Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to provide further details of the energy bill rebate; whether energy customers will be able to opt out of taking the rebate; whether people that opt out will have to pay the additional £40 per annum charge; whether bills for those that are not currently customers will include the additional £40 per annum charge; and in what way customers who pay energy bills with their rent will (a) receive the rebate and (b) repay it.
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 Government will recoup the costs of the £200 reduction in full, from domestic energy suppliers over the next five years. We expect this will be reflected by energy suppliers as an increase in standing charges on electricity bills of around £40 per annum. If the number of domestic electricity meter grows, it is likely that the amount paid back by each household will be slightly lower.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
The Treasury does not have an MP hotline.
The Treasury does not have an account management team, and the Treasury correspondence team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will meet ABTA to discuss (a) the travel and tourism sector's financial situation and (b) potential financial support for those sectors.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chancellor regularly meets with industry, including the travel and tourism sector, to discuss a range of matters.
Senior officials are due to meet with ABTA and have also held discussions with a number of representatives from the travel and tourism sector, including with representatives from UK airlines and with the Chief Executive of the Business Travel Association.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make available a package of support for travel agents, tour operators and travel management companies equivalent to the support available for the hospitality sector.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 21 December, we announced an additional £100m of discretionary funding through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), which local authorities can use to support businesses in the travel sector, such as travel agents and tour operators. This is on top of the up to £250m that LAs have left from previous funding allocations and is available until the end of March 2022.
Plan B has been designed to help control the virus's spread while avoiding unduly damaging economic and social restrictions.
The Government continues to provide considerable support for businesses into spring next year. This is part of around £400bn of direct support for the economy during this financial year and last, which has helped to safeguard jobs, businesses and public services in every region and nation of the UK through the pandemic.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to review the validity of and remediation for loans taken by customers of Azure Services Ltd and Barclays Partner Finance prior to 1 April 2014.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This question has been passed on to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA will reply directly to the Honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps are taken to ensure that the local authority is provided with real time information regarding change in circumstances so that any housing benefit entitlements can be adjusted in cases where a claimant notifies HMRC of a change in their childcare costs affecting tax credits.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC do not share information with local authorities about changes to their customers’ tax credits awards. Guidance on GOV.UK explains what steps Housing Benefit customers should take to contact their council/DWP to report changes which may affect their entitlement to Housing Benefit: www.gov.uk/housing-benefit/report-a-change-of-circumstances.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with insurance companies on improving early access to pension pots for people diagnosed with terminal illnesses.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
An individual cannot usually access their pension pot before normal minimum pension age, currently age 55. However, the Government allows members to access their pension earlier than this age on the basis of ill-health.
In 2016 the Government made changes to enable people with less than a year to live to take any pension savings up to the value of the lifetime allowance as a tax-free lump sum. Dependent on pension scheme rules, if an individual is seriously ill and expected to live for less than one year, they may be able to take their entire pension pot as a tax-free serious ill-health lump sum.
Further, dependent on pension scheme rules, people who have more than a year to live but are medically incapable of continuing their current occupation as a result of injury, sickness, disease or disability may access their pension early and not be subject to an unauthorised payment charge.
There are no plans to change these tax rules, but all aspects of the tax system are kept under review in the context of the wider public finances. The Treasury continues to have discussions with a variety of stakeholders about different parts of the tax regime.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the economic impact of the proposal set out in his Department's Alcohol duty review to differentiate based on place of retail.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Treasury is considering the merits of differentiating products based on the place of retail as part of its alcohol duty review and has consulted industry and stakeholders for their views. Officials are working closely with HMRC to assess the practical implications of potential options, such as administration costs. The Treasury will provide further updates about the review in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the cost of implementing a differential alcohol duty rate for the off-trade sector.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Treasury is considering the merits of differentiating products based on the place of retail as part of its alcohol duty review and has consulted industry and stakeholders for their views. Officials are working closely with HMRC to assess the practical implications of potential options, such as administration costs. The Treasury will provide further updates about the review in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a differential duty rate on administration costs for beer (a) producers and (b) retailers.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Treasury is considering the merits of differentiating products based on the place of retail as part of its alcohol duty review and has consulted industry and stakeholders for their views. Officials are working closely with HMRC to assess the practical implications of potential options, such as administration costs. The Treasury will provide further updates about the review in due course.