Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of household debt.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government regularly engages with the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to monitor levels of household debt and their impacts.
The Government remains committed to helping households that are struggling with debt to access the support they need and get their finances back on track. This is why the Government has maintained record levels of funding for MaPS to provide debt advice in England, bringing their debt advice budget to £92.7 million in 2023/24.
We have also taken steps to support those on low incomes, who are vulnerable to debt burdens. In response to the energy crisis, the government provided one of the largest support packages in Europe. Total Government support over 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help households with the high cost of living is worth £104 billion – an average of £3,700 per UK household.
A House of Commons research briefing on household debt can be found here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn02885/
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent HM Revenue and Customs staff worked on tax compliance activity in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The average full-time equivalents (FTE) in HMRC currently working on tax compliance activity is 17,300:
We are unable to provide the previous years of data as it is not currently available, and therefore this information would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Within Customer Compliance Group staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked.
HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information for 2023/24 will be available in 2024. HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the revenue received by the public purse through (a) compliance yield as measured for performance purposes and (b) tax revenue as measured by tax receipts raised as a result of new spending on compliance activity announced in each (i) a Budget and (ii) Autumn Statement in the last five financial years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At each fiscal event the Government publishes a table of the impacts of its policy and operational decisions certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Measures which raise tax revenue from compliance activity are generally part of our “Tackling the tax gap” package at each fiscal event. Most recently this was set out in Table 5.1 of Autumn Statement 2023, and is available for previous years on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 48 of his Department's publication entitled Autumn Statement 2023 Policy Costings, published in November 2023, whether the new staff recruited to operational teams will be included in existing HMRC tax compliance staffing figures.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced in Autumn Statement 2023, the Government is investing £163 million to increase HMRC’s customer support and debt collection capacity. This will ensure those who can afford to pay their tax debts do so, while increasing HMRC’s ability to identify taxpayers who need additional time to pay their tax bills.
HMRC will add 700 full time equivalents to its debt management frontline team. This will significantly improve customer support for individuals and businesses: allowing more debtors to be contacted over the telephone, providing those who are struggling to pay with support, and ensuring that those who can pay their tax debts do.
The new staff recruited to operational teams are currently not included in existing HMRC tax compliance staffing figures.
These measures build on Spring Budget 2023 announcements to improve HMRC’s debt collection capabilities, which is essential to maintaining a low and stable tax gap and funding public services.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many FTE HM Revenue and Customs staff of what civil service grade worked on which category of tax compliance activity in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC takes a flexible and dynamic approach to resourcing in order to achieve its objectives. Within Customer Compliance Group, staff are deployed across a wide range of compliance risks. Internally, these are usually grouped by customer segment, tax head or specific tax risk being worked.
To that effect, the data requested is not currently available by grade due to our systems not being able to segment data in a way that directly answers the request, and therefore this information would only be available at disproportionate cost.
HMRC publishes information on the amounts spent on compliance by customer segment in our annual report and accounts at Tax by different customer groups – 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The information for 2023/24 will be available in 2024. HMRC does not release detailed breakdowns of this information for operational reasons.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) staffing and (b) non-staffing costs of HM Revenue and Customs tax compliance activities were in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The staffing costs within HM Revenue and Customs tax compliance activities in the periods April 2018 to March 2023 were as follows:
£ | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Paybill | 1,024,672,861 | 1,134,211,894 | 1,148,916,526 | 1,273,775,204 | 1,485,502,301 |
The non-staffing costs within HM Revenue and Customs tax compliance activities in the periods April 2018 to March 2023 were as follows:
£ | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Non-pay | 117,439,386 | 119,558,799 | 93,319,383 | 118,679,301 | 122,382,915 |
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on (a) the role of face-to-face banking services and (b) steps being taken to ensure that such services remain available.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Decisions on opening and closing branches are taken by the management team of each bank on a commercial basis.
Nonetheless, the Government believes that the impact of branch closures should be mitigated where possible so that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have access to appropriate banking services.
The Government supports industry working together to provide alternative banking and cash services, such as Banking Hubs. To date, industry has committed to delivering new shared Banking Hubs in over 90 communities. Further alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority also sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to close their branches. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs, particularly for customers in vulnerable circumstances, and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This seeks to ensure the implementation of closure decisions is done in a way that treats customers fairly. The Consumer Duty also requires that firms deliver “good outcomes” for customers.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of bank branch closures on (a) local economies and (b) levels of inequality.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Decisions on opening and closing branches are taken by the management team of each bank on a commercial basis.
Nonetheless, the Government believes that the impact of branch closures should be mitigated where possible so that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have access to appropriate banking services.
The Government supports industry working together to provide alternative banking and cash services, such as Banking Hubs. To date, industry has committed to delivering new shared Banking Hubs in over 90 communities. Further alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority also sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to close their branches. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs, particularly for customers in vulnerable circumstances, and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This seeks to ensure the implementation of closure decisions is done in a way that treats customers fairly. The Consumer Duty also requires that firms deliver “good outcomes” for customers.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by ActionAid entitled How the Finance Flows: The banks fuelling the climate crisis, published 4 September 2023.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government welcomes representations from industry relating to finance and Net Zero.
The Government and officials engage with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to require private creditors to participate in initiatives to ease the debt burden on low-income countries.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK, alongside the G20 and Paris Club, expects creditors, including private creditors, to participate in debt restructurings on comparable terms. This is a fundamental principle of the G20 Common Framework.
At this stage, the Government is not pursuing a legislative approach that would force private or other lenders to participate in debt restructurings. The Government is focused on delivering a market-based (contractual) approach to private sector participation, including taking the lead in developing Majority Voting Provisions for private syndicated loans. These promote more efficient restructurings and reduce the ability for creditors to hold out.