Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will place in the House of Commons Library a copy of the equality impact assessments for each of the tax measures in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics in line with both legal obligations and with our strong commitment to promoting fairness.
In the interests of transparency HM Treasury and HMRC already publish summaries of equality impacts for tax measures being legislated for in the Finance Bill in tax information and impact notes (TIINs).
These can be found under the Autumn Budget 2024 subheading here: Tax information and impact notes - GOV.UK.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.146 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse for changes to the High Income Child Benefit Charge in each of the next five financial years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
It is estimated that reforming the High Income Child Benefit Charge to be charged on a household income basis, with thresholds set to £120,000-£160,000 so that no families lose out, would cost £1.4 billion in 2029-30. This is an internal HM Treasury estimate provided by HM Revenue and Customs and based on Spring 2024 assumptions. The government has announced that it will not proceed with this reform.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost of providing (a) housing and (b) welfare support for people residing in the UK illegally; and what steps she is taking to reduce these costs.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department has made no such estimate. Persons residing in the UK illegally who have no recourse to public funds are not eligible for an allocation of social housing or statutory homelessness assistance.
More broadly, the Home Office is responsible for tackling illegal immigration.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answers of 1 November 2024 to Question 10988 on Treasury: recruitment, of 14 October 2024 to Question 6117 on Department for Transport: Civil Servants and of 4 October 2024 to Question 2937 on Department of Health and Social Care: Civil Servants, how many of the civil servants appointed under exception 1 worked in their previous role for (a) the Labour Party, (b) Labour Together and (c) a Labour Parliamentarian.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As is the case here, where the number of individuals is fewer than 5, we consider that to provide an exact figure would constitute the disclosure of personal data.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling (a) non-religious belief organisations and (b) Humanists to conduct legally binding weddings as religious organisations.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We are aware that non-religious belief organisations, such as humanists, have long been campaigning to conduct legally binding weddings. Given marriage is such a valued part of our society, I hope you will understand that as a new Government we will need time to properly consider our marriage law, including the Law Commission’s 2022 wedding report, before publicly setting out our position.
Asked by: David Smith (Labour - North Northumberland)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on the contents of it's report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State has not had discussions with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman since the report into Women’s State Pension age was published on 21 March 2024.
As Pensions Minister, on behalf of the ministerial team, I had a meeting with the acting Ombudsman on 22 October to discuss the report.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether special advisers in her Department have met representatives of Anacta since the general election.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
All relevant meetings attended by special advisers are declared in the normal way in the department’s quarterly transparency releases.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to tackle (a) fraudulent V62 applications and (b) car cloning.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has robust measures in place to help prevent fraudulent V62 applications being processed. When a V62 application is received for a vehicle for which there is already a registered keeper on record, the DVLA will write to the current keeper to check if they still have the vehicle. If the registered keeper confirms that they are still in possession of the vehicle, the V62 application will not be processed, no new vehicle registration certificate will be issued and further investigations will be made.
The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied.
The DVLA is currently working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments on ways to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime.
Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Wetherby and Easingwold)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of solar farms on soil (a) carbon storage, (b) structure and (c) biodiversity.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of solar farms on soil.
When considering development proposals that affect agricultural land and soils, the Government encourages developers and local planning authorities to refer to relevant Government policies and legislation that aim to protect all soils by managing them in a sustainable way.
The previous Government did not commission research into this space, so it is currently unclear what impact solar panels may have on soil properties such as carbon storage, structure and biodiversity across England. However, a solar farm development near Kenilworth (Honiley Road solar farm) reports that it delivered 135% Biodiversity Net Increase.
Asked by: Sally Jameson (Labour (Co-op) - Doncaster Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent from the public purse on private sector provision of children’s social care in each year since 2010.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes data on local authority spend on looked after children. The latest data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure#explore-data-and-files.
The attached table sets out the amount spent by local authorities on private sector provision for looked after children between 2012 and 2023. Prior to 2012, the methodology for this data set was different and comparisons should not be made. As such, data from previous years has not been provided as part of the answer.