Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on how many people voluntarily paid additional income tax in the last financial year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC does not have this information because there is no facility for customers to make voluntary income tax payments within the tax system. Customers can make voluntary payments outside of the tax system.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of the Don't Kill Cash petition delivered to Downing Street on 17 August 2023.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that while the transition towards digital payments brings many opportunities, cash continues to be used by many people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The government legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. This establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provides it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. The government considers that this legislation will support organisations, including local businesses, to continue accepting cash by ensuring that they have reasonable access to cash deposit facilities.
Following this, the government recently published a Cash Access Policy Statement, which sets out the government’s policies on access to cash. The FCA is required by law to have regard to these policies when determining its regulatory approach. The FCA will publicly consult on its regulatory approach in due course. The government’s policy statement is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cash-access-policy-statement/cash-access-policy-statement
In the context of the government’s legislation, the financial services sector is working together to develop and provide shared cash services, such as Banking Hubs and cash deposit services. To date, industry has committed to deliver new shared cash services in over 140 communities.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the Barnett Formula.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Whilst the effective operation of the funding arrangements for the devolved administrations is monitored on an ongoing basis, the UK Government currently has no plans to undertake a formal review of the Barnett formula.
The Barnett formula is simple, efficient and provides a clear and certain outcome. For this reason, it has stood the test of time.
The Barnett formula ensures the same change in funding per person across the whole of the UK, while the underlying baseline funding reflects that needs are higher in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury doesn’t run any digital services on GOV.UK.
Accessibility is something we adhere to in HMT’s GOV.UK content – we have an accessibility documents policy published on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury/about/accessible-documents-policy
We aim to publish content either in accessible HTML format or using our HMT Word template (saved as pdf).
We also aim to provide a good user experience by publishing content in a clear format and making sure updates to pages are transparent by adding public change notes for factual amendments.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) leads the Government Digital and Datafunction; this includes setting strategy and direction for the improvement of digital services and understanding current performance.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information their Department holds on the level of staff retention; and what steps they are taking to improve staff retention.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT records monthly turnover data.
HMT launched its People Strategy earlier in 2023. The strategy covers investing in our people, improving employee experience and promotes diversity, inclusion and belonging.
In April 2023, the Cabinet Office published the annual Civil Service Pay Remit guidance for 2023/24, which provides the framework within which all departments set pay for civil servants at staff below SCS for 2023/24. The guidance allowed departments to make average awards of up to 4.5% of their total pay bill and provided additional flexibility to use a further 0.5% of the pay bill to be targeted at lower pay bands.
This year, HMT prioritised within our budget to afford the full remit and have ensured that all staff receive an award of at least 4.5%, with additional targeting across our lower pay bands. The award was implemented on 1 August.
Our performance management process encourages managers to have conversations with their team about development and longer-term career aspirations. We are focusing on career development and retention by reviewing and improving our current Performance Management arrangements, ensuring it reflects our commitments to develop and retain our people and be an inclusive organisation.
We are developing a new wellbeing action plan and running several innovative wellbeing interventions across our 3 sites.
HMT is prioritising the development and progression for our staff through both cross-government, and internal, talent development programmes and internally run learning interventions, including a new leadership and management offer for all managers within the department.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what has been the average time taken to respond to public inquiries by his Department in each of the last five years; and whether he plans to introduce measures to improve this.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury has not led the formal government response to any statutory public inquiries published in the last 5 years under the Inquiries Act 2005.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to (a) enhance cybersecurity and (b) protect personal data.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As has been the case under successive administrations, it is not government policy to comment on the government’s security arrangements. The department continues to work to support the implementation of the National Cyber Strategy and follows guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre and the Information Commissioners Office.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data their Department holds on the average response time to enquiries by Members; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As detailed in the ‘Guide to Handling Correspondence’ linked in the table below, the Treasury is held to a target of responding to correspondence within 20 working days of receipt.
The Cabinet Office monitors performance data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers measuring what percentage of Ministerial Correspondence cases received were answered within 20 working days. The data can be accessed through the link in the table below. So far this quarter, the Treasury has responded to 86% of cases from Members within 20 working days.
Publication link | Page reference |
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers | N/A |
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1008447/Guide_to_Handling_Correspondence_-_July_2021.pdf | Page 6 |
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if they will take steps to visit Solihull constituency in 2023.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Any visits by the Chancellor are subject to diary constraints.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, what steps the Crown Estate is taking to release brownfield and derelict sites to (a) local authorities and (b) the private sector for housing.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The strategic direction of the Crown Estate is set by its Board, independent of Government, and the day-to-day operations is run by its executive.
The Crown Estate has set an ambitious strategy that includes pursuing development in key regeneration locations that fall within its direct ownership, working in partnership with local authorities and others.
In instances where it is not possible for The Crown Estate to develop opportunities, which is the case on ownerless land, there is a well-established process for these sites to be brought back into beneficial use which includes engaging, where appropriate, with local authorities and/or the private sector.