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Written Question
Public Sector: Redundancy Pay
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2024 to Question 12498 on Public Sector: Redundancy Pay, and having regard to the fact that the Whole of Government accounts for the financial years ending 2022 and 2023 will not be published until July 2024 and July 2025, if he will provide the information requested for those years.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Whole of Government Accounts provide the most complete overview of exit payments in any given year. In advance of them, reference can be made to individual departments’ Annual Report and Accounts, where information on the usage of exit payments for the financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23 is available. These can be found online using the following link:

Annual Report and Accounts for Central Government Departments

Data on exit payments made by Local Authorities between 2014 and 2023 is available under the heading ‘exit payments’ using the following link: Statistical Data Sets Local Government Finance


Written Question
Public Sector: Redundancy Pay
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the consultation entitled Public Sector Exit Payments: a new controls process for high exit payments, which closed on 17 October 2022, for what reason his Department has not yet responded to that consolation; and when he plans to respond.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Government is considering the responses to this consultation and will publish a response in due course.


Written Question
Public Sector: Productivity
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of levels of public sector productivity in each financial year between 2018-19 and 2022-23; and what his planned timetable is for publication of the Public Service Productivity Review.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

ONS publish annual National Statistics on public service productivity up to 2020. The next annual statistic for 2021 will be published in March. ONS also publish estimates of annual public service productivity for 2021 and 2022. An experimental estimate for 2023 will come after the Spring Budget. This information is available online

There will be an update on the Public Sector Productivity Programme at Spring Budget.


Written Question
Public Sector: Redundancy Pay
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many public sector exit payments were made in excess of £95,000 in the financial years ending 31 March (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, (e) 2021, (f) 2022 and (g) 2023; and what the total cost was of those payments in each of those years.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

information on the number and costs of exit payments over £100,00 is published in the Whole of Government Accounts.


Written Question
British-American Parliamentary Group: Royal Bank of Scotland
Monday 17th July 2023

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make representations to the Royal Bank of Scotland on its refusal to approve a credit card for the British-American Parliamentary Group on the grounds that the three signatories on the group's bank account are hon. Members who are deemed to be politically exposed persons; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The issue of Politically Exposed Persons’ (PEPs) access to essential banking services is one that we are taking extremely seriously. The case the Hon Member raises sounds concerning.

The Government’s position is clear that financial institutions’ must not deny services to PEP customers solely on the basis of their PEP status. The recently passed Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 commits the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to conduct a review into financial institutions’ adherence to their guidance on PEPs, and the appropriateness of that guidance, within twelve months of Royal Assent. This review will assess the extent to which lower-risk PEPs are being denied access to services in an inappropriate and disproportionate manner, and the FCA will take action where it identifies serious failures.

The Government has also taken action through the Financial Services and Markets Act to commit the Treasury to amend the Money Laundering Regulations to explicitly distinguish between domestic and non-domestic PEPs in law. This amendment will make clear that, in the absence of other high-risk factors, domestic PEPs must be treated as lower risk than non-domestic PEPs and have a lesser degree of enhanced due diligence applied to them.

Earlier this month, I wrote to the FCA to underline the importance of the FCA’s review and make clear that the Government expects it to be prioritised over the coming months. I am clear that the FCA’s review and the Government’s amendment to the Regulations should lead to a more proportionate and appropriate treatment of PEPs in future.

My Treasury colleague, Baroness Penn, has also written to the FCA to emphasise the Government’s expectation that their review should consider to what extent financial institutions are taking a blanket approach and refusing to offer services to customers solely due to their PEP status.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Monday 5th June 2023

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason HMRC has not provided a substantive response to the letter from the Hon. Member for Christchurch dated 18th April, HMRC Ref 0013913 PSA.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The correspondence of 18 April 2023 was redirected by HM Treasury to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on 19 April 2023.

HMRC replied to the Hon Member on 12 May and 19 May 2023 to provide updates and to advise that they are unable to provide a substantive response until their investigations into the complaint have been completed.

HMRC will contact the member again when these investigations have been completed.


Written Question
HMRC: Complaints
Tuesday 13th December 2022

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason HMRC does not permit complaints against it to be made by email.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The main risks associated with using email that concern HMRC are:

  • Confidentiality and privacy, as there is a risk that emails sent over the internet may be intercepted.
  • Confirmation of identity, as it is crucial that HMRC only communicate with established contacts at their correct email addresses.
  • That there is no guarantee that an email received over an insecure network like the internet has not been altered during transit.
  • That attachments could contain a virus or malicious code.


Written Question
Duty Free Allowances
Thursday 8th December 2022

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2022 to Question 96553 on Duty Free Allowances, if he will publish the evidence which demonstrates that the introduction of arrivals duty free shopping in the UK would have a different impact from that experienced in Norway and Switzerland.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As mentioned in the answer to Question 96553, duty-free on arrival, which would apply to inbound passengers, would place additional pressure on the public finances to which excise duty makes a significant contribution.

Although there are no plans to introduce such a scheme, the Government keeps all taxes under review and considers all available evidence as part of the tax-policy making cycle.


Written Question
Duty Free Allowances
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2022 to Question 87732 on Duty Free Allowances, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of evidence from Norway and Switzerland of the impact of the introduction of arrivals duty stores in those countries; and if he will commission a cost benefit analysis of such a policy being applied in the UK.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

As mentioned in the answer to Question 87732, duty-free on arrival, which would apply to inbound passengers, could undermine the UK high street and run counter to public health objectives. Any new tax relief will also impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which excise duty makes a significant contribution. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.

Although there are no plans to introduce such a scheme, the government keeps all taxes under review.


Written Question
Taxation: Rebates
Monday 21st November 2022

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguards his Department has implemented to ensure that companies who act as tax agents have the full and informed consent of the taxpayers on whose behalf they accept rebates; how many payments his Department has made in the last three months to Ensign Advisory Ltd; and whether companies acting as tax agents are authorised to deduct a fee from a rebate they receive before passing it on to the taxpayer on whose behalf they act.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Individuals can claim tax repayments from HMRC and HMRC will refund them directly. However, HMRC will issue a tax repayment to a third party when a taxpayer has either nominated or assigned the repayment to them.

Companies which specialize in claiming tax refunds often use assignments as part of the sign-up process, which means the repayment then legally belongs to that agent. When a taxpayer signs an assignment, HMRC is obliged to make payment directly to the repayment agent. Repayment agents may deduct a fee from the repayment before they forward the repayment to their client. This will be set out in their terms and conditions.

When a customer has used a repayment agent and has an assignment in place, HMRC completes essential checks to satisfy that the assignment is valid. HMRC takes firm action against any agent who does not comply with the law.

HMRC launched the “Raising standards in tax advice: protecting customers claiming tax repayments” consultation on 22 June 2022. The consultation sought views on restricting the use of assignments for tax repayments, and introducing measures designed to ensure taxpayers see material information about a repayment agent’s service before entering into a contractual agreement.

The consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed on 14 September 2022. We will publish a summary of responses in due course.

The Autumn Statement announced changes to Research & Development relief from 1 April 2023, reducing the risk of abuse. The new requirement for claimants to provide additional information with their claim includes providing details of any agent involved with the claim.

HMRC does not comment on identifiable businesses due to strict confidentiality rules.