I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord McNicol, for these amendments. I think we have much more consensus on the principles. I shall start with Amendment 37. I think we agree that the database should be as accurate as possible. There was an extensive debate in the other place about the quality
of the database and the requirements on public authorities when uploading to the database. As was set out there, the database is relatively new and, as the noble Lord acknowledged, it continues to be developed. My department has been working on a range of improvements and we continue to review how it operates. I genuinely welcome any feedback that noble Lords have now or in future on how it can be improved.
Since Report in the other place, our officials have launched an initiative to follow up with public authorities where the information on the database is vague or the links provided go to a landing page rather than providing the necessary detail about a subsidy. In addition, where the subsidy control team receives information about schemes that have been made, that information is now cross-referenced with what is on the database to ensure that it is correct. More broadly, the Government are committed to best practice when it comes to public data, and the subsidy database uses the service standards specified by the Government Digital Service.
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This amendment would create a new obligation on the Secretary of State to subject the database to a routine audit. I respectfully suggest that this new obligation is not necessary because the system already incentivises accurate entries. Public authorities may not have fulfilled their obligation to make an entry on the database if that entry is not accurate, which could mean that the limitation period would not start until a correct entry was made. As a result, we expect to carry out less follow-up with public authorities as they become more accustomed to the transparency requirements of the regime. As is the case with transparency elsewhere in government, it is the responsibility of those uploading data to ensure that it is accurate; of course, they are best placed to do so. The data on this database does not need additional verification from my department. An audit such as that envisioned in this amendment would likely be very expensive. We should not forget that, ultimately, this would be a cost on taxpayers.
Turning to Amendment 44, I am delighted to say that I completely agree with the noble Lord, Lord McNicol, that the date of a subsidy upload is fundamental. It should be on the database. As we announced in the other place, a series of improvements to the database have been ongoing, including adding the date of upload to the database; the noble Lord can say that he was successful in that amendment. As of this week, the improvement is now in place, with the publication date clearly shown on the subsidy information page. This will help interested parties to determine when the limitation period will end. This amendment would add this upload date requirement to the list of illustrative requirements that may be added to the regulations made under Clause 34 but, given the operational changes we have already made, I submit that it is unnecessary. It is easier and more straightforward for the database to include the upload date automatically, as it now does. This avoids the imposition of any additional tasks on public authorities and reduces the chance of any error.
The list of illustrative requirements in Clause 34 has been provided to give an overview of the sort of requirements that the regulations on uploading subsidies
will require. However, before the regulations are made, we will look closely at exactly what is or is not needed. As part of this process, we will work with the relevant public authorities to better understand what requirements should be included in the regulations. Again, I genuinely welcome thoughts from Members of this Committee on what other requirements should be considered in this process.
Amendment 45 would require the database to include information on the share of local content of the good or services to which the subsidy relates. I fully share the noble Lord’s aim that subsidies given by public authorities in the UK should lead to benefits for our economy and society. The regime already provides the necessary tools for public authorities to assure this, so this amendment is unnecessary. To ensure compliance with the principles, prohibitions and requirements, public authorities need to design their subsidies to ensure that they bring about a change in the beneficiary’s behaviour conducive to achieving their specific policy objective, and that there is no condition on the use of domestic goods or services over imported goods or services. As I mentioned earlier, the subsidy control regime does not replace rules on managing public money or obviate the need for contractual agreements between public authorities and recipients, which ensure that monies cannot be used in ways that do not ultimately benefit the British public.
I will respond to the concern of the noble Lord, Lord Fox. It is perfectly legal and, indeed, important to ensure that a subsidy targets a UK-specific policy objective. If he needs more technical information about compliance with international law, I will be happy to write to him. But, importantly, he will understand that I cannot agree that the use of the database proposed by the noble Lord would be an appropriate way to promote subsidies as a tool to facilitate economic growth in the UK. As both noble Lords are probably aware, WTO rules mean that there is a prohibition on subsidies with local content requirements—namely, subsidies contingent on the use of domestic over imported goods. The TCA of course also includes a similar prohibition for both goods and services within its scope. The noble Lord may be about to remind me that the EU has either just commenced or is about to commence action against the UK in the WTO over the contracts for difference scheme on precisely this point, so he will understand why I will need to be careful about that.