Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to help improve living standards.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has set out a Plan for Change, outlining our ambitious yet achievable milestones, including raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom to ensure working people have more money in their pockets.
Specific actions already taken by the Government include: increasing to the National Living Wage from April 2025; extension of the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales in 2025-26; and introduction of a new Fair Repayment Rate from April 2025 to cap debt repayments made through Universal Credit.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s publication entitled Impact on households: distributional analysis to accompany Autumn Statement 2023, published in November 2023, if he will publish a distributional analysis by region of the Autumn Statement 2023.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The analysis contained in the Impact on households document is intended to set out the estimated impact of tax, welfare and public service spending decisions on households across the income distribution. This analysis is consistent with the Government’s official forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility which is done on a UK-wide basis.
The relevant document can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6565cb0c888c060013fa7dff/FINAL_Impact_on_households_-_AS23_-_271123.pdf
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will publish his assessment of how groups with protected characteristics will be affected by the Council Tax Rebate in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government announced a package of support on 3 February 2022 to help households with rising energy bills. This included a £150 non-repayable council tax rebate from April this year for households in England in council tax bands A-D and £144 million of discretionary funding to support households who need help with their energy bills but are not eligible.
Treasury Ministers carefully considered the equalities impacts of the Council Tax Rebate and had due regard to these impacts when making decisions, in line with the legal obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has carried out an equality impact assessment of the measures he has introduced to support energy consumers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government is providing significant financial support worth up to £350 to the majority of households. This covers more than half of the forecast £700 rise in energy bills for the average household. This support is worth £9.1bn in 2022-23, delivered through a new Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS), a targeted Council Tax rebate, and discretionary funds for Local Authorities.
Ministers consider a range of evidence and analysis as part of policy development, including assessments of how options under consideration would affect members of groups with protected characteristics, as part of the Government's aims and duties.
The EBSS is still under development. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy will publish a consultation on the detailed implementation of the policy in due course. Ministers will consider a full assessment of the impact of the EBSS as they make final decision on the detailed policy design.
The policy development for the Council Tax Rebate included an assessment of how groups with protected characteristics might be affected, in line with the Public Sector Equalities Duty.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of (a) the repayable £200 discount and (b) other measures introduced to support energy consumers on disabled people.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government is providing significant financial support worth up to £350 to the majority of households. This covers more than half of the forecast £700 rise in energy bills for the average household. This support – worth £9.1bn in 2022-23 – is composed of:
The Chancellor has also confirmed plans to go ahead with existing proposals to expand eligibility for the Warm Home Discount by almost a third - so that three million vulnerable households will now benefit.
Ministers consider a range of evidence and analysis as part of policy development and when making decisions, including assessments of how options under consideration would affect members of groups with protected characteristics, in line with the Government's aims and statutory duties.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Departments R&D Tax Reliefs report published in November 2021, how much and what proportion of the £47.5 billion of research and development expenditure that UK companies claimed tax relief on was for activities taking place outside of the UK.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC previously produced an estimate of £4 billion to £7 billion for overseas expenditure in the year ending March 2018 out of £36.8 billion of the total Research and Development expenditure used to claim tax credits.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, what discussions he has had with relevant sector stakeholders on the potential effect of the proposed changes to the research and development tax reliefs on (a) the economy, (b) jobs in that sector and (c) levels of research and development investment in the UK.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The report published at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day sets out further detail on the reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2021 and the next steps for the review. The Government has invited written responses and will be consulting with stakeholders on the final policy details. Any effects on the public finances will be scored once final policy decisions have been reached.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed changes to the research and development tax reliefs on the amount of private investment in research and development in the UK.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The report published at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day sets out further detail on the reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2021 and the next steps for the review. The Government has invited written responses and will be consulting with stakeholders on the final policy details. Any effects on the public finances will be scored once final policy decisions have been reached.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has been paid under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme by local authority to date.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC publish statistics on the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) available at:
Table 5a provides a breakdown of claims by local authority.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the construction industry VAT reverse charge on cashflow for small businesses in the context of the economic effect of the (a) covid-19 pandemic and (b) end of the transition period.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognised that the introduction of the reverse charge will have an impact on cashflow for some affected businesses in the construction sector, and provided a long lead in time. The measure has also been delayed twice previously in order to allow businesses more time to prepare and also in recognition of the impact of COVID-19. HMRC have published guidance on reducing cash flow impacts and have written to affected businesses on three occasions signposting where to obtain information and outlining the steps they need to take to prepare.