National Insurance Contributions: Hospitality Sector
Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Altmann(1 week, 4 days ago)
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Lord Livermore (Lab)
The answer to the noble Baroness’s question is no. Of course, we recognise that the retail and hospitality sector has struggled in recent years. At the Budget, we introduced a number of policies, including freezing the business rates small business multiplier. Together with the small business rates relief, this will exempt over a third of properties from business rates. On national insurance, as I have said before, there are consequences to responsibility, but there would have been greater consequences to irresponsibility, and it is not clear to me how the noble Baroness would fund her policies.
Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)
My Lords, the increase in the employment allowance for small businesses is most welcome, but can I press the Minister on the exemption for public sector employers from this increase in NICs and urge him to consider extending that exemption to social care and charity companies for example, particularly as they have such a preponderance of low-paid women in their workforce?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
The distinction that we are following follows the long-established distinction in these matters, and it is exactly the same as the previous Government had in their health and social care levy. That is a long-standing principle and, as the noble Baroness will know, we have extended a significant amount of compensation to public sector employers.
Pension Fund Reliefs
Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Altmann(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Baroness Altmann
To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure the taxpayer spending on pension fund reliefs has a beneficial long-term impact on the United Kingdom’s economy and financial markets.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)
My Lords, the Government published the interim report of the pensions investment review on 14 November. This report put forward a series of ambitious proposals to reform the UK pensions system. Together, these proposals could unlock around £80 billion of productive investment in infrastructure and fast-growing companies. The full report will be published in the spring ahead of legislation being introduced in the pension schemes Bill.
Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)
I thank the noble Lord for his Answer. Can I press him a little on the £70 billion of taxpayers’ money that is going into people’s pensions every year, with absolutely no requirement for any of it to be placed into the UK or to revive the UK economy? We have a growth agenda, and a desperate need for long-term investment in assets that are very suitable for UK pension funds. Will the noble Lord agree to meet me to discuss ways in which we can encourage or incentivise more pension assets, and more of the taxpayer contribution, to boost our economy rather than all the others? All other major countries’ pension schemes have significant overweighting in their domestic markets, whereas ours have maybe 3% in UK equities.
Public Spending: Inheritance
Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Altmann(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am grateful to my noble friend for his question. Yesterday’s letter from the chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility shows his views on these important overspends being kept from the OBR. My noble friend asks about the reforms that have been announced. As part of the longer-term plan to fix the foundations of the economy, we are going to introduce significant additional reforms to strengthen the fiscal framework and ensure that this can never happen again. Those initial reforms were welcomed yesterday by Richard Hughes, the chair of the OBR. He also said that he will initiate his own review to determine whether those reforms are sufficient, and he may make additional recommendations.
There are two elements to what was announced yesterday. First, we will introduce a fiscal lock, which has already been introduced in the other place as the Budget Responsibility Bill. This fiscal lock will ensure that there is always proper scrutiny of the Government’s fiscal plans. Secondly, we will increase transparency by, in future, requiring the Treasury to share with the OBR its assessment of immediate public spending pressures and enshrine that in the charter for budget responsibility, in essence so that this never happens again—no Government can ever again cover up the true state of public finances.
Baroness Altmann (Con)
My Lords, I warmly welcome the noble Lord to the Front Bench and congratulate him on his appointment. We have heard about shock today; I truly confess that I was shocked yesterday to see pensioners being picked on and yet again bearing the brunt of cost savings. This Government promised to protect the triple lock, but what they announced at a stroke yesterday, with virtually no notice, was worse than taking away the triple lock.
The winter fuel payment is worth 3% of the basic state pension for over - 80s. I urge the Government to think again about the enormity of the decision that was made. Three hundred pounds does not sound like a lot to us, but to pensioners who will also have rising energy bills, to 800,000 pensioners who are not claiming pension credit and to those just above the threshold, this is compounding the cliff edge. We have already seen that £300 was taken away in the emergency cost of living payment was last year, and I agreed with that, but I urge the Government to reconsider and think about joining the winter fuel payment with the state pension so that it becomes taxable, saving some money that way. At the very least, they should delay any such decision until they are able to carefully assess the impact on some of the very poorest pensioners.
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her kind words. She is extremely expert in these matters, and I have the greatest respect for her, but I think that her analysis is not correct in terms of the value of the triple lock versus the winter fuel payment. In the other place yesterday, the Chancellor confirmed that pensioners will continue to benefit from the triple lock throughout this Parliament.
On the winter fuel payment, this of course is not an easy decision and I can understand why there is disappointment about it, but it is the right decision in the circumstances. The level of overspend is not sustainable. Left unaddressed, it would have meant a 25% increase in the Government’s financing needs this year, so it falls on this Government to take the difficult decisions to make the necessary in-year savings.
We will, of course, work to maximise the take-up of pension credit in two ways: bringing together the administration of housing benefit and pension credit, and working with older people’s charities and local authorities to raise awareness of pension credit and to help identify households not claiming it.