Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is taking steps to provide financial support to women's refuges in Newport West constituency with the cost (a) food, (b) fuel and (c) energy.
Answered by John Glen
This year the government has announced the Energy Price Guarantee, to support household with their energy bills over the winter, and a further £37 billion of support for the cost of living. Next year, vulnerable households in Great Britain will see their benefit payments rise by 10.1% from April 2023.
When people face higher bills in winter, when usage is higher, additional Cost of Living Payments will be made available across the UK in autumn 2023-24 to over 8 million of the most vulnerable households. The government is also providing another £1 billion funding to enable an extension to the Household Support Fund over 2023-24, which will continue to support English Local Authorities in delivering local welfare to vulnerable households.
The UK Government has provided significant support this year to help non-domestic consumers across the UK, including public sector organisations and voluntary sector organisations, such as women’s refuges, with rising energy costs through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS).
Through the EBRS, the government will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 to provide them with the certainty they need to plan through the acute crisis this winter.
An HMT-led review of the scheme will determine support beyond 31 March 2023. Results of the review will be published by the end of this year, with further support to be targeted at those most affected.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Welsh Government on the effect of rising costs of (a) food, (b) fuel and (c) energy on (i) church and (ii) mosques in Newport West constituency.
Answered by John Glen
HMT continues to engage regularly with the devolved administrations. The Chancellor met with the devolved administration First Ministers Mark Drakeford MS and Nicola Sturgeon MSP on Thursday 10 November where discussion included cost of living and rising energy costs and the First Ministers had the opportunity to set out their priorities to the Chancellor.
I also met with the Welsh Government’s Finance Minister Rebecca Evans MS on Monday 14 November and also on Thursday 17 November to provide an overview of the current economic situation in the UK and to hear her priorities for the people of Wales.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help reduce the impact of rising food costs on people living in Newport West constituency.
Answered by John Glen
The Government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of food.
That is why the Government has announced £37 billion of support for the cost of living this financial year. This includes support for over 8 million lower income households through a one-off Cost of Living Payment of £650, with extra support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.
In addition to this package, the Government has introduced the Energy Price Guarantee to support millions of households with rising energy bills this winter, which will help ease cost of living pressures more generally.
In England, the Government has helped vulnerable people with the cost of food and other essentials through the temporary Household Support Fund, which is administered by local authorities. In parallel, the devolved administrations, including the Welsh Government, have received funding through the Barnett formula. It will be for the Welsh Government to decide how to allocate this additional funding.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2025 to Question 64319 on Development Aid, whether the latest fiscal forecasts allow him to plan to restore the UK's Official Development Assistance budget to 0.7 percent of its GNI.
Answered by John Glen
The Government remains committed to the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 and to spending 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance (ODA) once the fiscal situation allows.
In July 2021 the former Chancellor set out the fiscal circumstances under which the UK will make the return to spending 0.7% of its GNI on ODA. This is set out in detail in a written ministerial statement, here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-12/hcws172.
Each year, the Government will continue to monitor future forecasts closely and will review and confirm, in accordance with the Act, whether a return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA is possible against the latest fiscal forecasts.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HMRC in tackling tax avoidance.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and evasion to ensure that everyone, no matter who they are, pays the right amount of tax at the right time. Most tax avoidance schemes simply do not work, and those who use them may end up having to pay much more than the tax they tried to avoid, including penalties.
As a result of the action the Government has taken to clamp down on tax avoidance, the estimated avoidance tax gap has shown a steady decline from £4.8 billion (1.1 per cent of total tax liabilities) in 2005-06 to £1.2 billion (0.2 per cent) in 2020-21.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are employed by HMRC in (a) Wales, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) England and (d) Scotland as of 24 October 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
People employed by HMRC, as of September 2022, in Wales, Northern Ireland, England, and Scotland are shown below:
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) women and (b) Black and minority ethnic people were employed by HMRC in each of the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The number of women employed by HMRC in each of the last five years is shown in Table A below.
Table A:
Year | Employees |
2018 | 35770 |
2019 | 34742 |
2020 | 34257 |
2021 | 33225 |
2022 | 35359 |
The number of black and minority ethnic people employed by HMRC in each of the last five years is shown in Table B below.
Table B:
Year | Employees |
2018 | 5844 |
2019 | 6103 |
2020 | 6487 |
2021 | 6697 |
2022 | 8597 |
To monitor diversity, HMRC asks staff to voluntarily and confidentially record their ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender identity, and carer details on their HR records. The information can be input or updated at any time (either on entry to the department or at any time during employment).
The recording of diversity information is not mandatory, but HMRC asks everyone to consider the importance of recording it for individuals and the Organisation. The information provided for black and ethnic minorities therefore comes with a caveat that it represents only those who have chosen to declare this.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of HMRC's budget.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Treasury Ministers have regular discussions with officials from both HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury regarding HMRC’s finances.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to make his first official visit to Wales.
Answered by Felicity Buchan
The Chancellor of the Exchequer looks forward to an official visit to Wales, and visits to all the devolved nations, in the coming months, when his diary allows.