Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of placing conditions on furlough payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to ensure employees receive payments on time.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As with all decisions under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Government is balancing the need to support as many employers and individuals as fully as it possibly can, with the need to get the CJRS running quickly and making it easy to use by employers.
After an employer makes a claim under the CJRS, HMRC check that the claim is correct and pay the claim amount into the employer’s bank account within six working days. The employer must then pay their employees’ wages, if they have not already.
The employer must pay the full amount claimed for the employee’s wages to the employee.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the difficulties faced by people who primarily use cash during the covid 19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government remains closely engaged with the financial regulators, including through the Treasury-chaired Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group, to monitor and assess risks around cash relating to COVID-19.
The Government recognises that widespread access to cash remains extremely important to the day-to-day lives of many individuals across the UK. That is why the Chancellor announced at the March 2020 Budget that the Government will bring forward legislation to protect access to cash and ensure that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the long term. The Government published a Call for Evidence on 15 October to inform the development of this legislation.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of support available for people who are not digitally literate and have difficulties submitting their tax return online.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC offer offline extra support, for example, through telephone, paper, and face-to-face via their Extra Support Team (face-to-face support has been temporarily suspended due to COVID-19), as well as extra support via their online services. They have also set up a dedicated helpline for anyone experiencing difficulties with seeking access to the COVID-19 support schemes. HMRC work with voluntary and community sector organisations to help taxpayers who need support for a range of reasons from digital exclusion, language, self-confidence, physical or mental health reasons, or difficulties with engaging with HMRC, for example, with compliance or debt issues.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) payday loan scams and (b) other fraud by fake loan companies.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government takes fraud very seriously. We continue to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters. These actions include the Joint Fraud Taskforce which is helping to build a collaborative law enforcement, government and industry response to tackling fraud.
Illegal lenders, or ‘loan sharks’, can also prey on victims in various forms including by posing as fake loan companies. To tackle this crime, the Government funds the Illegal Money Lending Teams (IMLTs), via a levy on the financial services industry. The IMLTs have powers to deal with wider criminality associated with loan sharks, such as fraud, and can seize the assets of convicted loan sharks to fund support for victims and raise awareness of the dangers of illegal lending in affected communities.
The Government and IMLTs are alert to the particular challenges faced by vulnerable consumers as a result of COVID-19 and continue to work together to ensure that this dangerous and illegal activity is stopped.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the difficulties faced by clients and former clients of SVS Securities.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HM Treasury regularly engages with the Financial Conduct Authority on the circumstances surrounding SVS Securities PLC.
SVS Securities is a wealth management firm that was placed in Special Administration on 5 August 2019. An assessment of the client money and custody assets held by the firm has been completed and the Special Administrators have confirmed that these are intact. There are costs associated with distributing client money and custody assets back to clients which by law will be deduced from client money or custody assets.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) will cover custody assets and client money shortfalls, including the costs associated with their distribution back to clients, for eligible clients up to £85,000.
The Special Administrators are working closely with the FSCS and expect the vast majority of clients will be compensated in full by the FSCS for these costs. As a result, the vast majority of clients shall receive their client money and custody assets in full.
Please note that the Special Administrators have now contacted SVS customers to invite them to submit any claims.
For further information on SVS Securities, please see the Financial Conduct Authority’s website: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/svs-securities-plc-enters-administration.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Equality Impact Assessments were undertaken on the (a) design of and (b) the conclusion of the Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
When designing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and Job Retention Bonus policies, the Treasury undertook an analysis of how the policies were likely to affect individuals sharing protected characteristics in line with its Public Sector Equality Duties. This is in accordance with the internal procedural requirements and support in place for ensuring that equalities considerations inform decisions taken by ministers.Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of different scheme designs when he made an assessment of the potential merits of ending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in October 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As the economic recovery continues, the Government must adjust support accordingly. Ending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme after eight months ensures that people are not trapped in jobs that can only exist because of a Government subsidy. The scheme will wind down, flexibly and gradually, supporting businesses and people through to October. This is the best means by which to ensure people’s livelihoods are protected as the Government supports the resumption of economic demand.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what dates he met and with which business representatives he discussed the design and closure of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and what the outcomes were of those discussions.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HM Treasury has been working closely with business representatives, unions, and Government colleagues to ensure that this decision works for both employers and employees and is coherent with the wider Government response. An Institute for Government report recently remarked “the quality and intensity of engagement on the CJRS and SEISS were described to us as being markedly different from normal experience of working with government.”
For example, the Treasury has engaged frequently with the Confederation of British Industry; the most recent meeting being alongside Trades Union Congress representatives on 7 September. The Chancellor attended this meeting and took on board the concerns and proposals raised. HM Treasury will continue to work with businesses, unions and representative groups as part of the Government’s continuing monitoring of the economy.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he undertook a regional impact assessment of the (a) implementation and (b) closure of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
When launching the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Government prioritised helping the greatest number of people as quickly as possible and the scheme was made available across all regions UK-wide. There has been broad consistency in furlough rates across the UK. The latest available statistics show the West Midlands region of England has had the highest take-up rate of 34 per cent and the East region of England has had the lowest take-up of 30 per cent. The number of employments furloughed in the UK decreased from a peak of 8.9 million on 8 May to 6.8 million by 30 June.
After eight months of the CJRS, the scheme will close. The CJRS must be temporary and the Government must ensure people across all regions of the UK can get back to work safely and get the UK economy up and running again. The Government is providing support directly to people and businesses across the whole of the UK with the UK-wide measures announced in the Plan for Jobs.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on the Business Rates Review; and what the timetable is for the next steps of that review.
Answered by Jesse Norman
On 21 July, HM Treasury published a Call for Evidence for the fundamental review of business rates. The Call for Evidence invites stakeholders to contribute their views on ideas for reform on all elements of the business rates system and on alternative taxes.
As set out in the Call for Evidence, the fundamental review will have an interim report in autumn 2020, ahead of concluding in spring 2021.
The Call for Evidence can be found at: