Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of parents in receipt of childcare vouchers (a) will and (b) will not be eligible for tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
In response to the question about the number of parents in receipt of childcare vouchers, I refer the honourable member to my response to Parliamentary Questions 105844, 106406, 106307 and 106408 on 16 October.
Everyone who earns at least £120 per week on average, but doesn’t exceed the upper income limit of £100,000 per annum can apply for Tax-Free Childcare, which is fairer and better targeted than vouchers.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue will be raised from the sugar levy in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The latest forecast for the revenue raised by the Soft Drinks Industry Levy was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March 2017. It is available here: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/download/march-2017-economic-and-fiscal-outlook-charts-and-tables-fiscal/
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the (a) tax and (b) charitable status of independent schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Where an independent school satisfies the requirements of the Charities Act it may be recognised by the relevant Charity regulator as having charitable status. Requirements will include operating on a not-for-profit basis with a focus on the public benefit of the education they provide.
Schools with charitable status that apply to HM Revenue and Customs may be eligible for a number of tax exemptions and reliefs. These include the ability to reclaim Gift Aid on any qualifying donations that they receive and exemptions on charitable trading profits, rental income, investment income and business rates, as well as certain reliefs from VAT.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate has been made of the sum likely to accrue to the public purse from (a) changing the tax status of and (b) ending the charitable status of independent schools.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
No estimates of the sum likely to accrue to the public purse from changing the charitable tax status of independent schools have been made. Also, no estimate of ending the charitable status of independent schools have been made. Data held on charitable tax relief costs cannot be broken down into specific sectors.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the tax status of independent schools.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The tax treatment for independent schools varies depending on whether or not they have charity status. In common with other organisations, independent schools must abide by [EU and UK] tax rules and pay all tax that is due.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost of the apprenticeship levy will be to schools in each fiscal year from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information document on the apprenticeship levy published by the Department for Education shows a sectoral breakdown of levy paying employers based on HM Revenue and Customs administrative data (page 4). The estimated cost for the education sector as a whole is valued at £385m for 2017-18. The document is available on Gov.uk:
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the cost of the apprenticeship levy for schools alone using the same data.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse will be of the decision to keep salary sacrifice schemes in place for school fees for each year until 2020-21.
Answered by David Gauke
The new rules for salary sacrifice schemes include a longer transitional period for school fees, cars and accommodation than other benefits-in-kind. This reflects the longer contractual arrangements that normally apply to these benefits. If there were no protection for school fees, the Exchequer yield would have been approximately £10m higher in 2017-18, a figure which reduces each year to 2020/21.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of tax-free childcare in each year of this Parliament.
Answered by David Gauke
The estimated cost of Tax-Free Childcare in each year of this parliament is shown in the table below.
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 |
Cost (£bn) | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
These estimates are published in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook - November 2016.
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2016/
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what distributional analysis his Department has undertaken of the impact of tax-free childcare.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Treasury publishes comprehensive distributional analysis that looks at all of the tax, welfare and public spending changes that affect households. Looking at Tax-Free Childcare in isolation would only present a partial picture of the support the government is providing for families. The last publication from Autumn Statement 2016 can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2016-documents
The government is updating the impact assessment for Tax-Free Childcare to reflect changes made since the scheme was first announced. It will be published before the scheme launches early this year.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HM Treasury's press release of 1 March 2016, on Government one step closer to introducing new State Pension this year, whether an equality impact assessment was carried out before this decision was taken to price protect the Guaranteed Minimum Pension of public sector workers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The announcement is a continuation of current government policy, which maintains equality in pension payments for all affected individuals in public services. When the Government consults on the long term solution, it will of course do a full equality impact assessment, should it be necessary.