Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have refused to answer freedom of information requests from <i>The Guardian</i> in relation to non-UK migrant families.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Guardian has received responses to their requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they instructed local authorities not to disclose the contents of their submissions for the Comprehensive Spending Review; and, if so, why.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Her Majesty’s Government has not instructed local authorities on the matter of disclosing the contents of their submissions for the Comprehensive Spending Review. Local authorities are free to publish the contents of their submissions and many have chosen to do so.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff are employed by HM Revenue and Customs to enforce the national minimum wage; how many cases have been brought since 7 May 2014 in respect of alleged failure to pay the national minimum wage; and what is the total amount of fines (1) imposed, and (2) collected, since 7 May 2014 in respect of cases of failure to pay the national minimum wage.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker.
There are currently 232 staff working in National Minimum Wage for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), up from 171 at the start of 2014/15. The government takes the enforcement of National Minimum Wage very seriously and has increased funding from £8m in 2013/14 to £13.2m in 2015/16.
Civil penalties were introduced on 6 April 2009 for employers who are found to have underpaid their workers. The following table provides a breakdown of penalties issued by year:
Year | Penalties issued |
2009-10 | £111,183 |
2010-11 | £520,568 |
2011-12 | £766,807 |
2012-13 | £776,517 |
2013-14 | £815,269 |
2014-15 | £934,660 |
The vast majority of employers pay penalties upon being issued with a Notice of Underpayment. Where they do not, HMRC will seek to recover through the civil recovery route.
In the period 2009/10 –2014/15, HMRC issued penalties totalling nearly £4m, of which less than 2% is currently uncollected and is being actively pursued through civil recovery processes.
HMRC do not hold data in a format to be able to provide information on unpaid arrears for the time range specified. It is not possible to identify a specific timescale of when a penalty was issued in relation to the time debt management processes took place.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the impact on Newcastle International Airport of the proposal to devolve power to the Scottish Government to determine the level of Air Passenger Duty for travellers using Scottish airports.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The impact on Newcastle airport will depend on a number of decisions following the devolution of air passenger duty (APD) to the Scottish Parliament.
The date that APD is “switched off” in Scotland will depend on discussions on the over-arching Fiscal Framework to be agreed between HM Government and the Scottish Government. It will also depend on the readiness of the Scottish Government to assume the fiscal responsibility of having the power to charge its own tax devolved to it. The Scottish Parliament will have the power to introduce its own APD, with rates at the levels it chooses.
In response to the concerns voiced by airports about the potential impacts of devolution, the Government will publish a discussion paper exploring the options for supporting regional airports from such effects. The discussion paper will be published by the summer.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the increase in VAT has yielded in each year since 2011.
Answered by Lord Deighton
In the Budget of June 2010 it was forecast that the VAT rate increase would raise £3bn in 2010-11, £12bn in 2011-12, and a further £13bn each year from 2012-13 to 2014-15. No current estimate has been made of how much the increase has yielded in each year since 2011.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current annual cost to the Exchequer of tax relief at the standard and higher rates of tax respectively on contributions to private pensions.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Tax relief on pension contributions is the primary means by which the Government incentivises saving for retirement. The estimated exchequer cost arising from income tax relief on contributions made to private pensions and relief on the investment returns to private pensions in 2012-13 was £34.8bn[1]. Income tax on pensions in payment in the same year was £12.0bn, resulting in a net cost of pensions tax relief of £22.8bn in 2012-13.
[1] This is published in HMRC National Statistics table PEN6, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/registered-pension-schemes-cost-of-tax-relief
Figures for 2012-13 are the latest available.
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of the proposals to dispense with the 55 per cent charge or inheritance tax on lump sums derived from drawdown or other pensions.
Answered by Lord Deighton
This government believes that people who work hard and save all their lives should be able to pass on their pension pot to the next generation.
From April 2015, individuals will be able to pass on their unused defined contribution pension savings to any nominated beneficiary when they die, instead of paying the 55 per cent charge which currently applies. If the individual dies before age 75, the beneficiary will pay no tax on the funds. If they die after age 75, the beneficiary will pay their marginal rate of Income Tax, or 45 per cent if the funds are taken as a lump sum payment. From April 2016, lump sum payments will also be taxed at the recipient’s marginal rate. Additionally, from April 2015, any future payments from joint life and guaranteed term annuities will be tax free for beneficiaries of any individuals who die under the age of 75.
The forecast Exchequer cost of these changes is £50 million in 2015-16 rising to £185 million in 2019-20. This has been published on page 46 of the ‘Autumn Statement 2014 policy costings’ document with the relevant table copied below:
Exchequer impact (£m)
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | |
Defined Benefit Transfers | 0 | +95 | +180 | +255 | +325 | +295 |
Reduced Annual Allowance and Small Pots Rules | 0 | +15 | -50 | -115 | -120 | -120 |
Death Benefits and Joint Life Guaranteed Annuities | 0 | -50 | -155 | -165 | -175 | -185 |
Total | 0 | +60 | -25 | -25 | +30 | -10 |
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 17 November (HL2586), whether they will make available the customer research into the way data on public expenditure statistics were presented in the letters to taxpayers intending to show how income taxes are spent; and why no reference was made in those statements to indirect taxation such as VAT.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Government introduced tax summaries to make personal taxes more transparent and easier to understand. Tax summaries do not include VAT and other indirect taxes as the Government does not keep records of these in relation to individuals. To do so would require costly and intrusive monitoring of an individual’s spending patterns.
HMRC undertook extensive customer research of a range of tax summary prototypes to test whether taxpayers found the information clear and comprehensive. The research is available on the Gov.uk website[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-tax-transparency-customer-research-and-testing
Asked by: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the justification for aggregating a range of welfare benefits in the annual tax statements now being published rather than differentiating between different categories.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The categories in the tax summary are based on those used in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA), which are internationally recognised categories. Based on customer research, some headings have been simplified to make them easier to understand, such as the inclusion of social protection in welfare. ‘State pensions’ was separated from the ‘welfare’ category because it is a substantial area of spend.