Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
HM Treasury’s spend on consultancy is published and available for viewing within the Annual Report and Accounts. HMT is yet to lay its accounts for 2021-22, but these are due to be published prior to the summer recess. We have included the links to the published Annual Report and Accounts for each of the available years in question within the table below. The names of all contracts issued for consultancy can be found using the Gov.Uk contracts finder (link included below).
Contract Finder - Contracts Finder - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Financial Year | Publication Link | Page Reference |
2019-20 | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-annual-report-and-accounts-2019-to-2020 | Page 104 |
2020-21 | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021 | Page 101 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
HMT receives its legal services from the Government Legal Department (GLD) and external contractors. We do not disaggregate the costs of disputes as opposed to other legal advice. The amount we pay for the GLD is shown in the table below, and legal expenses for external consultants can be found here as part of HMT’s transparency reporting with links shown below.
Contract finder - Contracts Finder - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Over £25k transparency reporting - HM Treasury spend over £25,000 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Calendar Year | Total GLD Expenditure |
2020 | £9,244,162 |
2021 | £10,073,235 |
2022 (Jan-May) | £2,531,686 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value has been of contracts held by their Department with (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) Capita in each year since 2020.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
HM Treasury is committed to maintaining transparency about its procurement activity and publishes information about its contracts with a value of over £10,000 on the “Contracts Finder” website.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many contracts that are worth (a) between £1 million and £3 million and (b) over £3 million their (i) Department and (ii) Department’s agencies and non-departmental public bodies (A) have agreed since 2010 and (B) are due to agree within the next 12 months; how much their Department has spent on monitoring each contract in each year since 2010; and how many officials have been working on that monitoring in each year since 2010.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to maintaining transparency about its procurement activity and publishes information about its contracts with a value of over £10,000 on the “Contracts Finder” website.
Contracts that are due to be agreed can be found on the HMT Commercial Pipeline. The next version of this is due be published at the end of July 2022.
The amount spent on monitoring each contract and the number of officials working on that monitoring each year since 2010 is information that is not held centrally and can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the pay ratio was between the highest paid member of staff in his Department and the lowest in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Annual Report and Accounts further details senior staff salaries - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004021/HMT_ARA__web_.pdf
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Simon Clarke
HM Treasury spend on hospitality for the calendar years are below
Year | Spend (£) |
2020 | £340,317.83 |
2021 | £39,128.81 |
2022 *(Jan-May) | £192,180.81 |
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that customers of Safe Hand Funeral Plans are (a) compensated and (b) transferred to new funeral plans from approved funeral providers.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In January 2021, the government legislated to bring all pre-paid funeral plan providers and intermediaries within the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 29 July 2022. This will ensure that, for the first time, consumers are protected by compulsory and robust regulation. To address broader risks posed by providers not obtaining authorisation, on 21 April the government made a supplementary statutory instrument which will make it easier for regulated funeral plan providers to take on the customers of providers that are exiting the market. This will protect consumers – particularly during the transition to regulation – by ensuring that more funeral plan holders benefit from continued plan coverage.
Safe Hands Plans went into administration in March 2022. The government understands that this will be concerning for customers of Safe Hands and continues to monitor the implementation of regulation in this sector closely.
Dignity’s recent commitment to provide ongoing support to Safe Hands’ customers until November 2022 is welcome. This will ensure that any planholders who pass away during this time will receive a funeral without any additional charge.
While the FCA does not yet regulate funeral plan providers, it is supporting the administrators and the wider industry as they look to find a longer-term solution for Safe Hands’ customers.
It is unfortunate but unavoidable that bringing a previously unregulated sector into regulation – whatever form that may take – creates a possibility that some providers are not able to meet the threshold for authorisation. However, a well-regulated market should promote effective competition and drive better outcomes for consumers in the long-term.
Where a provider is unable to obtain FCA authorisation because of underlying issues, it is important to understand that this is not an issue created by bringing the sector into regulation. Rather, bringing the sector into regulation exposes these unsustainable business models and prevents these problems from getting worse.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of setting up an emergency fund to support the customers of the failed Safe Hands Funeral Plans who may fall into funeral poverty as a result of that company's collapse.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In January 2021, the government legislated to bring all pre-paid funeral plan providers and intermediaries within the regulatory remit of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 29 July 2022. When FCA regulation takes effect, funeral plan providers will need to be authorised by the FCA in order to enter into or carry out funeral plan contracts.
Safe Hands Plans has recently gone into administration. The government understands that this development will be concerning for customers of Safe Hands and continues to monitor the implementation of regulation in this sector closely.
Dignity’s recent commitment to provide ongoing support to Safe Hands’ customers for the next six months is welcome. This will ensure that any planholders who pass away during this time will receive a funeral without any additional charge.
It is unfortunate but unavoidable that bringing a previously unregulated sector into regulation – whatever form that may take – creates a possibility that some providers are not able to meet the threshold for authorisation. However, a well-regulated market should promote effective competition and drive better outcomes for consumers in the long-term.
Where a provider is unable to obtain FCA authorisation because of underlying issues, it is important to understand that this is not an issue created by bringing the sector into regulation. Rather, bringing the sector into regulation exposes these unsustainable business models and prevents these problems from getting worse.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the details of any events any events organised by the World Economic Forum that he has participated in during the last year.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not participated in any event organised by the World Economic Forum over the last year.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the New Economics Foundation of 14 March 2022 that by April 2022, more than one in two children will be in households with incomes below the minimum income standard.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government is committed to supporting all groups in society, including those on the lowest incomes. This is why we have put in place a strong welfare safety net that helps people who are facing hardship and are unable to support themselves financially – we are providing £240 billion of support through the welfare system, including £41 billion on Universal Credit and £105 billion through the State Pension.
In the long term, we know that the best strategy to sustainably reduce poverty and increase people’s incomes is to help them into work. That is why the government is investing more than £6 billion in DWP labour market support over the next three years to help people move into, and progress in work. This builds on the success of the Plan for Jobs, with over 2 million fewer people expected to be unemployed than previously thought. In addition to this, we have taken action to make work pay by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p, and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 per year, as well as increasing the National Living Wage (NLW) by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 and over in April 2022 which will benefit more than 2 million workers.