Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the OECD's United Kingdom Economic Snapshot published in June 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for the UK economy of the zero per cent growth forecast for GDP in 2023.
Answered by Richard Fuller
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave to PQ UIN 37482.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department made of additional payments to multiple-home owners in their distributional analysis on the Cost of Living Support package.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) consulted on the basis of paying EBSS via domestic electricity meter points. The Government response will be published later in the summer.
The Government’s intention is for EBSS to reach as many households as possible from October, while minimizing the administrative complexity of the scheme. The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has consulted on the basis of paying EBSS via domestic electricity meter points.
While some households have second homes or multiple meter points, it is important to balance this against the timely and efficient delivery of this scheme.
Distributional analysis produced by HM Treasury relies on an established microsimulation model of the UK tax and benefit system. This model is designed to be used for estimating the impacts of a wide range of policies and does not contain information about households’ multiple home ownership.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) successful and (b) total applicants there were to the Green Homes Grant.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme closed to new applicants at the end of 31 March 2021. The latest Green Homes Grant voucher release official statistics, published on gov.uk in February 2022, show at the end of 7 February 2022 the total number of household applications received was 113,736, the total number of approved household applications was 61,650, and the number of household applications with at least one measure installed was 43,303. There will be a final statistical release towards the end of 2022 when all exceptional circumstance vouchers are redeemed.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the revenue that would be raised from removing the VAT-exempt status of private schools.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Many supplies of education, including those provided by eligible independent schools, are exempt from VAT. This means that no VAT is charged to the final consumer, and that the schools cannot recover VAT they incur on their costs.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, and any future changes to the UK tax system will be costed in the usual way.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many responses his Department received to its consultation on the Green Finance Strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In response to its Green Finance Strategy consultation, the Government received 145 responses from organisations, and over 1,250 responses from individuals.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many responses his Department has received to its consultation on the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The Government’s public consultation on draft regulations for the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan (SDRP) was launched on 13 May and will close on 5 August.
As of 18 July, the Government has received 5 formal responses to this consultation. However, this is highly unlikely to be representative of the total number of responses that will be received, as it is expected that many of those will be received closer to the deadline.
There has been significant interest in the consultation so far, from a wide range of stakeholders in the debt advice and consumer credit sectors, and the Government continues to engage closely with these stakeholders to support the development of the scheme.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a timeframe for when his Department will respond to the call for evidence on the umbrella company market.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
The Government recently ran a Call for Evidence on the umbrella company market to ensure it has a detailed and up to date understanding of the market. This Call for Evidence, which was issued jointly by HM Treasury, HMRC and BEIS, closed on 22 February 2022. Officials in the three departments are working closely together to consider the evidence submitted and will publish the Government's response in due course.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many responses his Department has received to its consultation on the proposed reform of the UK’s sovereign immunity from direct tax policy.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The sovereign immunity consultation was launched on 4 July and will close on 12 September. As of 15 July, the Government has not received any consultation responses.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many responses his Department received to its consultation on the methodology the Government uses to set the SCAPE discount rate.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The SCAPE discount rate is used in the valuation of unfunded public service pension schemes to set employer contribution rates and is set by HM Treasury following a prescribed methodology. A consultation was published in June 2021 seeking views on the objectives for the SCAPE discount rate and the most appropriate methodology going forward.
Following the consultation’s publication, the Government ran engagement sessions to ensure stakeholders were given the opportunity to express their views. Meetings were also held with members of Scheme Advisory Boards from across the UK relating to each public service workforce, and views were sought from the Government Actuary. Most stakeholders have followed up with formal written responses.
The Government has received 51 responses from a broad range of respondents. These include individuals, trade unions and other member representative bodies, Scheme Advisory Boards, employers and employer representative bodies, actuarial and pensions specialists, and pensions administrators.
The consultation response will be published in due course.Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) consultations and (b) calls for evidence issued by his Department are closed but have not been responded to as on 12 July 2022.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
All Government consultations and calls for evidence are published on gov.uk, which also provides an update on whether Government has responded to these.
In this Parliament, we have identified 15 calls for evidence or consultations which are closed, but which Government has not yet responded to.