Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of previous claimants of childcare vouchers in Garston and Halewood constituency have had their entitlement removed under the new-tax free childcare scheme.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 22 December 2017 to the Honourable Member for Tottenham (PQ119871) and to the answer I gave on 25 January 2017 to the Honourable Member for Hull North (123405).Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with the (i) Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and (ii) Department of Transport related to the liability of tractors to pay tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMT Ministers and officials meet with Defra and DfT counterparts regularly to discuss important matters relating to their departments. The administration, operation and collection of tolls and penalty charge notices on the Mersey Gateway Bridge, including for tractors, are a matter for Halton Borough Council and the Merseylink consortium to decide.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will answer the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood's letter to him of 18 October 2017 about tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I replied to the hon. Member on 15 November 2017. A copy of my reply has been resent.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region were in receipt of the family element of tax credits in each year since April 2010.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The number of families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region in receipt of the family element of tax credits in each year since April 2010 is shown in the table below.
Estimates for Liverpool City Region are obtained by aggregating the figures for the following local authorities: Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helen, Sefton, Wirral.
Families in receipt of family element of tax credits since April 2010
Year | Garston and Halewood constituency | Liverpool City Region |
2010-11 | 9,700 | 148,600 |
2011-12 | 8,800 | 135,000 |
2012-13 | 7,400 | 111,700 |
2013-14 | 7,200 | 109,700 |
2014-15 | 7,000 | 107,100 |
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region in receipt of child tax credits were households of two or more children in each year since April 2010.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The number and proportion of families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region in receipt of child tax credits that were households of two or more children in each year since April 2010 is shown in the table below.
Estimates for Liverpool City Region are obtained by aggregating the figures for the following local authorities: Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helen, Sefton, Wirral.
Families in receipt of child tax credits with two or more children since April 2010
Year | Garston and Halewood constituency | Liverpool City Region | ||
Number | As a proportion of total families in area in receipt of child tax credits | Number | As a proportion of total families in area in receipt of child tax credits | |
2010-11 | 4,800 | 49.7% | 74,400 | 50.1% |
2011-12 | 4,300 | 49.1% | 66,600 | 49.4% |
2012-13 | 3,900 | 52.4% | 58,600 | 52.5% |
2013-14 | 3,800 | 52.8% | 58,200 | 53.1% |
2014-15 | 3,700 | 52.5% | 57,500 | 53.7% |
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region in receipt of child tax credits were lone parent households in each year since April 2010.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The number and proportion of families in (a) Garston and Halewood constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region in receipt of child tax credits that were lone parent households in each year since April 2010 is shown in the table below.
Estimates for Liverpool City Region are obtained by aggregating the figures for the following local authorities: Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, St Helen, Sefton, Wirral.
Families in receipt of child tax credits that are lone parent families
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Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 March 2017 to Question 65651, on Treasury: Brexit, what (a) EU agencies and other organisations are within his Department's remit, (b) staff time was spent on engagement with those bodies and (c) financial resources were spent on engagement with those bodies in 2015-16.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The Treasury has direct responsibility only for the European Investment Bank. The department engages with a wide range of stakeholders including EU agencies. . We do not disaggregate the time and resource spent on this engagement.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) EU agencies and other organisations within his Department's remit the Government plans to withdraw from when the UK leaves the EU, (b) staff time was spent on engagement with those bodies and (c) financial resources were spent on engagement with those bodies in 2015-16.
Answered by David Gauke
As set out in the recent White Paper (The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union), the Government will discuss with the EU and Member States our future status and arrangements with regard to EU agencies. It would not be appropriate to prejudge the outcome of the negotiations.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in Garston and Halewood constituency have had a tax credit claim stopped by Concentrix.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be preparing regional analysis of tax credits claims and Mandatory Reconsideration requests, and this will be available in due course.
The Concentrix workload is delegated by HMRC. The process for selecting claims for Concentrix compliance interventions is set out in sections A9 and A10 of the “specifications of requirement” annex of the Concentrix contract which can be found at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/85d1b730-5e4e-4be8-ae4c-3ac1f359afc7
At Budget 2016, the Government published the most recent policy costings. This can be found in section B23 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf. However, this is in the process of being updated to reflect the change in circumstances.
Concentrix were most recently undertaking High Risk Renewals enquiries under section 18 of the Tax Credits Act 2002, under which the claimant needs to provide a declaration to show that they are entitled to receive tax credits. In these cases, the tax credits legislation places the onus on a claimant for ensuring that HMRC has the relevant information.
HMRC uses a wide range of data including third party data as part of a wider strategy to tackle tax credits error and fraud. HMRC has successfully reduced tax credits error and fraud from 8.1% in 2010-11 to 4.8% in 2014-15
Where a discrepancy is detected, claimants are given 30 days to contact HMRC or provide the relevant information about their circumstances or household before making any decisions about their award. If after 30 days HMRC has had no contact, tax credit payments are either suspended or reduced. Often, claimants are required to submit information that had originally been requested as part of a Mandatory Reconsideration.
As announced on 7th October, the National Audit Office will also be conducting an investigation into HMRC’s contract with Concentrix.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data HM Revenue and Customs and Concentrix have relied upon to identify fraud and error in tax credit claims.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be preparing regional analysis of tax credits claims and Mandatory Reconsideration requests, and this will be available in due course.
The Concentrix workload is delegated by HMRC. The process for selecting claims for Concentrix compliance interventions is set out in sections A9 and A10 of the “specifications of requirement” annex of the Concentrix contract which can be found at: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/85d1b730-5e4e-4be8-ae4c-3ac1f359afc7
At Budget 2016, the Government published the most recent policy costings. This can be found in section B23 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf. However, this is in the process of being updated to reflect the change in circumstances.
Concentrix were most recently undertaking High Risk Renewals enquiries under section 18 of the Tax Credits Act 2002, under which the claimant needs to provide a declaration to show that they are entitled to receive tax credits. In these cases, the tax credits legislation places the onus on a claimant for ensuring that HMRC has the relevant information.
HMRC uses a wide range of data including third party data as part of a wider strategy to tackle tax credits error and fraud. HMRC has successfully reduced tax credits error and fraud from 8.1% in 2010-11 to 4.8% in 2014-15
Where a discrepancy is detected, claimants are given 30 days to contact HMRC or provide the relevant information about their circumstances or household before making any decisions about their award. If after 30 days HMRC has had no contact, tax credit payments are either suspended or reduced. Often, claimants are required to submit information that had originally been requested as part of a Mandatory Reconsideration.
As announced on 7th October, the National Audit Office will also be conducting an investigation into HMRC’s contract with Concentrix.