Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.103 of the Autumn Statement 2014, what discussions he had with the Chief Executive of Invest NI before the announcement of the possible devolution of corporation tax.
Answered by David Gauke
At Autumn Statement 2014, the Government announced that the devolution of a corporation tax rate-setting power to Northern Ireland could be implemented provided that the Northern Ireland Executive is able to manage the financial implications. Following the 23 December Stormont House Agreement, the Government has announced that it will introduce and publish the Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) bill on 8 January 2015.
Treasury Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, under what circumstances the use of European Investment Bank loans by the Northern Ireland Executive would lead to a reduction in the block grant from his Department.
Answered by Danny Alexander
The Northern Ireland Executive’s spending is funded from a variety of sources, including the ‘block grant’ allocation from the UK Government, borrowing, and locally raised revenue. The Northern Ireland Executive can currently borrow up to £200m per year, up to a total of £3bn, from the UK’s National Loans Fund (NLF), through the Reinvestment and Reform Initiative (RRI).
Any loans from the European Investment Bank which were additional to the NLF borrowing would, like the existing facility, count towards the UK’s overall Public Sector Net Cash Requirement (PSNCR) and would have the effect of increasing the overall level of public spending. For this reason, any Northern Ireland Executive borrowing needs to be within the £200m per year limits which are provided for within the devolved administration’s total budgets each year. Any increases in borrowing beyond the agreed limits must be offset by reductions in other spending to avoid adding to the overall limits on public spending set out by the Government. Such reductions could be enforced by cuts to the ‘block grant’ portion of NI budgets if the Northern Ireland Executive did not make other offsetting savings.
It is important to recognise that bodies other than the Northern Ireland Executive can bid for EIB loans in Northern Ireland. In January 2014, the University of Ulster secured a £150m loan to help build its new Belfast campus, and the Northern Ireland Finance Minister has been encouraging councils within the new local authority structures in Northern Ireland to consider the EIB as a source of finance for infrastructure investment.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the direct financial benefit of the abolition of air passenger duty bands C and D to airports in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The abolition of Air Passenger Duty bands C and D cuts up to £52 per passenger off the cost of a journey originating in Northern Ireland, including connecting flights.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications have been submitted from Northern Ireland for the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme since January 2014.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government does not collect data on the number of applications participating lenders receive for mortgages supported by the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme.
The Government publishes quarterly official statistics relating to the Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee scheme. The first of these were published on 29 May 2014.
This report, along with accompanying tables, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-march-2014
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much corporation tax was raised by HM Treasury in Northern Ireland in the last full financial year.
Answered by David Gauke
The most recent available estimate of Corporation Tax receipts in respect of Northern Ireland relates to financial year 2012-13. This estimate was published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in ‘A Disaggregation of HMRC Tax Receipts between England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland'. A link to the publication is provided below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/285765/disagg-info.pdf
For 2012-13 the estimated portion of onshore UK Corporation Tax receipts relating to Northern Ireland was £476m. Estimates of offshore Corporation Tax receipts relating to Northern Ireland are available as produced by two methods: a geographic basis and a population based apportionment. The estimates for 2012-13 are nil and £137m respectively.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the economic benefit to Northern Ireland of the UK's membership of the EU.
Answered by Baroness Morgan of Cotes
The Government has made no assessment of the economic benefit to Northern Ireland of the UK's membership of the EU.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2014, Official Report, column 36W, on minimum wage: Northern Ireland, whether HM Revenue and Customs' national minimum wage enforcement team have any staff located in Northern Ireland outside the city of Belfast.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government takes the enforcement of national minimum wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the NMW legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.
The National Minimum Wage team in Northern Ireland contains six full-time and two-part-time staff with all using Belfast as a base location.
However, as I explained in my previous response, HMRC deploys resources to risk, so work relating to a specific geographical area may not always be undertaken by the NMW team based in that area. In addition, the NMW Dynamic Response Team (DRT) provides a multi-agency response to emerging risks, high profile casework and compliance initiatives across the UK.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the current value is of all financial penalties imposed on the Northern Ireland Executive as a result of that body not implementing the Government's welfare reform policy.
Answered by Danny Alexander
I wrote to the Northern Ireland Minister for Finance and Personnel on 31 March to set out that that the Northern Ireland Executive's funding allocations would be reduced by £13m, £87m and £114m for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 respectively.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2014, Official Report, column 36W, on minimum wage: Northern Ireland, how many people are employed (a) full-time and (b) part-time in the HM Revenue and Customs national minimum wage enforcement team based in Belfast.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government takes the enforcement of national minimum wage (NMW) very seriously and HMRC enforce the NMW legislation on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). It does that by investigating all complaints made about employers suspected of not paying the minimum wage, in addition, carrying out targeted enforcement where it identifies a high risk of non-payment of NMW across the whole of the UK.
The National Minimum Wage team in Northern Ireland contains six full-time and two-part-time staff with all using Belfast as a base location.
However, as I explained in my previous response, HMRC deploys resources to risk, so work relating to a specific geographical area may not always be undertaken by the NMW team based in that area. In addition, the NMW Dynamic Response Team (DRT) provides a multi-agency response to emerging risks, high profile casework and compliance initiatives across the UK.
Asked by: Ivan Lewis (Independent - Bury South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people are employed in the HM Revenue and Customs national minimum wage enforcement team based in Belfast; and how many complaints have been reeived by the Pay and Work Rights helpline relating to Northern Ireland-based employers in each year since 2010.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government takes the enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) very seriously. HMRC review every complaint that is referred to them by the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. In addition, by collating and analysing data received from various sources, HMRC ensure targeted enforcement through robust risk assessment processes to identify employers across the United Kingdom who are more likely to be not paying NMW.
HMRC deploys resources to risk, so work relating to a specific geographical area may not always be undertaken by the NMW team based in that area. In addition, the NMW Dynamic Response Team (DRT) provides a multi-agency response to emerging risks, high profile casework and compliance initiatives across the UK.
Responsibility for the administration of the Pay and Work Rights Helpline (PWRH) sits with the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS). At present, the PWRH is not able to provide aggregated information on calls relating to specific locations.