Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in his Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Such information is not centrally recorded or collated in the form requested.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the destinations were of domestic overnight visits undertaken by Ministers within their Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many domestic overnight visits Ministers within their Department have taken in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost to the public purse was of those visits.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government publishes on GOV.UK details of the cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).
However, as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad.
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of money lost to fraud and error by his Department in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publish annual statistical estimates of the size of the tax gap and money lost to fraud and error.
The latest estimates of the tax gap were published in Measuring tax gaps 2023 edition: tax gap estimates for 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The latest error and fraud estimates for the Corporation Tax Research and Development relief schemes and for Child Benefit were published in HMRC annual report and accounts: 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The latest published Tax Credits Error and Fraud statistics were published in Child and Working Tax Credits error and fraud statistics 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance his Department issues on the use of WhatsApp.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department follows the Cabinet Office policy on non-corporate communication channels for Government business https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports and guidance their Department has produced in the last three financial years; and how much was spent on their (a) printing and (b) distribution.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department. Reports and guidance that the Treasury has published can be found on gov.uk
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding his Department has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent on advertising in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury publishes data on spend over £25,000 as part of the transparency agenda, which can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/25000-spend
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding their Department (a) allocated for (b) spent on magazine subscriptions in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT’s expenditure on these areas is published as part of the departments on-going support of the transparency reporting programme. These can be viewed using the links below .
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gpc-spend
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/25000-spend
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what subscriptions to (a) newspapers, (b) magazines and (c) online journals his Department has paid for in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT’s expenditure on these areas is published as part of the departments on-going support of the transparency reporting programme. These can be viewed using the links below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gpc-spend
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/25000-spend
https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of digital roles within his Department were vacant as of 26 February 2024.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, all departments made a commitment to reduce their digital and data vacancies to under 10% of total Government Digital and Data headcount by 2025
This is to drive modernisation and digitisation in Government, improving public services for the British people and saving taxpayer money
Overall good progress has been made, with total vacancies now at 15%
The Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework, defining the scope of the digital and data profession, outlines capability standards for roles and skills in the profession. It enables professionals, line managers and hiring managers to have a common understanding of roles and provides a strong foundation for recruitment
In our latest assessment in October 2023, we had 11 vacancies which is 13% of Digital roles in HM Treasury.