Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many enquires were initiated by HM Revenue and Customs Customer Compliance Group in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Compliance checks form one element of HMRC’s broader compliance approach which is increasingly focused on making it easier for customers to get their tax right first time and hard to get it wrong, by investing in its digital systems, simplifying its policies and processes, and improving guidance and support to improve compliance.

The number of compliance checks opened is only one indicator of compliance performance in any year and is not a reliable indicator of compliance activity undertaken or compliance performance when viewed in isolation.

The number of compliance checks opened was not routinely reported prior to 2019-20. From 2020 to 2021, all numbers have been published in the HMRC quarterly performance update here.

Compliance checks may span many years and may range from light-touch single risk checks to complex, multiple risk compliance checks. A compliance check is opened when a risk is opened in a given tax year for a given tax regime.

The number of compliance checks opened and closed by HMRC compliance staff each year will be determined by the risk landscape, its strategic priorities and ministerial commitments.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs has taken to improve tax compliance yield.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The UK tax gap is currently low and stable, falling from 7.5 per cent in 2005 to 2006 to 4.8 per cent in 2021 to 2022.

In 2022 to 2023, compliance action from HMRC secured and protected £34 billion for public services that would otherwise have gone unpaid. 2023 to 2024 compliance yield figures indicate that they are on track to exceed last year’s performance.

HMRC is making it easier for customers to get it right first time and hard to get wrong by investing in digital systems, simplifying policies and processes, and improving guidance and support to improve compliance.

Since 2010, the Government has also introduced over 200 new measures to tackle many different forms of non-compliance. Most recently, at Spring Budget 2024, the government announced a new package of measures to tackle the tax gap, which will raise over £4.5 billion over the next five years.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the total cost to the public purse for removing (a) RAAC and (b) asbestos from schools in England in the (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25 financial years.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Well maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department to support a high-quality education for all children. Responsibility for keeping buildings safe and well maintained lies with schools and their responsible bodies, such as local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary-aided (VA) bodies. The department supports responsible bodies by providing capital funding, delivering major rebuilding programmes and offering guidance and support.

The government is funding the permanent removal of RAAC present in schools and colleges either through capital grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme. The 2021 Spending Review announced a total of £19 billion of capital funding to support the education sector between the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years. Funding for RAAC during this spending period will be managed from unallocated departmental capital budgets and will not involve cutting existing commitments.

The scope and cost of each RAAC project will vary depending on the extent of the issue and nature and design of the buildings. The department is working with settings to conduct the necessary technical assessments as quickly as possible to scope and progress the works needed. The total costs will not be known until all building works have been carried out.

With regard to asbestos, the department expects all local authorities, governing bodies, and academy trusts to have robust plans in place to manage any asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties. The department follows advice from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that as long as asbestos is in good condition, well protected and unlikely to be damaged or disturbed, it is usually safer to manage in place.

In many cases, asbestos will be removed as part of wider rebuilding or refurbishment work and annual condition funding can be used to remove asbestos where required. The department has allocated over £17 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in each year of the 2021 Spending Review period. Decisions on spending are primarily taken locally by responsible bodies, so the department does not hold data on the total cost of spend on asbestos removal. Where asbestos needs to be removed as part of work to mitigate RAAC, based on professional advice, the department will work closely with responsible bodies to help them do so.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff worked in his Department’s Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt unit in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Please see the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) numbers for Counter Fraud Compliance & Debt (CFCD) and its predecessor Counter Fraud & Compliance (CFC). To ensure compliance with GDPR, seven years of data is the maximum that we hold.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent staff were employed in HM Revenue and Customs Customer Compliance Group for each of the last ten years for which figures are available.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has committed to ensuring HMRC has sufficient funding to maintain its compliance performance over time, while continuing to make efficiencies. Within Customer Compliance Group, staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked.

HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information for 2023 to 24 will be available in 2024. HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to end gazundering.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government’s future legislative agenda will be set out in the usual way.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the NHS of the use of illegal drugs.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Dame Carol Black’s review of evidence related to drugs, published in February 2020, estimated the cost to the National Health Service of illegal drug use at £431 million per annum. This includes admissions in secondary care, prison treatment and infectious disease. However, this figure does not include other NHS costs such as primary care or accident and emergency usage so will be an underestimate.

Government surveillance of bank accounts

World Press Freedom Day

Two-child benefits limit

Civil Service Pay

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