Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the (a) sale and (b) taxation of disposable vapes.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Prime Minister has announced that disposable vapes will be banned in the UK as part of plans to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health. In addition, we will introduce new powers to restrict vape flavours, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops so they don’t appeal to children.
The Government thinks there is a strong case to take action to reduce the affordability of vapes and is continuing to consider options, including a new duty, to achieve this.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is his Department's policy to introduce an excise tax on disposable vapes.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Prime Minister has announced that disposable vapes will be banned in the UK as part of plans to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health. In addition, we will introduce new powers to restrict vape flavours, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops so they don’t appeal to children.
The Government thinks there is a strong case to take action to reduce the affordability of vapes and is continuing to consider options, including a new duty, to achieve this.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce tax relief on care and nursing home fees.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
There are a wide range of factors to consider when introducing new tax reliefs as they can add significant complexity to the tax system. Tax reliefs are also difficult to target effectively; for example, they do not benefit individuals with income below the income tax Personal Allowance at all.
The current care system already provides support to those who need it most. People with assets under £23,250 are eligible for state financial support towards their care costs. Additionally, where someone is drawing on care in their own home - or is in a residential home but has a qualifying relative such as a partner or child still living at home - their house is not taken into account at all when working out how much they need to pay. Where that doesn’t apply, people can often take out a deferred payment agreement, so they don’t need to sell their home in their lifetime.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 July 2023 to Question 192344 on Inheritance Tax, what steps his Department is taking to ensure inheritance tax applications are processed within the 15 working day turnaround target.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC recognises the impact on customers of not processing these applications within 15 working days and they will continue to prioritise them.
As indicated in the response to Question 192344, the performance target for clearing these forms is 15 working days and during 2022/23 this performance standard was reached consistently, with the exception of one month.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is his Department's policy to create an online portal for inheritance tax applications.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The government is committed to building a trusted, modern tax system, including the digital transformation of taxes. We keep all taxes and modernisation under review.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications were made for inheritance tax in the last five years.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The personal representatives of a deceased’s estate must submit an IHT400 account to HMRC, unless the estate qualifies as ‘excepted’. In that case, they used to have to submit the shorter IHT205 form (C1 and C5 forms in Scotland). Following reporting requirement changes, these shorter forms are no longer required for deaths occurring after 1 January 2022.
HMRC publishes data on the number of such forms submitted for deaths occurring in a particular tax year. The most recent tax year for which complete data is held is 2019-2020, and is available in Table 12.3 of the Inheritance tax statistics here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/inheritance-tax-statistics-table-123-estates-notified-to-hmrc-numbers-and-tax-due.
Data for 2020-2021 will be published on 26th July.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the time taken for inheritance tax applications to be processed.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC regularly monitors and assesses the processing times for inheritance tax and all other tax applications as part of its business operation, enabling the department to address any bottlenecks or delays and to improve performance, which may include reallocating resources. Through these measures, HMRC aims to enhance efficiency and deliver against its agreed service standard of 80 per cent with 15 working days.
Throughout 2022-2023 the 15 working day turnaround numbers for Inheritance Tax has been consistently above 80 per cent.
HMRC publishes monthly and quarterly performance data on GOV.UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the operational and administrative costs of a mandatory contingent reimbursement model for victims of authorised push payment fraud.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of authorised push payment (APP) fraud very seriously. That is why the Government has introduced legislation as part of the Financial Services & Markets Bill to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require payment service providers (including banks) to reimburse APP scam victims, and placed a duty on the PSR to act in relation to the Faster Payments system (over which vast majority of APP scams currently occur) within 6 months of the legislation coming into force. This will ensure more consistent and comprehensive reimbursement for APP scam victims. The Payment Systems Regulator is responsible for the design of the reimbursement requirement, and published a Cost Benefit Analysis alongside its most recent consultation on its approach to APP scam reimbursement, published September 2022.
The Government recognises that many sectors have a role to play in preventing fraud, and that some scams originate via social media platforms. By including the fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Bill, the Government is introducing new obligations on online platforms to establish systems and process that prevent users encountering fraudulent content on their sites. If platforms do not comply with this, they could face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their annual turnover, whichever is higher.
The Home Office will publish the Government’s broader Fraud Strategy shortly. The Strategy will set out the Government’s comprehensive efforts to combat fraud, prosecute criminals, and protect customers.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with social media platforms on fraud carried out on their platforms.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of authorised push payment (APP) fraud very seriously. That is why the Government has introduced legislation as part of the Financial Services & Markets Bill to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require payment service providers (including banks) to reimburse APP scam victims, and placed a duty on the PSR to act in relation to the Faster Payments system (over which vast majority of APP scams currently occur) within 6 months of the legislation coming into force. This will ensure more consistent and comprehensive reimbursement for APP scam victims. The Payment Systems Regulator is responsible for the design of the reimbursement requirement, and published a Cost Benefit Analysis alongside its most recent consultation on its approach to APP scam reimbursement, published September 2022.
The Government recognises that many sectors have a role to play in preventing fraud, and that some scams originate via social media platforms. By including the fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Bill, the Government is introducing new obligations on online platforms to establish systems and process that prevent users encountering fraudulent content on their sites. If platforms do not comply with this, they could face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their annual turnover, whichever is higher.
The Home Office will publish the Government’s broader Fraud Strategy shortly. The Strategy will set out the Government’s comprehensive efforts to combat fraud, prosecute criminals, and protect customers.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support victims of authorised push payment fraud.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of authorised push payment (APP) fraud very seriously. That is why the Government has introduced legislation as part of the Financial Services & Markets Bill to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require payment service providers (including banks) to reimburse APP scam victims, and placed a duty on the PSR to act in relation to the Faster Payments system (over which vast majority of APP scams currently occur) within 6 months of the legislation coming into force. This will ensure more consistent and comprehensive reimbursement for APP scam victims. The Payment Systems Regulator is responsible for the design of the reimbursement requirement, and published a Cost Benefit Analysis alongside its most recent consultation on its approach to APP scam reimbursement, published September 2022.
The Government recognises that many sectors have a role to play in preventing fraud, and that some scams originate via social media platforms. By including the fraudulent advertising duty in the Online Safety Bill, the Government is introducing new obligations on online platforms to establish systems and process that prevent users encountering fraudulent content on their sites. If platforms do not comply with this, they could face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their annual turnover, whichever is higher.
The Home Office will publish the Government’s broader Fraud Strategy shortly. The Strategy will set out the Government’s comprehensive efforts to combat fraud, prosecute criminals, and protect customers.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel