Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that creditors and debt collection agencies respond to customer enquiries and amend credit files in a timely manner.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under data protection laws, the information on a person’s credit file must accurately reflect their credit history. If an individual believes that an organisation, such as a creditor or a debt collection agency, has not corrected inaccurate information reported to credit reference agencies, they can submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is responsible for upholding information rights and enforcing data protection legislation. If the ICO finds that the organisation has indeed failed to make the necessary corrections, it may take enforcement action.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to ensure that those operating under disguised employment models in the hairdressing industry do not receive tax advantages compared to traditional employers since the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets met with representatives from the personal care sector in November 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to ensuring the tax system operates fairly and efficiently, creating a level playing field for all compliant businesses. Most businesses pay what they owe, but a minority fail to register or only declare a portion of their earnings for tax. This minority deprives our vital public services of funding, affects fair competition between businesses, and places unfair burdens on everyone else.
The ‘rent-a-chair’ model is a legitimate business model widely used in the hair and beauty sector and, where applied correctly, can result in individuals being classed as self-employed for employment purposes. Whether an individual is employed or self-employed is not a matter of choice but is determined by the actual terms and conditions under which they work. This is underlined by an agreement between HMRC and the National Hair and Beauty Federation, which clarifies standard practices in the industry for VAT purposes.
The agreement advises that salon owners and their contractors should have an agreement in writing that clearly and accurately reflects their working practices. Both parties can use HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to check the employment status of an engagement. HMRC will stand by the self-employed or employed determination that the CEST tool provides, so long as the information given is accurate.
If a business chooses to operate the ‘rent-a-chair’ business model this could result in individuals being classed as self-employed for tax purposes. In all such cases HMRC would expect businesses to meet their legal obligations regarding paying the right taxes and National Insurance contributions.
HMRC are committed to tackling false self-employment and will investigate evidence that suggests businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. HMRC will challenge businesses that either artificially separate to avoid exceeding the VAT registration threshold or design schemes to reduce the amount of VAT they owe and will take steps to ensure that they pay the right amount of tax.
HMRC’s approach to tax compliance includes a range of activities that aim to both detect and tackle current non-compliance and change future behaviours. HMRC aims to help and support customers to understand their tax obligations and promoting compliance by simplifying policies and procedures, providing clear guidance to make it easy for them to get things right, providing accessible digital services to make it easier to register to pay the appropriate taxes, providing targeted support and guidance, and intervening early to reduce mistakes. However, HMRC will not hesitate to use stronger sanctions against those who deliberately choose not to comply, including potential criminal prosecutions for the most serious cases involving tax evasion.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with (a) UK Finance, (b) individual lenders, (c) credit reference agencies and (d) other relevant organisations to ensure that (i) credit reference agencies and (ii) lenders differentiate between individuals who (A) responsibly manage their debts through (1) payment plans or (2) debt management plans and (B) those who are subject to (a) court or (b) bankruptcy proceedings.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that credit, when provided responsibly, can be crucial for people facing unexpected expenses or managing their cash flow. That is why it is committed to expanding access to affordable credit, so that everyone has the opportunity to access products and services which support their financial wellbeing and goals.
In December 2023, the FCA published the final report for the Credit Information Market Study, proposing twelve remedies to improve the market. This included a mandatory data sharing proposal to improve the availability of accurate, consistent and comprehensive credit information,
which is intended to support the responsible provision of credit services, and a proposal to streamline the processes regarding vulnerability markers. The FCA and industry are jointly establishing a new Credit Reporting Governance Body, which will be responsible for overseeing the sharing of credit information and implementing these recommendations.
More broadly, HM Treasury regularly engages with the consumer credit sector to discuss a range of policy matters, including provision of affordable credit, which also forms a key part of the financial inclusion strategy work announced last year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether if Further Education colleges will be eligible to o reclaim VAT for renewable energy installations.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Further Education (FE) colleges cannot reclaim the VAT they pay on goods and services.
However, FE colleges benefit from a zero rate of VAT on installations of qualifying energy-saving materials if their buildings meet the definition of being used “solely for a relevant charitable purpose”. This VAT zero rate is in place until March 2027, after which it will revert to the reduced rate of VAT at five per cent. This relief – worth over £1 billion – will aid households and charities in improving the energy efficiency of their buildings, help to reduce carbon emissions, and ultimately help us to reach our ambitious Net Zero by 2050 target.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the overseas development assistance budget to 0.7% of gross national income without applying a fiscal test.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government remains committed to international development. This is why we allocated £13.3 billion to ODA in 2024/25 and £13.7 billion in 2025/26 at Autumn Budget 2024. We will restore Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending to the level of 0.7 percent of GNI as soon as the fiscal circumstances allow, but this isn’t currently affordable. The government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely, and each year will review and confirm, in accordance with the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecast.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment HMRC has made of the prevalence of underpayment of the National Living Wage for domiciliary care workers as a result of unpaid travel time.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
HM Revenue and Customs 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 and Trade (DBT). This involves a wide-ranging programme of education and risk led enforcement activity across the whole of the UK labour market and the associated risks including travel time. All businesses, irrespective of their size or business sector are responsible for paying the correct NMW rates to their staff.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times HMRC has taken enforcement action against employers for the underpayment of national living wage for domiciliary care workers as a result of unpaid travel time in the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the NMW receives it.
HM Revenue and Customs 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 and Trade. This involves a wide-ranging programme of education and risk led enforcement activity across the whole of UK labour market including social care
HMRC consider all of the risks that might be relevant, when carrying out a review and record whether an employer is compliant or non-compliant.
HMRC does not hold information on how many times HMRC has taken enforcement action against employers for the underpayment of national living wage for domiciliary care workers as a result of unpaid travel time.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to support nurseries experiencing financial challenges as a result of increased business rates.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston
The government recognises the pressure that businesses have been under since the pandemic and that is why the government froze the business rates multiplier for three consecutive years from April 2021 until April 2024 at a cost of £14.5 billion.
To make sure that the most vulnerable businesses continue to be supported, the government announced a further freeze to the small business multiplier at Autumn Statement for 2024-25, which will protect over a million ratepayers from a multiplier increase. This means bills will be 6.6 per cent lower than without the freeze. In addition to this support, some nurseries will already be in receipt of business rates relief where they have a ‘charitable purpose’, such as those part of academy chains.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation is taking to ensure the compliance of attestation documents for Russian oil products.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The PM along with other G7 Leaders in their statement of 24 February 2024 committed to continue to take steps to tighten compliance and enforcement of the oil price cap on Russian oil. The UK and G7 partners will respond to violations including by imposing additional sanctions measures on those engaged in deceptive practices while transporting Russian oil and against the networks Russia has developed to extract additional revenue from price cap violations. These additional sanctions measures include, but are not limited to, the changes to the attestation model announced by the G7+ Price Cap Coalition on 20 December 2023 and the UK’s new designations of oil traders announced on 22 February 2024.
From 19 February 2024, the attestation model was updated to require attestations to be shared on a per-voyage basis, as part of a relevant transaction. As well as per-voyage attestations, the new model requires itemised ancillary costs to be recorded and provided to contractual counterparties upon request.
To support industry participants in complying with the oil price cap and with the new attestation requirements, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OSFI) on 16 February 2024 issued updated industry guidance. OFSI also co-authored a joint G7+ Price Cap Coalition oil price cap compliance and enforcement alert which issued on 1 February 2024.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many violations of the price caps on Russian oil products the Office for Financial Sanctions Implementation has (a) investigated and (b) enforced since the implementation of those caps.
Answered by Bim Afolami
OFSI takes a proactive enforcement approach and is currently undertaking a number of investigations into suspected breaches of the oil price cap, using powers under SAMLA to request information and working closely with our international partners in the G7+ Coalition.
Due to the sensitivity of ongoing sanctions enforcement casework, I cannot confirm the number of suspected oil price cap violations which are under investigation or have been enforced against by OFSI.