Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to ensure fairness in the application of the tax system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Spring Statement, we equalised the National Insurance and income tax starting thresholds.
Our work towards OECD Pillar 1 & 2 reforms will help to ensure multinational businesses pay their fair share.
The government is committed to tackling avoidance and evasion to ensure that everyone pays the right amount of tax at the right time.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) budgets and (b) returns were from the compliance units of (a) HMRC and (b) the Department for Work and Pensions for each year between 2015 and 2021 inclusive.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
For HMRC, the value of compliance work goes beyond generating yield, and also includes mitigating harm, ensuring a level playing field for those who pay their taxes correctly, and deterring non-compliance from taking place.
In this context, there are some indicative figures HMRC can provide to give a sense of scale. In the financial year 2020-21, HMRC delivered a total of £30.4 billion of compliance yield with an expenditure of £1,166.5 million on the Customer Compliance Group (CCG). CCG brings in the majority, but not all, compliance yield. Equivalent figures for CCG from 2016-17 (the first year of CCG reporting following an internal reorganisation) are provided in the table below. Equivalent figures for before 2016-17 are not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Year | Compliance yield (£billion) | Cost (£million) |
2016-17 | £28.9 | £1,040.8 |
2017-18 | £30.3 | £1,139.2 |
2018-19 | £34.1 | £1,127.7 |
2019-20 | £36.9 | £1,192.2 |
2020-21 | £30.4 | £1,166.5 |
The information requested on the Department for Work and Pensions Compliance is not readily available and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of the expected returns from the compliance units of (a) Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and (b) the Department for Work and Pensions for the period 2022 to 2024.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
It is not possible to provide an exact rate of return per compliance unit for HMRC given a range of variables that would affect this figure, including the natural variability in the work HMRC compliance undertakes and the types of risk that compliance officers can be deployed against.Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the disparity in the rates of VAT on electricity for public and domestic charging points for electric vehicles; and whether he plans to harmonise those rates.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In order to keep costs down for families, the supply of electricity for domestic use, including charging an electric vehicle (EV) at home, attracts the 5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. However, electricity supplied at EV charging points in public places is subject to the 20 per cent standard rate of VAT.
The Government has not specifically introduced a reduced rate for charging EVs at home. However, the practical challenges of differentiating between the electricity used at home for general domestic purposes, and electricity used to charge EVs currently mean that the reduced rate is effectively being applied to EV charging at home.
Harmonising the rate of VAT on electricity for public and domestic charging points for electric vehicles would require the Government to expand the existing VAT relief on electricity for domestic use (that is also used to charge EVs at home) to electricity for use at public EV charge points and this would come at a cost.
VAT makes a significant contribution towards the public finances, raising around £130 billion in 2019-20, and helps fund the Government's priorities including the NHS, schools, and defence. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing, or increased taxation elsewhere.
Although there are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of electricity supplied at public EV charge points, the Government is committed to supporting the transition to zero emission vehicles to help the UK meet its net-zero obligations. The Government has committed £2.5 billion since 2020 to support the transition to zero emission vehicles, which funds targeted vehicle grants and the rollout of charging infrastructure.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of Fair by Design and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' report, The hidden risks of being poor: the poverty premium in insurance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government wants to ensure that people, regardless of their background or income, have access to useful and affordable financial products and services.
My officials and I continue to engage closely with both the FCA and the insurance sector, including on issues relating to the accessibility of insurance.
It is important to note that there are also wider initiatives that low-income households will benefit from when accessing insurance. For example, from 1 January 2022, FCA rules for home and motor insurance now require insurers to offer renewing customers a price that is no higher than they would pay as a new customer.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report by Fair by Design and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries entitled The hidden risks of being poor: the poverty premium in insurance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government wants to ensure that people, regardless of their background or income, have access to useful and affordable financial products and services.
My officials and I continue to engage closely with both the FCA and the insurance sector, including on issues relating to the accessibility of insurance.
It is important to note that there are also wider initiatives that low-income households will benefit from when accessing insurance. For example, from 1 January 2022, FCA rules for home and motor insurance now require insurers to offer renewing customers a price that is no higher than they would pay as a new customer.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on bilateral consultations with representatives of the insurance industry with respect to financial inclusion following the meeting between the Financial Conduct Authority, his Department and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in December 2021 to discuss the report entitled The hidden risks of being poor: the poverty premium in insurance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government wants to ensure that people, regardless of their background or income, have access to useful and affordable financial products and services.
My officials and I continue to engage closely with both the FCA and the insurance sector, including on issues relating to the accessibility of insurance.
It is important to note that there are also wider initiatives that low-income households will benefit from when accessing insurance. For example, from 1 January 2022, FCA rules for home and motor insurance now require insurers to offer renewing customers a price that is no higher than they would pay as a new customer.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of (a) extending the Super-deduction and (b) replacing it with an equivalent to support the ports industry to invest in green infrastructure.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Spring Statement the government set out that, ahead of the end of the super-deduction, it is considering reforms to best support future business investment. In doing so, it will continue to review the latest evidence, including the impact of the super-deduction and views of businesses.
The government is investing £206 million to establish a UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions, which will deliver a suite of interventions focused on decarbonising the maritime sector, and will extend the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition to deliver real-world demonstrations of clean maritime vessels and infrastructure.
Freeport tax sites are able to benefit from a suite of tax reliefs including a 100 per cent enhanced capital allowance for plant and machinery and a 10 per cent enhanced structures and buildings allowance for non-residential structures and buildings. Qualifying capital expenditure in freeport tax sites will benefit from those reliefs, thus providing additional support for investment, including green investment, in our ports industry.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using the carbon footprint and yield of the chemical recycling of plastic when assessing recycling for the forthcoming plastics tax; and will he make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following two consultations in 2019 and 2020 on the design of Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), the Government decided that chemically recycled plastic will be an allowable source of recycled plastic for the purpose of the Tax. Industry recognised standards were considered as part of this consultation process and in the development of the definition of recycled plastic contained within Section 49 Finance Act 2021.
The Government has published the anticipated environmental impact of the Plastic Packaging Tax in a Tax Information and Impact Note. This is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-from-april-2022/introduction-of-plastic-packaging-tax-2021.
HM Treasury has, and continues to, engage closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on various aspects of the Tax, including on chemical recycling.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to allow households to opt out of the (a) energy bills and (b) council tax rebate.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All domestic electricity customers in Great Britain will receive a £200 reduction in their electricity costs from this October. This will be delivered via energy suppliers and will be clearly identifiable as a line item on electricity bills. The reduction in costs will help people with the increase in energy bills by spreading the increased costs over a few years, so they are more manageable for households.
Eligible households in council tax bands A-D will receive the £150 Council Tax Energy Rebate. The rebate is non-repayable and does not impact on future council tax bills. Local authorities will provide further information on how the rebate will be administered in each area following receipt of detailed guidance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.