Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of his fiscal policies on the cost of living.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government understands how the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. These are global challenges however, as set out in the Spring Statement, the government is providing support worth over £22 billion in 2022-23 to help families with these pressures.
For example, a typical family with 2 children where one adult is on the average employee salary and the other works 16 hours at the NLW will be around than £3,000 a year better off as a result of recent government action, notably the NICs primary threshold change, UC taper rate and work allowance changes, and increase in the National Living Wage, even taking account the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take further steps to support disabled people with (a) energy price increases and (b) the increased rate of inflation.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Living with a disability can impact significantly on the cost of living. This is why the government invests heavily in supporting disabled people through the welfare system.
The government is committed to help protect customers from price spikes, especially vulnerable customers and is very aware of the difficulties that consumers are experiencing as a result of the rise in energy prices. The government is providing significant financial support – up to £350 – to the majority of households, which will cover more than half of the April rise in energy bills for the average household. This support is worth £9.1bn in 2022-23.
The government is providing further support for vulnerable households, elderly, and low-income people through the Warm Home Discount - which is being expanded by a third to 3m people and increased to £150 – in addition to the continuation of Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments.
The government is also providing an additional £500m for the Household Support Fund from April, on top of the £500m we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £1 billion. In England, Local Authorities are best placed to direct this help to those in their areas who need it most and will receive £421m, whilst the devolved administrations will receive £79m through the Barnett formula.
The government continues to support vulnerable groups through NHS
services. The additional funding announced at the Spending Review, made possible by the new Health and Social Care Levy, means that the NHS resource budget will increase to over £160 billion in 2024-25. These investments will allow the NHS to continue providing the services people need.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Health and Social Care Levy on the earnings of (a) freelance and (b) other off-payroll workers.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has made several assessments of the overall impact of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy, including in the Tax Information and Impact Note for the measure which was published on gov.uk.
From April 2022, all eligible employees and self-employed individuals will pay the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs), and the Health and Social Care Levy from April 2023. This includes eligible freelancers and off-payroll workers.
Off-payroll workers who fall inside the off-payroll working rules as deemed employees, and their deemed employers, are included in the scope of the Levy, as the Levy applies wherever there is a Class 1 NICs liability. It will be the responsibility of the deemed employer to pay the employer Levy contribution and deduct the employee Levy contribution.
The increase to the NICs Primary Threshold/Lower Profits Limit announced at the Spring Statement 2022 means that, from July, around 70 per cent of NICs payers will be better off, even when taking the Levy into account.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much compensation has been paid out as a result of cases completed by the Business Banking Resolution Service.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS), which launched on 15 February 2021, offers a free, independent service which is designed to settle unresolved complaints that are not eligible for the FOS. The Government has always been clear that it welcomes the BBRS, and we continue to closely monitor its progress.
However, it is an independent non-governmental body, and this independence is vital to its role. Its credibility, authority and value to SMEs would be undermined if it were possible for the Government to intervene in its decision-making or detailed operational matters. As a result of its independence, the Government does not hold detailed information on financial awards paid out to small businesses. However, the latest BBRS reporting data is available publicly at: https://thebbrs.org/news/bbrs-reporting-data-as-of-the-close-of-business-31-january-2022/.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2022 to Question 120805, on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, what recent estimate he has made of change in the (a) number and (b) proportion of UK employees who do not have a National Insurance number.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Employees with a UK National Insurance (NI) liability must provide their employer with their NI number. Where they do not have one, they must apply for one and provide it to their employer at the earliest opportunity.
There are a number of valid reasons why an employee may not provide their NI number to their employer, and in turn an employer may not include it on their return to HMRC. This includes when an employee does not know their number, has not yet obtained a number, or if they do not need one.
For this reason, HMRC does not have an estimate of changes in the number or proportion of UK employees who do not have a NI number.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 21 February to Question 120805, on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, what unique identifiers, other than National Insurance numbers, were used by HMRC to ensure payments made under the Scheme were claimed against identifiable employees.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As set out in the answer given to PQ UIN 120805, to qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.
It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.
Undertaking further in-depth analysis using RTI would take significant time to execute, and undertaking the analysis requested could only be done at disproportionate cost. As a result, the Government is unable to say what proportion of payments under CJRS were in relation to employees without a NI number.
HMRC designed the schemes to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claim process itself. Data and risking experts blocked suspicious claims that showed signs of criminal activity and built upfront controls into the claims process to reduce the risks of fraud and error and to ensure that employers provided the data needed to do later checks if necessary.
HMRC limited the eligibility of grants to employees who already had a tax footprint. They also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid so that those that were highly indicative of criminal activity were blocked.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 21 February 2022 to Question 120805, on Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, for each phase of the Scheme, how many and what proportion of payments made by HMRC were made against claims for employees for whom no National Insurance number had been recorded on HMRC's Real Time Information system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As set out in the answer given to PQ UIN 120805, to qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.
It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.
Undertaking further in-depth analysis using RTI would take significant time to execute, and undertaking the analysis requested could only be done at disproportionate cost. As a result, the Government is unable to say what proportion of payments under CJRS were in relation to employees without a NI number.
HMRC designed the schemes to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claim process itself. Data and risking experts blocked suspicious claims that showed signs of criminal activity and built upfront controls into the claims process to reduce the risks of fraud and error and to ensure that employers provided the data needed to do later checks if necessary.
HMRC limited the eligibility of grants to employees who already had a tax footprint. They also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid so that those that were highly indicative of criminal activity were blocked.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of payments made under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme HMRC have not yet been recorded against a valid National Insurance number; what the value of those payments is; and what his most recent estimate is of when that matching process will be completed.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Covid-19 schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic and were part of the collective national effort to protect jobs.
The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that we should prioritise getting money to those who need it. The schemes were therefore designed to minimise fraud while not holding up payments unnecessarily.
The schemes were designed to prevent fraud before any payments were made, through the eligibility criteria set and in the design of the claims process itself. Our data and risking experts block suspicious claims that show signs of criminal activity.
To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.
It is not mandatory to have a National Insurance (NI) number to be employed, therefore not all employees on furlough would have a NI number attached to a claim made by their employer for CJRS.
Considering all of the above, HMRC cannot carry out the level of analysis requested and therefore cannot say what proportion of payments under CJRS have not yet been recorded against a valid NI number.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of model litigant principles into the regulatory frameworks for (a) companies, (b) individuals and c) products in the UK financial services sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an operationally independent, non-governmental body, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act (2000) as amended by the Financial Services Act (2012). It is responsible for the regulation of conduct in the financial services sector.
Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA. It is the responsibility of the FCA, as the independent regulator, to consider the benefits and costs of introducing new requirements in relation to authorised persons or regulated products.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and (b) the Scottish Government on the financial impact of the Social Care Levy on (i) private and (ii) voluntary sector employers in the social care sector in (A) the UK and (B) Scotland.
Answered by Simon Clarke
HM Treasury Ministers and officials have had several discussions with the devolved administrations, including the Scottish Governments, on the implementation of the Health and Social Care Levy. These discussions cover a range of issues and will continue until and beyond its introduction from April 2022.
The Government has made a number of assessments of the impact of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy, which were published alongside the announcement. These include the distributional analysis of the impact of the combined tax and spending announcements, a technical annex in our plan for health and social care and a Tax Information and Impact Note.
Further, the Office for Budget Responsibility set out their assessment of the economic effects of the Levy in their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook. This can be found here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/