Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have received financial compensation as a result of not having access to their online childcare account; and how much money has been paid out of the public purse for that compensation.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The vast majority of parents apply for and use their childcare account without problems, including getting their 30 hours eligibility code. Where parents have experienced technical issues, HMRC has arrangements in place to ensure that they do not miss out as a result. Manual codes are issued via a standard exception process that enables parents to access a 30 hours place when they are eligible if they cannot get a digital code within the required timeline. The number of manual codes issued has been decreasing since September 2017 as the system has become embedded.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has received 4,560 complaints from parents who have experienced technical issues with the childcare service.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has issued 35,370 codes manually to parents.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has paid out £200,000 in redress to parents for expenses such as telephone calls to the helpline.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many 30 hours free childcare codes have been issued manually as a result of faults in the childcare account system.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The vast majority of parents apply for and use their childcare account without problems, including getting their 30 hours eligibility code. Where parents have experienced technical issues, HMRC has arrangements in place to ensure that they do not miss out as a result. Manual codes are issued via a standard exception process that enables parents to access a 30 hours place when they are eligible if they cannot get a digital code within the required timeline. The number of manual codes issued has been decreasing since September 2017 as the system has become embedded.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has received 4,560 complaints from parents who have experienced technical issues with the childcare service.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has issued 35,370 codes manually to parents.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has paid out £200,000 in redress to parents for expenses such as telephone calls to the helpline.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints have been revived from people left unable to access their childcare account as a result of technical difficulties in each year since the introduction of those accounts.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The vast majority of parents apply for and use their childcare account without problems, including getting their 30 hours eligibility code. Where parents have experienced technical issues, HMRC has arrangements in place to ensure that they do not miss out as a result. Manual codes are issued to enable parents to access a 30 hours place when they are eligible if they cannot get a digital code within the required timeline. The number of manual codes issued has been decreasing since September 2017 as the system has become embedded and enhanced.To 31 October 2018, HMRC has received 4,560 complaints from parents who have experienced technical issues with the childcare service.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has issued 35,370 codes manually to parents.
To 31 October 2018, HMRC has paid out £200,000 in redress to parents for expenses such as telephone calls to the helpline.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to improve access to financial education.
Answered by John Glen
Government policy on financial education and capability focuses on ensuring that people have the confidence and skills they need to successfully engage with their finances. To this end the Government established the Money Advice Service (MAS), which provides free-to-use financial guidance and coordinates the UK’s Financial Capability Strategy. This is a 10-year strategy which aims to gather evidence and support financial education and capability initiatives that are proven to work.
Moving forward, the Government has legislated to merge the functions of MAS with those of The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and Pension Wise, to create a Single Financial Guidance Body, which will simplify the existing public financial guidance landscape. The Government’s commitment to improve people’s financial capability and the provision of financial education is reflected in the new body’s strategic function to develop and coordinate a national strategy which will build on and further progress MAS’s work on financial capability.
It is also particularly important that children and young people receive financial education to help them shape their financial habits later in life. This is why financial literacy was made statutory within the national curriculum in England in 2014, as part of the curriculum for citizenship education for 11-16 year olds.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) publicise and (b) support debt advice services.
Answered by John Glen
The government-commissioned Money Advice Service (MAS) funds centrally-coordinated, publicly-funded debt advice. MAS spent just under £49m to provide over 440,000 debt advice sessions in 2016-17. This year, MAS’ budget will rise to over £56m – enough to provide support to 530,000 people.
To support this work, the government is also setting up a new single financial guidance body, which will bring together public-funded money and pensions guidance, and debt advice services. The new body will enable the public to get support with all aspects of their financial lives quickly and easily.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to improve and promote access to credit unions.
Answered by John Glen
The government remains committed to supporting credit unions, which provide vital services to financially under-served communities and contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector. To improve access to credit unions, government has:
· In April 2018, announced increased funding for a scheme which incentivises credit union membership in areas at risk of being targeted by loan sharks. This will help vulnerable people to borrow and save with a safe and responsible financial provider, and promote credit unions as an alternative source of credit.
· At Autumn Budget 2017, announced that the credit union ‘common bond’ limit, which applies to credit unions whose membership is based around a local area, would be raised from 2 to 3 million. This change came into force in April this year, and will allow the larger credit unions to expand and help the sector to consolidate.
· In 2014, raised the statutory cap on the total interest a credit union can charge on loans from 2 to 3% per month. This has allowed credit unions to expand into new markets, and compete more effectively with other lenders.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department overpaid in tax credit claims in the last financial year; and what the estimated cost is of recovering those overpayments.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The latest tax credit overpayment statistics available relate to the financial year 2015-16 and statistics relating to the financial year 2016-17 are due to be released this summer.
Based on the available statistics relating to 2015-16, there were 1.4m overpaid tax credit awards, which amounted to £1.572m in overpayments. This figure can be found on page 8 of the Child and Working Tax Credits, Finalised Annual Awards, Supplement on Payments National Statistics, and is available at:
Information regarding the estimated cost of recovering such overpayments can only be made available at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of unclaimed entitlement to tax credits in the last financial year.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The latest published estimates on take-up of tax credits are available at:
The publication includes estimates of unclaimed tax credit entitlements for 2015-16. 2016-17 estimates are expected to be released in December 2018.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to bring forward proposals for a total cost cap on rent-to-own products.
Answered by John Glen
The Government transferred the regulation of consumer credit, including rent-to-own and credit cards, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014. The Government has given the FCA strong powers, including the power to cap the cost of credit, and the FCA can do so if it thinks it is necessary to protect consumers.
The FCA is reviewing the high-cost credit market, and has identified specific concerns in rent-to-own. The FCA will publish an update on its work in May.
On credit cards, the FCA has put in place a robust package of measures to address the issues in the market. These measures should be given time to work.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to bring forward proposals for a total cost cap on credit card interest.
Answered by John Glen
The Government transferred the regulation of consumer credit, including rent-to-own and credit cards, to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2014. The Government has given the FCA strong powers, including the power to cap the cost of credit, and the FCA can do so if it thinks it is necessary to protect consumers.
The FCA is reviewing the high-cost credit market, and has identified specific concerns in rent-to-own. The FCA will publish an update on its work in May.
On credit cards, the FCA has put in place a robust package of measures to address the issues in the market. These measures should be given time to work.