Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the amount of money that can be withdrawn from a pension scheme tax-free in any one financial year.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government has increased the Personal Allowance (PA), the amount of income an individual does not have to pay income tax on, by over 40% in real terms since 2010. The PA at £12,570 is high by international standards – it is one of the most generous tax allowances in the OECD and highest in the G7.
The government wishes to encourage personal saving, to help ensure that people have income, or funds on which they can draw, throughout retirement. This is why, for the majority of savers, pension contributions are tax-free.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the rate of VAT is for battery upgrades to existing domestic solar installations.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Battery storage supplied as part of an installation of solar panels will benefit from the VAT zero rate until 31 March 2027.
Battery storage itself has not been added to the list of qualifying materials and therefore will continue to be standard rated when installed separately, including where such storage is an upgrade to an existing solar panel installation.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) ending the penalty charge for early withdrawal from a lifetime ISA.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000, or can be withdrawn in the case of terminal illness or from age 60.
Any unauthorised withdrawals are subject to a 25% withdrawal charge. This recoups the government bonus, any interest or growth arising from it, and a proportion of the individual’s initial savings to discourage such withdrawals and protect the long-term nature of the account, which is intended to be used for the purposes set out above.
The Government has no current plans to remove or reduce the LISA withdrawal charge. Doing so would not be consistent with the LISA’s purpose as a long-term savings product.
However, the Government keeps all aspects of the savings tax regime under review.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to para 5.6 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751, published on 17 November, how much of the existing £6.6bn funding for energy efficiency is allocated to which programmes.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
£6.6 billion has been made available for BEIS capital departmental expenditure limits on energy efficiency and clean heat in this Parliament. The funding has been ringfenced in the follow way:
o £300 million for the Green Homes Grant.
o £2.8 billion for low-income household energy efficiency, through the Sustainable Warmth Competition, Home Upgrade Grant and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
o £450 million through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
o £2.5 billion to decarbonise and improve the efficiency of the public sector estate.
o £500 million to grow low-carbon, more efficient heat networks.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people seeking refunds due to the changes made by the Morse Review have been refunded by HMRC.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Loan Charge was announced at Budget 2016 as part of a package of measures to tackle Disguised Remuneration (DR) tax avoidance which was costed as a whole. At Spring Statement 2022, this package was estimated to bring in an estimated overall Exchequer yield of £3.4 billion. The changes resulting from the 2019 independent review of the Loan Charge are estimated to reduce the Exchequer yield by £620 million.
Following Lord Morse’s Independent Loan Charge Review in 2019, HMRC established the DR Repayment Scheme 2020 to repay voluntary payments that taxpayers had agreed to make as part of settlements concluded before changes were made to the scope of the Loan Charge. Individuals and employers had until 30 September 2021 to apply to HMRC for a refund or waiver.
HMRC repays amounts that were paid in DR scheme settlements, and/or waives amounts of instalments due that have not yet been paid if certain conditions are met.
As of 28 October 2022, HMRC had processed over 2350 applications, of which over 1350 had received either a repayment, a waiver, or both. Over 1000 of the applications processed at that date were either invalid or ineligible.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue the Loan Charge is estimated to raise, separate from other measures.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Loan Charge was announced at Budget 2016 as part of a package of measures to tackle Disguised Remuneration (DR) tax avoidance which was costed as a whole. At Spring Statement 2022, this package was estimated to bring in an estimated overall Exchequer yield of £3.4 billion. The changes resulting from the 2019 independent review of the Loan Charge are estimated to reduce the Exchequer yield by £620 million.
Following Lord Morse’s Independent Loan Charge Review in 2019, HMRC established the DR Repayment Scheme 2020 to repay voluntary payments that taxpayers had agreed to make as part of settlements concluded before changes were made to the scope of the Loan Charge. Individuals and employers had until 30 September 2021 to apply to HMRC for a refund or waiver.
HMRC repays amounts that were paid in DR scheme settlements, and/or waives amounts of instalments due that have not yet been paid if certain conditions are met.
As of 28 October 2022, HMRC had processed over 2350 applications, of which over 1350 had received either a repayment, a waiver, or both. Over 1000 of the applications processed at that date were either invalid or ineligible.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Business, Energy and Industry Strategy Committee Select Committee hearing on 15 March 2022, for what reason HMRC was unable to provide banks with access to revenue data for companies applying for covid-related finance products.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Jim Harra, Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary of HMRC wrote to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee concerning HMRC’s data-sharing with banks on 24 March 2022: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/9452/documents/161409/default/.
HMRC has always stood ready to assist the banks to prevent and tackle fraud in the Covid-19 loan schemes. At no time has HMRC declined to share data for this purpose.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department will publish the conclusions of the Access to Cash consultation.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, which is why it has committed to legislate to protect access to cash.
From 1 July to 23 September last year, the Government held the Access to Cash Consultation on proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities.
The Government received responses to the consultation from a broad range of respondents, including individuals, businesses, and charities.
The Government is carefully considering responses to the consultation as it develops legislation. The Government will set out next steps in due course.
Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) pensioner and (b) other people who apply for credit without a comprehensive credit rating have fair access to finance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government believes that a consumer without a comprehensive credit rating should have fair access to credit.
To support those struggling to access credit, in 2018, the Government announced the winners of its £2 million Rent Recognition Challenge. The winners offer apps for renters to record and share their rent payment data, helping boost their credit score. Further, since 2019, the Government has provided £96 million to Fair4All Finance to increase the financial resilience and wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances through improving availability of fair and accessible financial products and services.
For consumers struggling to access credit, Credit Reference Agencies can advise consumers to add a Notice of Correction (of up to 200 words) to their credit report explaining any special circumstances, and to explain how their situation has now changed or improved. The content of the Notice should be taken into account alongside the information on the consumer’s report.
To support pensioners, those in receipt of Pension Credit may be able to apply for Budgeting Loans available through DWP’s Social Fund. These are interest-free loans, which are repayable from benefit awards and are designed to help with intermittent expenses that are considered difficult to budget. Those in receipt of Universal Credit can access new claim advances at the beginning of their claim should they have upfront costs. There are also budgeting or change of circumstances advances, available throughout a Universal Credit claim, should someone encounter unexpected one-off expenses.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials in (a) his private office and (b) the wider Department have been allocated to the production and promotion of online content for use on social media in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
There are no officials in private office allocated to the production and promotion of online content. The digital capability in communications team is not wholly devoted to social media but also deals with content production for other purposes such as design and photography. With that caveat the number of civil servants for whom this is a part of their role for the relevant years is:
2018-19: 4
2019-20: 5
2020-21: 6 ( and 1 vacancy)