Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was for (a) the civil service and (b) public administration in the financial years (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24 as of 20 November 2023.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
To answer part (a) of the question: The total salary bill for the civil service can be approximately calculated using data from Cabinet Office owned national statistics, Civil Service Statistics. A link to the latest Civil Service Statistics is available here:
Part (b) asks about public administration from budgetary tables published in HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) it is possible to obtain administrative spending by government departmental group. Please refer to Table 1.7 within the link to PESA 2023 below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2023
In-year expenditure data for 2023-24, from which it is possible to obtain administration budgets, are available from HM Treasury’s OSCAR Transparency release. A link is provided below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-ii-publishing-data-from-the-database-september-2023
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to introduce new taxes on the (a) purchase and (b) running costs of electric vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In his 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay Vehicle Excise Duty in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles. Electric cars with a list price of £40,000 or more will also be liable to pay the Expensive Car Supplement.
As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department paid the Bank of England to compensate for losses on bonds last year; and what the budget for such payment is this year.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
HM Treasury has indemnified any losses or profits which emerge from the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing (QE) policy. In the previous financial year (2022-2023), HM Treasury received £4,164mn in excess quarterly profits, while HM Treasury transferred £5,010mn to cover quarterly losses. The net transfers for 2022-2023 were £846mn to cover QE losses.
The future financial position of the APF is highly uncertain and will be determined by market conditions and the independent MPC’s approach to sales. As outlined in this year's Mains estimate, HM Treasury has provisioned for £49,100mn of cash transfers to the Bank of England this financial year. This estimate has some conservatism built in to address the uncertainty of future cash flows, resulting in a prudent, but realistic, budget request for 2023-24.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the provisions of the Windsor Framework on the Government's ability to zero rate and exempt additional goods and services from VAT in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Windsor Framework establishes new freedoms for the UK to set VAT rates and thresholds in Northern Ireland that go far beyond those available before EU Exit. That includes the ability to zero rate additional goods for VAT and vary the VAT registration threshold.
All tax policy is a matter for the Chancellor, including how this applies in Northern Ireland, and any potential changes will be considered at future fiscal events.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he held discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the provisions of the Windsor Framework on the Government's ability to zero rate or exempt new goods and services from VAT.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Windsor Framework establishes new freedoms for the UK to set VAT rates and thresholds in Northern Ireland that go far beyond those available before EU Exit. That includes the ability to zero rate additional goods for VAT and vary the VAT registration threshold.
All tax policy is a matter for the Chancellor, including how this applies in Northern Ireland, and any potential changes will be considered at future fiscal events.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the provisions of the Windsor Agreement on his ability to vary the VAT registration threshold for Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Windsor Framework establishes new freedoms for the UK to set VAT rates and thresholds in Northern Ireland that go far beyond those available before EU Exit. That includes the ability to zero rate additional goods for VAT and vary the VAT registration threshold.
All tax policy is a matter for the Chancellor, including how this applies in Northern Ireland, and any potential changes will be considered at future fiscal events.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the provisions of the Windsor Agreement on his ability to vary the VAT registration threshold.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Windsor Framework establishes new freedoms for the UK to set VAT rates and thresholds in Northern Ireland that go far beyond those available before EU Exit. That includes the ability to zero rate additional goods for VAT and vary the VAT registration threshold.
All tax policy is a matter for the Chancellor, including how this applies in Northern Ireland, and any potential changes will be considered at future fiscal events.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the level of tax on cars on car (a) manufacturing and (b) sales in the UK.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Government keeps all taxes under review and when making decisions about the tax system the Chancellor considers a wide range of factors including the competitiveness of the UK tax regime and its impact on industry and consumers. The Government uses the motoring tax system where it is most effective in incentivising the uptake of vehicles with low CO2 emissions (for example through favourable first year Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax treatment), and balances simplicity and fairness within taxes, whilst ensuring the sustainability of the public finances over the long term.
Beyond the tax system, the Government supports the automotive manufacturing sector through capital grants for the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains. This support will ensure the automotive sector is globally competitive and at the forefront of the transition to net zero.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has a target for the maximum timescale between an application being submitted for VAT registration and it being granted.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As noted in Question UIN 112030, HMRC aims to turnaround most VAT registrations within 40 working days, although some cases do take longer due to additional compliance checks or complexity. In 2022, 76 per cent of registrations were issued within 7 calendar days.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the time taken to process businesses' applications for VAT registration.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer my honourable friend to the answer that I gave on 5 January 2023 to PQ UIN 112030.