Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the threshold at which people are able to take out small private pensions as a lump sum.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The small pots and trivial commutation rules are permissive sets of tax rules which pre-date the pension freedoms reforms introduced in 2015. The rules may allow an individual to access their pension as a lump sum if they are at least 55 years old, or retiring at an earlier age because of ill-health, and the value of the payment does not exceed £10,000 for small pots, or £30,000 for trivial commutation. The rules limit what arrangements can be accessed in this way.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review. Any changes will be announced through the Budget process.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that policies to tackle disguised employment do not adversely affect genuine contractors.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Government policies to tackle disguised employment only apply to individuals who are working like employees under the current employment status tests. They do not apply to the self-employed or stop anyone working through their own company.
HMRC are committed to working with organisations to ensure changes to the rules are introduced correctly. This includes:
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that policies on tackling disguised employment do not encourage the contracting of work to overseas or foreign contractors where HMRC has more limited powers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Government policies to tackle disguised employment only apply to individuals who are working like employees under the current employment status tests. They do not apply to the self-employed or stop anyone working through their own company.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What steps he is taking to ensure equity of funding to help deliver productivity growth throughout the north of England.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We will level up opportunity to ensure every region and nation benefits from growth. I will set out further detail at the Budget including the publication of the National infrastructure Strategy, which will detail the Government’s plan to transform the UK’s infrastructure.
This will build on the £3.6 billion Towns Fund supporting places across our regions, including 45 Town Deals in the Northern Powerhouse.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to provide further support to mortgage prisoners.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
A mortgage prisoner is defined by the FCA as an existing customer that may be experiencing harm because they are unable to switch to a better deal. The Government is aware that these borrowers have been in a difficult and stressful situation. We have worked closely with the FCA to implement their rule change to remove the regulatory barrier that has prevented some customers from switching.
It is expected that lenders will need approximately 6 months to make the necessary adjustments and system changes, after which they will be able to use the modified affordability assessment for borrowers looking to re-mortgage.
I have written to Stephen Jones, Chief Executive Officer of UK Finance to outline my expectation that as many of its members as possible should move quickly to offer new deals to borrowers that are eligible to switch under the new FCA rules.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations were made to his Department by the former hon. Member for North West Durham in advance of the application of the new rates of Vehicle Excise Duty on motorhomes on 1 September 2019.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The department has received a number of representations from both former and current members of Parliament on this issue and I am sensitive to their concerns. The Government is considering the impact of changes to Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) to motorhomes carefully.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the VED treatment of motorhomes under review. Any changes will be considered by the Chancellor and announced at fiscal events.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue has been raised from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) on sales of new motorhomes in each month since 1 September 2019; what the projected figure was for (a) each of those months and (b) 2019-20; and what adjustment has been made to the forecast for VED revenues for 2019-20 from the sales of new motorhomes in the light of sales since 1 September 2019.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Reliable estimates are not available for the Vehicle Excise Duty revenue made from motorhomes for any periods. In order to make an estimate this would only be available at disproportionate cost.
The latest VED forecast was published as part of Spring Statement 2019. No adjustment was made in this forecast due to the sales of new motorhomes from 1st September 2019. To see the VED forecast made at Spring Statement 2019, see page 76 of the latest OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook in the link below:
https://obr.uk/download/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2019/