Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the soft drinks industry levy on (a) small businesses and (b) the UK economy.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government published an initial impact assessment alongside the consultation document.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the taxation of travel expenses for councillors in Northern Ireland.
Answered by David Gauke
A new exemption from tax and National Insurance Contributions for councillors’ travel expenses will take effect from 6 April 2016. This was legislated for in the Summer Finance Bill. It will apply to travel expenses paid to councillors across the UK, including those in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has spent to date on legal fees in respect of the case against the Aggregates Levy brought by the British Aggregates Association.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The lawfulness of the Aggregates Levy been challenged in the UK and European courts for over thirteen years by the British Aggregates Association. No court has ever found the levy to be unlawful.
The legal challenges have also caused many years of uncertainty for industry, and have prevented the government from making any significant changes to the levy.
The government’s legal costs are not finalised and are continuing to rise. This should be viewed against over £4 billion (and rising) in levy revenue that the government’s defence is protecting.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reopen the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund for grant applications.
Answered by Danny Alexander
The government announced £15m for a new Listed Places of Worship – Roof Repair fund at Autumn Statement 2014. 1,900 applications have been received for the very successful scheme.
Applications opened on Wednesday 3rd December and closed on Friday 30th January.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints his Department has received concerning the inability of people who have applied for pensioner bonds to have their applications dealt with owing to breakdowns in the website of the agency handling the sale.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 65+ “Pensioner” Bond launch has had the biggest opening sales of any retail financial product in Britain’s modern history. In advance of the launch NS&I doubled the size of their call centres, and have now added further staff to help manage the high call volumes. National Savings & Investment’s website is operating normally. This remains the easiest route by which to invest and provides immediate assurance that an application has been received. Customers can also invest by making a postal application. NS&I publish six monthly total complaint data on nsandi.com.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what value of pensioner bonds have been sold to applicants from (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 65+ “Pensioner” Bond launch has had the biggest opening sales of any retail financial product in Britain’s modern history.
Detailed figures on different aspects of the sale cannot reliably be given for a bond which is still on sale, and this is particularly the case for an issuance of this size.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value was of the pensioner bonds that were issued in the recent sale of those assets.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 65+ Bond remains on sale, and NS&I are taking thousands of transactions every day. The Government made £10bn worth of the bond available. This policy was a huge success - £1,150m of these bonds were sold in the first two days, to over 110,000 pensioners. The information on how many bonds were sold in the 2014/15 year will be made available in NS&I’s annual report.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was paid out in tax credits in 2013-14.
Answered by Priti Patel
Expenditure figures of Tax Credits for 2013-14 are available on the HM Revenue and Customs receipts publication https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/364582/20141015_Sepmonthlyreceipts.xls.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the value of tax credits which were not claimed in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) do not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have been employed in administering tax credits in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Gauke
Resource is flexibly deployed between benefits and credits to meet customer demand. A specific figure for tax credits cannot be provided.