Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to assess the impact of the proposal to charge VAT on independent school fees at the upcoming spending review; and what is the latest date by which this spending review will be concluded.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools.
The Government will confirm the introduction of these tax policy changes at the Budget on 30 October. Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, details of the Government’s assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes will be published at the Budget in the usual way.
The Chancellor has launched a multi-year Spending Review to conclude in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will exempt the children of UK armed forces personnel and diplomats who receive sponsorship for private education from their plan to impose VAT on independent school fees.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the education system.
The Government has set out the details of this policy in the technical note Applying VAT to Private School Fees and Removing the Business Rates Charitable Rates Relief for Private Schools which can be found at the below link. A technical consultation on the technical note and draft VAT legislation will be open until 15 September 2024.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish an impact assessment, including an equality impact assessment, of their plans to remove the VAT exemption on independent school fees.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out by the Government in a Written Ministerial Statement on 29 July, the Government will introduce 20% VAT on education and boarding services provided for a charge by private schools across the UK from 1 January 2025. 20% VAT will also apply to pre-payments of fees for terms starting on or after 1 January 2025 made on or after 29 July 2024. These changes will not impact pupils with the most acute special educational needs, where their needs can only be met in private schools.
The Government will confirm the introduction of these tax changes at the Budget on 30 October. A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published alongside the Finance Bill.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timetable for the launch of the British ISA announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 6 March.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
At Spring Budget 2024, the Chancellor announced the creation of a UK ISA. Alongside this, the Government published a consultation seeking responses on the policy design and implementation. The consultation closes on 6th June 2024, after which we will consider responses and next steps.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of customer services provided by His Majesty's Revenue and Customers to taxpayers; and whether they will undertake a review or ask an independent third party to do so.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The quality of HMRC's customer service is regularly assessed by various bodies, including the Treasury Select Committee, National Audit Office, independent Adjudicator's Office, and Public Accounts Committee. HMRC also has internal customer surveys and key performance metrics to monitor its customer service objectives as outlined in the HMRC Charter.
HMRC Performance is published on a monthly and quarterly basis on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the number of ministerial directions made in each year since 2010 under the 'Managing Public Money' principles; and whether they will include a figure for unpublished or confidential ministerial directions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
Details of Ministerial Directions can be found on the GOV.UK website[1].
As set out in Managing Public Money, where confidentiality is required, the accounting officer will share the direction request and the direction itself with the chairs of the Committee of Public Accounts and the relevant departmental select committee, along with an explanation of the reasons for requiring confidentiality, and when they expect the need for confidentiality to fall away and publication to take place.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-directions
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what data they hold on physical attendance, for working days from Monday to Friday inclusive, by officials at offices based at the Darlington Economic Campus across all departments with a presence there; and whether they will publish that data.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government Property Agency manage access to all DEC campus buildings, and routinely provide data to departments through a combination of access pass data and space booking.
Cabinet Office publish data on attendance in the form of Headquarters Occupancy data, but this data is not broken down per-department on a building-by-building basis.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have further plans to reform or improve controls around high exit payments in the public sector, and whether they are considering reintroducing a cap on very high public sector exit payments.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Government maintains its commitment to ensuring that public sector exit payments are fair and proportionate to employers, employees and taxpayers. We continue to look at different options to tackle large exit payments and consulted on introducing additional controls in 2022. The Government is considering the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.