Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps they are taking to reduce backlogs of Member correspondence in their office.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
By collaborating with other government departments to share best practice and build on further improvements in technology to enhance the initial allocation stages of the correspondence process, significant progress has been made to eliminate any backlog.
So far this quarter, the Treasury has responded to 86% of cases from Members within 20 working days. The small number of cases which are over 20 working days old are more complex. These are actively being worked on so we can reply to Members as soon as possible.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the average time taken by his Department to respond to freedom of information requests in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department continually monitors and looks for ways to improve its FOI performance.
Official National Statistics on FOI performance for all central government departments and other monitored bodies can be found here: Freedom of Information statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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 the response time to FOI requests.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department continually monitors and looks for ways to improve its FOI performance.
Official National Statistics on FOI performance for all central government departments and other monitored bodies can be found here: Freedom of Information statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reduce income tax rates in this parliament.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps income tax and NICs rates under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events in the context of the wider public finances.
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 written parliamentary questions in the last six months; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury ministers have responded to over 97% of all parliamentary questions, within their respective targets, so far in this parliamentary session. This is based on Treasury’s own data and the Procedure Committee will publish final data following the end of this session.
Treasury continually seeks to maintain and improve its responsiveness to MP’s questions. To that end, officials regularly review internal processes and deliver relevant training to those involved.
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 response times to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury ministers have responded to over 97% of all parliamentary questions, within their respective targets, so far in this parliamentary session. This is based on Treasury’s own data and the Procedure Committee will publish final data following the end of this session.
Treasury continually seeks to maintain and improve its responsiveness to MP’s questions. To that end, officials regularly review internal processes and deliver relevant training to those involved.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reduce national insurance contributions in this parliament
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps income tax and NICs rates under review. Any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on operational delivery at His Majesty's Revenue and Customs of its work from home policies.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC’s approach is in line with many private and public sector organisations. HMRC analysis shows no material difference in outcomes for colleagues working remotely compared to those working in the office.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what their Departments policy is on Civil Servants in their Department working from home and receiving the London Weighting Allowance.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT allows for a working arrangement where staff have some flexibility to split their working time between the office (in London, Darlington, or Norwich) and home working.
HMT does not provide a London weighting allowance for delegated grades but applies a London and national pay scale.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he is taking steps to ensure that staff in his Department who are under investigation for alleged misconduct are not named before those allegations are proven.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HM Treasury’s Disciplinary Policy states that all disciplinary matters are strictly confidential.