Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) impact of the (i) Spring Statement 2022 and (ii) October Budget 2021 and (b) combined impact of those fiscal events on (A) women, (B) Black, Asian and minority ethnic people, (C) disabled people, (D) LGBT+ people and (E) pensioners.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics, including at Spring Statement 2022 and Autumn Budget 2021 and other fiscal events, in line with both its legal obligations and with its strong commitment to promoting fairness.
Those with protected characteristics are amongst those who are benefitting from the actions taken at the Spring Statement 2022 and Autumn Budget 2021. These include increases in the National Living Wage (NLW) to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, which will benefit women, people with disabilities and individuals from some ethnic minority backgrounds, who are more likely to be on the NLW.
Women and the LGBT community are disproportionately affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence and are being supported by increased funding announced at Autumn Budget 2021 for victim support services, including Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors.
Spending Review 2021 also announced an enhanced offer for workers aged 50 and over to ensure that older workers receive the support they need to remain in or return to work and benefit from fuller working lives.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason his Department's distributional analysis accompanying the Spring Statement 2022 combined all tax, welfare and public service spending decisions since the Spending Round 2019; and what plans his Department has to publish a separate distributional analysis for each fiscal event during that period.
Answered by Simon Clarke
At each fiscal event HM Treasury has regularly published distributional analysis of the impact of tax, welfare and spending decisions on households.
The aim of the government’s distributional analysis is to present a comprehensive picture of the net effect of tax or welfare changes on household incomes, as well as the impact of public spending decisions, in the round. As each policy decision will have a different effect on households, presenting the total impact over a relatively long time period provides a more robust, comprehensive and stable approach than looking at every policy individually.
Distributional analysis published at Spring Statement 2022 shows that in 2024-25, the tax, welfare and spending decisions made since Spending Round 2019 (SR19) will have benefitted the poorest households most (as a percentage of income). The impact of government policy since SR19 on the bottom four deciles is expected to be worth more than £1,000 a year, while there will have been a net benefit on average for the poorest 80% of households.