Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of penalties imposed for unauthorised withdrawals from lifetime ISAs.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The Government has no current plans to remove or reduce the LISA withdrawal charge.
However, the Government keeps all aspects of the savings tax regime under review, and any changes would be announced at a fiscal event.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Competition and Markets Authority on helping ensure that rises in car insurance premiums do not disproportionately impact individuals with protected characteristics.
Answered by Bim Afolami
Treasury ministers and officials have regular engagement with independent regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Insurers make commercial decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. However, insurers must comply with relevant legislation and regulatory rules when pricing their products.
Under the Equality Act 2010 insurers are, with limited exceptions, prohibited from discriminating against consumers with protected characteristics. Enforcement powers under the Equality Act 2010 are the sole reserve of the EHRC. However, it is likely that a breach of the Equality Act will also be a breach of the FCA’s rules.
The FCA have also introduced new Consumer Duty rules, from 31 July 2023, to ensure firms are providing products that offer fair value (i.e. that the price a consumer pays for a product or service is reasonable compared to the overall benefits they can expect to receive).
The FCA can and does act in appropriate cases where firms are breaching its rules.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to issue a Command Paper in relation to the Disguised remuneration: independent loan charge review.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The loan charge was independently reviewed by Lord Amyas Morse in 2019, who assessed the impact of the policy on affected taxpayers. The Government accepted all but one of the Review’s 20 recommendations.
To bring the Review’s publication to the attention of Parliament, a Written Statement was made on the day (20 December 2019: UIN HCWS14). The Statement is available here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2019-12-20/hcws14.
There are no plans to issue a command paper.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has had discussions with the Financial Conduct Authority on the level of fees charged by companies for supporting people with claims relating to payment protection insurance.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Treasury ministers and officials have regular engagement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Claims Management Companies supporting any remaining payment protection insurance (PPI) claims remain subject to a 20 per cent fee cap, as set in the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018. Further information on this PPI fee cap can be found in the FCA handbook, Section 5.1 of the Claims Management: Conduct of Business sourcebook.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has had recent discussions with the Competition and Market Authority on the use of exclusive jurisdiction clauses by insurance companies.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
Insurers make commercial decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. The Government does not intend to intervene in these commercial decisions by insurers as this could damage competition in the market.
However, insurers must treat customers fairly and are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) rules. The FCA is an independent body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry, including insurance firms. The FCA, as the independent regulator, also has a statutory objective to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers. The FCA work towards that objective, as far as the work is compatible with advancing their other objectives.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Grade (a) 6, (b) 7 and (c) SCS staff in his Department are contractually based in (i) Scotland (ii) London and (iii) the Southeast of England.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
HM Treasury currently have the following number of staff at Grade 6, Grade 7 and SCS who are contractually based in:
Scotland – this number cannot be disclosed, as it is
London - 989
Norwich (Southeast of England) - 9
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of civil servants on temporary contracts in his Department are women.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The department recognises temporary contracts as Fixed Term Appointments. The current proportion of civil servants in Treasury, who are women, on Fixed Term Appointments is 50.9%, as of 17 October 2023.
The latest published information is available here and info for financial year 2022-2023, will be published in the next set of report and accounts.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of civil servants in his Department on full-time equivalent contracts at senior civil servant pay band 2 are women.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
50.2% of SCS2 FTE are female as of 17 October 2023.
The latest published information is available here and info for financial year 2022-2023, will be published in the next set of report and accounts.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to make War Widows Recognition Payments tax exempt.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government will confirm the tax treatment of War Widow(er)s’ recognition payments ahead of them being made later this year.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2021 to Question 62867 on Tax Avoidance: Prosecutions, if he will provide details of the people who were prosecuted for offences relating to the Loan Charge.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Promotion or operation of mass marketed tax avoidance schemes is not in, or of itself, a criminal offence. However, there are a range of offences which might be committed by those who promote tax avoidance schemes or advise on their use.
On that basis, to date, while there have been no prosecutions of individuals related to schemes subject to the Loan Charge, a number of individuals are currently under criminal investigation by HMRC for offences linked to schemes subject to the Loan Charge.
In addition to schemes subject to the Loan Charge, since 1 April 2016, more than 20 individuals have been convicted for offences relating to arrangements which have been promoted and marketed as tax avoidance. These have resulted in over 100 years of custodial sentences, the majority of which relate to promoters.
Prosecutions are only one type of intervention available to HMRC where they identify concerns.