Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on the potential merits of a UN Tax Convention.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure inclusive and effective international tax cooperation, and has been actively engaging with developing and developed countries in negotiations at the UN over a future Tax Framework Convention.
The UK believes that a UN Tax Framework Convention has the potential to further advance international tax cooperation, but to be successful, it needs to be clear in its aims, avoid duplicating existing initiatives, and seek to secure the broad support and participation of members.
The UK was disappointed that these principles were not fully reflected in the Terms of Reference agreed by the UN Ad Hoc Committee in August, but will continue to engage constructively in support of key principles for strengthening international tax cooperation.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's Wealthy Team in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since its founding.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams.
The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance.
The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year:
FTE staff as at:
31 March 2016 to 2017 | 1,007 |
2017 to 2018 | 1,046 |
2018 to 2019 | 996 |
2019 to 2020 | 953 |
2020 to 2021 | 866 |
2021 to 2022 | 887 |
2022 to 2023 | 1,014 |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked in HMRC's High Net Worth Unit in (a) 2022-23 and (b) each year since 2009.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC’s Wealthy teams were formed in April 2017, a merger of the previous High Net Worth Unit and Affluent teams.
The tax affairs of Wealthy customers can be complex and the staff in HMRC’s Wealthy unit work with teams across HMRC to tackle non- compliance.
The below table provides the correct number of FTE staff within the WMBC Wealthy Unit broken down by tax year:
FTE staff as at:
31 March 2016 to 2017 | 1,007 |
2017 to 2018 | 1,046 |
2018 to 2019 | 996 |
2019 to 2020 | 953 |
2020 to 2021 | 866 |
2021 to 2022 | 887 |
2022 to 2023 | 1,014 |
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people worked on HMRC's High Risk Wealthy Programme in (a) financial year 2022-23 and (b) each financial year since that programme was created.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC’s High Risk Wealth Programme (HRWP) is just one of a range of approaches used by HMRC to tackle non-compliance.
Alongside staff in HMRC’s Wealthy teams, colleagues across HMRC are involved in HRWP including legal and policy specialists with oversight from a cross-directorate steering group.
Further information about the HRWP can be found on the GOV.UK Website here:
Information about the High-Risk Wealth Programme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are employed by the Government to investigate tax evasion of people with assets worth over £10 million.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance, evasion, and all other forms of tax non-compliance. HMRC has considerable resources to tackle non-compliance in the tax system, including tax evasion.
Within HMRC’s Customer Compliance Group (CCG), HMRC have dedicated Wealthy Teams with responsibility for tax compliance in this customer segment. As part of their role, they are key to delivering HMRC’s compliance response to evasion.
Alongside the work of the Wealthy teams, the most serious non-compliance in the Wealthy customer segment is dealt with by specialist Offshore Corporate and Wealthy (OCW) colleagues in HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service.
For data on the full time equivalent (FTE) employees working in HMRC's Wealthy Teams, I refer the hon member to my answer of 30 January 2023 to PQ UIN 131454 : Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the real terms (a) percentage change and (b) change in pounds sterling of child benefit allowance for a (a) first child b) second child since 2010.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Government has increased Child Benefit rates in line with inflation for four consecutive years and, from April 2023, rates were increased by the September 2022 rate of CPI (10.1%), to support families with the elevated cost of living. The Government took the difficult decision to limit increases to Child Benefit 2011 and 2019 to control welfare expenditure and to help place the public finances on a sustainable footing.
The Government publishes annual data on benefit rate changes. This includes data on the uprating history and real CPI value of Child Benefit, including rates for first children and additional children: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/abstract-of-statistics-for-benefits-national-insurance-contributions-and-indices-of-prices-and-earnings.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the total amount of tax that has been (a) avoided, (b) evaded and (c) uncollected in (i) the last 12 months, (ii) since 2019 and (iii) since 2010.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. The tax gap statistics are published annually and are available on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps.
Historical figures for the tax gap for taxpayer behaviours can be found in table 7.1 of the online tables on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps-tables.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the the value of (a) suspected benefit fraud in the last 12 months and (b) unpaid benefits in the last 12 months.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) estimates on the value of both fraud and error in the benefit system can be found in their annually published statistical report on the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error, the latest version of which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2021-to-2022-estimates. The estimates for 2022-23 are due to be published by DWP on 11 May.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government's Observations made on 7 November 2022 on petition P002765 on the Energy Profits Levy, presented by the hon. Member for Leeds East on 7 September 2022, (a) if he will publish a breakdown of the £28 billion that the Government estimates will be raised by that levy over the period 2025-26 and (b) how much in total does he expect to be raised in Financial Year 2022-23 from taxes on North Sea oil and gas companies including both normal taxes and the Energy Profits Levy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
A breakdown of revenues expected from the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) for the period 2022-23 to 2026-27 is published in the 23 September Growth Plan, Table 4.2.
Estimates for the other North Sea taxes (ring-fence Corporation Tax and Petroleum Revenue Tax) are published in Table 3.4 of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook (March 2022).
Updated estimates for all of these taxes will be published at the Autumn Statement on 17 November.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Independent - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of (a) the taxable profits of North Sea oil and gas companies and (b) Government tax revenues derived from North sea oil and gas companies in the Financial Years (i) 2022-3, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25.
Answered by Richard Fuller - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury does not produce estimates of profits of North Sea oil and gas companies.
Forecasts for Government revenues from oil and gas production are provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Their most recent published forecast, provided for Spring Statement 2022 on 23 March, is available on the OBR website at: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2022/.