Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the tax on the football pools to bring it in line with taxation rates applying to bingo.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government has no current plans to reduce Pool Betting Duty. Reducing it to 10% is likely to have a negligible effect on the football pools, but could put revenue at risk particularly through incentivising switching of products from fixed odds bets to pooled bets.
HM Treasury however keeps all taxes, including Pool Betting Duty, under active review.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue his Department has raised from VAT on e-publications in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (c) 2018 and (d) 2019 to 11 July 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The information that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collect from taxpayers on their VAT returns does not provide enough detail to be able to quantify the revenue raised from these supplies precisely. HMRC do not require detail on particular products and customer types because it would place a considerable administrative burden on businesses.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support the Government’s cross-departmental commitment to prioritising a public health approach in the forthcoming Spending Review, and whether that support will include allocating funding for evidence-based parenting support.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Decisions on public spending will be made in the round as part of the Spending Review process. As such, we will be working closely with other departments to assess public health priorities and ensure a joined-up approach across government.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will prioritise local authority children’s services at the next spending review.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Local authorities have access to over £200bn to deliver services, including children’s services, between 2015 and 2020. Local government Core Spending Power will increase in real terms next year.
At Budget 2018 the Government announced an additional £410m in 2019-20 for adults and children’s social care, and £84m to support local authorities to expand programmes for children and families.
Day-to-day departmental budgets for 2020-21 onwards have not yet been set. These are a matter for the Spending Review this year, where the Government will set out our priorities for public spending.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the adequacy of sixth-form funding.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Treasury Ministers regularly engage with Secretaries of State on all aspects of public spending, including Further Education funding. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office for National Statistics publication, Labour productivity, UK: July to September 2018, published on 9 January 2019, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the lower and falling productivity defined by nominal GVA per unit of labour 2016-17 in the north of England.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The ONS published the latest estimates of sub-national productivity on February 6th 2019. The data shows that productivity has increased in all the regions of the North of England during 2017 and since 2010.
All regions of North of England have seen faster nominal productivity growth than London and the South East since 2010.
The Government is investing in the North. As such, we are committed to publishing a refreshed Northern Powerhouse Strategy this year, building on the success of the existing strategy in bringing together local stakeholders to address key barriers to productivity in the region.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office for National Statistics publication, Labour productivity, UK: July to September 2018, published on 9 January 2019 whether the next Spending Review will allocate funding to tackle the effect of poor health outcomes in the North of England on that region’s levels of productivity.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The ONS published the latest estimates of sub-national productivity on 6 February 2019. The data shows that productivity has increased in all the regions in the North of England during 2017 and since 2010.
All regions in the North of England have seen faster nominal productivity growth than London and the South of England since 2010.
The NHS is the government’s number one spending priority and that is why we have committed to a historic settlement that provides a cash increase of £33.9bn a year by 2023-24. This takes the NHS budget from £114.6bn in 2018-19 to £148.5bn in 2023-24.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets the vision for the NHS over the coming years including what action the NHS plans to take on health inequalities. NHS England has committed to ensuring a higher share of funding goes towards geographies with high health inequalities. This funding is estimated to be worth over £1 billion by 2023/24.