Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to increase real terms funding for the Probation Service in the context of the prisoner early release scheme.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
As the Chancellor has made clear, all future spending decisions will be negotiated through the Spending Review process and announced on October 30th through the Budget.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of charging VAT on private school fees on levels of demand for state school places.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools. Any fees paid from 29 July 2024 relating to the term starting in January 2025 onwards will be subject to VAT.
A start date of January 2025 will have given schools and parents 5 months to prepare for the changes, and it is right that we introduce these changes as soon as possible in order to raise the funding needed to help deliver our education priorities.
The Government has carefully considered the impact that these changes will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector, as well as the impact they will have on state and private schools. Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes in the normal way.
The Government recognises that some pupils may subsequently move into the state education sector. However, the number of pupils who may switch schools as a result of these changes represents a very small proportion of overall pupil numbers in the state sector.
The Government is confident that the state sector will be able to accommodate any additional pupils and that these policies will not have a significant impact on the state education system as a whole.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed application of VAT to private school fees on families who can only access SEND provision in private schools due to deficits in local provision.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education, which is why we have made the tough decision to end tax breaks for private schools. This will raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the state education system.
State education is accessible to all children. All children of compulsory school age are entitled to a state-funded school place if they need one and the Department for Education works to support Local Authorities to ensure every local area has sufficient places for pupils.
Where pupils are placed in a private school because their needs cannot be met in the state sector, and they have their places funded by their Local Authority, the Local Authority will be able to reclaim the VAT they incur on these pupils’ fees. In Northern Ireland, it will be the Education Authority who fund placements in private schools and will be able to reclaim the VAT in this way.
Where a placement at a specific private school is necessary to meet the pupil’s needs in England, that school will be named in the pupil’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has had discussions with the Bank of England on incorporating the impact of climate change in inflation modelling.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Treasury meet with the Bank of England regularly to discuss their assessment of the economy, inflation and the impact of shocks and structural trends, including climate change.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the government’s official forecaster. They published their latest assessment of the economic and fiscal outlook (EFO) which includes inflation on 6th March. The Fiscal risks and sustainability report, published in July 2023, included discussion of the long-term impact of climate change on the fiscal position.
The Bank of England has operational independence over monetary policy and publishes its own forecasts, including for inflation, in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 6.11 in the report of the Royal Trustees on the Sovereign Grant Review 2023, if he will take steps to ensure that the increased surplus to the Exchequer from the Crown Estate in (a) 2023-24 and (b) 2024-25 is used to train UK resident workers to meet the demand for supply chain jobs in Renewable Energy Zones.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The government continues to work with industry, The Crown Estate and other partners to support the UK's offshore wind manufacturing sector. Funding is allocated in line with the government’s overall priorities, primarily through the spending review process, with the overall amount of spending informed by the wider fiscal position.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of tickets on higher rate flights incurrent the (a) reduced and (b) standard rate of Air Passenger Duty in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
HMRC is unable to publish information on tickets and revenue received from higher rate flights where the plane was over 20 tonnes and equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers. This is because the information is disclosive.
HMRC produces estimates of Air Passenger Duty passenger numbers and receipts, at the following link:
Air Passenger Duty Bulletin - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If ‘higher rate flights’ in PQ80793 refers to travel to Band B destinations, reduced and standard rate Band B passenger numbers are published in the above link. The table below displays this information for each of the last five years.
APD passengers by financial year | Reduced Rate Band B Passengers (thousands) | Reduced Rate Band B Passengers (% of Total Band B Passengers) | Standard Rate Band B Passengers (thousands) | Standard Rate Band B Passengers (% of Total Band B Passengers) | Total Band B Passengers (thousands) | Total Passengers (thousands) |
2017 to 2018 | 18,742 | 78.2% | 5,235 | 21.8% | 23,977 | 118,352 |
2018 to 2019 | 19,372 | 78.5% | 5,312 | 21.5% | 24,683 | 122,394 |
2019 to 2020 | 19,597 | 78.6% | 5,338 | 21.4% | 24,935 | 118,692 |
2020 to 2021 | 1,535 | 77.5% | 446 | 22.5% | 1,981 | 12,118 |
2021 to 2022 [provisional] | 5,403 | 75.9% | 1,711 | 24.1% | 7,114 | 39,115 |
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Air Passenger Duty revenues have been from flights where the plane was over 20 tonnes and equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
HMRC is unable to publish information on tickets and revenue received from higher rate flights where the plane was over 20 tonnes and equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers. This is because the information is disclosive.
HMRC produces estimates of Air Passenger Duty passenger numbers and receipts, at the following link:
Air Passenger Duty Bulletin - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If ‘higher rate flights’ in PQ80793 refers to travel to Band B destinations, reduced and standard rate Band B passenger numbers are published in the above link. The table below displays this information for each of the last five years.
APD passengers by financial year | Reduced Rate Band B Passengers (thousands) | Reduced Rate Band B Passengers (% of Total Band B Passengers) | Standard Rate Band B Passengers (thousands) | Standard Rate Band B Passengers (% of Total Band B Passengers) | Total Band B Passengers (thousands) | Total Passengers (thousands) |
2017 to 2018 | 18,742 | 78.2% | 5,235 | 21.8% | 23,977 | 118,352 |
2018 to 2019 | 19,372 | 78.5% | 5,312 | 21.5% | 24,683 | 122,394 |
2019 to 2020 | 19,597 | 78.6% | 5,338 | 21.4% | 24,935 | 118,692 |
2020 to 2021 | 1,535 | 77.5% | 446 | 22.5% | 1,981 | 12,118 |
2021 to 2022 [provisional] | 5,403 | 75.9% | 1,711 | 24.1% | 7,114 | 39,115 |
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many penalties have been issued by HMRC in respect of late payment of VAT in financial years (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2020-21.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The number of Default Surcharge penalties issued in respect of both late return submissions and of late payment of VAT in the 2020-21 financial year was 279,430 and was 610,170 in the 2021-22 financial year.