Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of (a) the proportion of people on furlough who are aged under 25 and (b) the number of people aged under 25 who are at risk of unemployment once that scheme ends.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HM Revenue & Customs publish statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme regularly. The latest statistics were published on 1 July 2021 and can be found on GOV.UK.
Figures from these statistics show that on 31 May 2021, 14% of jobs on furlough (or 322,400) were held by an employee aged under 25. These are provisional figures.
HMRC have not made an estimate of the number of people aged under 25 who are at risk of unemployment once that scheme ends.
Recognising the impact the pandemic has had on young people, the Government has put in place a comprehensive package of support to help young people find work. This includes the £2bn Kickstart Scheme, which will create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people, and the new Youth Offer, which provides a guaranteed foundation of support to all 18-24 year olds on Universal Credit in the Intensive Work Search group.
The Government has also made significant investment in skills and training support to help young people build the skills they need to find work. This includes the expansion of traineeships for 16-24 year olds, a bespoke offer for school leavers to take high value Level 2 and 3 courses, and increased apprenticeship incentives for employers, with £3,000 for each new apprentice hired between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish (a) a full list of organisations covered by the public sector pay pause and (b) the criteria used to determine which organisations should be covered by that pay pause.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The public sector pay pause announced at the Spending Review 2020 covers most of the major public sector workforces; Police, Prison officers, School-teachers, Armed forces, National Crime Agency, Senior Civil Service, Civil Service and Judiciary.
Given the unique impact of Covid-19 on the health service, and despite the challenging economic context, the government will continue to provide for pay rises for over 1 million NHS workers. The government will also prioritise the lowest paid, with 2.1 million public sector workers earning less than £24,000 receiving a minimum £250 increase.
In order to ensure fairness and consistency of approach, HM Treasury
expects other public sector employers not covered by the Pay Review Body process or the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, including public corporations and other employers where there is less central oversight of annual pay awards, to respect and comply with the pay pause. Departments and employers should consult the Office for National Statistics classification guidance to confirm whether they are classified as within the public sector.
Pay for Local Government workers and Devolved Administrations is set independently of Central Government and therefore the pause will not directly apply.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment the Government has made of the economic effect of immigration restrictions on EU-based creative workers.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s and EU’s thriving cultural industries. This is why, during our recent negotiations with the EU, we pushed for ambitious arrangements for performers and artists to be able to travel without needing work-permits.
Our proposals were developed in consultation with the UK’s creative industries and would have allowed musicians and performers to travel and perform more easily in the EU and vice versa, however, these proposals were rejected by the EU.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what economic models his Department used to brief (a) officials in the Cabinet Office and (b) members of the SAGE committee.
Answered by John Glen
Throughout the pandemic, economic analysis has been a key part of the advice that ministers use to inform decisions taken in this fast-moving health environment.
The Treasury continues to provide economic analysis to ministers on an ongoing basis as part of policy making and design. The Treasury does not produce formal forecasts for the UK economy. Economic and fiscal forecasting is the responsibility of the independent OBR. They will publish their next forecast on 25 November.
Economic analysis undertaken by the Treasury draws on a wide range of sources, including analysis from external sources such as the OBR, Bank of England and other independent bodies.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library all correspondence between the SAGE committee and the Chief Economist since 1 January 2020.
Answered by John Glen
Government officials work together across departments to understand both the health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Senior officials from other government departments, including the Treasury, attend SAGE as observers to ensure a full understanding of the scientific advice the committee give to government.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what requests he has made to the Office for Budget Responsibility to produce economic forecasts over the next 12 months; and if he will place that correspondence in the Library.
Answered by John Glen
The OBR prepares an economic and fiscal forecast twice in each financial year.
On 11 September, the Chancellor laid a written ministerial statement in the House of Commons stating that he had ‘asked the OBR to prepare an economic and fiscal forecast to be published in mid to late November’, and the specific date (25 November) was confirmed on 28 October.
The OBR publish a log of substantive contact between the OBR and Treasury Ministers, Special Advisers and their private office staff alongside each forecast.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate the Government has made of the number of self-employed workers who are ineligible for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Just over 5 million individuals were assessed for potential eligibility to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme; about 1.6 million of these were assessed to be ineligible.