Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fraudulent payments of what total value were recovered by the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In December 2023, HMRC wrote a letter to the chair of the Committee of Public Accounts with the latest information on HMRC’s compliance activity on the COVID-19 support schemes up to the end of September 2023, when the Taxpayer’s Protection Taskforce transitioned into business-as-usual.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in the (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22 and (c) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Consistent to answers given to written questions on 28 March 2023, 23 February 2023 and 17 May 2022, the information requested on external recruitment consultant expenditure is not available as we do not centrally hold data with this level of granularity on recruitment costs for the financial years in question.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Table 6.6 of the Public Expenditure - Statistical Analyses 2022, published July 2022, if he will provide a breakdown by (a) Department group and (b) segment programme of the outturn spend on education for (i) 2017-18 to (ii) 2021-22.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Expenditure for the Education COFOG function, further broken down by department and by subsegment, covering the periods 2017-18 to 2021-22 are available from the OSCAR annual transparency release:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-annual-release-november-2022.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2023 to Question 188928 on Employment: Finance, if he will publish further details on what comprises (a) S032A001-Employment Programmes, (b) S032A074-Labour Market-Operational Delivery, (c) S032A085-Labour Market-Corporate and (d) Other spending.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The selected segments in the question are from the OSCAR online database. In order to see what these comprise of we can direct you to the OSCAR annual transparency release:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oscar-annual-release-november-2022
Please note that the cut of data for the transparency release was taken at a later point than the PESA dataset, the figures therefore, may show differences when compared to PESA.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office for National Statistics publication entitled Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2022, if he will provide a breakdown of public spending on functions associated with skills.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Information based on the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) is not available in the form requested. ‘Skills’ is not a functional category that can be defined using the Classifications of Functions of Government.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2022, if he will publish a breakdown of planned spending on skills by Department.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Information based on the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) is not available in the form requested. ‘Skills’ is not a functional category that can be defined using the Classifications of Functions of Government.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Table 6.6 on Central government own current and capital expenditure on services by function, 2017-18 to 2024-25, of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2022, published on 20 July 2022, if he will publish a breakdown by Department of planned spending on Economic affairs, of which: employment policies.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As plans data is provisional and subject to change, outturn only is provided in the table below. The table shows PESA 2022 table 6.6 data for Economic affairs broken down by department:
Central government own current and capital spending on employment policies by department group, 2017-18 to 2021-22 | ||||||
£ million | ||||||
Spending Function | Department Group | 2017-18 Outturn | 2018-19 Outturn | 2019-20 Outturn | 2020-21 Outturn | 2021-22 Outturn |
Current expenditure on employment policies | Cabinet Office | 22 | 17 | 17 | 17 | |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 56 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 58 | |
Education | 0 | |||||
Work and Pensions | 2,354 | 2,441 | 2,092 | 2,395 | 3,924 | |
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 18 | 0 | ||||
Home Office | 21 | |||||
Northern Ireland | 80 | 96 | 86 | 74 | 100 | |
Wales | 0 | |||||
CURRENT Total |
| 2,512 | 2,632 | 2,253 | 2,543 | 4,098 |
Capital expenditure on employment policies | Cabinet Office | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Work and Pensions | 103 | 44 | 0 | 74 | 121 | |
Northern Ireland | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
CAPITAL Total |
| 105 | 47 | 2 | 77 | 124 |
Grand Total |
| 2,617 | 2,679 | 2,254 | 2,620 | 4,222 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Table 6.6 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2022, if he will provide a breakdown of the £2.5 billion projected to be spent on employment policies in 2024-25.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As plans data is provisional and subject to change, outturn only is provided in the table below. The table shows underlying data that is consistent with PESA 2022 table 6.6:
Central government own current and capital spending on employment policies by department group and by segment programme, 2017-18 to 2021-22 | ||||||||||||
£ million | ||||||||||||
Spending Function | Department Group | Segment | 2017-18 Outturn | 2018-19 Outturn | 2019-20 Outturn | 2020-21 Outturn | 2021-22 Outturn | |||||
Current expenditure on employment policies | Cabinet Office | S010EHR1 - COMMISSION FOR EQUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS (ALB) | 11 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 17 | |||||
| S010GEO1 - GOVERNMENT EQUALITIES OFFICE | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Cabinet Office Total |
| 22 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 17 | ||||||
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | S084A094-ACAS | 51 | 55 | 54 | 56 | 56 | ||||||
| Other spending | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Total |
| 56 | 56 | 56 | 58 | 58 | ||||||
Work and Pensions | S032A001-EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMMES | 383 | 272 | 230 | 260 | 733 | ||||||
| S032A074-LABOUR MARKET - OPERATIONAL DELIVERY | 962 | 879 | 905 | 1,109 | 1,176 | ||||||
| S032A085-LABOUR MARKET-CORPORATE | 804 | 501 | 488 | 619 | 651 | ||||||
| S032A105-KICKSTART | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 853 | ||||||
| Other spending | 205 | 789 | 469 | 407 | 509 | ||||||
Work and Pensions Total |
| 2,354 | 2,441 | 2,092 | 2,395 | 3,924 | ||||||
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | S030A244- GOVERNMENT EQUALITIES OFFICE | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Total |
| 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Home Office | S034A006-GOVERNMENT EQUALITIES OFFICE | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Home Office Total |
| 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Northern Ireland | S099A018-EMPLOYMENT AND SKILLS - EMPLOYMENT SERVICES | 21 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 19 | ||||||
| S099A022-LABOUR MARKET SERVICES | 46 | 59 | 48 | 39 | 57 | ||||||
| S099A024-BUSINESS REGULATION/SUPPORT | 13 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 24 | ||||||
Northern Ireland Total |
| 80 | 96 | 86 | 74 | 100 | ||||||
CURRENT Total |
| 2,512 | 2,632 | 2,253 | 2,543 | 4,098 |
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Child Trust Fund accounts have been locked because the account holder lacks mental capacity; and how much is contained in these funds.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC does not have records of Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts that cannot be accessed because the account holder lacks mental capacityAsked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to simplify the process by which families of children with terminal health conditions may access Child Trust Funds.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
HMRC has worked closely with Child Trust Fund (CTF) providers, the wider industry and the Money and Pensions Service to ensure that young people are aware of, and can access, their CTFs.
HMRC has:
· required CTF providers to write to their customers informing them of their options in their 17th year and to provide statements annually after the account holder turns 18.
· worked closely with CTF providers to ensure they are meeting regulatory requirements to communicate with CTF customers approaching and reaching maturity.
· developed and improved the ‘Find my CTF’ service on GOV.uk to help customers locate their account.
· added information to the National Insurance Notification (NINO) letter, which is sent out prior to a child’s 16th birthday, to raise awareness of the CTF scheme with children in the appropriate age bracket
· issued a range of communications through regular press releases and social media posts.
Children with maturing CTFs also receive a significant amount of written information pertaining to their account directly from their account provider.
Information on the number of CTFs that have matured and were recorded as continuing as of the 5th of April 2021 is available in HMRC Annual Savings Statistics: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2022.
We cannot provide an estimate of the number of mature continuing CTFs by region, disability, or ethnicity as we do not hold that data.
Estimates of the number of mature continuing CTFs by gender or income decile can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
The scheme has been closed to new entrants for over 12 years. In this time HMRC has been focusing resources on evaluating and improving existing schemes. We will continue to keep the need to evaluate old schemes under review.
The process for accessing CTF accounts for terminally ill children is kept as simple as possible, while protecting the interests of the child. Only a person with parental responsibility can take money out of a terminally ill child’s account.
To access the CTF of a child with a terminal illness, the parent or guardian completes an application form on Gov.uk and provides evidence of receipt of terminal illness benefit from the Department of Work and Pensions or Social Security Scotland. If they are not receiving any such benefit, they can provide evidence from a medical practitioner about the child’s illness.