Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether banks and insurance companies are discriminating against defence firms; and what steps they intend to take in response.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMG has been actively engaging with the defence industry, trade associations and the financial services sector regarding access to financial services for defence companies.
Decisions regarding the provision of financial services to businesses are primarily a commercial decision, where banks and insurers will need to make an assessment of the relevant risks and conduct appropriate due diligence.
In a time of increasing geopolitical instability, maintaining a robust and thriving defence sector is essential to our national security. No company should be denied access to financial services purely on the basis that they work in Defence.
This Government is committed to bringing forward a Defence Industrial Strategy which ensures the imperatives of national security, and a high-growth economy are aligned. The Defence Industrial Strategy Statement of Intent, published in December 2024, recognised issues with regards to access to finance, including opening bank accounts or securing a loan. HMG is consulting with a wide range of stakeholders, including defence suppliers and financial institutions, to assess the ways in which we can reduce barriers and create a strong and resilient defence sector. We continue to invite all stakeholders to respond to the Defence Industrial Strategy Statement of Intent, either publicly or privately, by 28 February 2025.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number of additional taxpayers who will have to complete Capital Gains tax returns as a result of the proposed reduction in threshold, (2) the amount of additional tax revenue that is likely to be raised, and (3) the extra cost of administration that will be required as a result of those changes.
Answered by Baroness Penn
A measure was announced at Autumn Statement 2022 to reduce the annual exempt amount (AEA) for capital gains tax (CGT) to £6,000 for tax year 2023 to 2024, with a further reduction to £3,000 for tax year 2024 to 2025 and subsequent tax years.
In 2024 to 2025, 260,000 individuals and trusts are estimated to be brought into the scope of CGT as a result of the measure.
However, some of those taxpayers brought into the scope of CGT would already have been expected to complete the capital gains tax supplementary pages within Self Assessment for the following reasons:
The amount of additional tax revenue that is expected to be raised as a result of the measure is set out in the table below:
Tax Year | 2022 to 2023 | 2023 to 2024 | 2024 to 2025 | 2025 to 2026 | 2026 to 2027 | 2027 to 2028 |
Exchequer impact (£million) | 0 | +25 | +275 | +425 | +435 | +440 |
These figures are set out in table 5.1 of Autumn Statement 2022 and have been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility. More details can be found in the policy costings document published alongside Autumn Statement 2022 which is available on the gov.uk website.
A cost in the region of £100,000 will be incurred in delivering the relevant IT changes to support safe implementation of this measure. HMRC also expects to receive additional contact from customers who require support as a result of this change.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Penn on 28 February (HL6497), what assessment they have made of whether giving grandparents with written parental approval the ability to open a junior ISA on behalf of a grandchild would significantly increase the number of such ISAs taken out, in line with their policy objective.
Answered by Baroness Penn
Junior ISAs (JISAs) form a key part of the Government’s commitment to ensuring that young people are supported to save from an early age and into adulthood. Since the launch of the JISA in 2011, the number of accounts being subscribed to each year has increased significantly. In 2019-20, over 1 million JISAs were subscribed to on behalf of children across the UK.
The Government wishes to ensure that the ISA regime remains simple and sustainable for both savers and providers. Placing a restriction on who can open and manage a Junior ISA (JISA) helps to prevent more than one account of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error and ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. Removing this restriction would increase the risk of multiple accounts being opened and subsequently needing to be made void. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild.
While only parents or legal guardians can open a JISA on behalf of their children, grandparents can add funds to the account, up to the subscription limit of £9,000 per year. Grandparents may also open an adult ISA in their own name to save and invest for their grandchildren, which can later be gifted outside of an ISA.
The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their reasons for preventing grandparents from opening Junior ISAs for their grandchildren; and what assessment they have made of the compatibility of this prohibition with their policy of encouraging people to save more.
Answered by Baroness Penn
The Government is committed to ensuring that young people are supported to save from an early age and into adulthood. Junior ISAs (JISAs) form a key part of this commitment.
Where a JISA is opened on behalf of a child, the account must be set up and managed by an individual with parental responsibility for that child, or the child itself if over 16. To ensure that the ISA regime remains simple and sustainable, placing a restriction on who can open and manage an account prevents more than one Junior ISA of each type (cash or stocks and shares) being opened in error and ensures that there is a single point of contact for the giving of instructions. A grandparent who does not have parental responsibility is therefore unable to open or manage a Junior ISA on behalf of their grandchild.
However, the Government recognises the important role that grandparents can play in building a savings pot for their grandchildren. While parents or legal guardians must open a JISA on behalf of their children, grandparents and others can then add funds to the account, up to the value of £9,000 a year.
The Government continues to keep all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the letter on behalf of the Chancellor to the Office of Tax Simplification on 30 November, what plans they have, if any (1) to increase capital gains tax rates, (2) to align capital gains tax rates with income tax, or (3) to reduce the annual capital gains tax allowance.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As set out in the Government’s response to the Office of Tax Simplification's report on Capital Gains Tax on 30 November 2021, such reforms would involve a number of wider policy trade-offs and so careful thought must be given to the impact that they would have on taxpayers, as well as any additional administrative burden on HMRC. The Government will continue to keep the tax system under constant review to ensure it is simple and efficient.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will meet (1) representatives of the major television channels, (2) the Financial Conduct Authority, and (3) Ofcom, to encourage the development of programmes that promote investment in shares of companies quoted in the UK.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government is fully supportive of initiatives to improve financial education. While the Government regularly meets with the Financial Conduct Authority, Ofcom and representatives of major television channels, it is right that programming and editorial decisions are made independent of Government.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the research by the Financial Conduct Authority Cryptoasset consumer research 2021, published on 17 June, which estimates that 2.3 million people in the UK own cryptocurrencies and that 14 per cent of those borrowed money to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government welcomes the FCA’s recent consumer research, which offers insights into the growth of the cryptoasset market in the UK over the past year.
The Government is closely monitoring developments in the industry through the UK’s Cryptoassets Taskforce. HM Treasury and UK authorities have taken a series of actions to mitigate risks to stability and market integrity and prevent the use of cryptoassets in illicit activity.
The Government launched a consultation on its regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins on 7 January. It also included a call for evidence on the use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in financial markets. This set out the Government’s position that new innovations in the sector could deliver substantial benefits, but also present new challenges and risks.
Last year, the Government issued a consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets, including Bitcoin, into the scope of financial promotions regulation. This would ensure that relevant cryptoasset promotions are held to the same high standards for fairness, clarity, and accuracy that pertain in the financial services industry. The Government will be publishing its response in due course.
To further protect consumers, the FCA has banned the sale of cryptoasset derivatives to retail consumers, and alongside the Bank of England has issued consumer warnings stating that consumers who invest in cryptoassets should be prepared to lose their money. Alongside this, the Government launched a new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regime for cryptoassets in 2020.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total value of outstanding unclaimed Premium Bond prizes; how many of those are £1 million prizes; and what efforts are made to trace the winners of such unclaimed prizes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As of July 2019, there are currently 1,905,681 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worth £69,850,900. NS&I considers a prize as unclaimed when it has not been paid to or cashed in by the Bond holder within 18 months of the prize being issued.
There are no £1 million prizes unclaimed. NS&I undertakes regular media activity to raise awareness of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes. NS&I also encourages customers to have Premium Bonds prizes paid directly to their bank accounts to reduce the risk of prizes going unclaimed.
Table: Total value and number of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes
Unclaimed |
| Number of prizes unclaimed | Prize value |
NS&I definition of unclaimed prizes (prizes issued up to and including July 2019) | 1,905,681 | £69,850,900 | |
Industry standard definition of unclaimed prizes (prizes issued up to an including January 2006) * | 397,951 | £23,049,075 | |
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing auto-enrolment for employee share schemes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government believes it is appropriate to allow employers and employees to decide whether to offer and participate in employee share schemes based on their business and individual needs.
Companies can offer shares to their employees in various ways. To encourage wider employee share ownership, the Government offers four tax advantaged share schemes: Save As You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plans (SIPs), Company Share Option Plans (CSOP) and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI). Where offered, these schemes provide a range of tax advantages for employees who wish to acquire shares in the company for which they work.
Companies offering SAYE and SIPs are required to open the schemes to all employees. CSOP and EMI are discretionary schemes, which means options can be offered to select employees to help recruitment and retention.
The Government keeps all taxes and reliefs under review.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have participated in (1) a Save As You Earn, and (2) a Share Incentive Plan, scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Save As You Earn (SAYE) scheme and Share Incentive Plans (SIPs) are tax-advantaged employee share schemes offered by the Government.
HMRC publishes annual statistics on Employee Share Schemes on GOV.UK[1].
Statistics on participation in SAYE schemes and SIPs for the last four years can be found in the tables below. Figures for 2014-15 are not available due to the introduction of the Employment Related Securities service.
HMRC collects data at the points at which employees enter or leave Employee Share Schemes which is reflected in the tables below. However, HMRC does not hold data on the number of people who hold options or shares within an Employee Share Scheme each year.
For SAYE, data is provided on the number of employees who are granted and exercised options.
For SIPs, data is provided on the number of employees who are awarded or purchase the four different types of shares available. Some employees may receive more than one type of share in a given year.
Table 1 - SAYE
SAYE | Employees granted share options | Employees exercising share options |
14-15 | - | - |
15-16 | 510,000 | 200,000 |
16-17 | 400,000 | 140,000 |
17-18 | 340,000 | 120,000 |
18-19 | 310,000 | 110,000 |
Table 2 - SIP
SIP – employees awarded / purchased | Free shares | Partnership shares | Matching shares | Dividend shares |
14-15 | - | - | - | - |
15-16 | 560,000 | 5,380,000 | 3,920,000 | 870,000 |
16-17 | 140,000 | 4,160,000 | 2,990,000 | 760,000 |
17-18 | 140,000 | 2,890,000 | 2,010,000 | 530,000 |
18-19 | 110,000 | 2,840,000 | 2,050,000 | 500,000 |
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employee-share-schemes-statistics#national-statistics