Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will make an assessment of the (a) prevalence of the use and (b) reliance on the supply of Chinese-made cellular internet of things modules in the UK's finance infrastructure.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK takes its national security extremely seriously, including the security of its critical infrastructure and all sectors of the economy. We encourage all organisations to follow National Cyber Security Centre and National Protective Security Authority supply chain security guidance when selecting a technology supplier. This guidance sets out the considerations that organisations should be making during the procurement process.
For the finance sector, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority have set clear expectations for how regulated firms should manage the risk posed by third parties.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to monitor the potential threat posed by Chinese-made cellular internet of things modules on finance infrastructure.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK takes its national security extremely seriously, including the security of its critical infrastructure and all sectors of the economy. We encourage all organisations to follow National Cyber Security Centre and National Protective Security Authority supply chain security guidance when selecting a technology supplier. This guidance sets out the considerations that organisations should be making during the procurement process.
For the finance sector, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority have set clear expectations for how regulated firms should manage the risk posed by third parties.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with Capita on the potential impact of the cyber attack on their systems on members of the USS pension fund.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not held discussions with Capita on the potential impact to members of the USS pension fund from the recent cyber incident.
HM Treasury has worked closely with the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority, and the National Cyber Security Centre to monitor any impacts in the finance sector of the cyber incident. The financial regulators have engaged directly with Capita.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help support people who (a) took out mortgages before 2008 and are unable to switch to cheaper mortgage deals and (b) are likely to have high interest rates on their new mortgage deals.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has worked with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to implement changes to its mortgage lending rules, removing the regulatory barrier that prevented some customers, who otherwise may have been able to switch, from accessing new products.
Ultimately, the pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders, and the Government cannot force lenders to lend to borrowers that sit outside of their risk appetite. While we remain open to practical and proportionate solutions to help those who may be unable to switch to new mortgage deals, any further work on this issue must consider their effects on the wider mortgage market, including the resilience of firms and fairness to other borrowers.
If mortgage borrowers do fall into financial difficulty, FCA guidance requires firms to provide support through tailored forbearance options. In December, the Chancellor held a roundtable with the major mortgage lenders, the FCA and Martin Lewis to discuss support for vulnerable mortgage borrowers. In this meeting, attendees confirmed the support lenders will provide and the steps borrowers should take to help those who are struggling return to a position where their mortgage is affordable and sustainable over the long term. The Chancellor also made clear his expectation that every lender live up to their responsibilities and support any mortgage borrowers who are finding it tough right now.
The Government has also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest loans for those in receipt of an income-related benefit, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, which makes clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.
More broadly, the Government has taken decisive action to support households across the UK through the cost-of-living challenges ahead, whilst remaining fiscally responsible. In addition to the £37 billion of support for the cost of living already announced for 2022-23, the Government has announced further support for next financial year designed to target the most vulnerable households. This cost-of-living support is worth £26 billion in 2023-24, in addition to benefits uprating, which is worth £11 billion to working age households and people with disabilities. The Government is also continuing to provide support to all households through the Energy Price Guarantee, which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the weekly tax relief of £6 per week for people working from home to mitigate increased gas and electricity costs and other increases to the cost of living.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Eligible employees can claim tax relief on the allowance of £6 per week without the need to provide evidence of expenditure. The amount was increased from £4 per week in April 2020.
As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps tax reliefs under review and any decisions on future changes will be taken in the context of the wider public finances.
Employees who are eligible for tax relief for working from home can claim relief on the actual amount of additional household costs, providing they can provide evidence of the increased amount.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to provide (a) individuals and (b) companies with a certificate of compliance to prove they are IR35 compliant.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The off-payroll working rules (commonly known as IR35) have been in place for over twenty years and are designed to ensure that individuals working like employees but through their own company, usually a personal service company (PSC), pay broadly the same Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) as those who are directly employed.
Following reforms in 2017 and 2021, public authorities and medium and large-sized clients in the private sector are responsible for deciding if the off-payroll working rules apply to an engagement.
Organisations must take reasonable care when making status determinations under the rules and are already required to issue a Status Determination Statement (SDS) for all contractors determined to be working like an employee. Failure to take reasonable care will result in the organisation becoming responsible for the worker’s Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions.
HMRC has undertaken extensive activity to support organisations in operating the rules correctly and have published their compliance strategy for dealing with non-compliance.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to those in receipt of Carers Allowance in the context of the rise in the cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government recognises the difficulties that carers are facing due to the rising cost of living and values the vital contribution made by carers to society. That is why millions of the most vulnerable households, including carers, will receive at least £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living. Nearly 60% of the 1 million working age Carer’s Allowance recipients receive a means-tested benefit, a disability benefit, or both and will therefore benefit from one or both of the £650 Means-Tested Benefit Cost of Living Payment and the £150 disability Cost of Living Payment. Carers with a pensioner in the household will benefit from an extra £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment and carers will benefit from the £400 per household universal support provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Previously announced measures to help people tackle the cost of living will also benefit carers, including cuts to the Universal Credit (UC) taper rate, cuts to fuel duty, raising the NICs threshold, council tax rebates and the rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour.
For carers that are not eligible for Cost of Living Payments or for those that need additional support, the government is providing an extra £500 million of local support, via the Household Support Fund. The Fund will be extended from this October to March 2023, bringing total funding for the scheme to £1.5 billion.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding has been allocated to HMRC to enforce breaches of (a) national minimum wage, (b) coronavirus job retention scheme payments in Budget 2021 compared to (i) the last financial year and (ii) the next three years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
All businesses are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff. Since 2015-16, the Government has more than doubled the budget for compliance and enforcement of the national minimum wage, rising to £27.5 million for 2021-22. The compliance and enforcement budgets for future financial years will be confirmed in due course.
At Spring Budget 2021, the Government announced the Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to expand HMRC’s enforcement activities and tackle non-compliance across the COVID-19 support initiatives. For 2021-22, the Taskforce received £27 million to undertake additional enforcement activity, rising to £55 million for 2022-23.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, covering February, March and April, is immediately available for applications.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant.
The Government also announced a significant change in access to the SEISS. Basing the fourth and fifth grants on 2019-20 Self Assessment tax returns means more than 600,000 people are brought into scope who either became self-employed in 2019-20, or were ineligible for previous grants but now may be eligible for the fourth grant on the basis of submitting their 2019-20 tax return.
Individuals must have submitted their 2019-20 tax return by 2 March to be considered for the SEISS. This date balances access for the vast majority of eligible self-employed individuals, with the duty to protect the taxpayer against fraud as the details of the SEISS grants became public. Using these returns requires time to deliver, due to the increased population and new data.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will open the online claims service for the fourth SEISS grant from late April 2021.
HMRC expect to notify potentially eligible people of their personal claim date from mid-April.
The SEISS is just one part of a wider package of support for the self-employed, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief, and other business support schemes.
Asked by: Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that clinically extremely vulnerable workers who cannot work from home are automatically furloughed by their employers under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government recognises the challenges presented by COVID-19 for all those who have been asked to shield. Individuals who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) and cannot work from home have access to the substantial financial package that the Government has introduced at this difficult time.
The CJRS is available to all employers and employees providing they meet the eligibility criteria, and this includes CEV individuals. The Government has sought to ensure that as many people have access to the CJRS as possible.
CEV individuals should speak to their employer as soon as possible to discuss and agree options on work. The furloughing of staff through the CJRS is a voluntary arrangement entered at the employers’ discretion and agreed by employees. That means it is not for the Government to decide whether an individual firm should put its staff on furlough, or take its staff off furlough; that is a decision for the employer, in consultation with the employee.