Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish his Department's analysis relating to the Government's decision to introduce an income cap on eligibility to tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Tax-Free Childcare is limited to families where parents earn under £100,000 per year. The £100,000 per parent cap on Tax-Free Childcare ensures that support is targeted at the working families who require the most support in order to return to work or work more.
The £100,000 limit was announced at Autumn Statement 2015 and legislated for in 2016 because it is simple for parents to understand their eligibility, and because it aligns to an existing boundary in the tax system. The government published its final impact assessment of the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare, including the setting of an upper income limit at £100,000 per parent, in March 2017 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652939/Tax-free_childcare_Impact_Assessment-March_2017.pdf).
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons his Department set the cap at an earnings threshold of £100,000 for eligibility to tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Tax-Free Childcare is limited to families where parents earn under £100,000 per year. The £100,000 per parent cap on Tax-Free Childcare ensures that support is targeted at the working families who require the most support in order to return to work or work more.
The £100,000 limit was announced at Autumn Statement 2015 and legislated for in 2016 because it is simple for parents to understand their eligibility, and because it aligns to an existing boundary in the tax system. The government published its final impact assessment of the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare, including the setting of an upper income limit at £100,000 per parent, in March 2017 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652939/Tax-free_childcare_Impact_Assessment-March_2017.pdf).
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake a review of the level at which the earnings threshold cap has been set for the eligibility for tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Tax-Free Childcare is limited to families where parents earn under £100,000 per year. The £100,000 per parent cap on Tax-Free Childcare ensures that support is targeted at the working families who require the most support in order to return to work or work more.
The £100,000 limit was announced at Autumn Statement 2015 and legislated for in 2016 because it is simple for parents to understand their eligibility, and because it aligns to an existing boundary in the tax system. The government published its final impact assessment of the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare, including the setting of an upper income limit at £100,000 per parent, in March 2017 (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652939/Tax-free_childcare_Impact_Assessment-March_2017.pdf).
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consultations were undertaken by his Department prior to the phasing out of the kiddicare voucher scheme.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The government announced at Budget 2013 that income tax and NICs reliefs on childcare vouchers would be phased out once a new, fairer and better-targeted scheme, Tax-Free Childcare, was introduced.
This was followed by consultations on the delivery of Tax-Free Childcare (www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tax-free-childcare).
The government published its initial impact assessment of the transition from Employer Supported Childcare to Tax-Free Childcare as part of the passage of the Childcare Payments Act 2014 on 20 November 2014, including an assessment on relevant equalities impacts covering families on low incomes, lone parents, carers and disabled people, older people, those taking parental leave and assisted digital access.
The original impact assessment is available here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-free-childcare-impact-assessment.
The impact assessment was updated on 20 April 2017, the update is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-free-childcare-impact-assessment-march-2017.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of providing the kiddicare voucher scheme in the most recent 12 months for which information is available.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HMRC’s publication ‘Estimated Costs of Principal Tax Reliefs’ includes the forecast cost of Employer Supported Childcare tax reliefs, of which Childcare Vouchers are the largest component, for the six years up to and including 2018/19. (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/782480/Jan19_Principal_Reliefs_Final.pdf)
HM Treasury does not hold information relating to the cost of individual childcare voucher schemes offered by specific providers.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will undertake a trial of means-testing for eligibility to tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Eligibility for Tax-Free Childcare is already conditional upon working parents and their partners each having an adjusted net income of less than £100,000 per year.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with potential trading partners on uprating the pensions of UK pensioners living in frozen countries as part of any new trade agreement after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Hollingbery
Discussions with potential trading partners on future bilateral trade agreements have focussed on building a shared understanding of both countries’ ambitions for future trading arrangements. The subject of frozen state pensions has not formed part of our trade discussions with potential trading partners. This policy area is primarily a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money was recovered by the NHS from overseas visitors in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The total amount of National Health Service treatment recovered from overseas visitors in each of the last three years is provided in the following table.
All income recovered is directed straight back to the NHS frontline.
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
Payments Received (England only) | £196 million | £281 million | £290 million |
The United Kingdom Government has made an offer to countries in the European Union/European Economic Area and Switzerland to extend existing healthcare arrangements for UK nationals if the UK leaves without a deal.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take facilitate cooperation between the four countries of the UK on shared environmental challenges after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we have a shared interest in protecting our environment. Ministers are in regular discussion with counterparts in the devolved administrations. On 18 February this year we agreed to establish the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This Group provides central coordination and promotes greater collaboration in areas of shared interest, including the environment, between the relevant portfolio ministers in the UK administrations.
When we leave the EU, many of the returning powers will pass to the devolved administrations. In some policy areas it will be necessary to agree common frameworks in respect of these returning powers. We are working with the devolved administrations to develop these in accordance with the principles agreed at the Joint Ministerial Committee (EU Negotiations) on 16 October 2017. These principles are outlined in the Joint Ministerial Communique: www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-ministerial-committee-communique-16-october-2017. Progress in developing the frameworks was reported to Parliament on 7 February this year: www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-second-european-union-withdrawal-act-and-common-frameworks-report.
Asked by: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times stop and search was used by Lancashire Constabulary in 2018; and (a) how many convictions there were for crimes involving the use of knives and (b) how many of those convictions resulted from arrests following stop and search in Lancashire in 2018.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of stop and searches conducted by each police force in England and Wales and the number of resultant arrests. These data are published in the ‘Police Powers and Procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales
In 2017/18, Lancashire Police conducted 3,284 stop and searches in total.
The Home Office does not collect data on outcomes of prosecutions. Nor does the data collected by the Home Office on stop and searches allow for the stop and search to be tracked through the criminal justice system to the outcome of a prosecution.