Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total value of outstanding unclaimed Premium Bond prizes; how many of those are £1 million prizes; and what efforts are made to trace the winners of such unclaimed prizes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As of July 2019, there are currently 1,905,681 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worth £69,850,900. NS&I considers a prize as unclaimed when it has not been paid to or cashed in by the Bond holder within 18 months of the prize being issued.
There are no £1 million prizes unclaimed. NS&I undertakes regular media activity to raise awareness of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes. NS&I also encourages customers to have Premium Bonds prizes paid directly to their bank accounts to reduce the risk of prizes going unclaimed.
Table: Total value and number of unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes
Unclaimed |
| Number of prizes unclaimed | Prize value |
NS&I definition of unclaimed prizes (prizes issued up to and including July 2019) | 1,905,681 | £69,850,900 | |
Industry standard definition of unclaimed prizes (prizes issued up to an including January 2006) * | 397,951 | £23,049,075 | |
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing auto-enrolment for employee share schemes.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government believes it is appropriate to allow employers and employees to decide whether to offer and participate in employee share schemes based on their business and individual needs.
Companies can offer shares to their employees in various ways. To encourage wider employee share ownership, the Government offers four tax advantaged share schemes: Save As You Earn (SAYE), Share Incentive Plans (SIPs), Company Share Option Plans (CSOP) and Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI). Where offered, these schemes provide a range of tax advantages for employees who wish to acquire shares in the company for which they work.
Companies offering SAYE and SIPs are required to open the schemes to all employees. CSOP and EMI are discretionary schemes, which means options can be offered to select employees to help recruitment and retention.
The Government keeps all taxes and reliefs under review.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have participated in (1) a Save As You Earn, and (2) a Share Incentive Plan, scheme in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Save As You Earn (SAYE) scheme and Share Incentive Plans (SIPs) are tax-advantaged employee share schemes offered by the Government.
HMRC publishes annual statistics on Employee Share Schemes on GOV.UK[1].
Statistics on participation in SAYE schemes and SIPs for the last four years can be found in the tables below. Figures for 2014-15 are not available due to the introduction of the Employment Related Securities service.
HMRC collects data at the points at which employees enter or leave Employee Share Schemes which is reflected in the tables below. However, HMRC does not hold data on the number of people who hold options or shares within an Employee Share Scheme each year.
For SAYE, data is provided on the number of employees who are granted and exercised options.
For SIPs, data is provided on the number of employees who are awarded or purchase the four different types of shares available. Some employees may receive more than one type of share in a given year.
Table 1 - SAYE
SAYE | Employees granted share options | Employees exercising share options |
14-15 | - | - |
15-16 | 510,000 | 200,000 |
16-17 | 400,000 | 140,000 |
17-18 | 340,000 | 120,000 |
18-19 | 310,000 | 110,000 |
Table 2 - SIP
SIP – employees awarded / purchased | Free shares | Partnership shares | Matching shares | Dividend shares |
14-15 | - | - | - | - |
15-16 | 560,000 | 5,380,000 | 3,920,000 | 870,000 |
16-17 | 140,000 | 4,160,000 | 2,990,000 | 760,000 |
17-18 | 140,000 | 2,890,000 | 2,010,000 | 530,000 |
18-19 | 110,000 | 2,840,000 | 2,050,000 | 500,000 |
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employee-share-schemes-statistics#national-statistics
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what contact they have had from organisations in support of the decision to end the VAT Retail Export Scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government published a consultation on the potential approach to duty-free and tax-free goods following the transition period which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views, and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government is also continuing to meet and discuss with stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The detailed rationale for these changes and a list of respondents to the consultation can be found in the summary of responses to the consultation.
HMRC estimate that VAT Retail Export Scheme refunds cost about £0.5 billion in VAT in 2019 for about 1.2 million non-EU visitors. HMRC also estimate that fewer than one in ten non-EU visitors use the VAT Retail Export Scheme.
In 2019 the ONS estimate there were substantially more EU visitors (24.8 million) than non-EU passengers (16.0 million) to the UK. This implies an extension to EU residents would significantly increase the cost by up to an estimated £0.9 billion. This would result in a large amount of deadweight loss by subsidising spending from EU visitors which already happens without a refund mechanism in place, potentially taking the total cost up to about £1.4 billion per annum.
The final costings will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what forecast they have made of the potential fall in VAT revenue following the end of the VAT Retail Export Scheme on 31 December.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government published a consultation on the potential approach to duty-free and tax-free goods following the transition period which ran from 11 March to 20 May. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with stakeholders to hear their views, and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government is also continuing to meet and discuss with stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The detailed rationale for these changes and a list of respondents to the consultation can be found in the summary of responses to the consultation.
HMRC estimate that VAT Retail Export Scheme refunds cost about £0.5 billion in VAT in 2019 for about 1.2 million non-EU visitors. HMRC also estimate that fewer than one in ten non-EU visitors use the VAT Retail Export Scheme.
In 2019 the ONS estimate there were substantially more EU visitors (24.8 million) than non-EU passengers (16.0 million) to the UK. This implies an extension to EU residents would significantly increase the cost by up to an estimated £0.9 billion. This would result in a large amount of deadweight loss by subsidising spending from EU visitors which already happens without a refund mechanism in place, potentially taking the total cost up to about £1.4 billion per annum.
The final costings will be subject to scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility and will be set out at the next forecast.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was (1) the total number of principal residences sold last year, and (2) the aggregate capital value of any such sales.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This information is not available because principal private residences are mainly exempt from Capital Gains Tax, and hence these details do not have to be reported to HMRC.
However, information is available from Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) returns data, which is focused on the purchaser and type of property, including the consideration amount. The figure will include properties that are new builds and non-private residences (e.g. landlords). HMRC publish this information as Official Statistics in their Annual Stamp Taxes Publication. The latest figures are below:
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Financial Year | Residential |
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Number of transaction (Thousands) | Estimated Property Value (£Millions) | Receipts (£Millions) | ||
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2006-07 | 1,700 | 344,490 | 6,375 |
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2007-08 | 1,532 | 330,465 | 6,680 |
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2008-09 | 814 | 167,945 | 2,950 |
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2009-10 | 898 | 188,350 | 3,290 |
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2010-11 | 881 | 205,365 | 4,040 |
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2011-12 | 917 | 209,355 | 4,215 |
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2012-13 | 928 | 215,180 | 4,905 |
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2013-14 | 1,131 | 269,835 | 6,450 |
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2014-15 | 1,207 | 304,155 | 7,500 |
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2015-16 | 1,184 | 321,530 | 7,310 |
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2016-17 | 1,094 | 300,295 | 8,590 |
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2017-18 | 1,106 | 315,060 | 9,275 |
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2018-19 | 1,036 | 300,040 | 8,370 |
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It should be noted that SDLT ceased to apply in Scotland in April 2015, and in Wales in April 2018.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what rates of interest the Public Works Loan Board charges to local authorities; what security, if any, it requires for such loans; and what are the normal repayment terms for its loans.
Answered by Lord Bates
The rates of interest charged on Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) loans are determined by the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) using a methodology specified by HM Treasury (HMT) in accordance with section 5 of the National Loans Act 1968.
Under section 2 of the Public Works Loans Act 1965, loans to local authorities are automatically secured on all the revenues of the local authority.
The repayment terms of the loans are dependent on the type of loan and repayment method. This can be a mix of principal and interest during the life of the loan, or interest only with the entire principal repaid at the end of the term.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total value of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes.
Answered by Lord Bates
There are currently 337,279 unclaimed Premium Bonds prizes worth £19,553,650.
Premium Bond holders can check if they have any unclaimed prizes on NS&I’s website www.nsandi.com/do-i-have-any-unclaimed-prizes
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many bond holders own the maximum quantity of Premium Bonds.
Answered by Lord Bates
As of 8 November 2018, 517,629 customers hold the maximum £50,000 investment in Premium Bonds.
Asked by: Lord Lee of Trafford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the age profile of Premium Bond holders.
Answered by Lord Bates
Premium Bonds have been on sale since 1956 and for several years customers were not required to provide personal information such as their date of birth. This information is now required from Premium Bonds customers. The age profile of Premium Bond holders where it does hold their date of birth is:
Age (years) | Customers (number) | Customers (%) |
| 767,730 | 4% |
16-24 | 650,048 | 3% |
25-34 | 1,239,173 | 6% |
35-44 | 1,642,628 | 8% |
45-54 | 2,392,024 | 11% |
55-64 | 2,131,474 | 10% |
65-74 | 1,879,853 | 9% |
>74 | 1,492,691 | 7% |
Unknown | 8,734,883 | 42% |