Asked by: Calum Kerr (Scottish National Party - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to change HM Revenue and Customs practice of not repaying incorrectly withheld arrears or underpaid tax credits to claimants as a lump sum.
Answered by Jane Ellison
To tackle the problems associated with families overestimating falls in income, since 2007, when claimants report a fall in income during the year, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) adjusts their tax credit payments for the rest of the year to reflect their new income level, but will not include a one-off payment for the earlier part of the year. At the end of the year, their award is finalised when their actual income is known. If they have been underpaid, a further payment will then be made. However, provisions are in place to make arrears payments to claimants suffering financial hardship.
The purpose of withholding the payment is to reduce the number and size of any overpayments and prevent customers incurring debt.
HMRC has provisions in place to support those customers who are suffering financial hardship and in those circumstances any withheld payments can be released and paid to the customer without having to wait for the claim to be finalised. There are no plans to alter the current practice.
Asked by: Calum Kerr (Scottish National Party - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will publish a response to the report prepared by the Republican staff of the Committee on Financial Services, US House of Representatives, Too Big to Jail, Inside the Obama Justice Department's Decision Not to Hold Wall Street Accountable, published in July 2016.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The UK Government does not usually respond to reports from the Committees of other Parliaments and does not intend to respond to this report. The UK government and regulators are committed to ensuring that UK financial institutions are fully compliant with global standards and rules. In our dialogue with the US in 2012, the previous Chancellor requested early warning before any enforcement action is taken against UK banks to manage the financial stability risks. No company is immune from prosecution and the UK government supports the consistent and proportionate enforcement of global rules.
Asked by: Calum Kerr (Scottish National Party - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of large banking institutions charging negative interest rates on the small business sector.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The interest rates banks charge on their products is a commercial decision for them. The Government is aware that RBS and NatWest have written to businesses stating that a negative base rate may lead them to introduce negative interest rates, but they have not actually done so as yet. The base rate is set by the Bank of England’s independent Monetary Policy Committee, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer welcomed the decision of the Committee to use monetary policy to support the economy through this period of adjustment. As recent figures on jobs and growth have shown, we enter this period of adjustment from a position of economic strength.