Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the United Kingdom's contribution to the European Union Budget and off-budget expenditure, including overseas aid administered by the European Union is subject to the Government and Resources Accounts Act 2000; and whether they have assessed the compliance of their contribution with that Act.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The United Kingdom’s contribution to the European Union budget is accounted for within the Consolidated Fund and disclosed in Notes 5 and 11 to the accounts. The Consolidated Fund is prepared by HM Treasury under the National Loans Act 1968. The Consolidated Fund accounts are publicly available on the gov.uk website. [1]
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-central-funds
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the consent of the European Union is required before the sale of the government holding in Eurostar can proceed; and if so, why.
Answered by Lord Deighton
As made clear at the time of the announcement, completion of the sale of Eurostar is conditional on regulatory approval, including EU competition clearance. This is because the transaction constitutes a change of control under Regulation 139/2004 and as such falls under the jurisdiction of the European Commission.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 24 February (HL4914) concerning public sector pay, whether they plan to revert to free collective bargaining in the public sector after 2015–16; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Pay awards in the main public sector workforces are set following recommendations made by independent Pay Review Bodies to the government. The Pay Review Bodies take written and oral evidence from the government, employers and trade unions in making their recommendations on pay.
The Review Bodies operate in the public interest by offering a transparent, independent mechanism to inform pay setting for key workforces in the public sector. All parties can put forward their views on pay and independent recommendations are then publicly offered to government.
Different mechanisms are always possible, and have been used in the past, but the Review Body system has proved its value over decades in balancing the interests of all the different parties – notably workforce, employers and government – for workforces where there is a strong and continuing public interest in the outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the call by the Prime Minister at the British Chambers of Commerce Conference on 10 February for salaries and wages in the private sector to be increased, whether they will now arrange for the caps on the salaries and wages of public sector employees to be lifted; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement 2011 that for the two years following the public sector pay freeze, public sector pay awards will average at 1 per cent. At Budget 2013 it was announced that awards in 2015-16 will be limited to an average of up to 1 per cent.
The government has made no decisions on pay policy beyond 2015-16. Decisions on future pay policy will be made at the next spending round.
Pay restraint is one of the many difficult choices the government has had to make to help put the UK's public finances back on track. It is helping to protect jobs in the public sector and support the quality of public services.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider proposals by the European Commission for regulations to allow the break-up of banks in the European Union to be in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Government considers that while structural reform provides substantial benefits even if applied at a national level, there may be arguments for unifying the objectives and standards of bank structural reform across the EU. Uniform objectives and standards reform could reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage and help promote a level playing field for banking in the EU. Furthermore, the Government considers that the derogation clause and degree of supervisory discretion proposed would be sufficient to ensure that the subsidiarity principle is applied.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the suggestion by the Governor of the Bank of England that the Eurozone should pursue fiscal integration; and what they consider would be the implications for the United Kingdom and its membership of the European Union if such a policy were introduced.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Treasury continually monitors economic developments in our trading partners as part of the normal policy process. The economic uncertainty that emanated from the euro area crisis had a chilling effect on the UK’s own recovery. The Chancellor has long made clear his view that there is a remorseless logic which means that the euro area, like any single currency, needs closer economic and fiscal integration to secure its future. At the same time, the UK Government has been clear that it will not be part of closer integration and will protect the interests of those outside the single currency, especially in relation to the Single Market.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what would be the financial effect of abolishing stamp duty on house purchases and replacing it with a form of Schedule A tax on owner-occupied houses; and whether such a policy would benefit house buyers, especially first-time house buyers.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) raised £9.4 billion in 2013-2014, of which £6.45 billion was from residential property transactions. Total SDLT receipts are expected to increase over the coming years, reaching £19.5 billion by 2019-2020 according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. This revenue would be foregone if SDLT was abolished. Robustly assessing the effect, including the financial effect, of introducing a form of Schedule A tax, based on imputed rents, to replace SDLT, would incur a disproportionate cost.
At the Autumn Statement 2014, the Government announced a radical reform of SDLT on residential properties to make it more efficient and fairer, ensuring that SDLT will be cut for 98% of people who pay it. The old structure of SDLT created distortions in the housing market and acted as a brake on aspiration as those wishing to move onto or up the housing ladder were met with large increases in tax when properties fell into higher tax bands. The new system will provide help to first time buyers and aspirational homeowners wishing to move up the housing ladder.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 6 January (HL3478) concerning the Government Employee Pensions liability, whether the £1,171.6 billion is part of, or additional to, the national debt.
Answered by Lord Deighton
We can confirm that the £1,171.6 billion Government Employees Pensions liability is additional to the national debt.
The WGA produce consolidated accounts of all public sector bodies based on internationally recognised accounting standards. The amount shown includes the pension liability for central government, local government, police, fire, teachers, NHS and Armed Forces staffs. It also includes public corporations.
A reconciliation between the Public Sector Net Debt figure, and the WGA Public Sector Net Liabilities figure, can be found at Chapter 3 of the 2012-13 Whole of Government Accounts.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support a policy of quantitative easing by the European Central Bank; and if so, what would be the implications for the United Kingdom if such a policy were implemented.
Answered by Lord Deighton
It is for the ECB Governing Council to decide the appropriate monetary policy stance for the euro area.
Asked by: Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 9 December 2014 (HL3168), what steps they are taking to ensure that legislation is properly drafted such that Parliament's intentions are clear with regard to taxation.
Answered by Lord Deighton
In 2010 the government introduced ‘The new approach to tax policy making’[1] with the aim of improving the predictability and transparency of tax policy making. This commits to early and continuing engagement through all stages of tax policy development. As set out in the Tax Consultation Framework[2], the government will commonly consult on tax issues, why change is needed, what it is intended to achieve and on the legislation itself to ensure it achieves that intention. As part of this, the government publishes the majority of Finance Bill clauses in draft 3 months in advance of the bill’s introduction into Parliament. For example, on 10 December this year, the government published 315 pages of draft legislation[3] for consultation with the aim of ensuring that legislation in Finance Bill 2015 is clear and works as intended.