Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for new mortgage applications to after 31 December 2022.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government continues to keep policy under review, and remains committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.
The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme – launched in April 2021 – continues to support homebuyers and movers with deposits as small as 5%. To date, the scheme has directly helped over 24,000 households to buy their homes, 85% of which have been by first-time buyers.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason he has not included representatives of (a) housing charities, (b) debt charities and (c) trade unions on his new Economic Advisory Panel.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 17th October, the Chancellor announced that he would establish an Economic Advisory Council. This will act as a consultative forum for the government to be advised on UK and international economics and financial markets. The Council will consist of leading and respected economists.
The Chancellor has announced the initial members to form the council, with further members to be added in due course. All members have been chosen for their personal knowledge and expertise, as relevant to advising the government on the UK economy. Members can be added or removed at the Chancellor’s discretion.
The Council members, alongside the role and purpose of the Council, will be reviewed after six months.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the road haulage firms that have registered with HM Revenue and Customs to use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service to move goods between ports in (a) England and Northern Ireland, (b) Wales and the Republic of Ireland and (c) Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC cannot publish names of road haulage firms that have registered to use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) due to taxpayer confidentiality. As of 5 June 2022 there have been over 23,000 GVMS registrations. Registrations allow for use on all GVMS routes.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming the eligibility criteria for the Help to Buy ISA in response to the increase in average house prices since 2013.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
While the Government keeps all aspects of savings policy under review, the Help to Buy: ISA scheme aims to help those struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder at the lower end of the market. The property price cap of £250,000 for those properties outside London (£450,000 within London) therefore allows the Government to target support at the people the scheme is intended to help across the country.
The latest statistics show that since the scheme was launched in 2015, 460,567 property completions have been supported through the scheme with a mean property value of £175,680, compared to an average first-time buyer house price of £230,593.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that companies employing seafarers in the UK’s territorial waters comply with minimum wage legislation.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC enforces the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it.
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. HMRC won’t hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive what they are legally entitled to.
Consequences for not complying with paying NMW can include fines of 200% of the arrears, public naming and, for the most serious offences, criminal prosecution.
HMRC takes seriously and considers all complaints from workers. If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on 0300 123 1100 or report their employer online using the link www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-complaint
On 1 October 2020, BEIS changed the law so that seafarers and other maritime persons who work or ordinarily work in the UK or in UK territorial waters (generally 12 miles from the seashore) are generally entitled to NMW. This is regardless of where the vessel is registered or whether the worker ordinarily resides in the UK.
There are some circumstances where NMW legislation does not apply, such as work performed on ships exercising the "right to innocent passage" or "the right of transit passage" as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).
HMRC has worked with maritime worker representatives and employers to raise awareness of the new NMW legislation that came into force on 1st October 2020, and wrote to employers in the maritime sector, asking them to check that they are paying all their workers the correct minimum wage and pointing them to available guidance.
HMRC have also produced multi-lingual leaflets for seafarers, to raise awareness about their entitlement to NMW and routes of redress and distributed these via the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Nautilus International union.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality of service provided on the Childcare Service phonelines.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The front line phonelines for the Childcare Service are provided by HMRC’s delivery partners NS&I. HMRC liaise closely with NS&I to ensure a consistently good service is provided to agreed service standards. HMRC work collaboratively to overcome any short term issues that may arise such as Covid-19 related temporary staff shortages.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the amount of time it takes for the appeals process to be completed when persons have had their applications for thirty hours of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds denied.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Childcare Service, which delivers eligibility checking for 30 hours free childcare for 3 and 4-year-old children of working parents, is designed to give quick decisions and quick access to reviews when parents disagree with decisions. Cases are routinely monitored. Only a tiny fraction of parents go on to appeal to an independent tribunal after the review process concludes, only 1% last year.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of applications for thirty hours of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds that were found to have been wrongly denied in 2020 - 2021.
Answered by Simon Clarke
In 2021 HMRC overturned 750 decisions that parents were not eligible for 30 hours free childcare for 3 and 4-year-old children of working parents on review or appeal, out of 815,000 customer journeys. This represents 0.1% of all eligibility decisions being overturned.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the introduction of the High-Income Child Benefit Tax charge on single-parent families.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support for families is targeted at those who need it most. The tax charge applies to anyone with an individual income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit, or whose partner claims it. HICBC is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other income tax policy.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not routinely collect information on the circumstances of individuals in a household, so HMRC cannot assess the impact the introduction of the High Income Child Benefit charge has had on single parent families.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the income threshold for the High-Income Child Benefit Tax charge.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government is committed to managing the public finances in a disciplined and responsible way by targeting support where it is most needed. At present, the adjusted net income threshold of £50,000 only affects a small minority of those with comparatively high incomes.
The Government set the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) thresholds at these levels to help target public expenditure in the way it considered most effective. As with all elements of tax policy, the Government keeps this under review as part of the annual Budget process.