Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individuals in receipt of (1) the pre-2016 and (2) the post-2016 state pension do not receive the full amount.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of the quarter ending May 23,
Source: Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk) Please note, statistical disclosure control has been applied to these estimates to avoid the release of confidential data. Where relevant, totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.
There are a range of reasons for why an individual may not get the full rate of State Pension as the amount of State Pension paid to individuals varies depending on their National Insurance record.
In addition to the basic State Pension (pre-2016) people may also receive some earnings-related additional State Pension. For most individuals reaching State Pension age in the early years of the new State Pension (Post-2016), transitional arrangements apply. Under these arrangements, people could have a State Pension of more or less than the full rate of new State Pension depending on their National Insurance record when they reach State Pension age. The average amounts people receive are available on Stat-Xplore.
It is also possible that some of these people may qualify for income related benefits such as Pension Credit and Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to make regulations under section 493 of the Companies Act 2006 to require public disclosure of the terms of audit appointment.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has no plans to make regulations under section 493 of the Companies Act 2006 to require public disclosure of the terms of auditor appointments.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many contracts they have currently open with Fujitsu, and what their value is.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This information is not centrally held by the Cabinet Office. However, details of central Government contracts with values above £12,000 are published on Contracts Finder: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search.
To collate all of this information would incur a disproportionate cost to the department, especially as contracts are held and procured across multiple Government departments.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many adults in the UK are not expected to pay any income tax in 2023–24.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of adults (people aged 18 and over) in the UK estimated to not pay any Income Tax in 2023-24 is approximately 17.8 million (rounded to 3 significant figures).
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to investigate the rates of saving by UK households.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to incentivising greater saving and investment, to help households save for their future goals and build greater financial resilience.
Individuals can save up to £20,000 into an Individual Savings Account (ISA) each year, and any savings income received on cash within an ISA is tax free. This, coupled with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers, means that around 90% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income. Individuals aged 18 or over but under 40 can also open a Lifetime ISAs to save for buying a first home or for later life.
Last year, the Chancellor also secured agreement from the FCA to review the cash savings market. As a result, the FCA have published a 14-point action plan. Under the plan, firms should ensure they are effectively communicating their full range of suitable savings products to customers.
The Government will continue to monitor the rates of saving by UK households as part of its wider economic monitoring.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, further to the factsheet published on 4 March 2022 which stated that the Register of Overseas Entities “will require anonymous foreign owners of UK property to reveal their real identities to ensure criminals cannot hide behind secretive chains of shell companies, setting a global standard for transparency”, and the implementation of the register on 1 August 2022, they will publish a table showing how many property owners have so far failed to reveal their real identities and the penalties levied upon them for failure to comply with the register’s requirements.
Answered by Earl of Minto - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As of 7 September 2023, over 29,000 overseas entities have registered with Companies House. So far, over 1,200 warning notices have been issued to unregistered overseas entities. Warning notices are a pre-cursor to the imposition of a financial penalty. Financial penalties to the value of around £660,000 have so far been issued. The Government currently has no plans to publish a list of unregistered entities, or the penalties imposed on them. This would distract from the important compliance work currently being undertaken.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish a table showing the UK steel production, steel imports, steel exports, and the investment needed to make the UK self-sufficient in the production of steel.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Measure | Estimate (2022; millions of tonnes) | Source |
Total UK Crude Steel Production | 6.0 | World Steel Association (here) |
Total UK Imports of Semi-Finished and Finished Steel Products (Defined by Harmonised System codes 7206 – 7307) | 5.5 | HMRC Trade Info (here) |
Total UK Exports of Semi-Finished and Finished Steel Products (Defined by Harmonised System codes 7206 – 7307) | 3.4 | HMRC Trade Info (here) |
We have not made an estimate on the investment needed to make the UK self-sufficient in the production of steel, nor are we aware of any such estimates from external sources.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish a table showing the median pre-2016 and post-2016 state pension currently paid to (1) men, and (2) women.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department currently publishes the mean weekly amount of the pre-2016 State Pension and the new State Pension paid to men and women, and this can be found in Table 11 of the latest tables which were published in August 2023 on gov.uk. There are no plans to publish the median weekly amount however we will periodically review this as the new State Pension caseload continues to grow.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what (1) proportion, and (2) number of (a) male, and (b) female, retirees do not receive the full pre-2016 and post-2016 state pension.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
During 2019, a new DWP computer system called “Get Your State Pension” (GYSP) came online to handle State Pension claims. The GYSP system is now handling a sizeable proportion of new claims.
The department has not yet been able to include GYSP system data in our published statistics for State Pension and the number of GYSP cases are too high to allow us to continue to publish State Pension data on Stat-Xplore. We have been providing GYSP estimates based on payment systems data and as a temporary measure, State Pension statistics are being published via data tables only. The latest release in August 2023 contains State Pensions estimates for the quarters to February 2023.
A biannual release of supplementary tables to show State Pension deferment increments and proportions of beneficiaries receiving a full amount was suspended. This release is normally based on a 5 per cent sample of the legacy computer system. Given the absence of GYSP data, the figures are affected by the same issues as described above. The latest available time period for these figures is for September 2020 and can be found in the DWP benefits statistics published in May 2021 on gov.uk.
We are developing new statistical datasets to properly represent both computer systems. Once we have quality assured the new data it will be published on Stat-Xplore, including a refresh of historical data using the best data available.
For more information on these developments, see the State Pension section of the ‘Background information note: DWP benefits statistical summary’ published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the tax revenues which could be raised by aligning the capital gains tax rates with those applied to wages and salaries.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
As set out in the Government’s response to the Office of Tax Simplification's report on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on 30 November 2021, substantial reforms to CGT rates and allowances would involve a number of wider policy trade-offs and so careful thought must be given to the impact that they would have on taxpayers, as well as any additional administrative burden on HMRC.
The Government will continue to keep the tax system under review to ensure it is simple and efficient.