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Written Question
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Tuesday 26th January 2021

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of extending eligibility for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to those who began employment after 31 October 2020.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

For all eligibility decisions under the CJRS, the Government must balance the need to support as many jobs as possible with the need to protect the scheme from fraud.

Under the CJRS extension, an employer can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. The use of RTI allows HMRC to verify claims in the most efficient and timely way, ensuring payments can be made quickly while reducing the risk of fraud. Without the use of RTI returns it would be difficult to verify claims without significant additional checks, which would delay payment for genuine claims.

The 30 October 2020 cut-off date allowed as many people as possible to be included by going right up to the day before the announcement, while balancing the risk of fraud that existed as soon as the scheme became public. Extending the cut-off date further would have significantly increased the risk of abuse because claims could not be confidently verified against the risk of fraud by using the data after this point.


Written Question
Help to Buy Scheme: Individual Savings Accounts
Monday 5th March 2018

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what are the eligibility criteria is for a person to qualify for a bonus with a Help to Buy ISA.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

In addition to observing the usual ISA regulations, for an individual to qualify for a Help to Buy: ISA they must be 16 or over, have a valid National Insurance number, be a UK resident, and be a first-time buyer. Under this scheme being a first-time buyer means they must not have owned a property anywhere in the world.

An individual will then qualify for a government bonus when they come to buy a property if it is:

a) in the UK;

b) costs less than £250k (or £450k in London);

c) will be their only home;

d) is where they intend to live; and

e) will be purchased with a mortgage.


Written Question
Help to Buy Scheme: Individual Savings Accounts
Thursday 14th December 2017

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there have been any changes to the eligibility criteria for qualifying for a bonus with a Help to Buy ISA since that policy was introduced; and what the eligibility criteria were when that policy was introduced.

Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

There has been no change to the eligibility criteria since the policy was introduced.


Written Question
National Insurance Contributions
Wednesday 25th March 2015

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total advertising budget is for the campaign to promote the Employment Allowance; and how much has been spent on (a) television, (b) newspaper, (c) online, (d) radio and (e) other advertising mentioning that allowance in the last 24 months.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Employment Allowance is administered by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Details of all HMRC spending, in excess of £25,000, are set out on the government website via: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/spending-over-25-000


Written Question
Help to Buy Scheme
Wednesday 11th February 2015

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total advertising budget is for the campaign to promote the Help to Buy scheme; and how much has been spent on (a) television, (b) newspaper, (c) online, (d) radio and (e) other advertising mentioning that scheme in the last 24 months.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As part of the Government’s transparency agenda, all Departments publish details of transactions above £25,000. Data is published one month in arrears can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/collections/25000-spend


Written Question
Public Appointments
Monday 2nd February 2015

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions his Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Civil Service Commission publish details of appointments made by exception and approved by them in their annual reports and on their website. These reports are also available in the Library of the House.


Written Question
Public Appointments
Tuesday 11th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions his Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the Answer the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office gave him on 10 November 2014, Parliamentary UIN 213040


Written Question
Pay
Tuesday 11th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

HM Treasury does not have or operate an instant reward scheme.


Written Question
Mobile Phones
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

HM Treasury do not use iPhones and therefore have no associated spend since 2010.


Written Question
Freedom of Information
Monday 10th November 2014

Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) publishes quarterly statistics bulletins on departments’ handling of FOI requests. These bulletins include tables showing how many requests were granted in full, or resulted in some or all information being withheld.

The MOJ statistics bulletin can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics