Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on GDP of high levels of personal private debt.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that GDP will grow by 2.0% in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018 and Real Household Disposable Income per head is expected to be 2% higher by 2021 than in 2016.
Household financial positions are stronger than before the financial crisis: net financial wealth as a share of income is close to record highs; debt to income is below pre-crisis levels; and debt interest payments to income are at a record low.
The independent Financial Policy Committee, created by this government, has taken action on loan-to-income ratios and mortgage affordability to insure against the risk of a significant rise in highly indebted households.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the level of personal debt (a) in total, (b) per household and (c) as a proportion of GDP for the latest period available and for each of the five previous financial years.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Household debt and GDP statistics are published by the ONS, and are available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/timeseries/nnpp/ukea
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ybha/pn2
In nominal terms, the level of household debt has risen over the past five years. However, it has fallen as a share of GDP. In financial year 2016-17, household debt stood at 95% of GDP, down from 98% five years ago, and 102% before the financial crisis (FY 2007/08).
The independent Financial Policy Committee was set up by the government to assess and mitigate financial stability risks, including from household debt. The FPC has taken action to ensure against a significant rise in highly indebted households.
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 working tax credit claims in the last financial year; and what the estimated cost is of recovering those overpayments.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Figures for overpayments in Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits claims in 2014-15 can be found on page 8 of the Child and Working Tax Credits, Finalised Annual Awards, Supplement on Payments National Statistics, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525468/cwtc_awards_sup.pdf
Due to the nature of Tax Credits payments it is not possible to divide overpayments between Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits. The equivalent information for 2015-16 will be published in May 2017.
Recovering overpayments from those Tax Credit customers who continue to be in award is an automated process. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has teams to deal with cases where an overpayment is disputed or where a customer informs HMRC they are in hardship. Figures for the administrative costs for the specific aspects of this work that relate to recovering overpayments are not available.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the estimated amount of unclaimed entitlement to working tax credits was in the last financial year.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs published Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit Take-up Rates 2014-15 on 14th December 2016, and is available at:
Table 1a (page 14) provides information on the amount of tax credits unclaimed by those eligible for Working Tax Credit. Information for 2015-16 is not currently available.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to prevent false self-employment.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Employment Status and Intermediaries Team focuses on employment status and employment intermediary risks. Where companies are believed to have misclassified individuals as self-employed, HMRC establishes the facts of the case and will take steps to ensure that all the appropriate tax, National Insurance contributions, interest and penalties are paid.
In addition, the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2016 that, following consultation, it would reforms the intermediaries legislation (commonly known as IR35) to improve the compliance of those working off-payroll through Personal Service Companies in the public sector.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of lost (a) income tax and (b) national insurance contributions revenue to the Exchequer as a result of false self-employment.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The House of Commons Library published a briefing paper, Self-employment in the construction industry on 23 May 2016. The paper identifies that employment intermediaries facilitating false self-employment is the main source of bogus self-employment. HM Revenue and Customs estimated this had resulted in 200,000 people wrongly designated. It has not provided an estimate of the amount of tax and national insurance lost as a result of false self-employment.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to improve access to basic bank accounts.
Answered by Simon Kirby
Since September 2016, the nine largest personal current account providers in the UK have been legally required to offer fee-free basic bank accounts to customers who do not have a bank account or who are ineligible for a bank’s standard current account. The Financial Conduct Authority is the body responsible for monitoring and enforcing firms’ compliance with these requirements.
The Government continues to monitor firms’ wider commitments on basic bank accounts, including that the accounts should be visible to potential customers alongside other personal current accounts, and that applications for basic bank accounts can be accepted through the same channels the firm uses for other personal current accounts.
Firms also report data on basic bank accounts to the Treasury. The first publication of this data, in December 2016, showed that nearly half a million people had opened a new fee-free basic bank account in the first half of 2016. Subsequently, firms also committed to stop charging fees on basic bank accounts that were opened before the relevant standards came into force. The Government welcomes this development, and the efforts made across the industry to improve basic bank accounts for all.
The publication, and further information on basic bank accounts, is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/576033/Basic_bank_account_2016_dec_final.pdf.
The Treasury will continue to collect and publish basic bank account data on an annual basis.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how the Government plans to improve and promote access to credit unions.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The Government’s manifesto commits to support the credit union movement in making financial services more accessible over the course of this Parliament. The Government has supported the sector in the following ways:
Investing up to £38 million in an expansion project for credit unions, aimed at helping credit unions expand and grow sustainably.
The Government announced at AS16 that a greater proportion of funds recovered from illegal money lenders will be allocated to incentivise vulnerable people to join, save and borrow with a credit union instead of turning to loan sharks.
The Coalition Government also increased the maximum interest rate that credit unions can charge on loans from 2% to 3%. This has helped credit unions become more stable.
The Government will continue to look at ways it can help support the sector.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on family incomes of the withdrawal of tax credits as a result of the introduction of the national living wage.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The introduction of the National Living Wage in April 2016 marked an important step towards building an economy that works for everyone. At £7.20, it represented a 50p increase on the National Minimum Wage, and a pay rise for over a million low paid workers across the UK.
A family’s entitlement to tax credits depends on a number of factors including the level of income they receive. The introduction of the National Living Wage and the consequential adjustment to a family’s award will be dependent on individual circumstances. The first tax credits income threshold is £6,420, so once a household’s earnings reaches this income threshold, their tax credit award is removed at a rate of 41p for each pound of income above the threshold.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was owed to the UK by which countries in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Information on the stock of UK assets, or money owed by other countries to the UK, is captured in the UK’s International Investment Position. A country by country breakdown is available in table 10.2 of the 2015 ONS Pink Book which can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-382775