Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12091 on Prisons: Staff, when she plans to conclude the review of the guidance on the New Fair Deal.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government confirmed on 14 November 2024 that New Fair Deal was extended to further education bodies that operate in the statutory sector. The change applies from the date of the announcement and applies to tendering and outsourcing exercises that were in progress on that date, where the transfer of staff had not yet been concluded. This includes the tender for prison education services referenced in the answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12091 on Prisons: Staff.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average processing time was for claims for Orchestra Tax Relief in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC balances the need to ensure that payments for tax reliefs are processed as quickly as possible with the need to ensure that they are claimed only by those who are eligible to do so. All claims for Orchestra Tax Relief are risk assessed on receipt. Where a claim is received and identified as requiring further review, HMRC may open an enquiry and ask for additional information.
The information provided states the average number of days to process a claim, which includes payment of the claim or making a decision to ask for further information or open an enquiry.
Year | Average Days to Process or Open an Enquiry |
24/25 | 31 |
23/24 | 28 |
22/23 | 28 |
21/22 | 35 |
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 April 2025 to Question 42342 on Railways: Public Expenditure, if her Department will make the calculations for each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
It is possible to reproduce English regional railway expenditure excluding HS2 for the last five years using the Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) dataset. The table below shows the impact for the most recent CRA publication from November 2024:
Railway spending for English regions in £s per capita, excluding HS2 | |||||
ITL Region | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
North East | 118 | 224 | 188 | 239 | 255 |
North West | 171 | 222 | 206 | 203 | 202 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 124 | 239 | 197 | 196 | 214 |
East Midlands | 102 | 197 | 160 | 156 | 159 |
West Midlands | 160 | 238 | 226 | 216 | 221 |
East of England | 215 | 423 | 342 | 308 | 325 |
London | 528 | 687 | 633 | 683 | 665 |
South East | 235 | 433 | 333 | 301 | 299 |
South West | 142 | 222 | 165 | 149 | 168 |
England | 226 | 353 | 301 | 298 | 302 |
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 10.10 of her Department's publication entitled Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2024, published on 30 July 2024, if she will publish a version of the regional breakdown of per capita railway expenditure that excludes HS2's contribution.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The country and region tables shown in chapters 9 and 10 of PESA including table 10.10, were originally published the previous December as part of the Country and Regional Analysis (CRA) dataset. It is possible to reproduce railway expenditure excluding HS2 using the data published alongside each CRA release.
Provided below is a link to collected editions of the Country and Regional Analysis publications on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-and-regional-analysis
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of reports of NHS staff being taxed as a second job for working overtime.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
All income earned through employment is taxable, including income from further employment, such as from overtime or through additional employment. Tax is paid on individual’s overall income, regardless of the source of that income. Not all individuals who receive an income are formally employed, as many earn through self-employment or receive other sources of income.
By paying tax on overall income, rather than solely through income from a single source of employment, the income tax system is highly progressive, with different rates of tax sitting above an internationally high Personal Allowance. When an individual moves from one tax band to another because of an increase in their income, they will only pay additional tax on the portion of their income that falls within the new tax band.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what contracts (a) BFS Group Limited and (b) subsidiary companies of BFS Group Limited hold with (i) her Department and (ii) agencies of her Department.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury and its executive agencies do not hold any such contracts.
Details of government contracts over £10,000 are published on the Contracts Finder website.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department's policies of the Office for Statistics Regulation's publication entitled OSR’s statement on the Labour Force Survey-derived estimates and Annual Population Survey-derived estimates, published on 12 December 2024.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
Data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) remains subject to a number of quality concerns following a fall in response rates and are currently badged as official statistics in development.
As set out in its December 2024 Labour Market Overview,[1] the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recommend using LFS data alongside other labour market indicators, including Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real-Time Information (RTI) and Workforce Jobs (WFJ).
The ONS are continuing to improve the quality of the LFS, as described in its latest report LFS performance and quality monitoring report,[2] and have carried out a reweighting of LFS estimates, detailed in its December 2024 article[3], that has brought them into line with the ONS’ latest population numbers. The ONS is continuing to develop the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) as the long-term solution for collecting labour market data [4].
2 LFS performance and quality monitoring report: July to September 2024
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed alignment of the Retail Prices Index methodology with the Consumer Prices Index, including owner occupier housing costs from February 2030 on (a) wage-setting and (b) private sector pension benefit uprating.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The alignment of the methods and data sources of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs into the Retail Price Index (RPI) reflects the flaws in RPI which can either overstate or understates price changes. The Bank of England will assess if these changes significantly impact certain index-linked gilt holders.
The Government recognises the widespread use of RPI and that there are potential impacts from the reform. Whilst there is legislation around the minimum indexation requirements for defined benefit schemes, scheme rules will determine how any pensioners' benefits are increased each year.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility will publish a revised 5-year wage-growth forecast in their next Economic and Fiscal Outlook, considering all relevant factors.