Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with his Chinese counterparts on access to pensions held by the Mandatory Provident Fund in Hong Kong for people with British National (Overseas) status.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are aware that individuals who have chosen to take up the British Nationals (Overseas) Visa (BN(O)) route are having difficulties in accessing their pensions held in the Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Funds (MPF).
We continue to urge the Hong Kong authorities to facilitate early drawdown of funds as is the case for other Hong Kong residents who move overseas permanently. The Minister for Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, raised this issue with the Hong Kong Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 18 April 2023 and pressed for a pragmatic solution. The Investment Minister, Lord Johnson, raised the matter with Hong Kong's Commercial Secretary, during his visit to Hong Kong in May 2023.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the preparedness of (a) self-employed people and (b) landlords with an income over £50,000 to begin using Making Tax Digital for income tax self-assessment from April 2026.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC published research in 2022 indicating that two thirds of those with income above £10,000 felt capable of changing to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA). Those with income over £50,000 are already more likely to be using digital tools than smaller businesses; many will already be using MTD for VAT.
HMRC has an established programme of social research, focused on understanding the characteristics and support needs of its customers. This will inform an ongoing communications campaign, raising awareness of MTD for ITSA and supporting HMRC’s customers to prepare.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of people who have bought buy-now pay-later interest-free products in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury regularly monitors the consumer credit market as part of its normal process of policy development.
The department does not hold precise information on the number of consumers who used Buy-Now Pay-Later (BNPL) products in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023. Instead, HM Treasury draws on the research of various stakeholders to inform policy development. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Lives surveys include findings on the number of people using BNPL and can be accessed here: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/research-notes/deferred-payment-credit-findings-financial-lives-survey.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people paid the higher rate of income tax in each year since 2018.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This data is available in HMRC’s published Income Tax Liabilities statistics for the estimated number of taxpayers per tax band. This includes outturn estimates from 2018-2019 up to 2020-2021 as well as projected estimates from 2021-22 to 2023-24. This information is contained in Table 2.1, Number of individual Income tax payers, tab ‘2_1_IT_payers_by_demographic’, column F, published 29th June 2023:
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his latest estimate is of when the pilot No Interest Loan Scheme run by Fair4AllFinance will be launched in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government funded No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) is being run by Fair4AllFinance, in conjunction with their partners. The pilot is designed to test the impact that NILS could have on addressing the needs of vulnerable consumers across the UK.
Fair4All Finance have now rolled out the pilot in England, Scotland and Wales. The lack of an Executive in Northern Ireland has impacted the ability of Fair4All Finance to access lending capital to extend the pilot to Northern Ireland. Fair4All Finance will continue to engage closely with stakeholders in an effort to deliver our shared ambition to launch a pilot site in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 18 October 2023 to Question 201259 on No-interest Loans Scheme: Northern Ireland, when he expects to see the results of the Fair4AllFinance pilot in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government funded No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) is being run by Fair4AllFinance, in conjunction with their partners. The pilot is designed to test the impact that NILS could have on addressing the needs of vulnerable consumers across the UK.
Fair4All Finance have now rolled out the pilot in England, Scotland and Wales. The continued lack of an Executive in Northern Ireland is impacting the ability of Fair4All Finance to access lending capital to extend the pilot to Northern Ireland. Fair4All Finance continue to engage closely with stakeholders in an effort to deliver our shared ambition to launch a pilot site in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of the Trader Support Service between August 2020 and January 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information about the costs of the Trader Support Service (TSS) is published annually at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 17 October 2023 to Question 200203 on Financial Services: Environment Protection, when he plans to publish the next stage of the UK Green Taxonomy process.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to delivering a UK Green Taxonomy to support an increase in financing for activities supporting the transition to net zero and delivering on UK environmental objectives. We expect to consult shortly. Following the consultation, we will analyse responses and provide a government response in accordance with Cabinet Office consultation principles, with a view to finalising the Taxonomy.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the technology used in HMRC's trader support service system; and if he will require the implementation of an urgent independent assessment of the performance of that technology since it was introduced.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Trader Support Service (TSS) is operating smoothly and consistently. To date, over 54.5K businesses have registered for the TSS and more than 40.5K of those businesses regularly use it. The service has processed over 1.25m goods movements, involving more than 4.6m consignments, playing an important role in ensuring the free flow of goods within the UK’s internal market.
Governance structures are in place to review the TSS’ performance and IT functionality to ensure it continues to meet its intended purpose. HMRC also monitors customer satisfaction scores, customer feedback and management information to continuously improve the service. The customer satisfaction score in 2023 was 85%.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of orchestras that will benefit from the extension of the higher rates of relief for the Orchestra Tax Relief announced in the Spring Budget.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Estimates of the number of orchestras that will benefit from the extension of the higher rates of relief for the Orchestra Tax Relief can be found in HMRC’s Creative Industries Statistics:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-statistics-august-2023 (Table 7.1)