Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of reducing child poverty on the economy.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Child Poverty Action Group estimate the cost to the country at £40bn per year, which is one of the reasons why the government is removing the two-child limit and lifting 550,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support first time buyers with stamp duty.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Autumn Budget 2024, the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for additional dwellings were increased by two percentage points from 3% to 5%. This measure will ensure that those looking to move home, or purchase their first property, have a greater advantage over second home buyers, landlords, and companies purchasing residential property. The OBR certified costing estimates that increasing the higher rates of SDLT by two percentage points is expected to result in 130,000 additional transactions over the next five years by first-time buyers and other people buying a primary residence.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Financial Ombudsman Service on resolving complaints of mis-sold timeshares in a timely manner.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The selling of timeshares is outside of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation and therefore outside of the remit of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which can only consider complaints about FCA regulated activities. Where consumers have purchased a timeshare using a product regulated by the FCA, such as consumer credit, they may have recourse to the FOS if that product was mis-sold.
When complaints are made to the FOS, these should be dealt with in a timely manner. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, which sets out the rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, states that ‘the ombudsman will attempt to resolve complaints at the earliest possible stage’. In its Plans and Budget 2024-25, the FOS has set itself the target of resolving 90 per cent of cases within 6 months and the government will continue to hold the FOS to account on this through its regular engagement with the FOS.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he will alter the existing categories for voluntary National Insurance contributions up to 15 years to include British National (Overseas) visa holders by (a) creating a new category of eligibility for Class 2 and 3 voluntary contributions and (b) carving out an exception for BNO visa holders in the existing requirements for people who have previously worked overseas.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
British National Overseas individuals who live or work abroad (or have previously) are usually able to make backdated voluntary National Insurance contributions payments for the previous six tax years where they have either previously lived in the UK for three years in a row or paid at least three years of contributions.
For the tax years 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018 the government has extended the deadline for paying voluntary contributions to 5 April 2025.
The deadline has also been extended to 5 April 2025 for eligible customers to pay voluntary contributions for the tax years 6 April 2006 to 5 April 2016. Further guidance on the eligibility and deadlines for making voluntary contributions, including for those living or working abroad is published online at: https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the number of private members clubs.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publish data within its official statistics.
You can view the data on row 198 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64674a0f62837100123a88ac/NDR_Stock_SCat_2023.xlsx
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring all banks to sign up to the contingent reimbursement model code.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Government recognises the threat posed to consumers by Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, with sophisticated scams that can be detrimental to people’s lives.
That is why the Government has legislated in the Financial Services & Markets Act 2023 to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require banks and other payment service providers to reimburse APP fraud victims, and placed a duty on the PSR to require reimbursement by payment service providers that use the Faster Payments system (where the vast majority of APP scams currently occur) within 6 months of the legislation coming into force. The Government believes this will ensure more consistent and comprehensive protections for APP scam victims than the existing voluntary contingent reimbursement model code.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has had discussions with payment service providers on mandatory protections for victims of authorised push payment scams.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Government recognises the threat posed to consumers by Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, with sophisticated scams that can be detrimental to people’s lives.
That is why the Government has legislated in the Financial Services & Markets Act 2023 to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require banks and other payment service providers to reimburse APP fraud victims, and placed a duty on the PSR to require reimbursement by payment service providers that use the Faster Payments system (where the vast majority of APP scams currently occur) within 6 months of the legislation coming into force. The Government believes this will ensure more consistent and comprehensive protections for APP scam victims than the existing voluntary contingent reimbursement model code.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HMRC will publish the criteria for exceptional circumstances of late applications for Self Employment Income Support Scheme grants.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The guidance on exceptional circumstances for late applications to Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants was last reviewed in February 2022. This coincided with the final date for making a late claim of 28 February 2022; this date was published in advance on GOV.UK.
HMRC has no plans to publish the criteria for exceptional circumstances of late applications for SEISS grants. The SEISS ended on 30 September 2021. HMRC had limited discretion which was applied in exceptional circumstances. The deadline for making a request to consider a late claim to a SEISS grant was 28 February 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the guidance on exceptional circumstances for late applications to Self Employment Income Support Scheme grants was last reviewed.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The guidance on exceptional circumstances for late applications to Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants was last reviewed in February 2022. This coincided with the final date for making a late claim of 28 February 2022; this date was published in advance on GOV.UK.
HMRC has no plans to publish the criteria for exceptional circumstances of late applications for SEISS grants. The SEISS ended on 30 September 2021. HMRC had limited discretion which was applied in exceptional circumstances. The deadline for making a request to consider a late claim to a SEISS grant was 28 February 2022.