Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when final disbursements will be made from the Woodford Equity Income Fund under the terms of the settlement scheme.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In December 2023, investors in the Woodford Equity Income Fund voted to accept a settlement scheme, and in February 2024 the High Court approved the scheme to make it binding on Link Fund Solutions and all creditors. The scheme came into force on 5 March 2024, with investors having received a first redress payment by April 2024. That first payment amounted to over £185 million, out of a settlement fund of up to £230 million.
The rest of the settlement fund is being held as a reserve to enable Link Fund Solutions to meet any contingent liabilities. Any leftover money from the reserve will be distributed to investors covered by the scheme. The operation of the reserve is supervised by the scheme supervisors who are independent of Link Fund Solutions. The FCA are continuing to monitor the operation of the reserve and will monitor when and how distributions are being made.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions on provisional supply teachers.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Additional funding to support schools with NICs costs will be allocated through the NICs grant in 2025-26. Schools will have flexibility over how they use this grant funding to meet their costs, including those relating to supply teachers.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.43 of the Spring Statement of 26 March 2025, what the £150 million provided for government employee exit schemes will be spent on; and how much and what proportion of this is for redundancy payments.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Spring Statement the government has allocated £150 million for government employee exit schemes. Information can be found in the Spring Statement supporting documentation here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67e3ec2df356a2dc0e39b488/E03274109_HMT_Spring_Statement_Mar_25_Web_Accessible_.pdf. This will be match-funded by a further £150 million from Departments.
Exit schemes will enable delivery of leaner, smarter, more efficient government, whilst delivering savings over the medium term.
Departments will bid for funding from this central pot in order to run exit schemes, and therefore the exact details of how this will be spent is not yet known.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Government Procurement cards have been issued to staff in her private office.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
2 Government Procurement cards have been issued to Private Office staff.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which government departments have undergone efficiency assessments by the Office for Value for Money.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Value for Money is working with departments to root out waste and inefficiency. It will do this by working with departments to agree stretching and realistic technical efficiency targets, underpinned by robust delivery plans.
All departments and their arm's-length bodies are in scope for this piece of work.
The Office will target areas where it can have the most impact, rather than duplicating the work of others. It is the role of the Crown Commercial Service to review framework agreements.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what role the Office for Value for Money plays in assessing the efficiency of government procurement processes; and whether it has been involved in reviewing framework agreements.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Office for Value for Money is working with departments to root out waste and inefficiency. It will do this by working with departments to agree stretching and realistic technical efficiency targets, underpinned by robust delivery plans.
All departments and their arm's-length bodies are in scope for this piece of work.
The Office will target areas where it can have the most impact, rather than duplicating the work of others. It is the role of the Crown Commercial Service to review framework agreements.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing structural changes to efficiency oversight as part of the 2025 Spending Review.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This government is committed to spending taxpayers’ money efficiently. At the first phase of the Spending Review for 2025-26 it set a 2% target for efficiency, productivity and savings for all departments.
Phase 2 of the Spending Review (2026-2029) goes further with departments undertaking a line-by-line review of existing day-to-day budgets for the first time in 17 years. Departments are expected to identify a minimum of 5% savings and efficiencies against their current budgets freeing up funding to achieve the government’s priorities.
The Office for Value for Money is also advising the Chancellor and me on decisions for the Spending Review, which will include conducting an assessment of where and how to root out waste and inefficiency.
The government will set out its plans on efficiencies at the conclusion of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) inheritance tax payments on Defined Contribution pensions and (b) the loss of the Residence Nil Rate Band on marginal tax rates.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government considers inheritance tax policy carefully and has due regard to several factors, including marginal inheritance tax rates.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report by the NAO entitled The Administrative Cost of the Tax system, published on 10 February 2025, what steps she plans to take to reduce the annual cost to VAT registered traders.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC have acknowledged the findings of the NAO report and emphasised the ongoing efforts to modernise and streamline tax administration. An HMRC Transformation Roadmap will be published in 2025. This will set out HMRC’s vision to be a digital first organisation and outline our plans to extend digital services and tools to provide better customer service for customers, including small businesses, and agents.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 4 of the report by the NAO entitled The Administrative Cost of the Tax System, published on 10 February 2025, if she will instruct HMRC to update its £15.4bn estimate of the cost to businesses of complying with the tax system.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The £15.4bn estimate of the cost to businesses of complying with the tax system contains in the NAO report comes from HMRC’s Standard Cost Model (SCM). This uses an internationally recognised approach to estimating these costs.
The SCM contains data on approximately 2,500 obligations across 27 policy areas, and is largely based on data collected from businesses and agents on the time and costs of complying with regulations.
HMRC is looking to reduce the complexity of the model so it is easier to update which may enable it to produce a more timely estimate of the cost to business.