligence and empathy is behind

us and they are getting on with the

job.

Could the noble lord say...?

Can my noble friend tell me, or any

of those who are claiming no social

housing, where any of those tenants

of Grenfell Tower who had moved out

and unlawfully let their

accommodation to more than one

family? Because I don't think we

need have too much sympathy for

people that behaves like that.

I'm

not sure I fully understood the

question. The assistance that the

Government and the Royal Bath

Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

are seeking to extend its to those

who are living in Grenfell Tower at

the time who are now homeless or who

were homeless shortly after the

fire. Anybody who was living there

at the time is now being assisted by

the Royal Borough. I say to my noble

friend, he has lived through tragic

circumstances where people have lost

their life and he will know better

than anyone else the trauma that

those people have been through. I

think we ought to allow them the

time and space to find suitable

accommodation to move into.

My

lords, could the noble lord say why

in the aftermath of the Grenfell

tragedy the Government continues

apace with its deregulation agenda?

So far as Grenfell Tower is

concerned, the review is shortly to

produce its interim report on fire

regulations. She will know that

after the tragedy at Grenfell Tower,

and fights was given one two

locations to owners of property that

may not conform with the appropriate

cladding of how to make safety

measures appropriate for those

blogs. The whole thrust of the

enquiry, the whole thrust is to make

sure that nothing like this ever