Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take, if any, to introduce a fuel duty rebate of 15 pence per litre for road haulage vehicles and coaches.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At Spring Statement 2022, in response to high fuel prices, the Government introduced a temporary 12-month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre.
This represents a tax cut worth around £2.4 billion in 2022-23, benefiting anyone who consumes fuel across the UK – including the road haulage and coach sector.
All taxes remain under review.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of anti-money laundering regulations in the domestic and corporate property sector.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Money Laundering Regulations 2017 (MLRs) require regulated businesses, including estate and lettings agents, to have robust controls in place to prevent abuse for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing. The MLRs are not prescriptive in setting out how firms should carry out customer due diligence. However they do require these firms, which are key facilitators of property transactions, to take a proportionate and risk based approach to checks on all involved parties.
HMRC is the designated AML supervisor for estate and letting agents. HMRC provides guidance to businesses to support compliance and has powers to enforce penalties in response to breaches of the MLRs, including imposing fines.
HM Treasury published a review of the UK’s anti-money laundering/countering-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regulatory and supervisory regime in June 2022. This review assessed the effectiveness of the MLRs and found that the regulations are comprehensive, robust and allow for firms to take a risk-based approach to target their activity at the areas of highest risk. It also set out plans for future work to strengthen the UK’s AML regime, including a consultation on further reform to the supervisory regime.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation to limit the ability of private creditors to sue low-income countries indebted to them in the English Courts.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government is fully focused on ensuring that the private sector provides debt relief for low-income countries where this is required as part of an internationally agreed debt treatment. For example, under the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, private sector participation on at least as favourable terms as bilateral creditors is a fundamental principle. The G20, including the UK, has repeatedly emphasised the importance of this principle.
The Government does not currently have any intention to pursue a legislative approach that would force private lenders to participate in debt relief initiatives. Any legislative approach would need to address a number of challenges. For example, legislating may increase the cost of finance for low-income countries or reduce the availability of finance to meet wider development goals.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement from the Head of the International Monetary Fund who said on the 21 May that governments need to subsidise the cost of energy and food for the poorest members of society.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The government is providing over £37 billion of support in 2022-23 to help people with the cost of living, including an additional £15 billion of new support targeting those with the greatest need. Around three-quarters of the total support will go to vulnerable households.
Millions of the most vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living, including for energy and food.
In the long term, the best approach to managing the cost of living is to help people into work, supporting them to increase their incomes and helping them keep more of what they earn – announcements at the Spring Statement support this.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to levy a windfall tax on oil and gas firms throughout the UK to address rising levels of fuel poverty.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government is introducing the Energy Profits Levy, a new 25% surcharge on the extraordinary profits the oil and gas sector is making.
The new Energy Profits Levy will raise around £5 billion over the next year which will go towards supporting people through the new cost of living measures announced by the Chancellor.
As part of the levy, a new tax relief is being introduced to encourage firms to invest in the UK. The new 80% Investment Allowance means businesses will overall get a 91p tax saving for every £1 they invest.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will meet with the International Monetary Fund to discuss cost of living matters (1) in the UK, and (2) across the world.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
HMG is in regular communication with international and domestic stakeholders, including the IMF, regarding the state of the UK and global economies. HMG and the IMF engage in regular formal macroeconomic surveillance of the UK economy through Article IV consultations. The most recent Article IV mission to the UK took place in December 2021, with the results published in February 2022. The next formal consultation will be scheduled in due course.
The Chancellor made a statement in the House of Commons on 26th May providing £15bn to support families with the cost of living. Combined with already announced plans, support HMG has provided for cost of living pressures in the UK totals £37bn or 1.5% of GDP.
Most recently, the Chancellor attended the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings in Bonn on 19th-20th May, discussing the global challenge of inflation with other G7 members and international organisations, including the IMF. Global economic coordination will continue this year, including through further G7 and G20 meetings with the IMF in attendance.
The UK continues to play a leading role in supporting vulnerable countries, including through its commitments at the IMF where the UK has pledged SDR 5bn to the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust; which provides zero interest loans to low-income countries in need.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to help ensure value for money in public spending.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Spending Review 2021 placed a renewed emphasis on ensuring that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent well and focused on the areas that make the most difference to people’s daily lives.
Through this, the government set clear outcomes for what spending will buy; ensured that all decisions are informed by the best quality evidence; encouraged joint working between departments; and took further action to drive out low value or inefficient spend.
At the Spring Statement, the government also set out plans for a new drive to achieve even greater efficiency, effectiveness and economy in public spending and ensure departments are delivering the highest quality services at the best value. This work will be driven by the new Chancellor-chaired Committee on Efficiency and Value for Money.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to tackle illicit finance.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Money obtained through corruption or criminality is not welcome in the UK, and the Government is taking concerted action to combat the threat of illicit finance from source to destination, including that linked to Russia.
In recent years, the Government published a landmark public-private partnership Economic Crime Plan. The Plan outlines a comprehensive national response to economic crime and sets out 52 actions being taken by both the public and private sectors to ensure the UK cannot be abused for economic crime.
The Government is also bringing forward significant investment to tackle economic crime; the combination of last year’s Spending Review settlement and private sector contributions through the Economic Crime (AML) Levy will provide economic crime funding totalling around £400 million over the next three years.
Most recently, following the Prime Minister’s announcement in February, the Government has brought forward the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act to crack down further on dirty money and corrupt elites in the UK. The Act:
This is not all. The Government has announced a new dedicated Kleptocracy cell in the National Crime Agency and published details of further upcoming legislation to clamp down on money-laundering and illicit finance. This will include fundamental reform of Companies House, enhanced information sharing powers and new powers to seize crypto assets finance.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the strength of the UK economy.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Last year the UK saw a faster-than-previously-expected economic recovery, with the fastest growth in the G7 and unemployment was lower than expected. But there are significant headwinds and uncertainty ahead.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) has published an updated forecast for the UK economy on 23 March alongside the Spring Statement. While the forecast includes the initial effect of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the OBR have acknowledged that “given the unfolding situation in Ukraine, there is unusually high uncertainty around this outlook.” The OBR expect growth of 3.8% in 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to help reduce economic inequality.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Work is the best route out of poverty and that is why the government is investing more than £6 billion in DWP labour market support over the next three years to help people move into, and progress in work. This builds on the success of the Plan for Jobs, with over 2 million fewer people expected to be unemployed than previously thought.
Distributional analysis published at Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 shows that in 2024-25, tax, welfare and spending decisions made since Spending Round 2019 will have benefitted the poorest households most, as a percentage of income. The analysis also shows that in 2024-25, the poorest 60% of households will receive more in public spending than they contribute in tax.