Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has held with the Scottish Government on the establishment of the Scottish National Investment Bank.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Treasury ministers and officials have regular discussions with our counterparts in the Scottish Government on matters of importance to Scotland’s economy and the wider UK.
Derek Mackay, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work in the Scottish Government, wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 1 May setting out plans for the Scottish National Investment Bank. Officials subsequently met to discuss the Scottish Government’s proposals.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much by Department of the funding allocated to spending on preparations for the UK to leave the EU in the 2018-19 Main Estimates has been spent to date.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the devolved administrations for EU exit preparations so far. This includes the £1.5 billion of additional funding HM Treasury announced at Autumn Budget 2017 for 2018/19. A full breakdown of how this was allocated to departments can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/). This money will be paid out in Supplementary Estimates 18/19 later this financial year.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has met representatives of (a) SCL Group, (b) Strategic Communication Laboratories and (c) Cambridge Analytica; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations on GOV.UK. These can be found at the following link:
As well as ministerial meetings, departmental officials meet external organisations on a regular and ongoing basis.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) his Department and (b) his Department's agencies and public bodies have held contracts with (i) SCL group, (ii) Strategic Communication Laboratories and (iii) Cambridge Analytica.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
No contracts have been held with those companies.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of firms in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland that would be subject to upfront VAT for imports from the EU in the event that the UK is no longer a member of the EU VAT area.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government recognises the importance of VAT accounting treatment to business, and is exploring options to mitigate any cash-flow impacts for business as a result of potential changes following EU exit. The number of businesses importing goods from the EU, broken down by region, is set out in table 4 of HMRC’s quarterly Trade Statistics publication:
https://www.uktradeinfo.com/Statistics/RTS/RTS%20Releases/RTS_Q3_2017.xls
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials employed in his Department in June 2016 had substantial experience of international trade negotiation.
Answered by Andrew Jones
HM Treasury has a strong and capable trade policy function which has grown significantly over the past year. In particular we have a dedicated team working on trade policy as well as a team focused on international trade in Financial Services. HM Treasury continues to work closely with other government departments, including the Department for International Trade, to build a world class trade policy that can deliver the best outcomes for the UK.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials employed in his Department as of 12 October 2017 have substantial experience of international trade negotiations.
Answered by Andrew Jones
HM Treasury has a strong and capable trade policy function which has grown significantly over the past year. In particular we have a dedicated team working on trade policy as well as a team focused on international trade in Financial Services. HM Treasury continues to work closely with other government departments, including the Department for International Trade, to build a world class trade policy that can deliver the best outcomes for the UK.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of staff in his Department are (a) female, (b) BAME and (c) part time; and what proportion of the staff in his Department who received an annual performance award were in each of those categories in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The proportion of staff in his Department which are (a) female, (b) BAME and (c) part time can be found in the link below:-
The proportion of the staff in his Department who received an annual performance award in each of those categories above for the last three years can be found in the table below:-
Box 1 Performance Award as percentage each diverse group in scope (Award is limited to 25% of staff) | |||
| Female | BAME | Part-time |
2014/15 | 54% | 16% | 6% |
2015/16 | 51% | 16% | 6% |
2016/17 | 52% | 19% | 5% |
*Please note:- SCS are not included in the above table as they appraised by a separate Performance Management system set by the Cabinet Office. Also box mark 1 is only available to the top 25% of staff.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps to increase economic growth across the UK his Department has taken as a direct result of the UK's decision to leave the EU.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We are confident that we will be able to deliver a good deal for the UK via the Brexit negotiations.
The government is committed to driving growth in the economy and raising long run living standards, and is always looking at ways to achieve this. For example, we have established of a National Productivity Investment Fund targeted at the productivity-critical areas of transport, R&D, housing and digital communications; the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support research and innovation in universities and businesses, and committed £400 million through the British Business Bank to invest in growing innovative firms with potential for growth, providing the finance that they need to expand. The Government is also making sure that young people have the skills that British businesses need through the reform of the technical education system and the introduction of T-levels.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2017 to Question 3810, on pay, whether real earnings are expected to reduce between July 2017 and 2019.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Office for Budget Responsibility do not produce their forecast on a monthly basis, but do publish some variables on a quarterly basis in their supplementary economy tables. Using their forecast for consumer price inflation and average earnings, the level of real earnings is expected to rise by 1.6% from 2017 Q2 to 2019 Q4.
The Government is taking action to support incomes. This includes increasing the National Living Wage, raising the personal allowance and freezing fuel duty.