Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria HMRC applies when deciding whether to suspend penalties for failures to take reasonable care in complying with off-payroll working rules; and whether those criteria differ between government departments and private sector businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Where a customer has filed an inaccurate return because of a careless error, including where this relates to the Off-Payroll Working rules, a penalty may be chargeable.
For careless penalties HMRC applies the same criteria to all customers, whether in the public or private sector.
HMRC will always consider whether a careless penalty can be suspended.
To suspend a penalty, HMRC must set at least one suspension condition. The condition(s) must meet the criteria set out in HMRC’s guidance at CH83153.
Further information on how HMRC decides whether to suspend a penalty can be found in its publicly available guidance at CH83120.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans her Department has to support the provision of affordable, reliable broadband to households in rural constituencies that remain outside commercial fibre rollout plans and face high connection costs; what funding and delivery timescales are available for those households; and how the needs of older and vulnerable residents who rely on telecare are taken into account.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Project Gigabit is the government’s programme to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to UK premises that are not included in suppliers' commercial plans. This is in support of the government’s objective of reaching at least 99% of UK premises by 2032.
For Boston and Skegness, approximately 9,590 premises are included in a Project Gigabit Contract with Quickline covering Lincolnshire and East Riding of Yorkshire, of which approximately 3,890 premises have already been given access to a gigabit-capable connection. This contract will deliver until 2028.
Building Digital UK (BDUK) regularly publishes premises level data on current and future coverage, as well as premises in Project Gigabit planned delivery in England and Wales: Open Market Review (OMR) determinations and BDUK plans - GOV.UK.
For premises where a fixed gigabit-capable connection may be too expensive to deploy, alternative technologies such as fixed wireless access (FWA) and satellite broadband can offer reliable connectivity options. The government continues to monitor and support the development of this market, including encouraging spectrum releases and ground station deployments, with many remote premises are already adopting these services.
Telecare can be provided over both broadband and mobile connections. Most telecare is currently being upgraded by providers to 4G enabled telecare, with some using broadband as back-up or alternative form of connectivity. Customers that use broadband enabled telecare can use this on both copper, mixed fibre and copper, and fibre connections.