queen's speech 2022 background briefing notes

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Queen's Speech 2021: background briefing notes

Read the briefing notes on the announcements made in the 2021 Queen’s Speech.

Queen's Speech 2021 - background briefing notes

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The Queen’s Speech sets out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.

This document contains briefing notes on the announcements in the 2021 Queen’s Speech.

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Queen’s speech proposals show Johnson ‘bereft of ideas or purpose’, says Starmer – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest stories on the Queen’s speech below:

• Proposals show Boris Johnson is out of ideas, says Labour
• Queen’s speech: what was in it and what it means
• Queen’s speech won’t help workers, but good for bad bosses, say unions
• Irish PM urges Johnson to avoid ‘unilateral action’ over NI protocol
• Green groups’ anger over public order bill
• Analysis: Queen ‘very much in charge’ despite Charles’s speech
• Tesco chairman calls for windfall tax on energy companies
• 10 May 2022 Afternoon summary
• 10 May 2022 Theresa May says it would be mistake for government to legislate to ditch parts of Northern Ireland protocol
• 10 May 2022 Treasury quashes suggestion from PM that announcement coming shortly about help for people with cost of living
• 10 May 2022 Johnson says he and chancellor to say more about help for people with cost of living 'in the days to come'
• 10 May 2022 Starmer says UK needs 'government of the moment'
• 10 May 2022 Starmer says Queen's speech shows government is 'bereft of ideas'
• 10 May 2022 MPs debate Queen's speech
• 10 May 2022 Bill banning conversion practices will only fully cover under-18s, No 10 says
• 10 May 2022 Queen's speech measures fail to help people with cost of living, say opposition parties and unions
• 10 May 2022 Queen's speech won't help workers, but good for unscrupulous bosses, say union leaders
• 10 May 2022 How Queen's speech contained veiled reference to plan to abandon Northern Ireland protocol
• 10 May 2022 Johnson tries to woo Tory voters with planning powers in Queen’s speech
• 10 May 2022 Labour says abandoning Northern Ireland protocol would trigger trade war with EU
• 10 May 2022 Johnson refuses to assure Irish PM that UK won't unilaterally abandon Northern Ireland protocol
• 10 May 2022 Irish PM urges Johnson to avoid 'unilateral action' over NI protocol amid reports ministers might start ditching it next week
• 10 May 2022 Johnson would not have to resign over lockdown breaches even if Starmer did, says minister
• 10 May 2022 Liz Truss ‘preparing to tear up Northern Ireland protocol’
• 10 May 2022 Tesco chairman says Queen's speech should include windfall tax on energy companies
• 10 May 2022 Minister says Queen’s speech will tackle ‘hooligan’ protesters amid concerns ‘non-Tory’ bills left out

Torsten Bell , chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, has told me that “nothing in the Queen’s speech will make any material difference on the immediate squeeze households are facing.”

On the expectation that there will be no major interventions until the budget in the autumn, he said:

You need to get on with it - there is a real cost to people on low incomes in not telling them what help you’re going to give. An increase in benefits is the top priority. My overall view is that what it shows is British politics hasn’t got a lot of ideas at the moment ... When you have 1980s inequality with stagnation of 2010s coming together, that is a very dangerous place economically, but also for what it does to your society in the medium term. We’re out of ideas at a time of high inequality and low growth.

There will be more in my First Edition newsletter. You can sign up here.

Stuart congratulates Labour on backing the government’s policy on Ukraine.

The government is providing rocket launchers, he says.

He provokes a laugh when he contrasts this with Labour’s plan for Trident submarines under Jeremy Corbyn - which involved having the submarines, but not having any missiles (an idea Corbyn once floated in an interview).

UPDATE: Stuart said:

We are providing rocket launchers complete with rockets so different from the Trident submarines that the honourable gentleman’s party previously proposed which were to have been built but, you will remember, never armed.

Graham Stuart (Con) is opening the debate. Being invited to propose the humble address to the Queen is an honour, and the MP chosen is expected to come up with a speech that will provide some entertainment.

MPs debate Queen's speech

Sir Lindsay Hoyle , the Commons Speaker, opens the proceeedings ahead of the Queen’s speech debate by reminding MPs of their obligations under the MPs’ code of conduct. There is a cheer as he tells them they have a duty to tell the truth.

I have updated the post at 2.06pm to make it clear, that, although the conversion practices ban will only fully cover the under-18s, it will also cover over-18s “who do not consent and who are coerced or forced to undergo conversion therapy practices”.

My colleague Rafael Behr has written a superb column on the Queen’s speech. Here’s an extract.

The Johnson flagship policy for the general betterment of life in the UK will be enacted as a ‘levelling up and regeneration bill’. Its advertised benefits are formidable. A government briefing note promises, among other treats, to ‘improve productivity, boost economic growth, encourage innovation, create good jobs and enhance educational attainment’. Scroll down to find the method, and it turns out that Shangri-la is reached by way of measures no less drastic than ‘giving residents more of a say over changing street names and ensuring everyone can continue to benefit from alfresco dining’ … Johnson is reduced to these inanities because the most powerful faction among his MPs will not, as a point of ideological principle, countenance anything that seriously interferes with the accrual of wealth and privilege to those who already have them. Levelling up has hit the same obstacle that derailed David Cameron’s ‘ big society ’ agenda. That, too, was conceived as a way to rehabilitate unhappy parts of the country without recourse to any of the explicit financial redistribution that Thatcherite Tories despise as socialism. Johnson, like Cameron before him, has wasted time on delusions of political alchemy, trying to cook up egalitarian ends with libertarian means. The product will always disappoint. The next stage is also predictable. Someone will have to be blamed for the persistence of material discomfort, and the political subject will have to be steered away from the economy.

And here is the full article.

Bill banning conversion practices will only fully cover under-18s, No 10 says

Downing Street has said that the conversion therapy bill will only fully cover conversion practices for the under-18s. The prime minister’s spokesperson told journalists at the lobby briefing:

This is a difficult area and we need to strike the right balance. I think it’s important to wait for the full details of the bill to be set out.

Asked whether the loophole was needed to prevent people being blocked from receiving religious counselling, the spokesperson said:

It’s important that the freedom to express religious teachings is not affected by the ban, individuals will still be able to access support and counsel from religious leaders should they wish. But that’s a separate issue to seeking to force this abhorrent practice on people.

According to the government’s briefing paper, the full ban on conversion practices will only cover the under-18s. But the bill will also ban conversion practices for over-18s “who do not consent and who are coerced or forced to undergo conversion therapy practices”.

The government has already committed two U-turns on this bill . Boris Johnson promised a ban on conversion practices before the 2019 general election. In March, ITV’s Paul Brand revealed Johnson had abandoned plans for a bill. His story caused such backlash that within hours No 10 was briefing that there would be a bill after all, but that conversion practices for trans people would not be included.

The Irish deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar , who negotiated the breakthrough Northern Ireland protocol with Boris Johnson in Wirral in October 2019, has said that it would be “very serious” if the UK threat to get rid of the protocol was not just sabre rattling.

Speaking to RTE, he said the UK could not simply “resile” from the international treaty by unilaterally tearing up the protocol.

If that is their approach, then we have a real problem here. It’s one thing engage in a bit of sabre rattling … but if they were to actually go down that route, it will be very serious.

Here is the government’s 139-page briefing note (pdf) about the measures in the Queen’s speech. If you need to follow government legislation in detail, it’s a useful document to have.

• Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
• Boris Johnson
• Conservatives
• Keir Starmer
• Queen's speech
• Northern Ireland

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Governance News Alert

The queen’s speech 2022.

The government’s legislative agenda includes reforms to higher education and measures aimed at levelling up and driving local growth. The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which did not complete its passage through Parliament in the 2021-22 session, has been brought back to continue on its legislative path.

The government’s briefing note on the Queen’s Speech can be found here . 

At-a-glance:

• A Higher Education Bill is aimed at “ensuring that our post-18 education system promotes real social mobility, helping students onto pathways in which they can excel, and is financially sustainable” (p63)
• This will include, subject to the conclusion of the higher education reform consultation, setting minimum qualification requirements for eligibility to student finance support to enter higher education (p63)
• It will also fulfil the manifesto commitment to tackle “uncontrolled growth of low quality courses” by taking specific powers to control numbers of students entering higher education at specific providers in England (p64)
• A main element of the bill is the Lifelong Loan Entitlement which give adults access to a loan equivalent to four years of post-18 education (£37,000 in today’s fees) that they can be used over a lifetime for a wider range of studies, including shorter and technical courses. The Government’s ambition is for the lifelong loan entitlement (LLE) to replace the two existing systems of publicly funded higher education loans (p63)
• The government is bringing back the controversial Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. It will seek to ensure that universities in England are places where freedom of speech can thrive and ban student union no-platforming (p131)
• The Bill is also aimed at “ensuring academic staff feel safe to question and test received wisdom and put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions without risking their careers”. It creates a complaints scheme to provide redress for people who are “cancelled” (p131)
• A Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Bill, which will apply across the UK, will ban public bodies from imposing their own boycott, divestment or sanctions campaigns where these are inconsistent with official UK foreign policy (p133)
• The Bill will prevent “divisive behaviour that undermines community cohesion” and stop the “undue politicisation of public institutions”. It cites concerns that such boycotts may legitimise and drive antisemitism as campaigns “overwhelmingly target Israel” (p133)
• By 2024-25, the Government will be investing £20 billion per year in research and development to drive innovation, including establishing the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. The Government has announced reforms to Research and Development tax reliefs and will continue to reform and improve these tax reliefs at the next Budget (p14)
• On levelling up, the Queen’s Speech mentions a bill to “drive local growth, empowering local leads to regenerate areas”. There is no mention of education in this section beyond the Levelling Up White Paper core mission of “raising educational attainment” (p30)

Implications for governance:

As expected, the forthcoming Higher Education Bill mentioned in the Queen’s Speech contains a number of controversial elements that universities across the sector have already expressed concerns about , including minimum entry requirements and student number controls.

In the briefing published alongside the Queen’s Speech, the government’s ambition to channel young people into technical education and away from “low quality” HE, is underlined.

It states that “the skills system has been very efficient at producing graduates but there is still a need to ensure people get the quality technical skills that employers want”. It is perhaps interesting to note the choice of words, describing a “skills system” rather than an education system.

The briefing document cites figures showing that “only four per cent” of young people achieve a qualification at higher technical level by the age of 25 compared to the 33 per cent who get a degree or above. It points out that “only 66 per cent” of working-age graduates (not including postgraduates) were in high-skilled employment in 2020. In the same vein, it quotes OfS research showing that at 25 providers, fewer than half of students who began a degree could expect to finish it and move on to professional employment or further study.

Governors will be aware of current OfS consultations on all these elements that will feed into the detail of the new Bill, such as entry requirements, number controls and the proposed numerical baselines on dropout rates, completion and graduate employment.

The bill also contains the lifelong loan entitlement (LLE) which will unify the two systems of government-financed loans for level four to level six courses.

UUK has said it welcomes the reform but has asked for the government to relax rules prohibiting loans for students with equivalent or lower qualifications to “allow progression both up and down levels”. At the moment, students are prevented from accessing loan funding for a second degree in a non-science subject.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill has returned, presumably giving the OfS the green light to take forward the hunt for a new director of free speech and academic freedom.

Critical reaction from the University and College Union warns that the real threat to academic freedom comes from the use of precarious employment contracts, a lack of staff representation in university governance and a management culture which dictates the research that academics undertake.

A new Bill revealed in the Queen’s Speech to prevent public bodies engaging in boycotts, divestment and sanctions that “undermine community cohesion” could have implications for universities. One of the examples offered in the briefing document is of an unofficial boycott involved a student union voting to block the creation of a Jewish student society.

Some universities are under pressure from student and academic groups to divest from companies involved in the Jewish settlement in Gaza and the West Bank, for instance. It is unclear at this stage whether if such divestment was undertaken, it would breach the proposed legislation.

Finally, two bills – the Social Housing Regulation Bill and the Renters Reform Bill – along with a forthcoming white paper for reforms in the private rented sector, could potentially have ramifications for student housing, as they pave the way for greater regulation and more rights for renters, presumably including students, to challenge poor and unfair practice.

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Data Protection and Digital Information Bill: briefing note

Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

16 March 2023

The Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill aims to reform the existing UK data protection regime following Brexit, namely the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.  

Who’s affected .

The Bill will impact individuals in addition to private and public sector organisations.  

A more flexible and less burdensome regime will be welcomed by businesses operating in the UK, especially SMEs and those operating in the public sector. It may also entice organisations to bring more business to the UK and encourage innovation. On the other hand, if the proposals are considered to diverge too far from the EU’s data protection regime, the UK’s adequacy status could be at risk. 

Purpose of the Bill 

The main purpose of the Bill is to create a new pro-growth and pro-innovation data protection framework that reduces burdens on organisations and boosts the economy. The proposed regime also aims to ensure that data can be used to empower citizens and improve their lives via more effective delivery of public healthcare, security, and government services. 

Key measures of the Bill 

These aim to: 

• Give organisations greater confidence about the circumstances in which they can progress personal data without consent. 
• Simplify the rules around the use of personal data for scientific research and technological development. The Bill will help cement the UK’s position as a science and technology superpower, as well as increase public and business confidence in AI.    
• Create a clear and more stable regime for international data transfers, with the aim to facilitate trade, enhance the work of law enforcement and national security agencies, support innovation and help people stay connected across borders.  
• Increase industry participation in Smart Data Schemes, which will give citizens and small businesses more control of their data. The Bill will also help those who need health-related treatments by helping improve appropriate access to data in health and social care contexts. 
• Amend the requirement for controllers to keep data processing logs, unless there is a high risk to individuals. This applies to, for instance, medical records.  
• Create grounds for organisations to reject ‘vexatious or excessive’ requests or charge a reasonable fee for such requests.  
• Require public electronic communication service and network providers to report unlawful direct marketing activity and establish a monetary penalty for non-compliance.  
• Replace the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) with the Information Commission and enable the regulator to take stronger action against organisations who breach data rules. 
• Reduce the amount of paperwork that organisations need to complete to demonstrate compliance and lower compliance costs.    

Timeline 

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech 2022 and first introduced to the House of Commons on 18 July 2022. However, it was subsequently shelved due to the change of leadership in the Conservative Party that occurred on 5 September 2022.    

A revised draft (Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill) was introduced to parliament on 8 March 2023.    

Previous Data Protection and Digital Information Bill updates

Update - 20 April 2023 - Second Reading of the Bill at the House of Commons

The Bill returned to Parliament for its Second Reading at the House of Commons on 17 April 2023.

During the debate, MPs expressed concerns about the complexity of the Bill and implications for businesses, the impact that it might have on the UK’s data adequacy status with the EU, as well as the independence of the ICO. The Opposition also commented that the Bill does not go far enough in terms of ‘fostering a climate of open data’, but welcomed its overarching principles.

The Bill will now enter House of Commons Committee Stage. It will be scrutinised by Public Bill Committee, which is scheduled to be concluded by Tuesday 13 June 2023.

Update – 8 March 2023 – Publication of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No.2) Bill

The No.2 Bill follows on and supersedes the original Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that was introduced by UK Government in July 2022. The original Bill was withdrawn on 8 March 2023 and the No.2 Bill was presented on the same day.

Update - 3 March 2023 – Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to return to Parliament next week

It has been reported this week that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will not return in this Parliamentary session. Michelle Donelan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, later announced that the Bill would be returning to Parliament next week.

Update - 16 February 2023 – New department to lead on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and appointed Michelle Donelan as science secretary. It has now been confirmed that the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill will sit under the newly created department.

Update - 21 November 2022 - Data Protection and Digital Information Bill delayed until further notice

The second reading of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (the Bill) in the House of Commons was delayed following Liz Truss’s appointment as Prime Minister in September 2022. The new UK Government is yet to confirm its position on the data protection legislation, but it is likely that the Bill will return to parliament under Rishi Sunak’s premiership. 

Update - 17 August 2022 - Announcement of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill aims to reform the existing UK data protection regime following Brexit, namely the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Bill’s announcement in the Queen’s Speech follows the UK Government's consultation entitled ‘Data: a new direction’, which was published in September 2021.

The Bill will impact individuals in addition to private and public sector organisations. 

A more flexible and less burdensome regime will be welcomed by businesses operating in the UK, especially SMEs and those operating in the public sector. The new legislation may even entice organisations to bring more business to the UK. On the other hand, if the proposals are considered to diverge too far from the EU’s data regime, the UK’s adequacy status could be at risk.

The 'Queen's speech 2022: background briefing notes' outlines that the purpose of the Bill is to:

• Take advantage of the “benefits of Brexit” to generate a trusted world class data rights regime.
• Create a new pro-growth data protection framework that reduces burdens on businesses and boosts the economy.
• Modernise the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to take stronger action against organisations who breach data rules.

The briefing notes outlines the derived outcomes of the Bill is to:

• Make sure that data can be used to empower citizens and improve their lives, via more effective delivery of public healthcare, security, and government services.
• Increase industry participation in Smart Data Schemes, which will give citizens and small businesses more control of their data. The Bill will also help those who need health care treatments, by helping improve appropriate access to data in health and social care contexts.
• Create a clearer regulatory environment for personal data use that will fuel responsible innovation.
• Simplify the rules around research to cement the UK’s position as a science and technology superpower.

The Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 18 July 2022, in the week leading up to parliament’s summer recess. The Bill’s second reading is expected to take place on 5 September 2022.

Interestingly, neither candidate for the Conservative leadership challenge, Liz Truss nor Rishi Sunak has discussed the Bill in much detail. However, Sunak has announced that reform of the data protection landscape will be one of his top priorities, and Truss in particular has pledged to review all EU laws retained in the UK that hinder UK growth.

Related items:

• The Queen’s Speech 2022: setting the UK Government agenda
• The Queen’s Speech 2022: what to expect
• The UK Online Safety Bill
• The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill
• Financial Services and Markets Bill
• Transport Bill
• The new British data protection regime: what to expect

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• Data privacy

Essential Corporate News – Week ending May 13, 2022

Global |  Publication |  May 2022

Prime Minister’s Office: Queen’s Speech 2022

Lse: consultation on the creation of london stock exchange’s voluntary carbon market and amendments to the admission and disclosure standards – market notice n12/2201, transition plan taskforce: a sector-neutral framework for private sector transition plans - call for evidence, beis: update to green finance strategy – call for evidence.

The Queen’s Speech was delivered on May 10, 2022 and it sets out the programme of legislation that the Government intend to pursue in the forthcoming parliamentary session.

Particular Bills with corporate implications that were announced include the following: 

Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

The accompanying background briefing notes state that the key elements of the Bill will be as follows:

• Broadening the Registrar of Companies’ powers so that they become a more active gatekeeper over company creation and custodian of more reliable data, including new powers to check, remove or decline information submitted to, or already on, the Company Register. 
• Introducing identity verification for people who manage, own and control companies and other UK registered entities. This will improve the accuracy of Companies House data, to support business decisions and law enforcement investigations. 
• Providing Companies House with more effective investigation and enforcement powers and introducing better cross-checking of data with other public and private sector bodies. 
• Tackling the abuse of limited partnerships (including Scottish Limited Partnerships), by strengthening transparency requirements and enabling them to be properly wound up. 
• Creating powers to more quickly and easily seize and recover crypto assets, which are the principal medium used for ransomware. The creation of a civil forfeiture power will mitigate the risk posed by those who cannot be criminally prosecuted but use their funds to further criminality. 
• Enabling businesses in the financial sector to share information more effectively to prevent and detect economic crime.

Financial Services and Markets Bill

• Revoking retained EU law on financial services and replacing it with an approach to regulation that is designed for the UK. 
• Updating the objectives of the financial services regulators to ensure a greater focus on growth and international competitiveness.
• Reforming the rules that regulate the UK’s capital markets to promote investment.
• Ensuring that people across the UK continue to be able to access their own cash with ease.
• Introducing additional protections for those investing or using financial products, to make it safer and support the victims of scams.

Modern Slavery Bill

The accompanying background briefing notes state that the key elements of the Bill will include the following:

•  Strengthening the requirements on businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement to set out steps taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. 
• Mandating the reporting areas to be covered in modern slavery statements; requiring organisations to publish their statements on a government-run registry, extending these requirements to public bodies and introducing civil penalties for organisations that do not comply with the requirements.

Brexit Freedoms Bill

• Creating new powers to strengthen the ability to amend, repeal or replace the large amounts of retained EU law by reducing the need to always use primary legislation to do so. 
• Removing the supremacy of retained EU law as it still applies in the UK.
• Clarifying the status of retained EU law in UK domestic law to reflect the fact that much of it became law without going through full democratic scrutiny in the UK Parliament.

Draft Audit Reform Bill

• Establishing a new statutory regulator, the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA), that will protect and promote the interests of investors, other users of corporate reporting and the wider public interest. 
• Providing new measures to open up the market, including a new approach of managed shared audit in which challenger firms undertake a share of the work on large-scale audits. This will improve the quality and usefulness of audit; and boost resilience, competition, and choice in the audit market. 
• Bringing the largest private companies in scope of regulation in the definition of ‘public interest entities’, recognising the public interest in companies of this size. 
• Giving the new regulator effective powers to enforce directors’ financial reporting duties, to supervise corporate reporting, and to oversee and regulate the accountancy and actuarial professions. 
• Reforming the regulation of Insolvency Practitioners to give greater confidence to creditors and strengthening corporate governance of firms in or approaching insolvency so that ‘asset stripping’ can be more effectively tackled.

The briefing notes comment that many of the recommendations to the Government on audit and corporate reporting made by three independent reviews undertaken by Sir John Kingman, Sir Donald Brydon and the Competition and Markets Authority,  require primary legislation and will be taken forward in this Bill. They also state that the Government’s response to the consultation on its White Paper,  Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance , will be published shortly.

(Prime Minister’s Office, Queen’s Speech 2022, 10.05.2022) (Prime Minister’s Office, Queen’s Speech 2022: Background briefing notes, 10.05.2022)

On May 11, 2022 the London Stock Exchange (LSE) published a consultation document relating to the creation of a new Voluntary Carbon Market and amendments to its Admission and Disclosure Standards (Standards). This follows an announcement by the LSE at COP26 that it would be developing a market offering to support publicly traded carbon funds and an announcement in November 2021 that the LSE was  developing a new market solution to accelerate the availability of financing for projects that will support a just transition to a low-carbon economy.  The goal would be to address two major challenges: access to capital at scale for the development of new climate projects worldwide; and primary market access to a long-term supply of high-quality carbon credits for corporates and investors.

Creation of the Exchange’s Voluntary Carbon Market

Part A of the consultation document sets out proposals for the Voluntary Carbon Market.  The Voluntary Carbon Market designation aims to provide greater transparency to attract capital for Carbon Credit projects. The requirements for the designation, and the enhanced disclosure proposed in the consultation document, are designed to inform investors of specific information relating to a Fund’s carbon reduction and/or removal projects. The proposed rules for the Voluntary Carbon Market will be set out in a new Schedule 8 to the Standards and key features proposed include the following:

Eligible Funds

Initially the Voluntary Carbon Market designation will only be open to closed-ended investment funds, but the LSE will consider other asset classes in the future. The Fund must be admitted to trading on the Main Market or AIM and its portfolio management must be conducted by a person authorised by the FCA, the Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man regulatory bodies to manage an unauthorised Alternative Investment Fund.

Investment Policy

A Fund’s investment strategy should have a focus on investing in carbon reduction and/or removal projects that are expected to yield Carbon Credits. The Fund will be required to make investments in keeping with the low-carbon transition principles across the remainder of its portfolio and, accordingly, revenues from its other investments must be able to be mapped to the Tier 1 or Tier 2 micro sectors within FTSE Russell’s Green Revenues Classification System . So as to ensure commitment to climate change mitigation, the Fund must make investment in at least one Proposed Project (a project in which the Fund is investing with the reasonable expectation that it is, or will be, a Qualifying Project) or Qualifying Project (a project which has been independently certified and appears on the register of the relevant qualifying body) within three years of receipt of the Voluntary Carbon Market designation.

Qualifying bodies

In order for the Voluntary Carbon Market designation to provide transparency regarding the quality of the Carbon Credits, it is proposed that the Proposed Projects or Qualifying Projects are registered with one of the following recognised bodies: The International Carbon Reduction & Offset Alliance (ICROA), which includes the UK Woodland Carbon Code, Gold Standard, Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard and others; or the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) (once its Core Carbon Principles are issued).

Delivery of Carbon Credits

The Fund will have full autonomy in determining how it proposes to deliver or retire Carbon Credits and will be required to disclose this to shareholders. Options available to Funds include delivery as a dividend in specie or a Fund may elect to retire Carbon Credits on behalf of shareholders and maintain a Registry. The Fund will also need to consider the management of fractional entitlements.

Additional disclosures

The FCA’s Prospectus Rules and the AIM Rules for Companies specify the content of a prospectus and AIM admission documents, respectively. However, in addition to the Fund’s existing disclosure requirements, to aide transparency, it is proposed that content that is specific to the Voluntary Carbon Market will additionally required to be included in the Fund’s Prospectus, AIM admission document or Designation Circular (where a Fund is applying for the Voluntary Carbon Market designation after admission, it must issue a Designation Circular to shareholders), as the case may be.

Additional continuing obligations

While Funds with the Voluntary Carbon Market designation will continue to have to comply with the ongoing disclosure requirements as set out in the DTRs, the Listing Rules, the AIM Rules for Companies and the UK Market Abuse Regulation, as relevant, it is proposed that the Fund will also be required to provide ongoing disclosure which is specific to the Voluntary Carbon Market designation. In particular, it is proposed that disclosure will be required in the Fund’s audited annual report and financial statements on matters relevant to achieving Carbon Credits, such as updates on key project milestones and the target yield of Carbon Credits and the general status of investments into Qualifying Projects and Proposed Projects.

Refusal, removal or conditions

The LSE will have powers to refuse or delay provision of, impose conditions to, or remove the Voluntary Carbon Market designation.

Other amendments to the Standards

Part B of the consultation document sets out other proposed amendments tio the Standards. For example, the early notification process is being expanded to cover all new securities, not just equity and depositary receipt securities. In addition, the early notification date for certain issuers is being increased to 30 business days, and for debt issuers, five business days, prior to admission. Overarching confidentiality, refusal powers and jurisdiction provisions are being included, as well as certain  administrative and corrective changes.

The proposed amendments to the Standards, covering the amendments set out in Parts A and B of the consultation document, are set out in track changes in an attachment  to the consultation document.

Comments are invited by close of business on July 11,  2022. The LSE expects to confirm the final rules on or around the end of September 2022. 

(LSE, Consultation on the creation of London Stock Exchange’s Voluntary Carbon Market and amendments to the Admission and Disclosure Standards – Market Notice N12/22, 11.05.2022)

(LSE, Attachment 1 to Stock Exchange Notice N12/22, Marked up LSE Admission and Disclosure Standards, 11.05.2022)

The Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) was launched in April 2022 by HM Treasury with a two year mandate to develop a gold standard for transition plans so as to help drive decarbonisation by providing a framework and benchmark that helps financial institutions and companies to prepare rigorous transition plans. These plans will specify how entities can support the UK’s net zero transition, through disclosures on how they will achieve pledged targets and support economy-wide decarbonisation. As part of this, on May 11, 2022 the TPT published a Call for Evidence which sets out the overall direction of travel of the TPT in preparing a Sector-Neutral Framework to enable companies across all sectors to develop standardised and meaningful plans to support the transition of the economy to net zero, and asking for stakeholder input to inform the TPT’s future work on this. 

As well as developing a Sector-Neutral Framework, the TPT will develop Sectoral Templates and accompanying guidance for private sector transition plans. 

The Government published its Greening Finance Roadmap in October 2021, committing to take action to help align UK financial flows with a net zero carbon economy. Part of this strategy involves the development of new Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), which will introduce requirements for disclosures on sustainability across the economy. Under new requirements in the Listing Rules introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from the start of 2022, listed companies and large regulated asset owners and asset managers must disclose climate transition plans as part of their Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)-aligned climate disclosures, on a comply or explain basis. 

At COP26, the Government confirmed that, as part of the new SDR rules, further steps would be taken to require the disclosure of climate transition plans. Since there is currently no commonly agreed definition or common standard for transition plan disclosures, in November 2021, the Government announced that it would establish the TPT to develop a gold standard for transition plans. The FCA will be actively involved and draw on the TPT’s work to strengthen transition plan disclosure rules for listed companies and financial institutions. 

Objectives of Sector-Neutral Framework

The Sector-Neutral Framework will be directed at companies in the UK across all sectors. It will address how companies should disclose information on their strategies and action plans for meeting declared commitments and accelerating the transition to a net zero and resilient economy.

The Sector-Neutral Framework will lay out:

• the definition of a transition plan; 
• principles that should guide prepares of transition plans and provide a reference point for users seeking to understand the credibility of disclosed plans; 
• key elements that any private sector transition plan should cover, regardless of the sector of the preparing organisation; and
• accompanying guidance on the role of governance and assurance, third-party verification, and the implications of organisational transition plans for reporting.

Views are sought on  the location of transition plan disclosures. For example, they could be  integrated into existing annual financial disclosures, form part of standalone sustainability reports, be disclosed as a standalone strategy document or be disclosed in full as a standalone strategy document, but with high-level elements also appearing as part of the strategy disclosure in the annual financial report. 

Views are also sought on issues such as how prescriptive the Sector-Neutral Framework should be, recognising the need to balance flexibility in how firms disclose transition plans with more prescriptive templates that seek to facilitate comparability of firms’ transition plans, and whether the TPT should seek to standardise the data and metrics used to communicate ambition and measure progress in transition plans. 

Principles to be applied

The TPT seeks views on three guiding principles which will guide preparers to disclose relevant information in a plan, as well as provide a reference point for users seeking to understand the credibility of plans, as follows:

• Align with an economy-wide net zero transition - Targets, expected emissions trajectories and plans should be compatible with meeting a particular global temperature target by a particular time, ideally a 1.5 °C low or no-overshoot scenario by 2050. The plan should cover the whole organisation and any exclusions must not be material to the company and/or to the natural environment.
• Focus on concrete actions which emphasise the near-term and are backed up by clear governance mechanisms - The plan should set out actions to be taken in the next three to five years and interim milestones that can be used to assess progress and explain how these actions are in line with the transition to a net zero economy. The plan should be integrated into, and coherent with, the overall business and investment strategy and backed up by clear governance processes.
• Enable periodic reporting and verification in a transparent manner - Verification should be enabled in respect of annual reports on progress through adoption of quantifiable and time-bound key performance indicators, with a defined stakeholder feedback mechanism.

In the Sector-Neutral Framework, the TPT plans to create guidance on the key elements that any private sector transition plan should cover, regardless of the sector of the preparing organisation. Table 2 in the Call for Evidence summarises common elements found in existing frameworks and plans and the TPT seeks feedback on the proposed list which distinguishes between elements and sub-elements. Elements are considered to be the core building blocks of transition plans, with sub-elements being those which add credibility and granularity to each element. 

Responses to the Call for Evidence are requested by July 13, 2022. The TPT will then develop the Sector-Neutral Framework throughout 2022. It is intended that a draft will be published for consultation towards the end of the year with a view to finalisation in early 2023.

(TPT, A Sector-Neutral Framework for private sector transition plans Call for Evidence, 11.05.2022)

On May 11, 2022 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a Call for Evidence to support its update of the Green Finance Strategy it published in July 2019.  The 2019 Green Finance Strategy had three objectives: 

• Greening finance by supporting the financial services sector to align with the UK’s net zero commitment, the need to adapt to climate change and the UK’s commitment to nature’s recovery. 
• Financing green by mobilising private investment at scale to support clean and resilient growth.
• Supporting financial services to capture the opportunity presented by the transition to a net zero and nature-positive economy, cementing UK leadership in green finance and ensuring that businesses can benefit.

Since it was published, a number of steps have been taken to achieve these objectives, including the UK becoming the first G20 country to mandate Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) across the economy, and setting out a roadmap for broader economy-wide Sustainable Disclosure Requirements. The updated Green Finance Strategy will take stock of progress so far and set out how the UK can better ensure the financial services industry is supporting the UK’s energy security, climate and environmental objectives.

The questions in the Call for Evidence are concerned with four key objectives: 

• capturing the opportunity of green finance;
• mobilising finance for the UK’s energy security, climate and environmental objectives;
• greening the financial system; and
• leading internationally.

Responses to the Call for Evidence are requested by June 22, 2022 and the update to the Green Finance Strategy is planned for publication in late 2022.

(BEIS, Update to Green Finance Strategy – Call for Evidence, 11.05.2022)

Practice areas:

• Corporate, M&A and securities
• Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

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‘Disastrous privatisation of Channel 4’: Bectu responds to Media Bill in Queen’s Speech

Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, responding to the contents of the proposed Media Bill in the Queen’s Speech, said:

“This is the next step towards a disastrous privatisation of Channel 4, a much-loved and entirely self-sustaining public service broadcaster. Channel 4 supports a thriving independent production sector, creating tens of thousands of jobs across the country, and investing 100% of its £1 billion revenue back into the organisation, at zero-cost to the taxpayer.

“There could not be a worse time to introduce further uncertainty for the creative industries, who were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, and continue to face a chronic skills shortage.

“Pursuing plans to privatise such a successful and uniquely British institution, in the face of united industry opposition, is nothing short of cultural vandalism. MPs and Peers across the political spectrum must strongly oppose this destruction of a cherished cultural asset.”

The Queen’s Speech 2022 background briefing notes are available here .

Please contact Josie Emanuel with media queries: [email protected]