Tax Burden and Economic Growth
Lord Londesborough Excerpts(3 days, 7 hours ago)
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Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)
Obviously, I do not want to pre-empt anything that might come out in the Budget, but it is fair to say that the Government have protected the smallest businesses from the NICs changes by more than doubling the employment allowance, which allows eligible employers to reduce their employer NICs bill by up to £10,500. This means that around 900,000 employers, or around 40%, will have no employer NIC liabilities. We are thinking about small companies—we know that they are the ones that grow the economy—and we are going to continue doing what is best for the British economy.
Lord Londesborough (CB)
My Lords, returning to the original Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, does the Minister agree that what really matters is growth in GDP per capita, where we sit near the bottom of the G7—given our population growth over the past five years—and that this has happened at a time when our tax burden has risen at the fastest rate in the G7? That is not a coincidence, is it?
Office for National Statistics
Lord Londesborough Excerpts(10 months, 1 week ago)
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Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
The noble Lord raises a very important point about data sharing of statistics. The ONS, which we all talk about regularly, is only one of nearly 200 organisations that provide government data and are governed by the Office for Statistics Regulation. As for how we can move forward, there is a new framework in place. There is also the issue, by the way, of devolution and the impact that that is having on data. There is a framework moving forward for data sharing. It is very difficult. The noble Lord is absolutely right that it was in the Lievesley report. Given that progress was not as speedy as we had hoped, what we are looking to do now, through the recommendations and with the current interim National Statistician, is to implement better processes more quickly.
Lord Londesborough (CB)
My Lords, the ONS’s attempt to improve the quality of its data has been challenged by staff members of the Civil Service union, the PCS. They have voted once again in favour of strike action and non-compliance over the ONS’s office attendance target, which is 40%—just two days a week. Does the Minister believe that this level of working from home is consistent with the ONS getting its act together?
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
My Lords, Ministers are clear that we expect people to be in the office 60% of the time, at least. The new ONS leadership is working with unions to resolve this dispute. One of the issues that was highlighted in both the Lievesley and Devereux reviews was culture. It is very hard to effect cultural change if people are not in the office.