Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Chart 2.C of Impact on households: distributional analysis to accompany Budget 2020, what assessment he has made of the cash impact of those spending decisions, by income decile, excluding benefits in kind from public services.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The Chancellor’s assessment of the cash impact of tax and welfare decisions is shown in Chart 2.C, of “Impact on households: distributional analysis to accompany Budget 2020”, where it is presented alongside the impact of benefits-in-kind from public services.
Taking into account spending on public services provides a more complete picture of Government policy, as it is an important element of the overall support provided by the government to households.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table A5 of the Spending Round 2019, for what reason the CDEL allocation for the Department for Education has declined to £5 billion for 2019-20, compared to £5.1 billion in Budget 2018 for the same financial year.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The Department for Education transferred £130 million of CDEL funding to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Growth in 2019-20. This funding is made available for skills capital funding through the Local Growth Fund, which is devolved to Local Enterprise Partnerships to spend on their capital priorities.
The Budget 2018 document reflects the Department for Education’s CDEL allocation for 2019-20 prior to this transfer taking place. Table 3.11 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2019, published in July 2019, takes into account this transfer. The Spending Round 2019 document reflects the Department for Education’s current CDEL allocation for 2019-20.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was spent on (a) tax-free childcare, (b) employer-supported childcare and (c) the childcare element of working tax credit in 2017-18.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Page 100 of the OBR’s March 2019 Economic & Fiscal Outlook contains the Tax-Free Childcare forecast, including the cost for 2017/18 (https://cdn.obr.uk/March-2019_EFO_Web-Accessible.pdf).
HMRC’s publication ‘Estimated Costs of Principal Tax Reliefs’ includes the forecast cost of Employer Supported Childcare tax reliefs in 2017/18 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782480/Jan19_Principal_Reliefs_Final.pdf).
The forecast cost of the childcare element of Working Tax Credit in 2017/18 is £1.1bn. This is in line with OBR methodology which assumes Universal Credit has no impact on the Working Tax Credit forecast.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2019 to Question 233582 on Children: Day Care, how much funding his Department plans to allocate to (a) tax free childcare, (b) employer supported childcare and (c) the childcare element of Working Tax Credit in 2019-20.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Page 100 of the OBR’s March 2019 Economic & Fiscal Outlook contains the Tax-Free Childcare forecast, including forecast spending for 2019/20 (https://cdn.obr.uk/March-2019_EFO_Web-Accessible.pdf).
The forecast cost of Employer Supported Childcare tax reliefs in 2019/20 is £539m.
The forecast cost of the childcare element of Working Tax Credit in 2019/20 is £1,022m. This is in line with OBR methodology which assumes Universal Credit has no impact on the Working Tax Credit forecast.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 March 2019 to Question 229140, to what programmes the remaining £3.25 billion of expenditure for childcare support will be allocated in 2019-20.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government provides an extensive range of childcare support through a number of policies delivered by HMRC, DWP and DfE. HMRC is responsible for Tax Free Childcare, Employer Supported Childcare and the Childcare element of Working Tax Credit. DWP administers the Childcare element of Universal Credit. DfE provides a variety of childcare support, including 15 hours free childcare for all 3 and 4 year olds, an additional 15 hours free childcare for eligible working parents of 3 and 4 year olds and 15 hours free childcare for the most disadvantaged 2 year olds.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Spring Statement, how much additional funding he has allocated for the provision of free sanitary products in secondary schools and colleges in the 2019-20 academic year.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to tackling period poverty in schools, and the damaging impact it can have on girls’ education. At the Spring Statement the Chancellor announced that the Department for Education will lead work to develop a national scheme in England to provide free sanitary products in schools and colleges. The government will fully fund this commitment and precise funding arrangements will be confirmed as part of the 2019 Spending Review.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of 5 March 2019 of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Official Report column 804, what the evidential basis is for her statement that the Government is increasing school funding in real terms per pupil.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The total core schools and high needs budget has risen from almost £41bn in 2017-18 to £43.5bn in 2019-20. In July 2017 the Government invested an extra £1.3 billion into this budget to protect overall per-pupil funding in real terms from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table A.1 on page 231 of the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and fiscal outlook: October 2018 publication, what estimate he has made of the loss to the public purse of revenue arising from the sale of student loans in each year of the forecast period.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The programme of sales of pre-2012 income-contingent student loans is intended to raise £15bn in total by 2022/23, reducing Public Sector Net Debt. Each sale is subject to market conditions and a value for money test, which takes into account foregone repayments and assesses whether the government is better off holding or selling the assets when taking account of the time value of money, the effect of inflation, the riskiness of the asset and the opportunity cost of having money tied up in that asset. The government does not publish a year-by-year estimate of the sales programme, as the timing and size of sales remain flexible in order to maximise value for money. The National Audit Office reviewed the first sale and concluded that the government achieved value for money.