Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate for each of the past three years of their returns from retaining the proceeds of cashed-in Premium Bonds for up to six days before they are transferred to the holder’s bank account.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
NS&I raises cost effective finance for government from the retail savings market. It does this through offering savings products to consumers, including Premium Bonds. Funds raised by NS&I from these products, including Premium Bonds, flow to the National Loans Fund (NLF). The NLF is the government’s main borrowing and lending account, and to this end, it undertakes borrowing (primarily by issuing gilts via the Debt Management Office) and uses proceeds and other central government surplus balances, including funds from NS&I’s Premium Bonds, to manage its cash needs day-to-day.
The Exchequer’s cash needs are managed on an aggregate basis, meaning funds raised from Premium Bonds are not held in a separate account and do not receive a separate rate of return (which in any case is determined by the market as the government is ultimately a price taker). Therefore, there is not a single rate of return on NS&I proceeds and it would not be possible to provide an estimate of returns from retaining the proceeds of Premium Bonds.
When a customer divests their holdings of Premium Bonds, these repayments are also funded via the NLF’s activities and are typically processed within three working days. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as Bank Holidays, this may take longer. This process allows HM Treasury to manage Exchequer cashflows in a cost effective manner.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Stamp Duty returns to determine the number of house purchases in the last five recorded years by (1) first-time buyers, (2) home owners who are not first-time buyers, and (3) landlords, second home owners and other investors in residential property.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HMRC publishes quarterly and annual Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) statistics. Between 2016-17 and 2020-21 there were 5,284,000 residential SDLT transactions. The full report can be found on the gov.uk website.
Of these, 4,779,000 were transactions by individuals.
The SDLT relief for first time buyers was introduced in 2017. Since introduction, 576,900 transactions have claimed this relief. The full report can be found on the gov.uk website.
This figure does not accurately represent the number of first-time buyers because the temporary SDLT holiday, which ran from July 2020 until September 2021, meant that it was not necessary for first time buyers to claim this relief. In addition, first time buyers who purchase a property above £500,000 or below £125,000 are unable to claim the relief and will not be reflected in these statistics.
The Higher Rates for Additional Dwellings SDLT Surcharge (HRAD) was introduced in 2016 and applies to transactions where the purchaser already owns property. Between 2016-17 and 2020-21, 1,127,500 transactions were liable to HRAD. This figure includes transactions that would subsequently sell their previous main residence and receive a refund of the surcharge paid. 115,400 transactions were refunded between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement on COVID-19 by the Prime Minister on 17 July, what plans they have for the return of staff of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to work in offices.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HMRC follow Government guidelines on social distancing and safe workplaces. HMRC’s current estate capacity is therefore reduced. Use of that space is prioritised for the delivery of services that cannot be completed effectively at home, or for staff who are unable to work at home for personal reasons.
About 5,000 colleagues have been working in HMRC offices throughout the COVID-19 response. Within the limited capacity available, HMRC expect to increase the number of colleagues safely using their offices from August in order to deliver their full range of tax and customs functions and support a returning economy.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurances, if any, they will give to whistleblowers who raise concerns that they are being forced to work while money is being claimed on their behalf under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that their employers, and not the whistleblowers, will be liable for fraud and the recovery of any money obtained illegally.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
In cases of fraudulent claims in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, HMRC will seek to recover funds from the claimant employer.
Using powers that are before this House in the Finance Bill, where the employer is an insolvent company and an individual with management responsibility knowingly made an excessive claim, HMRC will be able to seek to recover funds from that individual.
Whistleblowers can be confident that HMRC will act to protect their confidentiality, and that they will not be liable for recovery. This does not include cases where the employer and employee conspire to defraud the scheme.
Employees can report their suspicions of fraud on HMRC’s tax evasion form, available through GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to open a confidential telephone hotline to encourage whistleblowing on furlough fraud.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The HMRC fraud hotline service has already been updated explicitly to include the facility for the public to report fraud in relation to all relevant coronavirus relief schemes. The service has two main referral routes; the telephony service and the online reporting tool hosted on GOV.UK. HMRC took the decision to close the telephony arm of this service as a result of Government guidelines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the online reporting service can be used until such time as the telephony service can resume.
The online service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and can be completed with the same level of complete confidentiality as the telephony service. HMRC are currently exploring options to safely reopen the hotline telephony service and will do so as soon as is practicable.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions of Trust and Company Service Providers have been initiated by HM Revenue and Customs since 1 January 2014.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not act as a prosecuting authority. All prosecutions are authorised by the relevant independent prosecuting authority and, in making their decision, they consider two tests; whether there is enough evidence to prove the case, and whether it is in the public interest to bring the case to court.
For England and Wales this is the Crown Prosecution Service; for Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service; and for Northern Ireland, the Public Prosecution Service for NI.
No Trust and Company Service Providers (TCSPs), whether supervised by HMRC or another professional body under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, were prosecuted in the period from April 2015 - March 2017. Before this date, HMRC did not collate statistics specifically on investigations or prosecutions involving TCSPs.
However, in the period from April 2015, HMRC has commenced a number of criminal investigations that involve TCSPs, which are at various stages in the criminal investigation process.
These include investigations involving various offences and are not restricted to Proceeds of Crime Act money laundering offences or breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policy is adopted by HM Revenue and Customs in deciding whether to publish details of enforcement actions taken against regulated sectors under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Supervision under the Money Laundering Regulations is a function of HMRC. In making decisions on publication of information about this function, HMRC considers transparency, consistency and confidentiality in determining how best to meet legal requirements. Legislation that informs these decisions includes the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act, the Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act and the Money Laundering Regulations.
As explained in my answer of 20th February, “HMRC does not publish enforcement information broken down by sector as this could prejudice the prevention and detection of crime.”
Information relating to coverage and the likely penalties for non-compliance could be used by criminals to aid them in choosing approaches to attempt to launder money or finance terrorism.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 20 February (HL5284), what assessment they have made of the impact of HM Revenue and Customs enforcement actions in relation to money laundering.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Tackling money laundering is a UK-wide issue and receives a cross-Government response. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) supervises specific sectors, and investigates high risk activity, in close collaboration with other supervisors and law enforcement agencies.
Effectiveness is best assessed in the round. The latest UK national risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing is published on gov.uk[1]. The assessment factors in information about the impact of anti-money laundering activities, including contributions from across HMRC and other organisations.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many enforcement actions have been taken against Trust and Company Service Providers by HM Revenue and Customs since 1 January 2014 under the following categories: (1) criminal prosecutions, (2) fit and proper rejection, (3) suspension, (4) fines imposed, (5) reprimands, (6) undertakings, (7) conditions placed, (8) warnings given, and (9) action plans required.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) supervises businesses across seven sectors under the Money Laundering Regulations, including those Trust or Company Service Providers not already supervised by other bodies.
HMRC does not publish enforcement information broken down by sector as this could prejudice the prevention and detection of crime. HM Treasury publishes aggregate details of HMRC’s enforcement actions in its annual “Anti-money laundering and counter terrorist finance supervision report”.
Asked by: Lord Wills (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings (1) Treasury ministers, and (2) Treasury officials, have had with the Association of British Insurers in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Treasury Ministers and officials meet with a wide range of companies and organisations to discuss relevant issues.
As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available via the gov.uk website.