Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support are they giving to the Fair Tax Mark certification scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government is committed to ensuring all businesses pay their fair share of tax in the UK and has taken significant steps to ensure that this objective is realised. This includes introducing the Diverted Profits Tax in 2015, the Interest Restriction Rules in 2017, and the Digital Services Tax from April 2020.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are responsible for the administration of the UK tax system. HMRC use the most appropriate, cost-effective, and high-impact methods to support all taxpayers in complying with their obligations, and impose sanctions on those who do not.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of fraud that has taken place in relation to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and what action they are taking in response.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Using the very limited useful evidence available at the time from labour market programmes and HMRC’s knowledge of the characteristics of organised fraud, HMRC’s early view of the level of error and fraud on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is that it could range from five to ten per cent. This analysis has been used to help HMRC to design the schemes and calibrate their compliance work.
Following the granting of Royal Assent for the Finance Act on 22 July, HMRC now have the legal powers to carry out investigations into suspected CJRS fraud. Before then, HMRC carried out more than 5,000 targeted calls to high-risk cases, to reduce the chance of further error and make clear that HMRC would be investigating excessive claims.
The Finance Act gives employers a 90-day window to correct claims. HMRC are writing to every employer where they have concerns from the data HMRC hold that they may have overclaimed. By the end of November, HMRC will have written to about 27,000 people prompting them to use the opportunity to self-correct.
Starting this month, HMRC will also conduct up to 10,000 one-to-one interventions. This will include cases where HMRC have received information through their fraud hotlines. HMRC’s priorities are to support those correcting a genuine error, while taking action against those who have deliberately sought to abuse the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the size of the tax return backlog; and when they estimate to complete processing those returns.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HMRC currently have 57,000 2019-20 Self-Assessment tax returns on hand and aim to process 99% of these by the end of December; this is in line with previous years.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the balance of economic output throughout the UK's nations and regions.
Answered by Lord Bates
In 2017, 76% of UK economic output was generated outside London. Since 2010, 60% of the increase in UK employment has come from regions outside London and the South East and of the 11 nations and regions outside of London, eight have seen higher productivity growth than London since 2010.
This government continues to support the unique needs of regional economies. We are continuing to back further devolution where appropriate, enabling local areas to take strategic decisions about local priorities, and we are investing in all parts of the UK, for example through the £12bn multi-year Local Growth Fund, which continues to support a range of productivity focused investments across England.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they give to credit unions.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government remains committed to supporting credit unions, which provide vital services to financially under-served communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector.
At Autumn Budget 2018, the Chancellor announced a two-year pilot of a new prize-linked savings scheme offered through credit unions. This will support the credit union sector through increased membership, awareness and deposits, as well as encouraging participants to build up savings to help them cope with financial shocks.
The Chancellor also announced a new £2 million challenge fund to promote innovative solutions from the UK’s Fintech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. This follows the success of last year’s Rent Recognition Challenge, where Government backing has supported UK Fintechs to successfully develop and roll out digital solutions for incorporating rental data into credit scores.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the structural economic disparities in the UK that affect social mobility.
Answered by Lord Bates
Income inequality is lower than it was in 2010, supported by gains in the employment rate since the financial crisis. Growth in employment rates has particularly benefitted the poorest fifth of households, whose employment rate is now more than 7 percentage points higher than in 2007/08 – more than anywhere else in the income distribution.
The UK has the 5th lowest level of persistent poverty in the EU. Furthermore, the most recent analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions has shown that, of those surveyed in 2015-16, 53% of those in the bottom income quintile in 2010-11 were in a higher income quintile in 2015-16.
The government is also taking steps to improve education for every child – with 95% of all early years’ settings now rated Good or Outstanding – up from 68% in 2010; the attainment gap is narrowing; record rates of disadvantaged 18 year olds are getting into university; and the Chief Ofsted inspector said in her latest annual report that ‘more education funding [is] now being directed at disadvantaged pupils than more affluent ones, addressing historic inequities’.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people in the UK that are unbanked.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Treasury does not make assessments of the number of people who do not have a bank account. However, in 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority published the results of the Financial Lives Survey which found that 1.3 million UK adults were unbanked, i.e. have no current account or alternative e-money account.
The Financial Lives Survey report contains further information on the characteristics of the unbanked and their preferences to have a bank account. The report analyses survey results across the four nations of the UK, the nine regions of England, and by rural and urban areas. The FCA intend to repeat the Financial Lives Survey on a regular basis in future.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to regulate the use and trading of cryptocurrencies.
Answered by Lord Bates
The government published the joint HM Treasury – Financial Conduct Authority – Bank of England Cryptoassets Taskforce report on 29 October alongside the Budget.
The report commits the authorities to taking a range of actions to mitigate the risks posed by cryptoassets to consumers and markets, while still allowing innovation to thrive.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk to those using cryptocurrency exchanges of being targeted by cybercriminals.
Answered by Lord Bates
This Government is taking the increased use of cryptoassets seriously. We want to harness the potential benefits of the underlying distributed ledger technology, while managing the risks posed by developments in cryptoassets to consumers and markets.
The Government has set up a Cryptoasset Taskforce comprising of HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority. The Taskforce’s objectives include exploring the impact of cryptoassets, and the potential benefits and challenges of the application of distributed ledger technology in financial services. It will also assess what, if any, regulation is required in response. The Taskforce will deliver a report in September 2018.
HM Treasury is also liaising with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre to better understand their approach to the cyber security risks to consumers of cryptoassets.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many contractors are registered with the Construction Industry Scheme.
Answered by Lord Bates
The number of registered contractors who were active in the financial year 2016-17 was approximately 175,000.