Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much infrastructure spending they have committed in relation to the Oxford–Cambridge Arc (Ox–Cam Arc); and in what years such spending will take place, broken down by (1) rail, (2) schools, (3) hospitals, (4) housing, and (5) other categories.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government recognises the importance of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as a globally renowned hub of innovation, with businesses and universities that are leading the way in life sciences, space and green technologies. Businesses from these fields will benefit from this Government’s investment in R&D, that will deliver £20bn by 2024-25 with an increase of £5bn over the Spending Review period.
This question has been interpreted as requesting details on spend associated with the OxCam Growth Programme.
In October 2021, the Government completed a 12-week public consultation gathering views to shape a vision for an Arc Spatial Framework. The results from this consultation are currently being considered and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will provide more information in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent the withdrawal of ATMs ahead of the proposed powers in the Financial Services and Markets Bill coming into effect.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, and remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash.
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre. Furthermore, LINK operates a scheme to enable communities with poor access to cash to request an ATM.
The Government intends to introduce legislation on cash access as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill when Parliamentary time allows. The Government recently published a summary of responses to the Access to Cash consultation, setting out the government’s planned approach to legislating for access to cash.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prospect of recovering money claimed fraudulently from the (1) Coronavirus Job Retention scheme, (2) Self Employment Income Support scheme, and (3) Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HMRC are taking a proportionate approach to recovering overclaimed grants, rather than actively seeking out claimants who have made small mistakes.
In the year 2020-21, HMRC recovered around £500 million. This is in addition to losses of circa £200 million being prevented by not paying out on suspicious claims. In addition, claimants made repayments of around £350 million in 2020-21 to correct claims they had got wrong.
The Government has invested over £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce made up of 1,265 HMRC staff to combat fraud in the schemes. The taskforce is forecast to recover a further £1 billion from the schemes in the two years until 31 March 2023.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what loans they have made available to (1) local authorities, and (2) mayoral authorities, through the UK Infrastructure Bank.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) is open in interim form and can support lending of £4 billion in total to local authorities. The UKIB is in discussion with several local authorities about potential opportunities and is open to further proposals. The UKIB is operationally independent and assesses deals in line with its investment principles.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the devolved administrations about their levelling up agenda.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The UK Government is committed to levelling up all regions and nations of the UK. We regularly work and engage with representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the devolved administrations on a wide range of topics, including the levelling up agenda.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with public authorities about their levelling up agenda.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Government Ministers and officials regularly meet with a wide range of local government stakeholders, including through MHCLG’s M9 Mayoral Group roundtables, and regional stocktakes. In addition to these and other engagement forums, the government draws regularly on views from across stakeholders, such as through the formal representation process around fiscal events, such as the recent Spending Review and upcoming Spring Budget.Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received about their plans to restore Crown Preference in insolvency proceedings from December.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Reforms to HMRC’s preferential creditor status will not restore Crown Preference. The Government has taken a proportionate approach, applying changes only to taxes paid in good faith by employees and customers, but held temporarily by the business, including Pay as You Earn (PAYE) Income Tax and VAT. Since reforms were announced at Budget 2018, officials and interested parties have maintained productive and fruitful discussion. The Government held a formal consultation between February and May 2019, seeking views from businesses, lenders and insolvency practitioners. Having balanced the interests of taxpayers, the Exchequer and other creditors, the Government believes these reforms take a fair and proportionate approach. This measure was legislated for in Finance Act 2020, to take effect from 1 December. |