Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to provide funding to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to enable Levelling Up Fund Round 3.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As confirmed at Spring Budget, round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund will proceed as planned with a further £1 billion to invest in places. Funding will be released from HM Treasury to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Transport after the places and projects receiving funding are confirmed. Work is underway to design round 3, and further detail will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to assess the work of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation; and if he will make a report to Parliament on monies released to Yevgeny Prigozhin to pursue a court case against a British journalist.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
HM Treasury is considering its approach to licensing to see if any changes are required to the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation’s (OFSI) licensing practice in relation to legal fees licence applications. We need to carefully balance the right to legal representation - which is a fundamental one - with wider issues of public policy.
HM Treasury does not comment on specific licensing cases. We will update Parliament appropriately on the wider considerations in due course.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the level of inflation in (a) the UK and (b) other comparable countries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Office for National Statistics release statistics on UK inflation. These show that the annual rate of CPI inflation was 10.7% in November, down from 11.1% in October.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed global factors are the primary cause of current inflation. Inflation is high here – but higher in Germany (11.3%), the Netherlands (11.2%), and Italy (12.5%).
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on immediately uprating benefits in line with the rate of inflation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Simon Clarke
September CPI has been the default inflation measure for the government’s statutory annual review of benefits since 2011 because it allows sufficient time for the legislative and complex delivery process to take place for new rates to come into force in April.
In addition to uprating social security benefits, the government is also providing support to families worth over £22 billion in 2022-23 to help families with cost of living pressures. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate and increasing work allowances to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol duties to keep costs down, and providing millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy bills.
At the Spring Statement, the Chancellor went further, announcing an increase to the annual National Insurance Primary Threshold and Lower Profits Limit to £12,570, and an additional £500m to help the most vulnerable with the cost of essentials through the Household Support Fund. Families and businesses across the UK will also benefit from a 12-month cut in fuel duty of 5 pence per litre, the largest cash terms cut, that has ever been applied to all fuel duty rates at once. This cut represents savings for consumers worth almost £2.4 billion over the next year.
And, from 1st April 2022, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23, which will benefit more than 2 million workers. This means an increase of over £1,000 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason a 30 day licence has been granted giving permission for any individual or entity to wind down any transactions with Russian bank VTB until 27 March.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The general licence INT/2022/1272278 (Wind Down Positions Involving VTB) was issued on 25 February to allow for an orderly wind down of contracts with the bank, which was designated on 24 February. The general licence permits only the wind down of existing activity for third parties and expires on 27 March 2022. The general licence has been granted to reduce disruption in the UK financial system, not to permit VTB to proactively exit positions. It ensures that VTB will not benefit from a situation where UK persons cannot close out their positions or wind down transactions involving the bank.Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect inland waterway based businesses that are affected by the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has announced unprecedented support for public services, business and workers to protect against the current economic emergency.
This includes significant changes to the operation of statutory sick pay, universal credit, and employment and support allowance to ensure that people have quicker and more generous access to a support system, and we have taken further immediate steps to give businesses access to cash to pay its rent, salaries or suppliers.
Our economic response is one of the most generous and comprehensive globally and the government is now working urgently to deliver these schemes as quickly as possible.
The government is monitoring the impact measures are having with regard to supporting public services, businesses, and individuals, and keeps all policies under review.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) cost of labour and (b) other expenses incurred by his Department was in producing its analysis of costs if the UK were to leave the EU; and how many man hours were required to produce that analysis.
Answered by David Gauke
The British people are asking for the facts before they decide whether to vote Remain or Leave in the EU referendum. The Treasury’s analysis shows that if the UK leaves the EU, the UK would be permanently poorer and it estimates an annual loss of 6.2% of GDP after 15 years, which is equivalent to £4,300 per UK household.
The Treasury is appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe. However, it is not practical to identify full-time equivalent staff numbers.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many non-British EEA nationals with a National Insurance number who arrived in the UK prior to four years ago (a) paid National Insurance contributions, (b) paid PAYE income tax and (c) claimed benefits or tax credits in the last year.
Answered by David Gauke
Calculating the number of individuals who were paying PAYE income tax and National Insurance contributions who were citizens of the EEA when they first registered for a National Insurance Number is complex and cannot be done quickly. However, HM Revenue and Customs are planning to produce further information early in 2016 on this issue, once it has been properly collated.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many non-British EEA nationals with a National Insurance number who arrived in each of the last four years (a) paid National Insurance contributions, (b) paid PAYE income tax and (c) claimed benefits or tax credits in the last year.
Answered by David Gauke
Calculating the number of individuals who were paying PAYE income tax and National Insurance contributions who were citizens of the EEA when they first registered for a National Insurance Number is complex and cannot be done quickly. However, HM Revenue and Customs are planning to produce further information early in 2016 on this issue, once it has been properly collated.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on reform of capital gains tax in relation to compulsory purchase.
Answered by David Gauke
Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of individuals and organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
As has been the case with previous administrations, it is not the Governments practice to provide details of such meetings.