Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of the UK economy.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The economy grew by 0.8% in Q1, faster than the United States, France, Germany and Italy.
Unemployment is at a near 50-year low of 3.8% for the three months to June, with the total number of pay rolled employees consistently above pre-pandemic levels.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the Welsh Government on the state of the UK economy.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HMT Ministers meet regularly with representatives from the Welsh Government to discuss the state of the UK economy. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the Minister with responsibility for devolved administration funding.
The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury attended a Finance Interministerial Standing Committee meeting on 15 June and a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee on 29 June, together with Welsh Government Ministers, where discussions covered the latest economic outlook. The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury also held a bilateral meeting with the Welsh Government Minister for Finance and Local Government ahead of the F:ISC meeting on 15 June where economic and fiscal matters were raised.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times he has visited Wales since July 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadim Zahawi visited Wales once since July 2022 on the 12 August 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times he has visited Northern Ireland since July 2022.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
In his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadim Zahawi visited Northern Ireland once since July 2022 on 10 August 2022.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many members of staff have left his Department since 12 December 2019.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As at 6th September 2022, for staff who would be included in HM Treasury’s overall reported full time equivalent headcount figures, there have been 879 leavers between 12/12/2019 and 06/09/2022.Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with Ministers in the Welsh Government on the rising cost of living.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
HMT Ministers regularly meet with representatives from the Welsh Government and recent meetings have focussed on the cost of living. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the Minister with responsibility for devolved administration funding.
The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury discussed the UK and devolved governments’ approaches to cost of living on a number of recent occasions, including at the Finance Interministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC) meeting on 15 June and at the Interministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) meeting on 29 June.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to close potential loopholes in the tax system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is committed to tackling tax avoidance and evasion to ensure everyone pays the right amount of tax at the right time.
Since 2010, the Government has introduced over 150 new measures and invested over £2 billion extra in HMRC to ensure it has the resources it needs to tackle tax avoidance and evasion. The Government is not complacent, which is why we have introduced an additional 20 measures since 2021, forecast to raise £6.3 billion over the next five years.