Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the paper purchased each year by HM Revenue and Customs for the purpose of printing and sending letters to people and businesses is partially or fully recycled paper.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
As an ecologically conscious consumer, HMRC has ensured that all paper purchased by our supplier was from mills that are accredited by either the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification or the Forest Stewardship Council.
HMRC’s Customer Communications supplier ensures that the paper meets ISO 14001, which is the international standard for environmental management, within their own supply chain.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the overall direct cost to the public purse of heating costs for buildings used as workplaces by public sector workers, not including the homes of staff working from home, in winter 2021-22 compared to winter 2020-21.
Answered by Simon Clarke
HM Treasury has not calculated the overall direct cost of heating for buildings used by public sector workers in winter 2021-22 compared to winter 2020-21.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the HMRC monthly performance report: September 2021, what steps were taken to contact, on the number from which they rang, the 20.8 per cent of callers to HMRC who wished to speak to an adviser in September 2021 but were unable to get through.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC do not attempt to contact customers whose telephone calls to them have not been answered. Customers can recontact HMRC if they still have concerns.
HMRC is working hard to improve performance and return it to pre-pandemic levels.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the office printing paper purchased by his Department is partially or fully recycled.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
All of the printing paper purchased by the department is fully recycled.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there are any formal or informal written internal guidelines or design principles on the production of his Department's graphics for web and social media use.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
There is an internal written document setting out design guidelines for HM Treasury graphic design content.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much office printing paper is purchased each year on average by his Department in terms of (a) reams and (b) tonnes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
7,664 reams of paper on average were purchased by the department over the last three years. We do not have information relating to the printing paper purchased in tonnes.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what targets he has set for improving the proportion of written correspondence sent to HM Revenue and Customs which is answered within (a) 15 days and (b) one calendar month.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Due to the impact of COVID-19, HMRC’s role responding to COVID-19, and the wider economic uncertainty, HMRC agreed with Ministers that it would set rolling quarterly performance expectations rather than full year external targets for the year 2021-22. HMRC is publishing these expectations from the Quarter 2 expectation onwards within its quarterly performance publications: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
HMRC’s Quarter 3 expectation, October – December 2021, for the percentage of correspondence cleared in 15 days is 55 per cent. This includes both post and online forms. There is no calendar month expectation.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much paper is recycled each year on average by HM Revenue and Customs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC does not hold the data as requested.
In 2020-21, 76 per cent of HMRC’s total waste was recycled, including paper. Top line figures are available on page 85 of HMRC's Annual Report and Accounts: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1035552/HMRC_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2020_to_2021_Web.pdf
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much paper is purchased each year by HM Revenue and Customs for the purpose of printing and sending letters to people and businesses in terms of (a) reams and (b) tonnes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Records of paper purchased directly by HMRC are not held in such a way as to disaggregate the tonnage and reams of paper purchased solely for the process of printing and sending letters to people and businesses.Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the value for money achieved from advertising spend on HM Revenue and Customs' campaigns to ensure timely submission of self assessment forms from individual taxpayers.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
All Government campaigns are subject to rigorous planning and approvals processes, including peer review through the Government Communications Service. Advertising forms only a part of any campaign. They are bolstered with no and low-cost activity wherever possible.
HMRC fully evaluates its advertising campaigns to establish value for money for the UK taxpayer; this includes identifying the effectiveness of each channel as well as assessing the quality of the media bought. It also identifies learnings from each campaign that can be applied to future activity.
In the last three years, HMRC has done additional research into its major campaigns to identify a return on marketing investment. The figures for the Self-Assessment advertising campaign are below:
2020 – 21 | 14.1: 1 * |
2019 – 20 | 16.8: 1 |
2018 – 19 | 9.91:1 |
*for every £1 spent on advertising, HMRC saves £14.10 in administration costs