Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 November 2024 to Question 9057, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in her Department between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department spent c.£56.5k on new furniture, fittings, and other refurbishments between 4 July 2022 and 4 July 2024. This expenditure includes costs for new office furniture, the maintenance of antique furniture and fittings.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many government procurement cards were held by staff within (a) HM Treasury and (b) HMRC at the end of calendar years (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency and support the Government’s prompt payment initiative for Small and Medium businesses.
Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
The number of procurement cards held by HM Treasury staff were
(i) 68 at the end of 2022
(ii) 68 at the end of 2023
The number of procurement cards held by HMRC Staff were
(i) 161 at the end of 2022
(ii) 159 at the end of 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what total amount of expenditure was incurred on purchases (a) above £500 and (b) below £500 made on government procurement cards issued by (i) HM Treasury and (ii) HMRC net of any refunded payments in (A) 2022 and (B) 2023.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy and boost efficiency. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
Departmental expenditure made on government procurement is published on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gpc-spend
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Minister without Portfolio's article of 12 May 2024 in The Sunday Telegraph, when the UK Infrastructure Bank is expected to cancel its contract with Constellia Public Ltd, procurement reference CO313; and whether a notice period will be required under the provisions of that contract.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The UK Infrastructure Bank is an operationally independent arms-length body. Civil Service EDI expenditure guidance does not extend to organisations outside the Civil Service or ALBs not employing Civil Servants.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2024 to Question 25195 on Inheritance Tax, for what reason he has not provided the requested data for the number of people waiting for (a) one to two, (b) two to three, (c) three to four, (d) four to five, (e) five to six and (e) more than six months since submitting their IHT400 form to receive the unique code from HMRC as of 8 May 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC's service level agreement is to process 80% of Inheritance Tax forms within 15 working days. From January to April 2024, their data shows they met or exceeded this target, with most people receiving their codes within the 15-day timeframe. However, HMRC does not provide specifics on longer wait times beyond 15 working days, such as how many people waited 1-2 months or more after submitting forms. While most individuals received codes on time during this period, the exact breakdown for longer waits is not publicly available.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average waiting time was for individuals submitting an IHT400 form to HMRC between 1 January to 30 April 2024 to receive a unique code to enable them to apply for probate; and how many individuals have waited for (a) one to two, (b) two to three, (c) three to four, (d) four to five, (e) five to six and (e) more than six months since submitting their IHT400 form to receive the unique code from HMRC as of 8 May 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC prioritises requests for IHT reference numbers and the follow up IHT400 forms submitted to set up an IHT account. Between 1 January and 30 April 2024 HMRC have exceeded its service standard for issuing unique codes for Probate cases where the correct tax amount has been accounted for. The service standard is to process 80% of these requests within 15 working days.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, how many applications for contingent liability approval his Department has (a) received and (b) approved have fallen in the average cost per crystallisation category of (i) less than £10 million, (ii) £10 million to £50 million, (iii) £50 million to £100 million, (iv) £100 million to £500 million, (v) £500 million to £1 billion and (vi) more than £1 billion in each financial year from (a) 2017-18 to (B) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, how many applications for contingent liability approval his Department has (a) received and (b) approved have fallen in the reasonable worst case exposure category of (i) less than £10 million, (ii) £10 million to £50 million, (iii) £50 million to £100 million, (iv) £100 million to £500 million, (v) £500 million to £1 billion and (vi) more than £1 billion in each financial year from (A) 2017-18 to (B) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, what the total lifetime expected net cost was of all the applications for contingent liability approved by his Department in each financial year from (a) 2017-18 to (b) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the value of civil penalties (a) imposed and (b) collected as a result of HMRC's criminal investigations into tax avoidance and evasion in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2023-24; and what was the value of civil penalties (a) imposed and (b) collected for the avoidance and evasion of (i) income tax, (ii) national insurance contributions, (iii) VAT, (iv) excise duties and (v) corporation tax in each of those years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Where data is already available via GOV.UK, HMRC have provided links below.
HMRC do not routinely issue civil penalties as a direct result of criminal investigations, so do not hold the requested data.
Prosecutions, convictions and acquittals:
2019-2020
2020-21 and 2021-22
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/630f50178fa8f54491def8ce/HMRC_quarterly_performance_data_table_Q4_2021_to_2022.xlsx
2022-23
Total number of individuals charged:
2020/21 and 2021/22:
2022/23:
There has been one Deferred Prosecution Agreement:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/first-ever-cps-deferred-prosecution-agreement-ps615-million