Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on child poverty of the freeze in Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and Jobseeker's Allowance between 2015 and 2017.
Answered by Lord Bates
During the passage of Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 the government published an Impact Assessment of the benefit rate freeze. This is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the percentage change in average earnings between (1) 1987 and 1992, (2) 1992 and 1997, (3) 1998 and 2003, and (4) 2004 and 2009.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from John Pullinger CB, National Statistician, to Baroness Primarolo, dated 20 March 2018
Dear Baroness Primarolo,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what was the percentage change in average earnings between (1) 1987 and 1992, (2) 1992 and 1997, (3) 1998 and 2003, and (4) 2004 and 2009 (HL6310).
Table 1 provides estimates of median gross weekly earnings for adult full time employees in Great Britain for April each year. The estimates from 1997 onwards are drawn from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and prior to that from its predecessor, the New Earnings Survey. Although the methodologies between the two surveys created some discontinuities in the published results, the differences are tolerable and the resulting series will be of benefit to those interested in changes in earnings statistics over a long period.
Table 1: Median gross weekly earnings, full time employees in Great Britain whose pay was unaffected during the reference period[1],[2],[3],[4]
Median gross weekly earnings, April of each years | Percentage change in gross weekly earnings between the two quoted years |
1987 - £175.1 1992 - £264.6 | 51.1% |
1992 - £264.6 1997 - £321.5 | 21.5% |
1998 - £335.8 2003 - £405.2 | 20.7% |
2004 - £420.3 2009 - £489.9 | 16.6% |
Yours sincerely,
John Pullinger
[1] Estimates prior to 1997 are drawn from the New Earnings Survey
[2] From 2004 there was improved coverage added to the Annual Survey for Hours and Earnings. This had some impact on estimates: the median gross weekly earnings estimate for 2004 excluding that improved coverage was £424.2 (compared with £420.3 including it).
[3] Estimates in Table 1 are drawn from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/adhocs/006302annualsurveyofhoursandearningsashetimeseriesofmediangrossweeklyearningsfrom1968to2016
[4] Percentage changes are calculated from the median gross weekly earnings figures in the table, which are rounded to one decimal place. This may result in percentage changes being under or overstated, by up to one decimal % point.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children were living in absolute poverty in each year between 2010 and 2017; and how those figures were calculated.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
National statistics on the number of children in absolute low income for the period 2009/10 to 2015/16 are available in the annual "Households Below Average Income".
Year | Number of children living in absolute low income before housing costs |
2009/10 | 2.5m |
2010/11 | 2.3m |
2011/12 | 2.6m |
2012/13 | 2.5m |
2013/14 | 2.4m |
2014/15 | 2.3m |
2015/16 | 2.3m |
m = a million
Figures for 2016/17 are due to be published on 22 March 2018.
Absolute low income is calculated by taking the 60 per cent of median income threshold from 2010/11 and increasing this each year in line with inflation (using variants of the Consumer Price Index). This measure is designed to assess how the number of children in low income families compares with 2010/11 after taking account of inflation.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children were living in poverty in workless households in each year between 2010 and 2017 (1) before housing costs, and (2) after housing costs.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
National statistics on the number of children living in relative low income, in workless households, before and after housing costs, for the period 2009/10 to 2015/16 have been calculated from figures published in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication.
Year | Number of children living in relative low income, in workless households | |
Before Housing Costs | After Housing Costs | |
2009/10 | 1.2m | 1.8m |
2010/11 | 1.0m | 1.5m |
2011/12 | 0.8m | 1.3m |
2012/13 | 0.9m | 1.4m |
2013/14 | 0.8m | 1.4m |
2014/15 | 0.9m | 1.3m |
2015/16 | 0.9m | 1.3m |
m = a million
Figures for 2016/17 are due to be published on 22 March 2018.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 18 September (HL1398), what plans they have to review which activities outside Great Britain may be in scope of the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As stated in my previous answer, some employer activities outside Great Britain may fall within the scope of the Equality Act 2010, but this will depend on whether, in any given case, the employment relationship is found to have a strong connection with Great Britain, and the Government has no plans to review the matter.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made for each of the last six financial years of the revenue lost as a consequence of carousel fraud.
Answered by Lord Bates
The latest available estimates of the amount of VAT lost to Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC) fraud for the last five years are published annually in the Chapter 2 of the ‘Measuring tax gaps’ publication[1]. For 2015-16, this was estimated at £0.5-1 billion.
Further ‘Measuring tax gaps’ online tables are published giving the estimate of the VAT lost to MTIC fraud since 2005-06[2].
The MTIC tax gap estimates includes multiple types of fraud not traditional carousel fraud alone.
The estimates are published as a range to reflect the uncertainty in the estimation of the MTIC tax gap.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps-tables
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Henley on 20 November, how many start-up companies founded in 2016 they estimate were service companies.
Answered by Lord Henley
There is no single source of data on all start-ups. Based on new business bank accounts opened, BankSearch estimate that there were over 416,000 start-ups in Great Britain in 2016, covering every region and every sector.
The Department does not hold data showing how many of the companies founded in 2016 were service companies.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Henley on 10 November (HL2719), what plans they have to review the impact of Brexit on the corporate governance of UK-registered companies operating outside the UK, including through subsidiaries and other connected persons.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working in close coordination with the Department for Exiting the European Union. We are preparing for potential impacts Brexit may have on the corporate governance of UK-registered companies operating outside the UK, including through subsidiaries and other connected persons.
The UK’s Companies Act and related legislation provides a framework for corporate governance, accounting, audit and reporting which is seen as an example of best practice across the world. For example, the Strategic Reporting regulations 2013 led to the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive of 2014.
This framework secures sound and transparent financial and non-financial reporting by companies and other corporate entities, reflecting their strategy and governance, in order to help create a positive investment environment in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 18 September (HL1398), whether they have plans to review the corporate governance of UK-registered companies operating outside the UK, including through subsidiaries and other connected persons.
Answered by Lord Henley
UK-registered companies are subject to UK company law, which includes a statutory requirement under the Companies Act 2006 for medium sized and large companies to produce an annual strategic report. Parent companies that prepare group accounts must produce a consolidated strategic report relating to the undertakings included in the consolidation.
In the case of UK-registered quoted companies, the strategic report must include information about the company’s employees, and social, community and human rights issues, including any policies in relation to those matters and the effectiveness of those policies, to the extent necessary to assess the development, performance or position of the company’s business.
Additionally, large companies which are public interest entities that employ 500 or more employees must include in the strategic report a non-financial statement containing information on employees and respect for human rights, to the extent necessary for an understanding of the company’s development, performance and position and the impact of its activities.
As such, where a UK registered company operates outside of the UK, including through subsidiaries, its strategic report will, to the extent required by the reporting requirement, contain information in relation to its activities abroad.
The Government Response to the Corporate Governance Reform green paper consultation, published on 29th August 2017, announced a number of reforms to further strengthen and improve transparency in corporate governance at UK-registered companies, including to introduce secondary legislation requiring companies of a significant size to explain how their directors comply with the existing duty under Section 172 of the Companies Act to have regard to employee and other stakeholder interests.
The Government has no other current plans to review the corporate governance of UK-registered companies operating in the UK or overseas.
Asked by: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to expand the scope of products that credit unions can choose to provide to their members.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Government is committed to building an economy that works for everyone and credit unions play a key role in this by offering affordable, responsible credit to some communities.
In response to the Government’s 2014 Call for Evidence on the future of credit unions, the Government committed to consider potential legislative changes in the previous Parliament that would help the sector grow and thrive.
However, it is important to consider any changes carefully to avoid unintended consequences, such as bringing smaller credit unions into regulation that might not be proportionate.
The Government remains committed to supporting the sector and will continue to work with interested stakeholders to achieve this. The government is also keen for the sector to look for further opportunities to grow within the existing regulatory framework by exploring opportunities for collaboration within the sector.