Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the funding available to Citizens Advice Bureaus in Oxfordshire in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding available to Citizens Advice Bureau to provide debt advice from April 2022.
Answered by John Glen
Citizens Advice are funded by various Government departments, public bodies, private companies, local authorities as well as charitable trusts. Details regarding their sources of funding can be found on their website: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/our-work/annual-reports/
The Government is strongly committed to supporting the financial wellbeing of the most vulnerable in society, and to tackling problem debt; and works closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) and the wider debt advice sector, including Citizens Advice. This is why the Government agreed to maintain record levels of funding for free-to-consumer debt advice in England in 2021-22, bringing this year’s debt advice budget for MaPS to £94.6 million. This is a more than 70% increase since 2019-20 to help more people who are struggling with their finances during the pandemic.
The Government cannot comment on the funding sources outside of its remit. Regarding the debt advice funding administered by MaPS for future provision of debt advice services in England, MaPS is currently undertaking a commissioning exercise. This exercise is ongoing and commercially sensitive.
This MaPS-led recommissioning exercise is expected to materially increase the amount of debt advice available to people in England and ensure services – including face-to-face provision – are built around customers’ needs. It is also informed by MaPS statutory duty to consider the needs of the most vulnerable. MaPS are in the process of concluding the evaluation of all bids they have received and will provide an update on the outcome as soon as possible.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much and what proportion of the loan of Special Drawing Rights to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust will be designated as Official Development Assistance.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The UK’s recent pledge of an additional SDR 1bn to the IMF’s Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) will provide valuable financial support to the poorest and the most vulnerable countries.
The UK’s loan to the PRGT will count towards the UK’s annual ODA spending plans when drawn down over time, in line with international rules. In recent years drawdowns of the UK’s SDR loan to the PRGT have scored around 30% ODA.
Departmental ODA budgets will be increasing significantly over the Spending Review period, from the £10 billion that was allocated in 2020 to at least £12.3 billion by 2024-2025. The ODA scored through SDR channeling is additional to these growing departmental budgets and will not require cuts to existing programming.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions officials in his Department are having with their counterparts in G7 countries on expanding the scope of the G20's Common Framework to enable debt relief for climate-vulnerable middle income countries.
Answered by John Glen
Support for vulnerable countries is a key priority for the UK as G7 and COP26 Presidents this year. This includes supporting those countries with challenging debt situations and climate-vulnerable countries.
The G20 and Paris Club’s Common Framework brings together G20 and Paris Club creditors to coordinate and cooperate on debt treatments on a case-by-case basis on the request of a debtor country. There are 73 eligible countries, primarily low-income countries but this also includes some climate-vulnerable, middle-income countries. For those countries that are ineligible, there are existing mechanisms for debt treatment under the Paris Club.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 September to Question 49251 on Afghanistan: Overseas Aid, what estimate he has made of the effect of potential changes in gross national income to the allocated Official Development Assistance spending in 2021-22.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We will spend 0.5% of gross national oncome on official development assistance (ODA) in 2021. Any revisions to the level of allocated ODA spending in 2021-22 will be reflected at supplementary estimates in due course. The government remains committed to the International Development Act 2015 and intends to return to the 0.7% target when the fiscal situation allows.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many days he has stayed overnight at Dorneywood in (a) 2020 and (b) 2021 to date.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
This information on how many nights the Chancellor has stayed in Dorneywood during 2020 and 2021 is not held centrally.Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) successful and (b) total applications to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for temporary furloughing of staff due to covid-19 self-isolation in each month to date; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not available.
HM Revenue and Customs neither collect nor hold data on the reasons that eligible employers make claims through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is not to be used simply because of short-term absences from work due to sickness or self-isolation.
Where an employee is on sick leave or self-isolating as a result of coronavirus, the rules in relation to Statutory Sick Pay apply.
Conversely, an employee is eligible for CJRS if they are unable to work because they are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable or are in the equivalent highest-risk group for severe illness from coronavirus, and following the public health guidance.
These rules have been in place and clearly reflected in all versions of the guidance, since March 2020.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what communications he has received as at 17 June 2021 from Ministerial colleagues in (a) the Treasury and (b) other Government departments requesting that guidance be updated to reflect that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme can be used to provide financial support to people who are required to self-isolate as a result of covid-19.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
It has always been clear that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is designed to protect jobs. HMRC guidance has been clear from the start that the scheme is not intended for short term absences from work due to sickness, and self-isolation should not be a consideration for employers when deciding if they should furlough an employee. The Government has specific, separate support in place for those self-isolating and has always been clear that businesses should support staff who are self isolating to work at home where possible.
An extensive support package is in place for those self-isolating due to coronavirus including help for those on low incomes through the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme, where eligible individuals unable to work from home can receive a £500 one off payment, as well as Statutory Sick Pay being payable from Day 1. If an employer wants to furlough an employee for business reasons and they are currently off sick, then they are eligible to do so as with other employees. This has been set out in guidance since April last year.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2021 to Question 144833 on Official Development Assistance allocations, when his Department plans to publish the allocation of Official Development Assistance to each Department for the financial year 2020-21.
Answered by Steve Barclay
HM Treasury is committed to publishing departmental 2020-21 Official Development Assistance allocations in due course.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2021 to Question 163295, what the annual budget of his in-house communications team (a) is currently and (b) has been in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
HM Treasury’s communications team budget, including all staff and running costs for the past five financial years is: 2016/17- £1,950,886, 2017/18 - £1,838,437, 2018/19 - £1,838,272, 2019/20 - £2,138,268, 2020/21 £2,706,529 (year to date). The difference in costs seen in the current financial year has been driven largely by the additional demands of responding to the coronavirus crisis including new insight contracts (reference numbers CCZZ20A32 and CCZZ20A50, available to view here and on the Governments contract finder website) to support the department’s policy response to the pandemic.