Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the annual budget for the proposed Office for Value for Money; whether that body will be established in statute; and how its Board will be appointed.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As the Chancellor laid before the House in her speech, the government has established a new Office of Value for Money, with an immediate focus on identifying areas where we can reduce, stop, or improve the value of spending. The chair of the office will report directly to the Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury who will be appointed in due course.
The office will not be established in statute but will sit within HM Treasury.
Existing departmental resources will be reprioritised to fulfil the needs of the office where possible.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions she had transition talks with officials in her Department in the last Parliament; and whether she had discussions on economic forecasts pertaining to the public finances.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The process for access talks is set out in the Cabinet Manual. Access talks are initiated with permission from the Prime Minister of the day and are confidential.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place between Cabinet ministers and officials is not shared publicly.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her speech of 8 July 2024, whether the Office for Budget Responsibility has played a role in her review of public finances.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor presented to Parliament today an assessment of the state of our spending inheritance. The Chancellor confirmed the Budget will be held on the 30th October, alongside a full and independent forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What progress he has made on reducing the amount of income tax that people pay.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The government is committed to keeping taxes low to support working people keep more of what they earn.
Budget 2018 announced that the government will increase the personal allowance to £12,500 and the higher rate threshold to £50,000 from April 2019, one year earlier than planned.
This tax cut means, in 2019-20, a typical basic rate taxpayer will pay £1,205 less in tax than in 2010-11. Across the UK, 1.74 million of the lowest paid will be taken out of tax entirely since 2015, leaving more of their hard-earned money in their pockets.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What assessment he has made of potential risks to the economy from high levels of Government borrowing.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
In 2010 we inherited the largest deficit since the second world war at nearly 10% of GDP. We’ve successfully reduced that to 2.3% last year, but our debt is still too high.
High levels of debt leave us vulnerable to economic shocks and incur significant amounts of debt interest.
That is why the government has clear fiscal plans to reduce borrowing further and get debt falling.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to widen access to basic bank accounts.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Improving access to banking services is central to the Government’s agenda. I am therefore delighted that the nine largest personal current account providers in the UK have been offering new basic bank accounts since January 2016.
For the first time, truly fee-free basic bank accounts are available for anyone who doesn’t have an account, or can’t use their account due to financial difficulty.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Droitwich and Evesham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish guidance notes on theatre tax relief.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is currently migrating hundreds of existing guidance manuals from its own website to GOV.UK. HMRC expects the changeover to be completed over the next few months. The department's priority has been moving existing manuals, but I am pleased to say that the Theatre Tax Relief Manual will be one of the first new manuals to be published on GOV.UK. In the interim, HMRC will shortly make available a temporary version via GOV.UK.
The theatre tax relief was introduced with effect from 1 September 2014. The regime provides relief for companies producing qualifying theatrical productions. There is a special unit within HMRC for the creative industries that regularly advise taxpayers on this relief and how to make claims.