Chloe Smith
Main Page: Chloe Smith (Conservative - Norwich North)Department Debates - View all Chloe Smith's debates with the HM Treasury
(12 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
8. What estimate he has made of the likely effect on the level of child poverty of the fiscal measures in his autumn statement.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith)
When measured against previously announced policies, there will be an estimated increase of 100,00 in children living in households with less than 60% of median income in 2012-13.
Sheila Gilmore
We are constantly told by the Government that the way out of poverty is work and that work must pay. Is the Minister prepared to reconsider the decision not to uprate working tax credits this year in terms of inflation while at the same time uprating out-of-work benefits by inflation?
Miss Smith
The reason for that decision was to prioritise the resources we have available on those perhaps least able to deal with the difficulties of the cost of living.
Kate Green
The Chancellor announced in the autumn statement an increase in the number of child care places for disadvantaged two-year-olds, but at the same time we are hearing of cuts to local authority funding for child care, and places are closing. How will the Government guarantee that these new places for disadvantaged children will be additional places and not simply a matter of money being moved out of one pot to pay for another?
Miss Smith
We expect that that policy will be additional in the sense that it is extending it to disadvantaged two-year-olds. We expect 130,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds to be assisted by the 15 hours of free child care, and we certainly expect local authorities to take sensible decisions with the limited resources that they also have.
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
With 2 million children living in workless households, does the Minister agree that the essential steps include not only the additional child care places, but the universal credit and the fact that every hour of work will count towards increased reward for the household? That is an essential part of those fiscal measures.
Miss Smith
I certainly do agree with my hon. Friend, and on a couple of counts. First, poverty is not about income: it is about work. I am sure that she will agree that it is a crying shame that under the previous Government the number of children in workless households reached one in every six. I also agree with the chief executive of The Big Issue, who says in The Times today that
“You don’t help the poor by making them dependent on handouts”.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
Grandparents often play an important role in supporting their children’s children. So why is it that the Government’s welcome commitment to a more generous state pension bizarrely has the effect of increasing the number of children statistically said to be living in poverty? What is the sense in that?
Miss Smith
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If I can, I would be happy to provide him with the workings that create that situation. That measure can have perverse effects, but we believe in measures that genuinely take children out of poverty, such as early intervention policies, rather than moving them over an imaginary line.
Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)
7. What steps he is taking to encourage banks to charge competitive rates for loans to small and medium-sized businesses.
Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)
11. What assessment he has made of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s most recent estimate of the size of the deficit in 2015.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith)
The OBR forecast in November that borrowing in 2015-16 would be £53 billion, which is 2.9% of gross domestic product. That compares with £156 billion last year and £127 billion this financial year.
Mr Sharma
I thank the Economic Secretary for answering the question. Can she tell us why the Government are now forecast to borrow £37 billion more than the more balanced plan Labour set out before the election, despite the pain of £40 billion more spending cuts and tax rises?
Miss Smith
This Government are engaged in a credible deficit reduction plan. I would like to hear the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues tell us what their plan is and whether it veers towards credibility or the policies of the delusional left.
Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks) (Con)
What lesson should we draw from Standard & Poor’s warning that the UK’s rating could come under downward pressure if, against its expectation, the commitment to fiscal consolidation wavers? Should not that warning be addressed to those who want us to cut more slowly and to borrow even more as a result?
Miss Smith
My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Our policies have kept the UK ahead of the curve. He and others in our House need only look to the French downgrade last week to see the value of the credibility we have restored to the UK economy.
Mr Geoffrey Robinson (Coventry North West) (Lab)
Is not the Minister aware that the figures show the total failure of the Government’s economic policy—not only on the deficit, but on all the contributory factors? Employment is down, way below their target, and so are growth and private sector employment. On every key index, their policies have failed. They own this policy, they are failing—when will they change it?
Miss Smith
We have a plan A, to which we are sticking because it is working—unlike the policies proposed by the Opposition, which have yet to emerge in any credible detail whatsoever.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
12. What recent estimate he has made of the level of the UK’s current account balance with the EU.
Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)
13. What assessment he has made of the likely level of economic growth in 2012.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith)
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast 0.7% economic growth in 2012 and that the economy would grow every year after that within the forecast.
Mr Hanson
With unemployment at a 17-year high, with growth having flatlined over the past 12 months, and with targets for future growth having been missed in every month so far to date, may I gently suggest to the Minister that she should look positively at some of the alternative suggestions that have been made, such as for a cut in VAT on construction, which is supported by the Federation of Small Businesses, to help growth in the next 12 months?
Miss Smith
Like recoveries from all deep recessions, this one has been choppy, and we are facing subdued growth, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has laid out. There are many reasons for that, one of which is that the Labour party simply turned on the taps when it came to spending and left them running. What the right hon. Gentleman has to recognise is that in policies that deal with business we do not pick ones that have an extra £20 billion price tag that cannot be sourced. Perhaps it is his leader who needs to take a lesson in understanding business, as his adviser has said that he
“doesn’t understand business…there was always something missing.”
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
Will my hon. Friend congratulate Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, B&Q and John Lewis, among others, on driving down long-term unemployment in Tamworth by a whacking 22%? Does not that demonstrate that it is through the private sector’s developing sustainable jobs that we will build sustainable economic growth?
Miss Smith
I certainly will join my hon. Friend in congratulating those firms. It is exactly through the private sector that we will find a more balanced recovery. I would also like to place on record my interest in the record numbers of apprenticeships in which such firms are participating, such as 440,000 more this year—up by half on the year before.
Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)
15. On what basis HM Revenue and Customs calculates surcharges levied for handling payments made by credit cards.
Sir Robert Smith (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD)
T5. Can the Minister update the House on lessons learned from the Fiscal Forum on how to maximise investment in jobs in UK oil and gas production?
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Miss Chloe Smith)
I certainly can, and I welcome my hon. Friend’s interest in this policy area, based on his constituency experience. The Government have been clear that they want to see the oil and gas industry thrive, given its importance for jobs and growth around the country. Ministerial colleagues, officials and I continue to engage the industry in ongoing constructive dialogue to understand the challenges facing it.
Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)
The Minister confirmed today that 100,000 more children will be put into poverty as a result of the changes to tax credit. Can the Minister explain to the House, the country and my constituency why it is fair that three times as much will be taken from tax credits as will be raised in additional taxes on the banks?
Miss Smith
What the hon. Gentleman needs to acknowledge is that we have a sustainable way of including the banks in our public spending and public taxation plans; under his party’s plan, that revenue would have been spent five times over, if not more, and that is if it were done over multiple years, as ours is.