Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans the Government has to introduce legislation to restrict promoters of tax avoidance schemes.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The government has taken significant steps to tackle the promoters of tax avoidance schemes. It introduced the Promoters of Tax Avoidance Schemes (POTAS) regime in Budget 2013 to tackle high-risk promoters, and Finance Bill 2017-2019 goes further by introducing a new penalty on the enablers of tax avoidance.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that every region in the UK benefits from future economic growth.
Answered by Greg Hands
Economic development in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is the responsibility of the devolved administrations. At the 2015 Spending Review, the government announced that funding available for infrastructure investment via the block grant would rise by 12% in Northern Ireland, 14% in Scotland and 17% in Wales through to 2020-21. At Budget 2016 the government then committed an additional £220m of funding through the Barnett Formula to Northern Ireland, over £650m to Scotland, and more than £380m to Wales.
The government is also empowering England to take responsibility for economic growth. By May 2017, over half the population of the North of England will have a powerful new directly elected mayor. £200m has been committed to Transport for the North, strategic investments have been made in science (including £235m for the Sir Henry Royce Institute,) and Hull has been backed as the 2017 City of Culture. The government is investing in growth in all parts of the country, for example through creating a Midlands Engine Investment Fund of over £250m. Meanwhile our business rate reforms offer local authorities across England unprecedented new levers to drive growth.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to make young working families aware of ways in which they can access (a) proposed Government schemes in the Lifetime Savings Bill and (b) other Government schemes relating to long-term savings.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
We are committed to supporting savers of all incomes and at all stages of life. From April 2017, the Government will introduce a Lifetime ISA for adults under 40 to help save for a first home or retirement. The Government will also introduce a new Help to Save scheme, available from no later than April 2018, to support working families on low incomes to build up a rainy day fund.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that all consumers can access high quality, affordable advice so they can make informed decisions about their hard-earned money. That is why we will replace the Money Advice Service with a new commissioning body that will identify gaps in the financial guidance market and commission targeted money guidance accordingly.
Asked by: David Simpson (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that private pension providers facilitate access by policyholders to details of their investments.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
At Budget 2016 the government announced that it will ensure the industry designs, funds and launches a pensions dashboard by 2019. This will help people to ensure that people can clearly view all their pension savings in one place.
This work will be industry-led. The Treasury is starting the work on catalysing and challenging the industry to deliver and I will set out next steps in due course.