Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and Robert Flello

Wednesday 6th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the effect on household incomes in Scotland of the changes to welfare announced in the summer budget 2015 and the spending review and autumn statement 2015.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The analysis published at spending review 2015 shows that more than half of all spending on welfare and public services goes to the poorest 40% of households in the UK. That has not changed as a result of the Government’s policies since 2010.

[Robert Flello]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that by 2020 more than 2.5 million working families on universal credit will, on average, be £1,600 a year worse off owing to the cuts to the work allowance in universal credit. My constituents know how that is going to damage them, but do the Secretary of State and the Minister have the first clue as to how many of those families will be in Scotland and what the scale of the impact will be on them?

[Mr Gauke]

The best way to help working households in this country is to ensure that we have a job-creating economy; that wages go up; that we introduce a national living wage that will help millions of people; and that we have a secure and stable economy. That is what this Government are delivering. [Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and Robert Flello

Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Every week, another new task comes from the Labour party for the OBR. Child poverty is down by 300,000. That is the record and those are the numbers that have been produced. We believe that the OBR has had a very good start as an organisation. We value it and believe that it has an important future, and we will not jeopardise it by letting Labour use it for party political games.

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

3. What recent assessment he has made of the effect of his fiscal policies on the level of child poverty.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Gauke and Robert Flello

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Robert Flello (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

T8. Will those on the Treasury Bench tell us the expected cost to HMRC in, for example, extra staffing and IT support of dealing with the massive number of extra self-assessment returns—it is estimated at around 500,000—that will result from child benefit changes?

[Mr Gauke]

The cost of implementation of the child benefit policy will be £100 million over five years, but it will bring in £1.7 billion in the first year. I should also point out that the likelihood is that the number of people in self-assessment next year will be no higher than the number in self-assessment last year.