Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses received National Insurance contributions holidays for employing armed service leavers.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Between April 2022 and October 2022, 470 employers claimed the National Insurance contributions relief for employers who hire veterans.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on reinstating the Veterans’ Mobility Fund.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is committed to supporting all our veterans, and to ensuring that they continue to thrive after leaving the services.
Since 2014, the Government has committed £773m of LIBOR fines to support Armed Forces and Emergency Service charities.
As part of this package, the Chancellor awarded the Royal British Legion £3m to develop a Veterans Mobility Fund, designed to meet the wellbeing needs of veterans discharged with service-attributable serious physical injury. At the same time, the Chancellor also awarded £10m to develop a Veterans Hearing Fund, providing support to veterans who suffered hearing loss during service.
In 2019, at the Royal British Legion’s request, the Treasury authorised the transfer of almost £1.5m from the Veterans Mobility Fund to the Veterans Hearing Fund, following dramatic increases in the rate of applications for the Hearing Fund and a comparatively static application rate for the Mobility Fund. Both the Veterans Hearing and Veterans Mobility Funds have now closed.
Since 2020, we have announced a further £10m funding to support veterans’ mental health, £475k to support the development of a digital and data strategy for the sector, £5m to enable charities to address the impact of events in Afghanistan on veterans, and a £5m Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund.
More than 100 service charities, including those who support veterans, also benefitted from £6m of the £750m to support the charity sector announced by the Chancellor in April 21 in support of COVID-19.
The Chancellor engages with the Secretary of State for Defence routinely on defence matters.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2022 to Question 142001, on Treasury: Civil Servants, if he will publish the number of civil servants based at the Darlington Economic Campus as of 17 March 2022.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are making significant progress establishing the Darlington Economic Campus and our workforce based there. We have committed to moving over 1,100 roles to the campus by 2025 from across all eight Departments and agencies based in the campus.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has published a plan setting out the steps it plans to take to transition to net zero emissions.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to reducing emissions and energy consumption wherever possible, as part of the UK’s transition to net zero. The Department’s current targets to make progress on reducing emissions have been published, as part of the Greening Government Commitments.
The Government published the Net Zero Strategy in October 2021, which sets out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet our net zero target by 2050.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of increased homeworking during the covid-19 outbreak on his Department’s carbon footprint.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Treasury reports on its progress against the Greening Government Commitments, which includes greenhouse gas emissions, in its annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to measure its carbon footprint.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Treasury is committed to promoting and embedding sustainability through its policy development, its work with other government Departments and its own operations. This includes implementing the Greening Government Commitments, along with other departments and arms length bodies. The Treasury reports on progress against the Greening Government targets in its annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a senior manager in his Department has been given the portfolio for leading on departmental sustainability.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to making its estate and operations more sustainable and resilient, through the Greening Government Commitments. We report on these commitments every quarter. In HM Treasury, this is led by an appointed minister with support from the Director of Operations and other senior officials.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has implemented a training programme to provide civil servants with skills to support its transition to net zero.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Yes. The new Government Curriculum will include modules on the implications of Net Zero, climate change and wider environmental issues for government. In the first phase, the Government Skills & Curriculum Unit (GSCU) is working with other Departments (including HMT, BEIS, DEFRA and FCDO) to create an awareness level training resource for all civil servants. This will be piloted from April 2022. In the next phases, GSCU will look at tailored provision for specific Functions and Professions, and will signpost the training and other resources on Net Zero which are already being provided internally at practitioner and expert levels by government Departments.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total floor area of his departmental estate was in each year from 2010-11 to 2020-21.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The State of the Estate series of reports published by Cabinet Office provides information on HM Treasury’s occupied floor area on an annual basis. The reports from 2010-11 to 2013-14 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/state-of-the-estate. Subsequent reports from 2014-15 to 2020-21 can be found by using links in the following style: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-the-estate-2014-to-2015.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what records relating to staff working times are kept by his Department under Regulation 9 of the Working Time Regulations 1998; and how long those records are kept for.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
HM Treasury keeps records of staff’s working hours. Working hours are recorded by the HMT employee on their ‘working hours spreadsheet’, the data recorded in these spreadsheets are stored centrally by the Management Information Team.
Records of staff’s working hours are kept for two years after which they are deleted, in line with Regulation 9 of the Working Time Regulations 1998.