Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many fines have been issued by his Department to other Government departments in each year since 2010 for accountancy misconduct; and what the value of each fine was.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Government entities are required to produce annual reports and accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Manual, which adapts and interprets UK adopted International Financial Reporting Standards for the UK public sector context and sets out how to account for the use of resources. The annual reports and accounts are independently audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), supported by the National Audit Office (NAO), to offer assurance that the underlying transactions have appropriate parliamentary authority and that the accounts have been properly prepared and are free of material misstatements.
The C&AG may qualify his opinion should the findings of the audit suggest that there has not been appropriate parliamentary authority, that the accounts have not been properly prepared or that they are materially misstated. Such matters are drawn to the attention of the Public Accounts Committee which may call the Accounting Officer to account for the findings of the audit. HM Treasury does not issue fines or penalties over the quality of financial reporting as audited by the C&AG.
However, as set out in the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance, the budgeting framework allows for The Chief Secretary to consider further remedial action to incentivise good financial management and penalise actions that break certain rules or actions that fall below expectations. This may include asking the NAO to investigate the value for money that the department achieves, conducting a financial management review, reducing delegated authorities, removing access to Budget Exchange and/or making deductions to administration budgets. In all cases, the Treasury retains the right to apply whatever penalties are appropriate to incentivise good financial management and value for money. The Treasury does not hold a central record of the remedial actions that have historically been taken.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the financial impact on savers with a National Savings and Investments (NS&I) account after the reduction of the premium bond prize fund rate from 1.4 per cent to 1 per cent in December 2020.
Answered by John Glen
In setting interest rates for its products, NS&I must balance the interests of savers, taxpayers and the broader financial services sector.
With unprecedented Government funding requirements in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic measures and amid significant uncertainty and volatility in the retail savings market, NS&I experienced unprecedented upside pressures on its Net Financing. In the first six months of 2020-21, NS&I raised a total of £38.3 billion of Net Financing for the Government, so a decision was taken to reduce the Premium Bond rates to mitigate the risk of NS&I exceeding its £35 billion (+/- £5 billion) Net Financing target.
More broadly, it is important that Government takes into account taxpayer value considerations when making financing decisions. With gilt yields at low levels for the majority of the past year, the Government financing raised through NS&I has been more expensive than that raised through gilt issuance.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to provide self-employed workers with 80 per cent of their profits prior to the start of the covid-19 outbreak in the fourth Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grant.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the self-employed during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) provides generous support to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria.
There will be a fourth SEISS grant covering February to April 2021. Further details on the SEISS, including the fourth grant, will be announced on 3 March.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2020 to Question 100891, how many and what proportion of brewers produce (a) less than 2,100 hectolitres per year and (b) between 2,100 and 5,000 hectolitres per year.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Further information about small breweries will be published with the technical consultation on Small Brewers Relief this Autumn.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many breweries produce less than (a) 2,100 hectolitres and (b) 5,000 hectolitres of beer in each local authority area each year.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
HMRC publishes annual statistics on Small Brewers Relief, this includes the total number of people claiming the relief and the cost of the relief. Information on the location of Brewers receiving the relief is not readily available. The latest publication of annual tax relief data for Small Brewers Relief can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value is of the small breweries relief to breweries producing (a) 3,000 hectolitres, (b) 4,000 hectolitres and (c) 5,000 hectolitres of beer each year.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Small Brewers producing less than 5,000 hectolitres per year are currently entitled to a 50% reduction in the rate of duty charged on their beer. The value of the relief to an individual Brewer will depend on the strength of the beer produced. At an average strength of 4% this would reduce a Brewer’s beer duty bill by £114,480 on 3,000 hectolitres, £152,640 on 4,000 hectolitres, and £190.800 on 5,000 hectolitres per annum.
HMRC publishes annual statistics on Small Brewers Relief, this includes the number of people claiming the relief and the total cost of the relief. Information on the total cost of the relief by production volume is not readily available. The latest publication of annual tax relief data for Small Brewers Relief can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the economic effect of small breweries relief on small brewers.
Answered by John Glen
We are conducting a review of Small Brewers Relief, and further announcements about this will be made in due course.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will announce the funding for the next phase of the Affordable Homes Programme.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing and has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 to deliver approximately 250,000 new affordable homes. We have already secured the future of the programme by announcing funding of £2 billion for its next phase, to give certainty to strategic partners and support them to deliver homes throughout the next decade.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Rawmarsh and Conisbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the revenue from capital gains tax on residential property gains in each year from 2016-17.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC collect information on Capital Gains Tax liabilities accrued from disposals of residential property. This is summarised in the table below for the tax years 2016-17 and 2017-18. These liabilities will broadly translate into receipts for the tax years 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. Figures for 2019-20 will not be available until next year, after the Self-Assessment deadline.
Tax year | Tax liability accrued |
2016-17 | £1,029m |
2017-18 | £1,128m |