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Written Question
Child Benefit: Carers
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason kinship carers can only claim the lower rate of Child Benefit if they already have children for whom they claim Child Benefit; and if he will take steps to review this policy.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The higher rate of Child Benefit can only be paid for the eldest child. It is intended to help all families with children, acknowledging the impact on a family’s finances of the arrival of a child/children in the family. The arrival of a child for the first time may mean for instance that many parents have to give up work altogether or work reduced hours. When Child Benefit ends for the eldest child, the higher rate becomes payable for the next eldest child. The government keeps all policies under review in the usual way.

Financial support for kinship carers is paid at the discretion of the local authority and in accordance with their model for assessing support needs. There is no limit on the level of support, including financial support, that local authorities can provide. The local authority should have in place clear eligibility criteria in relation to the provision of support services.


Written Question
East West Rail Line
Monday 4th December 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has established a (a) board and (b) working group for the purposes of realising the economic growth potential of East West Rail.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury has recently established an official-level East West Rail economic growth board with representatives from relevant government departments (DfT, DLUHC, DBT, DSIT & the IPA). The board will ensure that central government is fully joined up in its support for locally-led plans to maximise the benefits of East West Rail, and will co-ordinate activity accordingly.

The government provided £15m of funding at Spring Budget 2023 to support local authorities along the East West Rail route to further progress their plans to make the most of the railway for their communities.


Written Question
Oxford-Cambridge Arc
Tuesday 9th May 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the value for money of public spending on the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government recognises the significant economic potential of the Oxford to Cambridge region, but also that it is constrained by poor connectivity, limited laboratory space, and high housing costs. The Spring Budget set out the Government’s commitment to East West Rail, which will unlock locally-led growth. In line with the usual process, East West Rail Company will produce an Outline Business Case ahead of an application for planning consent and the Treasury will assess the value for money of the scheme at this point.


Written Question
Tax Avoidance
Monday 7th March 2022

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the independent review of Loan Charges published on 3 December 2020, whether he plans to commission a new review to examine the Loan Charge in the context of promoters of these schemes as well individuals using these schemes.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

An independent review of the Loan Charge has already taken place. The 2019 Review, which was conducted by Lord Morse, concluded that it was right for the Loan Charge to remain in force and for the Government to collect the tax due. The Government accepted 19 of the 20 recommendations in the Review, including those related to the promoters of schemes.

Following the Review, HMRC published its strategy to challenge and deal with promoters of tax avoidance schemes. A key part of this strategy is to disrupt the business models of promoters of disguised remuneration and other tax avoidance schemes and use every tool available to prevent them marketing their schemes. HMRC has a range of legislative powers to tackle promoters, under three main regimes: Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes, Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes, and the Enablers penalty. Penalties can be charged for various failures to comply with the requirements of these regimes.

The Government recognises that there is more to do to stop promoters from selling their schemes. Finance Acts 2021 and 2022 introduced new measures that will help HMRC to take action more quickly.


Written Question
Energy: Rebates
Tuesday 15th February 2022

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the energy rebate announced on 3 February 2022, what steps he plans to take to enable customers to reject the rebate prior to payment or return the rebate if paid to them automatically.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

All domestic electricity customers in Great Britain will receive a £200 reduction in their electricity costs from this October. This will be delivered via energy suppliers and will be clearly identifiable as a line item on electricity bills.


Written Question
Solar Power: VAT
Monday 13th December 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the rate of VAT payable on solar panels and battery storage installation.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Government maintains a reduced rate of VAT of 5 per cent on the installation of many Energy Saving Materials, including solar panels, subject to certain conditions. Battery storage installation may qualify for the reduced rate of VAT when supplied as part of an installation of qualifying goods.

Extending the current relief would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT raised around £130 billion in the year 2019-20, and helps to fund key spending priorities, including on health, education, and defence.
Written Question
Households: Finance
Friday 23rd April 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the proportion of households that have financial reserves to cover basic costs for (i) three months and (ii) six months.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government is committed to monitoring and understanding households’ personal finances in order to inform policy making to help people manage their money well, encourage them to save and access support if they need to get their finances back on track. As such, the Government works closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and engages regularly with many other stakeholders on their research and findings.

The FCA conducts biennial Financial Lives Survey of 16,000 adults which provides a comprehensive insight into the finances of the UK population. The latest findings from the survey were published in February 2021. MaPS monitor financial difficulty through an annual survey of 22,000 people. MaPS will publish the results of the survey later in 2021.


Written Question
Households: Finance
Thursday 22nd April 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to increase the number of households that have financial reserves to cover basic costs for three or more months.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

It is important that consumers have sufficient financial resilience to be able to manage short-term shocks to income or expenditure to help avoid these events causing them to fall into financial difficulty or problem debt.

The Government is committed to supporting people at all income levels and at all stages of life to save, including working families and individuals on low incomes, to put money aside for a rainy day. The Help to Save scheme was launched in September 2018 and is intended to support working people on low incomes and in receipt of certain benefits to build their financial resilience while also encouraging them to develop a regular, long-term savings habit.

The Government has also agreed to maintain record levels of debt advice funding for the Money and Pension Service in 2021-22 to help people in problem debt get their finances back on track.


Written Question
Cost Benefit Analysis
Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Green Book Supplementary Document: Social discount rates for Cost-Benefit Analysis: A Report for HM Treasury, published 16 November 2020, what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed changes to social discount rates on (a) productivity of the economy and (b) other key economic factors.

Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Green Book Social Time Preference Rate (STPR), or discount rate, is applied by all government departments in the formulation of policy appraisal. The rate has been set at 3.5% since 2003 and has been regularly reviewed by independent academic experts. There are no proposed changes to this headline discount rate, which will continue to be regularly reviewed in line with the evolution of appropriate evidence.

As part of the Green Book Review 2020, we have committed to an expert review into the application of the discount rate for environmental impacts. This will scrutinise the current guidance on environmental valuation and discounting and investigate the case for using the same discount rate as currently applied to the valuation of life and health effects. We have no proposals for changes to this rate at present.

The paper referenced, “Social discount rates for Cost-Benefit Analysis: A Report for HM Treasury”, was originally published in 2018. As noted in the paper, the views displayed in this document are those of the authors and do not reflect those of HM Treasury.


Written Question
Cost Benefit Analysis
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has recommended changes to the social discount rates that his Department applies; and whether those changes will be applied retrospectively to projects in the Government's Major Projects Portfolio.

Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The Green Book Social Time Preference Rate (STPR) or discount rate is applied by all government departments in the formulation of policy appraisal and has been 3.5% since 2003 following regular independent expert reviews. There are no forthcoming changes to the headline discount rate, which is regularly reviewed in line with the evolution of appropriate evidence in consultation with academic experts.

As set out in the Green Book Review 2020, HMT will however, be conducting an expert review into the application of the discount rate for environmental impacts. This review will scrutinise the current guidance on environmental valuation and discounting and investigate whether there is a case for using the same discount rate as currently applied to the valuation of life and health effects.