Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to resume the 2016 valuations for public sector pension schemes which were paused in January 2019.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In January 2019, the Government announced a pause to the cost control element of the valuations of public service pension schemes, due to the uncertainty about benefit entitlements arising from the Court of Appeal’s judgment in McCloud in December 2018.
The Government has committed to addressing the discrimination identified in McCloud in all public service pension schemes, while ensuring all members can keep their accrued benefits. Schemes are currently discussing high-level proposals to achieve this with employer and member representatives, to inform a full public consultation. In addition, Employment Tribunals are considering the remedy for claimants in the various cases. While these processes are underway, the cost control mechanism remains paused as the value of pension schemes to members cannot be assessed with certainty.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2018 to Question 201166 on Tax Avoidance, what estimate his Department has made of the level of self-employment to produce those projections.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The off-payroll working rules ensure that individuals who work like employees pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) as other employees, regardless of the structure they work through. As announced at Budget 2018, the government is extending the earlier reforms to improve compliance with these rules in the private sector. The rules do not affect people who are genuinely self-employed.
The forecast costing was analysed and certified by the independent OBR.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what projections his Department has produced of the tax receipts arising from the changes to IR35 rules as announced in Budget 2018.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The off-payroll working reform in the private sector, announced at Budget 2018, is projected to increase tax receipts by nearly £3 billion over the period 2018-19 to 2023-24. This estimate has been independently assured by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The off-payroll working rules (commonly known as IR35) are in place to ensure that individuals who work through their own limited company (e.g. personal service company) and would have been an employee had they provided their services directly, pay broadly the same tax and National Insurance as other employees.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding his Department plans to allocate to infrastructure development in each region of the Uk in each if the nest two years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This government is committed to ensuring that every part of the country has modern and efficient infrastructure.
Our spending plans are helping to support investments such as the largest strategic road programme ever, over £1 billion to help stimulate the market to build the next generation of digital infrastructure and the biggest rail modernisation since the Victorian era.
Our investment is supporting projects across the country. We are delivering more than £13 billion of investment in the North, improving connectivity through projects like the Manchester to Ordsall rail link and investing in communities with schemes such as the £337 million funding for new trains on the Tyne and Wear Metro.
We are also investing in transformative projects to boost capacity – for instance, HS2 will provide fast, frequent and reliable connections between 8 out of 10 of Britain’s largest cities and their regions.
For further information, a regional breakdown of per-capita central government transport spend in England from 2017/18-2020/21 can be found on page 45 of the 2017 Analysis of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665332/Analysis_of_National_Infrastructure_and_Construction_Pipeline_2017.pdf. The North-West will receive the highest level of investment of any English ONS region.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funding his Department plans to allocate to the provision of ultra-fast broadband in each region of the UK in each of the next two years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The government has committed over £1 billion to stimulate the market to build the next generation digital infrastructure the UK needs for the future. At Budget 2018, the government announced £200 million from the National Productivity Investment Fund to pilot innovative approaches to deploying full fibre in rural locations. This follows previous commitments, including the £400 million Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund, the £67 million Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme and the £190 million Local Full Fibre Networks Challenge Fund, of which the remaining funds will be allocated to successful bidders in the coming months.
The government has also identified around £200 million within the existing Superfast Programme that can further the delivery of full fibre networks.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the assumptions are of his Department, the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England on the interest rates to be paid on the stock of national debt, in terms of debt repayment and total debt, in each year through to (a) 2021-22 and then to (b) 2031-32; and to what extent those assumptions on interest rates differ from otherwise having an effective interest rate of 2.83 per cent in terms of debt interest payment costs.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The information requested is provided in the attached document.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on making the discounts to the Mersey Gateway Bridge toll available to residents of the Wirral.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Transport are looking at the Mersey Gateway local discount scheme following the Chancellor’s announcements earlier this year. An announcement will be made on the discount scheme in due course.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, by when the Government expects to have compiled a list of all people eligible to receive payments as a result of the decision by the Pensions Ombudsman in the case of Mr. W. Milne.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Payments to individuals affected by the ruling are being administered by relevant fire and rescue authorities and police forces. I understand that authorities have identified all affected individuals and are in the process of calculating the payments due. This Government is committed to ensuring a timely resolution to this issue.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to support the recommendation made in the review led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia on women in finance that pay packages for executives be linked to a financial services firm's gender balance.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
The government welcomes Jayne-Anne Gadhia’s work to date and will consider the final recommendations when the review reports next year.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that more women progress to senior levels in the financial services industry.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin
As part of the Productivity Plan, the Government has asked Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, to lead a review into representation of women in senior managerial roles in the financial services industry. Her review will report next year.