Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HMRC will ensure the immediate release of Roadchef pension fund monies to Christine Slack and other former Roadchef employees; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate the Government has of the effect of the alcohol duty freeze on (a) public health and (b) alcohol-related deaths.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
HM Treasury keeps all taxes, including alcohol duties, under review.
The Government has assessed that the increase in alcohol duty rates in line with inflation at the last budget is likely to lead to a minor decrease in overall alcohol consumption in the UK.
Further information on the impact of the alcohol duty changes can be found on the associated Tax Information and Impact Note, published in October 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increase-in-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-uprating
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the income tax system has been in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the tax and welfare systems.
The income tax system does this through various allowances including the married couples allowance and marriage allowance, and by providing tax reliefs for childcare. The Government also supports families through increasing tax thresholds including increasing the Personal Allowance to £12,500 for 2019 to 2020.
The annual costs of most of these types of support in each financial year since 2010 have been set out in various HMRC publications.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the welfare system has been in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the welfare system.
For instance, every year the Government spends more than £11bn on Child Benefit in recognition of the costs to families of raising children. In addition to this, at the last Budget, the Chancellor put an additional £1.7bn per year into the Universal Credit Work Allowances for families with children and those where someone has a disability.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the £4.3 billion set aside for preparations for the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal has been spent.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to ensuring all necessary preparations are made before the UK’s departure from the EU, for all scenarios, deal or no deal. HM Treasury has in total allocated over £4.2bn across government to help departments and devolved administrations prepare for Brexit. Of this, some £2.2bn has been allocated to financial years that have now past, covering 2016-17 to 2018-19. Individual departments report on all of their spending to Parliament through their annual reports and accounts, however aggregate outturn data on EU Exit spending is not available.
Over £2bn of additional funding has been allocated to the current financial year, 2019-20. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS1205, laid on the 18th December (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/)
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the effectiveness of the Financial Services Ombudsman.
Answered by John Glen
The Government has legislated to ensure the effectiveness of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is required to take such steps as are necessary to ensure that the Ombudsman is capable of exercising its functions and is empowered to make rules concerning the FOS. The FCA keeps those rules under review to ensure the continued effectiveness of the FOS. The FCA appoints all of the Non-Executives of the FOS Board (including the Chair, with HM Treasury’s approval). Furthermore, under the Financial Services Act 2012, HMT must lay the FOS’s annual report and accounts before Parliament, the FOS is made subject to statutory NAO audit and must publish reports of determinations. The continued effectiveness of the FOS is a key government priority, which is why on the 6th of February 2019 I visited the FOS to see for myself how it is preparing for the future.