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Written Question
Children: Day Care
Monday 20th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 19 November (75071), what proportion of the £2.4 billion underspend on tax-free childcare since 2017 has been reinvested in other childcare and early education services.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

We have spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on our early education entitlements and the government continues to support families with their childcare costs. The universal 15 hours entitlement, available for every three and four year old, can save parents up to £2,500 per year, and eligible working parents can apply for an additional 15 hours free childcare which can save them up to £5,000 if they use the full 30 hours. 30 hours free childcare was introduced in England in September 2017 and is an entitlement for working parents of three and four year olds, benefitting nearly 330,000 children in January 2021.

In addition to the free early education entitlements, the government offers Tax-Free Childcare for children from 0-11 years old, or up to 16 if disabled. This scheme means that for every £8 parents pay their provider via an online account, the government will pay £2 – up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year, or £4,000 if disabled. 308,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare for 364,000 children in June 2021.

Parents may also benefit from Universal Credit. Working parents on a low income can get up to 85% of their childcare costs for children under 16 reimbursed through Universal Credit Childcare. This is subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1,108 for two or more children, payable in arrears.

At SR21, the Government announced a £160 million investment for 2022-23, for local authorities to increase the hourly rate to be paid to early years providers.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Thursday 4th November 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Centre for Progressive Policy report Women in the Workforce – Boosting Mothers’ employment and earnings, published on 14 October, and in particular the finding that the UK has the second lowest public spend on childcare among OECD economies.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

I welcome the report from the Centre for Progressive Policy on Women in the Workforce – Boosting Mothers’ employment and earnings. As the report highlights, inadequate childcare provision can act as a barrier to women’s participation in the labour market. This is why childcare policy in the UK is designed to provide working parents with support to continue to work.

To support working parents with their childcare costs, the government introduced Tax-Free Childcare (TFC), which provides eligible working parents with 20% support on childcare costs, up to £2,000 per child per year (£4,000 for disabled children). The number of working parents benefiting from this is increasing: 308,000 families used TFC for 364,000 children in June 2021, up from 282,000 families using childcare for 329,000 children in March 2021.

In addition to TFC, the government spent around £3.6bn in 20-21 on early childcare entitlements and we continue to support families with their childcare costs. All three- and four-year-olds can access 15 hours of free childcare per week, regardless of circumstance. Eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds can also access an additional 15 hours of free childcare per week, also known as 30 hours free childcare. Some parents may also be able to access the disadvantaged 2-year-old offer which gives 15 hours of free childcare per week to 2-year-olds who meet certain social and economic criteria.

This approach is working – evidence shows that the government approach to childcare is helping to improve the employment rate for married/cohabiting women with dependent children, which has risen to 77.9% in, up 0.6% on the year (Q2 2021 vs Q2 2020), and 1.1% pre-covid (Q2 2021 vs Q2 2019).


Written Question
Remote Education: Coronavirus
Thursday 21st January 2021

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide financial support to parents unable to work due to the demands of home-schooling children while schools are closed due to the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The Government has invested over £300 million to support remote education, including providing devices and internet access to pupils who need it most.

Since its introduction, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been available to anyone who has been unable to work due to caring responsibilities arising from COVID-19, such as caring for children who are at home as a result of school and childcare facilities closing, or caring for a vulnerable individual in their household. The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme is also available to parents and carers who cannot work because of childcare commitments.

In order to support businesses to retain their employees and protect the UK economy, the Chancellor has extended both the CJRS and SEISS until the end of April.

Individual families have also benefitted from increased welfare payments, enhanced statutory sick pay, a stay of repossession proceedings and mortgage holidays.

The government has provided over £400m for 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged children and young people. Over 750,000 of these have already been delivered to schools.


Written Question
Electronic Publishing: VAT
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of zero-rating VAT on e-publications, including audiobooks and eBooks, to bring them into line with their physical counterparts.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT.

Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic and fiscal considerations. Representations on this issue are considered as part of the fiscal event process.

The impact on people from low-income backgrounds and on literacy levels of any reduction of VAT on e-publications is likely to depend on commercial decisions about the extent to which any tax saving would lead to price reductions for consumers.


Written Question
Electronic Publishing: VAT
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for reducing the VAT applied to digital reading materials with a view to supporting reading among children and young people from low-income backgrounds.

Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton

The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT.

Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic and fiscal considerations. Representations on this issue are considered as part of the fiscal event process.

The impact on people from low-income backgrounds and on literacy levels of any reduction of VAT on e-publications is likely to depend on commercial decisions about the extent to which any tax saving would lead to price reductions for consumers.


Written Question
Overseas Students: Tax Yields
Wednesday 10th April 2019

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Higher Education Policy Institute and Kaplan International Pathways, The UK's tax revenues from international students post-graduation, published in March, which suggested that the tax and National Insurance payments of a cohort of EU and non-EU students who stay in the UK to work after their studies amounts to £3.2 billion.

Answered by Lord Bates

International students make a significant contribution to the UK, beyond any tax payments they make. They enhance our educational institutions; they enrich the experience of domestic students; and they contribute to the £20 billion the education sector generates through education exports and transnational activity each year. The government recently published an International Education Strategy with the aim of increasing the number of international students studying in the UK to 600,000, or by more than 30%, by 2030.


Written Question
Children: Day Care
Wednesday 21st March 2018

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reducing eligibility for Employer Supported Childcare on access to childcare for working parents.

Answered by Lord Bates

The eligibility criteria for Employer-Supported Childcare has not been reduced.

We are gradually replacing Employer-Supported Childcare with Tax-Free Childcare which will extend eligibility for childcare support to nearly 1 million more families.


Written Question
Companies: Ownership
Wednesday 25th March 2015

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to other G7 and G20 countries to adopt in principle public registers of the beneficial ownership of companies within their jurisdiction.

Answered by Lord Deighton

The Government has advocated publicly accessible central registers of company beneficial ownership, including through the 2013 UK G8 Presidency, G7, G20 and EU engagement, and in bilateral discussions.

The Government successfully pressed for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership information for all European Union Member States under the 4th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive. We continue to work bilaterally and through EU and G20 meetings to encourage international partners to show similar ambition.


Written Question
Companies: Ownership
Wednesday 25th March 2015

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to introduce public registers of beneficial ownership of companies within their jurisdictions.

Answered by Lord Deighton

The Government is in continued dialogue with the Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies on the need to improve the transparency of company beneficial ownership information and we are keeping them informed as UK policy develops.

We believe that a central public register of company beneficial ownership is the best way to improve transparency of company ownership and meet the urgent challenges of illicit finance and tax evasion.

At the December Joint Ministerial Council the UK and Overseas Territory Leaders agreed to work together in raising international standards and to meet again to take forward implementation of the G20 Principles on beneficial ownership. Dialogue has continued with the Overseas Territories since the Joint Ministerial Council and we plan to meet again in the coming weeks.

The Crown Dependencies have also committed to issue consultations on establishing central registries or in Jersey’s case - where a private register already exists - to assess its effectiveness. The consultations in Jersey and the Isle of Man have closed and Guernsey’s consultation is due in the first quarter of 2015.


Written Question
Companies: Ownership
Wednesday 25th March 2015

Asked by: Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had, or intend to have, with other European Union member states with regard to registers of beneficial ownership of companies being made publicly available.

Answered by Lord Deighton

The Government fought hard and successfully for the implementation of central registers of company beneficial ownership information for all European Union Member States under the 4th EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive. All regulated businesses under the Directive, as well as people and organisations able to demonstrate ‘legitimate interest’ will also be granted access to this information.

Countries will be able to go further, as the UK is, and make their central registers publicly accessibly. We are working to encourage EU partners to match the UK’s ambition as Member States transpose the Directive into national law.