Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority survey indicating a decrease in savings and investing among UK adults, what steps they are taking to help individuals and families save and invest.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment, to help hard working people save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience.
The Help to Save scheme was launched in September 2018 and is intended to promote financial resilience among working households on low incomes by supporting them to kickstart a regular, long-term savings habit and build a financial buffer for a rainy day.
Individuals can also save up to £20,000 into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) each year, and any savings income received within an ISA is tax free. This, along with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers means that around 85% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income.
However, the Government also recognises that people need support to make effective investment decisions. This is why the Government and FCA are working on a joint review of the boundary between financial advice and guidance to ensure people can access appropriate support with their financial decision-making.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to increase the amount of energy produced by offshore wind.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In November 2023, the Government published core parameters for the sixth Contracts for Difference Allocation Round (AR6), the Government’s flagship renewable energy scheme. The Administrative Strike Price for offshore wind projects in AR6 has increased 66% since the previous CfD round and by 52% for floating offshore wind projects. This will encourage greater investment into UK offshore wind.
In the Autumn Statement, the Government announced the £960 million Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support clean energy manufacturing capacity, including for offshore wind. Additionally, the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme will provide up to £160m to kickstart investment into port infrastructure.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on the development of sustainable aviation fuels.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is focused on stimulating the demand and use of sustainable aviation fuel in the UK. To create demand for SAF, the Government will introduce a SAF mandate in 2025, which aims to deliver at least 10% of jet fuel from sustainable sources by 2030. The second consultation on the design of the scheme is currently open for consultation.
The Government is seeking to kickstart a domestic SAF industry through the £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund to support the development of commercial scale plants. The Government has already awarded funding to five projects and is currently considering applications to the second funding round.
In April 2023, the Government responded to Philip New’s report on developing a UK SAF industry. Officials are now working with industry to develop options for an industry-funded revenue certainty mechanism.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Kickstart scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Kickstart evaluation will continue to assess the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs. The commissioned process evaluation concluded in Spring 2023. We aim to publish the findings shortly.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Derby (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the success of the Youth Offer and Kickstart scheme against their stated aims of supporting those under 25 to find employment.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Evaluations of the Youth Offer and the Kickstart Scheme are ongoing.
The Kickstart evaluation will continue to assess the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs. The commissioned process evaluation will conclude in Spring 2023.
We aim to publish the findings of the Kickstart Scheme evaluation once complete.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to (a) conduct and (b) publish an evaluation of the longer-term outcomes for participants of the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Kickstart evaluation will continue to assess the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs. The commissioned process evaluation will conclude in Spring 2023.
We aim to publish the findings of the Kickstart Scheme evaluation once complete.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals (a) were referred to, (b) participated in and (c) had a job outcome from the Kickstart programme in each financial year it was offered.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 10 February 2023, over 163,000 Kickstart jobs had been started by young people. Below is a table listing the number of individuals who were referred to a Kickstart job, i.e. invited to consider applying to a role, and the number of individuals who started a Kickstart job.
An individual may have been referred to or started a Kickstart job more than once and across different years. Individuals may have commenced a role but moved for personal, local or employer reasons. This includes joining the wider labour market.
As a result, the total number of individuals who started a Kickstart job differs from the total number of Kickstart jobs that were overall started by young people, see table below.
As of 10 February 2023, around 7 in 10 young people were in paid employment 10 months after starting their Kickstart job.
Table 1: Individual referred to a Kickstart job & individuals who started a Kickstart job, for the financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. The figures used are correct as of the 10 February 2023
Financial year | Number of referrals to Kickstart Jobs | Individuals referred to a Kickstart job | Number of Kickstart Jobs started | Individuals who started a Kickstart job |
2020/2021 | 485,000 | 166,000 | 9,000 | 9,000 |
2021/2022 | 2,485,000 | 351,000 | 154,000 | 145,000 |
Total | 2,969,000 | 429,000 | 163,000 | 152,000 |
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the underspend for the (a) Restart and (b) Kickstart schemes as of 7 February 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The last published / audited figures showing the Restart position are from 21/22. |
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Budget | Forecast | Overspend |
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£m | £m | £m |
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21/22 | 333.9 | 343.8 | 9.9 |
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a) Kickstart
Grants were awarded in response to the economy's demand for the creation of additional jobs. Almost immediately after Kickstart launched, the economic situation changed significantly, lowering immediate demand for the scheme.
The Department spend on Kickstart for 21/22 was £855.9m. Surplus funding of £96.9m was returned to HMT at year end. This is in line with the normal budgeting process.
Asked by: Lord Leong (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) rate, and (2) value, of losses since the launch of the Kickstart Scheme in 2020.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Kickstart Scheme has not declared any losses.
The National Audit Office (NAO) report on the Kickstart Scheme was published in November 2021. This report contains details on spend as of the end of September 2021. You can access the NAO report here.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Durham (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of expanding the Help to Save scheme to all Universal Credit claimants and broadening points of access to include credit unions and other providers of low-cost credit.
Answered by Lord Harlech - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Help to Save aims to support individuals to kickstart a regular, long-term savings habit and build a rainy-day savings fund by providing a generous government bonus on savings over four years.
The scheme’s eligibility criteria target working individuals in low-income households, who may be able to save a small amount each month due to their employment or self-employment income. Individuals are eligible to open a Help to Save account if they are: receiving Working Tax Credit; receiving Child Tax Credit and are entitled to Working Tax Credit; or receiving Universal Credit and had take-home pay of £658.64 or more in their last monthly assessment period.
As the scheme is targeted towards working individuals, the Government has no current plans to broaden the scheme’s eligibility criteria.
Help to Save is currently delivered by NS&I on behalf of HMRC. This delivery model provides national coverage with a single provider, maintaining simplicity for scheme participants and providing a single point of entry to the scheme. The Government has no current plans to alter this delivery mechanism to allow credit unions or other providers of low-cost credit to offer Help to Save.