Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any ministerial redundancy payments have been repaid to their Department since 2019.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the reduction in numbers of credit unions.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Government is a strong supporter of credit unions, recognising the vital role they play in local communities throughout the country.
Through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the Government allowed credit unions in Great Britain to offer a wider range of products and services, diversifying their income streams and enhancing their role in financial inclusion.
According to the latest data from the PRA, credit union membership in Great Britain has increased for the fifth consecutive quarter, reaching a record level of over 1.5 million. Their total assets have also increased to over £2.67 billion.
The Government continues to engage with the credit union sector to assess how they can best be supported moving forward.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment the potential merits of modernising national insurance contribution payment methods for (a) taxpayers and (b) HMRC.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
National Insurance Contributions (NICs) are paid via a range of methods to suit customer requirements, including PAYE, self-assessment, direct debit, and quarterly billing.
HMRC and DWP are currently undertaking work to make improvements to the digital service for voluntary payment of Class 3 NICs, with the intention that ultimately the majority of customers should be able to make any payments of Class 3 NICs online.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his planned timetable is for the rollout of Making Tax Digital.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Since April 2022, all VAT-registered businesses have been required to operate Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT. This followed a phased rollout of MTD for VAT which began in 2019.
MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment will be introduced from April 2026, with businesses, self-employed individuals and landlords with income over £50,000 required to join first. Those with incomes between £30,000 and £50,000 will need to use MTD from April 2027.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the high income child benefit charge so that household income is taken into account.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other tax policy.
Basing the HICBC on household income would mean finding out the incomes and relationships of individuals in all of the 7.7m households currently registered for Child Benefit
The Government considers that the current approach remains proportionate, as it only requires a proportion of individuals to complete a Self Assessment tax return, whilst leaving the majority of claimants unaffected. As with all elements of tax policy, the Government will keep this under review.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer to Question 3635 on High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge on what evidential basis his Department determined that raising the threshold would come at a significant cost to the Government.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
Data on the tax revenue raised by the High Income Child Benefit Charge in each financial year is available at:
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC staff receive commission on sums collected in tax arrears.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HMRC does not operate a commission-based reward scheme for its workforce.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor for the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the tax-free childcare allowance, in the the context of increases in the cost of living.
Answered by John Glen
Tax-Free Childcare provides financial support for working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they are 17.
The £2,000 Tax-Free Childcare top up has been set at this level because the Government believes it strikes the right balance between helping parents with their childcare costs, and managing the public finances in a responsible way.
The Government is committed to supporting parents with their childcare costs. At Spring Budget 2023, the Government announced that it will expand the free childcare hours offer, so that eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks per year from when their child is 9 months old, to when they start school. Through this expansion, the government will be more than doubling its spend on free hours.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs is taking to mitigate the risks of a major (a) IT failure and (b) security breach.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC continually upgrades IT systems as part of ongoing maintenance.
HMRC has 24/7 support operation in place with established processes for early identification of incidents and respond to these appropriately.
Customer data is subject to high levels of protection and HMRC takes data protection seriously.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of section 24 of the Finance Act 2015 on the (a) availability of private rental housing stock and (b) rental prices.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government implemented a set of reforms to restrict finance cost relief to the equivalent of the basic rate of income tax to address unfairness and make sure that all landlords are treated the same.
To minimise the impact on landlords who are affected, the Government chose to act in a proportionate and gradual way. The restriction was announced almost two years before its implementation and was phased in over four years to give landlords time to adjust to the changes.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review.