Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic effect of the tax incentives introduced since 2010; and what criteria the Government uses to assess the real economic value of tax incentives.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government believes that tax reliefs are an important part of the tax system and play a significant role in defining the scope of tax. In particular they can help create a fairer, simpler system which reflects the needs of a wide range of individuals and businesses.
The government outlines the rationale for, and expected impacts of, any tax policy changes, including new tax reliefs, in published Tax Information and Impact Notes (TIINs). TIINs also set out the government’s intentions with regard to monitoring and evaluating tax measures.
While tax reliefs can be used to pursue specific policy objectives, all reliefs reflect policy choices about the distribution of the tax burden, proposed by the government and agreed by Parliament.
The government is transparent about both the costs of existing reliefs and the costs and likely impacts of new reliefs. HMRC annually publishes information on the Exchequer cost of around 180 existing tax reliefs on its website. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility certifies the cost of all new tax reliefs or changes to existing reliefs.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy that trustees of defined benefit pension schemes are required to have a policy on stewardship.
Answered by Steve Webb
We are currently consulting on potential changes to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 which will support and encourage trustees of both defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes to consider their approach to stewardship. This forms part of our consultation, entitled “Consultation on changes to the Investment Regulations following the Law Commission’s report ‘Fiduciary Duties of Investment Intermediaries’” which was published on 26th February 2015. The consultation period ends on 20th April 2015 and it is the intention that a Government response will be published later this year.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent steps he has taken to encourage asset owners to do more to engage with investee companies as part of their stewardship duties.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Government has taken a variety of significant steps to promote stewardship and engagement on the part of institutional investors. A key focus has been to work closely with the investment industry on initiatives involving both institutional investors and asset managers, acknowledging that while some institutional investors engage directly with companies, many others delegate to asset managers to engage on their behalf.
Specific achievements include:
The Government has comprehensively reformed the legislative framework for corporate reporting to boost transparency on company directors’ remuneration and ensure annual reports are more focused on long-term company strategy. In this way we are encouraging companies to report the information which is relevant to long-term stewardship investors.
The Law Commission’s report on the fiduciary duties of investment intermediaries, commissioned by the Government, concluded that fiduciary investors such as pension scheme trustees should consider whether and how to engage with companies to promote their long-term success, either directly or through their investment managers. The Government is now taking forward the Law Commission’s recommendations in a number of areas, including by consulting currently on whether the Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment) Regulations 2005 should be amended to require trustees to state their policy on stewardship with reference to the Stewardship Code.
This work has been part of a broader commitment – in response to the Kay Review of equity markets - to address the longstanding concern that short-termism has impeded the creation of sustainable value by British companies. The Government published a comprehensive progress report on the implementation of the Review in October 2014. This is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/367070/bis-14-1157-implementation-of-the-kay-review-progress-report.pdf
The Government is now undertaking further work in a number of areas, including:
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funds his Department allocated to contractors to manage each privately-run prison in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The following table shows the annual expenditure for the contracted prisons for each of the last three financial years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 for which information is available.
Prison | Operator | Direct Resource Expenditure (£000s) | ||
|
| 2011-12 (restated) | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
Altcourse | G4S | 46,219 | 46,494 | 45,538 |
Ashfield | Serco | 26,426 | 27,660 | 23,451 |
Birmingham | G4S | 14,022 | 30,035 | 28,611 |
Bronzefield | Sodexo | 27,629 | 28,873 | 29,871 |
Doncaster | Serco | 19,714 | 18,273 | 17,789 |
Dovegate | Serco | 37,573 | 38,846 | 39,331 |
Forest Bank | Sodexo | 34,626 | 35,682 | 37,187 |
Lowdham Grange | Serco | 26,063 | 27,478 | 28,128 |
Northumberland | Sodexo | n/a | n/a | 11,352 |
Oakwood | G4S | n/a | 24,800 | 19,473 |
Parc | G4S | 58,529 | 59,413 | 56,708 |
Peterborough | Sodexo | 32,418 | 33,085 | 34,133 |
Rye Hill | G4S | 18,663 | 19,138 | 19,997 |
Thameside | Serco | 143 | 27,561 | 31,027 |
Wolds | G4S | 8,470 | 8,598 | 2,157 |
To note within the Table: |
1. Birmingham transferred to the management of G4S on 1st October 2011 |
2. Thameside became operational on 27th March 2012 |
3. Oakwood became operational on 24th April 2012 |
4. Wolds transferred to Public Sector management on 1st July 2013 |
5. Altcourse had Cabinet Office savings initiative from 2011 c £1m per year |
6. Altcourse had 96 Additional Prisoner Places (APP's) deactivated in Dec 2012 and 75 deactivated in April 2013 |
7. Forest Bank has a disinvestment of c £1m per year from July 2012 |
8. Parc had 138 APP's deactivated in April 2013 |
9. Oakwood had £7.2m of fixed costs included in 2012-13 |
10. Thameside became operational at the end of 2011-12 and "ramp-up" progressed through 2012-13 |
11. Northumberland (merger of HMPs Acklington and Castington) transferred to the management of Sodexo in December 2013 |
Expenditure between prisons and years is not directly comparable, as this may vary due to a number of factors, including inflation uplift, contract variations, new prisons becoming operational or prisons transferring between the public and private sector, and additional prison places being commissioned or decommissioned.
The Department is committed to delivering prison capacity changes designed to modernise the prison estate and, where possible, reduce prison costs, whilst maintaining a high quality service.
From the financial years 2009-10 to 2013-14 there was a real terms reduction of 17% in the overall average cost for each prisoner in England and Wales, with a reduction of 5% achieved during the last financial year 2013-14.
The Department routinely publishes annual net resource expenditure for individual prisons in England and Wales each year alongside the management information addendums to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts. The most recently published figures for financial year 2013-14, can be accessed by the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314
The published expenditure figures for 2012-13, and restated figures for 2011-12 can be accessed by the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
Expenditure for financial year 2014-15 is not yet finalised and will be published in due course after the end of this financial period.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people have ceased to pay income tax as a result of increases in the personal allowance since May 2010 in Cambridge constituency.
Answered by David Gauke
By April 2015 this Government's increases in the personal allowance (for those born after 5 April 1948) are estimated to have taken 3.2 million individuals out of the income tax system altogether. 287,000 of these individuals live in the East of England region, which includes the Parliamentary Constituency of Cambridge.
These estimates are based on the 2012-13 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2015-16 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s December 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.
HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in Cambridge constituency had their income tax reduced as a result of personal allowance increases since May 2010.
Answered by David Gauke
By April 2015 this Government's increases in the personal allowance (for those born after 5 April 1948) are estimated to have reduced the income tax liability of 26.7 million individuals in the UK. 2.6 million of them live in the East of England region, which includes the Parliamentary Constituency of Cambridge.
These estimates are based on the 2012-13 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2015-16 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s December 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.
HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will establish a fully independent judicial inquiry into UK involvement in rendition and torture.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) of 5 January 2015 (PQ 218898).
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to increase the level of student maintenance loans in areas where the cost of living matches or exceeds the London average to the level of such loans in London.
Answered by Greg Clark
Decisions on support for tuition and living costs support are taken on an annual basis.
The Government announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 12 March 2014 the Maintenance Grant for academic year 15/16 would be maintained at 14/15 levels. Maximum loans for living costs for new and continuing full-time students will be increased by forecast inflation for 2015/16, 3.34%. The student support package for 16/17 will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the procedures for notifying his Department of a change of circumstances in the event of hospitalisation when the claimant is incapacitated and unable to contact the Disability Benefits helpline.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
The Department has reviewed its procedures for notifying hospital admissions when the customer is incapacitated and unable to contact us themselves.
We have taken account of the fact that there is no reduction in the Benefit paid for the first twenty eight days following admission, where there has been no previous hospitalisation within the preceding twenty eight days. Also, measures are in place so that the report of the hospital admission may be taken from another person, on the customer’s behalf. We have concluded that the procedures already in place are satisfactory.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 218892, what average length of time it takes for her Department to grant a visa after a decision is taken not to appeal a decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The information requested covers a broad range of case types and is not held
centrally for in country cases. It could only be obtained at a disproportionate
cost. For international appeals the average time for allowed appeals to be
implemented from January to December 2014 was 43 calendar days. Since 2006,
the average time has been 69 days with a peak of 92 days in 2009.
The Home Office has 14 calendar days to consider whether to appeal an allowed
First-tier or Upper Tribunal decision (although this can be longer in some
Upper Tribunal decisions where the last avenue to appeal is direct to the Court
of Appeal) for in country cases and 28 calendar days for international (out of
country) cases. The relevant unit responsible for implementation will be
notified once a decision has been made not to appeal.