Asked by: Bim Afolami (Conservative - Hitchin and Harpenden)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Government's Plan for Jobs on (a) Hitchin and Harpenden and (b) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to supporting everyone who has been affected by the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the labour market. We want everyone to be able to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market, whoever they are and wherever they live. To meet demand for Jobcentre’s services and to ensure that people looking for work receive the right support, DWP successfully recruited 13,500 new Work Coaches across the country.
Throughout the pandemic the UK Government has provided historic levels of support to the economy – a total of over £400 billion. This includes key DWP programmes as part of the Plan for Jobs, such as Restart and Kickstart alongside other measures to boost work searches, skills, and apprenticeships. Our support was in addition to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Our Plan for Jobs will be complemented by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK. As part of Plan for Jobs in England 137,600 jobs have been started through the Kickstart programme – with 11,600 of these being in the East of England.
We have also launched Way to Work - a concerted drive across the UK to help half a million currently out of work people into jobs by the end of June 2022.
Data for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22 shows that as of 27th March 2022, there was a total of 149,980 starts to a Sector Work Academy Programme (SWAP) nationally.
The employment rate in Hitchin and Harpenden has grown in recent years. Data from the independent Office for National Statistics shows that the employment rate was 81.8% in Hitchin and Harpenden in the latest data (covering Jan 2021-Dec 2021) compared to 75.8% before the pandemic (January 2019-December 2019).
Employment is growing in England – up 30,000 on the quarter and 310,000 on the year to stand at 27.510 million in Dec 2021-Feb 2022, according to ONS figures. Employment in England is up from a low in the pandemic of 27.186 million - though it is below its pre-COVID level, underlining the need for Way to Work to support more people into jobs.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that gambling companies pay back any money incorrectly allocated by his covid-19 furlough policies.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was available to any employer providing they met the eligibility criteria.
HMRC designed the schemes to prevent fraud, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself. HMRC also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid, so they blocked those that were highly indicative of criminal activity.
However, the Government and HMRC always knew they could be attractive to fraudulent behaviour and are taking tough action to tackle this. Anyone who keeps grant money, despite knowing they were not entitled to it, faces having to repay up to double the amount they received, plus interest and potential criminal prosecution.
Where claimants have made a genuine error, HMRC are supportive and reasonable in their approach to recovering overclaimed grants. Claimants are afforded the opportunity to put things right, without fear of sanctions.
All compliance activity is risk based and HMRC do not focus on particular sectors.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many claims were excluded or rejected from the Government covid-19 furlough scheme; and if he will summarise the reasons for exclusion.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has been clear throughout the pandemic that HMRC should prioritise getting vital support to businesses and their employees.
HMRC designed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to prevent fraud before any payments were made, in both how they set the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself.
To qualify for CJRS, employers needed a Pay As You Earn scheme and to submit a Real Time Information (RTI) return. Additionally, for claims with 100 employees or more, employers were required to provide details of the individual employees’ wages.
HMRC also put in place a series of checks on claims before they were paid, so they blocked those that were highly indicative of criminal activity.
As a result, an estimated 21,500 ineligible claims for CJRS were automatically blocked from entering the claims process.
In addition to those that were blocked, a further 3,500 claims for CJRS were rejected in 2020-21 as they showed indications of being linked to criminal activity.
Further checks also included checking claim amounts against employment information already returned to HMRC and capping any excessive CJRS claims to the correct entitlement amount.
Details of HMRC’s prepayment compliance activity for 2021-22 will be released in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts later this year. This will provide the information on blocked and rejected claims for 2021-22.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many live-in carers working under a Health and Care Worker visa have been denied payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HM Revenue & Customs does not hold this information. The rules of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme included employees on any type of employment contract, including full-time, part-time, agency, flexible or zero-hour contracts, providing they met the eligibility criteria. Individuals who employed someone, such as a live-in carer, could claim if they met the eligibility criteria.
Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to recover the emergency funding provided to P&O Ferries during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was available to any employer providing they met the eligibility criteria.
Now that the scheme has closed, current decisions by employers to make employees redundant does not affect previous claims.
HMRC have a statutory duty in respect of customer confidentiality so cannot disclose information on individual customers or businesses as specified in the question.
The Transport Secretary has set out a series of measures to ensure UK ferry operators pay the minimum wage, including actions to prevent fire-and-rehire tactics and working with international partners to deliver national minimum wage corridors. The Transport Secretary has also written to the Insolvency Service asking them to consider whether the P&O Chief Executive should be disqualified as a director.
Asked by: Abena Oppong-Asare (Labour - Erith and Thamesmead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any companies that have been sanctioned by the UK or are owned by people who have been sanctioned by the UK in relation to Russia's invasion of Ukraine received support through the coronavirus job retention scheme; and if he will publish details of these companies.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Company details in relation to those that have been sanctioned by the UK that have benefited from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) are not available.
However, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a list of employers that claimed through the CJRS since December 2020, on 16 December 2021, which can be found on gov.uk:
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to take steps to help protect historic farmers markets from closure.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department engages regularly at official level with the retail markets industry on a range of joint issues affecting markets through the Retail Markets Forum. The Farm Retail Association, which represents farm shops and farmers' markets, is a member of the Forum.
The Government has made permanent the permitted development right, initially introduced as a time-limited right as part of its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, that enables markets to be held by or on behalf of local authorities for an unlimited number of days. The right will help local authorities to encourage economic activity, thereby creating employment and improving the vitality and viability of high streets and town centres.
The Government has provided a comprehensive package of around £400 billion of direct support to the economy during this financial year and last, which has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses and public services in every region and nation of the UK. This package includes business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments. Market traders have been able to benefit from this support package for businesses.
Our £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund announced in the Levelling Up White Paper will be used to restore local pride across the UK by focusing investment on improving communities and place, people and skills, and supporting local business. Local leaders will be empowered to direct funding towards their own, locally identified priorities, whether that be promoting new outdoor markets, reducing litter, graffiti and anti-social behaviour, reviving high streets, supporting local businesses or introducing skills provision to match local labour market need and support those furthest from the labour market.
Ultimately we believe it is for local authorities, not central Government, to make decisions on running, supporting and investing in local markets in their areas.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends of the level of former employees being denied furlough payments for which they are eligible by employers.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Information is not available on the trends of former employees who did not receive furlough payments. HMRC publishes statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS); the latest release was published on 16 December 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-16-december-2021.
CJRS was available to all employers with a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system and to all employees on PAYE, regardless of their employment contract. The key eligibility criteria was that employees had to be on payroll the day before the scheme was announced, so 19 March 2020 for the first and second iterations of CJRS, 30 October 2020 for the third iteration of CJRS, and 2 March 2021 for the fourth iteration of CJRS. Employers also had to have previously notified HMRC, via a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission, about a payment of earnings for that employee.
CJRS grants covered any type of employment contract and employers could claim the grant for the hours their employees and workers on payroll were not working, calculated by reference to their usual hours worked in a claim period. Flexible furlough meant employers could work for any amount of time and any work pattern, while still being able to claim CJRS grant for the hours not worked with reference to hours the employee would usually have worked in that period.
However, employers could not claim for any days from 1 December 2020 during which the furloughed employee was serving a contractual or statutory notice period for the employer. This included people serving notice of retirement or resignation. Normal redundancy rules and protections would have applied in these circumstances.
Ultimately, it was for the employer to decide whether to offer furlough to their employees, and claim the CJRS grant, according to the needs of their business. The employer was under no obligation to access the scheme.
If an employee believes that the employer did make a claim on their behalf, but did not pass this on to the employee, they should tell HMRC.
Reports of COVID-19 scheme abuse can be made to HMRC via their online fraud reporting tool here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/report-fraud-to-hmrc.
Calls can also be made anonymously and free of charge to report suspected fraudulent activity to the COVID Fraud Hotline on 0800 587 5030.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to recover funds that have been lost to fraud related to covid-19 support schemes.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has consistently stated that fraud is totally unacceptable, and we are taking action on multiple fronts to recover money lost to error and fraud and, where necessary, take legal action on those who have sought to exploit the COVID-19 support schemes.
It was right to establish the schemes quickly and in a way that they could be accessed easily by the millions who needed support. Given the unprecedented efforts that the Government has made to protect jobs and livelihoods during this pandemic, it would have been impossible to prevent all related fraud.
In designing the COVID-19 support schemes the Government followed the leading practice of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum on dealing with fraud in an emergency context. The dedicated Government Counter Fraud Function and Centre of Expertise re-prioritised its work to focus on COVID financial support schemes. It provided fraud risk assessment support, offered expert counter fraud advice and created data driven tools to Government Departments to help prevent, detect and recover fraud. The Fraud Function continues to offer post-event assurance support to Government Departments to find and fight fraud.
Robust measures were put in place to control error and fraud in COVID-19 support schemes from their inception. For instance, to minimise the risk of fraud and error and unverified claims, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme were designed around existing data held on HMRC’s systems.
To further bolster anti-fraud measures on HMRC-delivered COVID-19 support schemes, at the Spring Budget last year, the Government invested more than £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of more than 1,200 HMRC staff to combat COVID-19-related fraud. This Taskforce is expected to recover between £800 million and £1 billion from fraudulent or incorrect payments during 2021-22 and 2022-23. In addition, HMRC has so far stopped or recovered £743 million of overclaimed grants in 2020/21.
In respect of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, the Government continues to work closely with the British Business Bank, lenders and enforcement agencies to tackle fraud and to recover as many fraudulent loans as possible. This is on top of the £2.2 billion worth of fraudulent applications that were prevented by upfront checks.
As part of the Spring Budget last year, we announced plans to significantly strengthen enforcement activity against fraudulent Bounce Back Loans, including new powers for the Insolvency Service to tackle rogue directors and investing in the National Investigation Service to investigate serious fraud.
For local authority-administered business grants, local authorities are responsible for ensuring the safe administration of grants and that appropriate measures are put in place to mitigate against the increased risks of both fraud and payment error. Guidance for the grant schemes requires that local authorities have assurance plans in place which set out the steps they would take to minimise fraud. Government has mandated pre-payment checks (company and bank account searches) as well as post-event assurance, and a Fraud Risk Assessment.
Where grants have been paid in error, non-compliantly or to a fraudster, local authorities must seek to recover these funds and return them to BEIS. If local authorities have been unable to reclaim the grant, the case may be referred to BEIS under the Debt Recovery Policy to establish the next steps.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any companies that issued dividends of £1 million or more in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 have repaid or returned support received through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
An estimate of the number of companies that received support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) that issued dividends of £1 million or more in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22, and an estimate of whether any of these companies have repaid or returned support received is not available.
Data on dividends issued by companies and of claims made through the CJRS are not held together in the same system and undertaking the analysis to do the estimate requested could only be done at disproportionate cost to HMRC.