Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impacts of temporarily closing the Self-Assessment hotline on individuals needing advice prior to submitting information relating to their tax returns.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
This quarter is the quietest for Self-Assessment (SA) queries. HMRC is piloting the temporary and time-limited closure of the SA helpline so that c.350 advisers can be moved to other work, including clearing post items, which experience heavier demand at this time of year.
The SA helpline will reopen on 4 September, five months prior to the SA filing deadline of 31 January.
Around two-thirds of all Self-Assessment calls can be resolved online by customers; piloting a seasonal Self-Assessment helpline is about positively encouraging people to use these services when they can.
This will free up HMRC advisors to help those with more urgent queries or who cannot access digital services, and to work on correspondence.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the budget allocated for public service innovation is in the (a) Department for Health and Social Care, (b) Department for Education, (c) Home Office, (d) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (e) Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, (f) Department for Work and Pensions and (g) Department for Justice.
Answered by John Glen
There is no single budget specifically allocated to “public service innovation” across government as a whole or within individual departments. The Government has funded a range of initiatives that could be considered public service innovation, but ultimately budgets are not measured in this way.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review changes to the Research and Development Expenditure Credit scheme to help incentivise small and medium sized enterprises to invest in research and development in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As part of the ongoing research and development (R&D) tax reliefs review, the Government is reforming the R&D tax reliefs to ensure taxpayer’s money is spent as effectively as possible, to improve the competitiveness of the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) scheme, and as a step towards a simplified, single RDEC-like scheme for all.
Generous spending support will continue: direct funding for R&D will reach £20 billion a year by 2024-2025 as planned. This is a cash increase of around a third compared to 2021-2022, and the largest-ever increase over a Spending Review (SR) period.
The Government also remains committed to the increasing focus on innovation set out at SR 2021 and the £2.6 billion allocation to Innovate UK over the SR period. From 2021-2022 to 2024-2025, this represents a 54 per cent cash increase in Innovate UK’s budgets and 70 per cent of Innovate UK’s grants to businesses go to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the £500 cap on payments received every three months under the Tax-Free Childcare scheme in the context of increased childcare costs.
Answered by John Glen
Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) provides financial support for working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they’re 17. Take-up of Tax-Free Childcare has continued to increase and is on a steady upward trajectory: at the end of September 2022 (the most recent data) an estimated 401,000 families used Tax-Free Childcare for 478,000 children, compared to 391,000 families for 468,000 children in June 2022. The Government spent £44 million on TFC top-up for families in September 2022.
Additional childcare support is available: all three- and four-year-olds can access 15 hours of free childcare per week, regardless of circumstance. Eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds can also access an additional 15 hours of free childcare per week, also known as 30 hours free childcare. Moreover, Universal Credit (UC) claimants are able to claim up to 85% of their childcare costs.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of regulation of crypto-currencies.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The government believes that having robust and effective regulation will boost innovation - by giving people and businesses the confidence they need to use new technologies safely
A consultation on the future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoasset activities was published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-financial-services-regulatory-regime-for-cryptoassets on Wednesday 1 February.
In addition to this, the Financial Services and Markets Bill ensures that the Treasury can establish the legislative framework for regulating cryptoassets and stablecoins.
The government has already taken steps to bring certain cryptoasset activities into the scope of UK regulation. Since January 2020, cryptoasset firms operating in the UK have been subject to the Money Laundering Regulations. To protect consumers, on 18 January 2022, the Government set out its intention to legislate to bring certain cryptoassets into financial promotion regulation and published a further policy statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/cryptoasset-promotions on Wednesday 1 February.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has considered the potential merits of increasing the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment from 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are used by employers to reimburse an employee’s expenses for business mileage in their private vehicle.
The government sets the AMAP rates to minimise administrative burdens.
Employees can claim up to 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles and the 25p per mile for subsequent miles. The mileage thresholds reflect that the AMAP rates are designed to cover both a proportion of fixed costs, such as insurance and VED, as well as ongoing costs such as fuel.
Employers are not required to use the AMAPs rates. Instead, they can agree to reimburse a different amount that better reflects their employees’ circumstances. If an employee is paid less than the AMAP rate, they can claim Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) on the shortfall. However, where payments exceed the relevant AMAP rate, there may be a tax and National Insurance charge on the difference.
Self-employed people can choose to use the simplified mileage rate, or they can claim tax relief using capital allowances and actual expenses.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the AMAP rate under review and any changes are considered and announced at fiscal events.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the amount of money that can be withdrawn from a pension scheme tax-free in any one financial year.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The government has increased the Personal Allowance (PA), the amount of income an individual does not have to pay income tax on, by over 40% in real terms since 2010. The PA at £12,570 is high by international standards – it is one of the most generous tax allowances in the OECD and highest in the G7.
The government wishes to encourage personal saving, to help ensure that people have income, or funds on which they can draw, throughout retirement. This is why, for the majority of savers, pension contributions are tax-free.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the rate of VAT is for battery upgrades to existing domestic solar installations.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Battery storage supplied as part of an installation of solar panels will benefit from the VAT zero rate until 31 March 2027.
Battery storage itself has not been added to the list of qualifying materials and therefore will continue to be standard rated when installed separately, including where such storage is an upgrade to an existing solar panel installation.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) ending the penalty charge for early withdrawal from a lifetime ISA.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000, or can be withdrawn in the case of terminal illness or from age 60.
Any unauthorised withdrawals are subject to a 25% withdrawal charge. This recoups the government bonus, any interest or growth arising from it, and a proportion of the individual’s initial savings to discourage such withdrawals and protect the long-term nature of the account, which is intended to be used for the purposes set out above.
The Government has no current plans to remove or reduce the LISA withdrawal charge. Doing so would not be consistent with the LISA’s purpose as a long-term savings product.
However, the Government keeps all aspects of the savings tax regime under review.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to para 5.6 of the Autumn Statement, CP 751, published on 17 November, how much of the existing £6.6bn funding for energy efficiency is allocated to which programmes.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
£6.6 billion has been made available for BEIS capital departmental expenditure limits on energy efficiency and clean heat in this Parliament. The funding has been ringfenced in the follow way:
o £300 million for the Green Homes Grant.
o £2.8 billion for low-income household energy efficiency, through the Sustainable Warmth Competition, Home Upgrade Grant and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
o £450 million through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
o £2.5 billion to decarbonise and improve the efficiency of the public sector estate.
o £500 million to grow low-carbon, more efficient heat networks.