Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of stamp duty land tax returns filed from 31 October 2017 to June 2019 included a (a) claim for group relief, (b) non-residential property, (c) purchaser whose registered office address was in Luxembourg and (d) vendor whose registered office address was not in Luxembourg.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The number and proportion of stamp duty land tax returns filed from 31 October 2017 to June 2019 is not readily available.
Estimates for group relief are only available on an annual basis. The source is the structural tax reliefs publication which is available using the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/minor-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs
Estimates for non-residential property transactions are available on a quarterly basis so data can only be provided for the period from September 2017 to June 2019. The source is the Quarterly Stamp Duty Land Tax Statistics which is available using the following link:
Estimates of the number of transactions by the country where the registered office for either purchaser(s) or vendor(s) lie have not been made, and are not readily available.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether guarantor loans will be included in the Breathing Space Scheme to increase protection for the (a) borrower and (b) guarantor and provide and ensure that customers have the time to receive appropriate advice.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Under the breathing space scheme individuals in debt will receive protections on a wide range of their debts, including guarantor loans.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to (a) implement the Statutory Debt Repayment Plan and (b) bring forward legislative proposals to compel all creditors that will benefit from Statutory Debt Repayment Plan to contribute towards funding it.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The breathing space scheme, including administration of Statutory Debt Repayment Plans (SDRPs), will be funded from a share of the money paid to all creditors who benefit from repayments through SDRPs. The government intends to implement the breathing space in early 2021 and the SDRP to a longer timetable.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funds his Department has allocated to no deal preparation and how much of that funding has been spent in (a) the last two years and (b) in the current financial year.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government’s preference is to leave the EU with a deal. However, the Prime Minister has said that the UK will be leaving on 31 October – whatever the circumstances.
On 1 August 2019, the Treasury announced £2.1 billion specifically to prepare for leaving the EU without a deal. £1.1 billion of this is an immediate cash boost to prepare critical areas for EU exit on 31 October, with a further £1 billion to enhance operational preparedness this financial year, if needed.
Prior to this, the Government had already allocated £4.2 billion to prepare for a range of EU exit scenarios. Within this, work on no-deal exit preparations cannot be readily separated from other EU exit work, given the significant overlap in plans in many cases.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the No Recourse to Public Funds condition on local authority budgets by local authority area.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
I have regular discussions with the Home Secretary and the Communities Secretary about their budgets, including the impact of any government policy that may affect local authority finances.
We need to make sure our immigration system is fair, while also protecting the taxpayer. There are already exemptions to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition for those in genuine need, such as those facing destitution or to protect the welfare of a child. I would expect the relevant departments to raise any issues at the Spending Review, where we can consider how we fund our priorities across government.
Local Government Core Spending Power is increasing in real terms this year. We have provided an additional £650m for social care in 2019-20.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the number of higher rate tax payers in each constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Estimates of the number of higher rate tax payers, in each parliamentary constituency for tax years 2011-12 to 2015-16, are attached. These estimates include additional rate tax payers who also pay higher rate tax.
These estimates are based on the annual Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI) for each tax year. Estimates for parliamentary constituencies, should be treated with caution as they are based on much smaller samples than national or regional estimates.
For more information about the SPI, please refer to:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-incomes-statistics
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November to Question 188205, what range of models involving investment in infrastructure his Department plans to use to meet the proposals set out in the 2017 National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline has been updated for 2018 and was published on the 26 November. This sets out planned and projected investment of over £600 billion over the next decade.
The UK uses a mixed model, using both public and private investment, to fund and finance its infrastructure.
Funding and financing arrangements for individual projects and programmes are outlined in the pipeline spreadsheet.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2018 to Question 185590 on A303 and Lower Thames Crossing: Private Finance Initiative, whether the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing will not include private finance; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of that upgrade.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Pursuant to the answer to Question 185590 on A303 and Lower Thames Crossing: Private Finance Initiative, private finance will not be used for the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing.
The estimated cost of developing and building the Lower Thames Crossing, as set out in Highways England’s public consultation on 10 October 2018, was between £5.3bn and £6.8 bn. The estimated cost of developing and building the A303 Stonehenge scheme, as set out at the Preferred Route Announcement in September 2017, was £1.6bn.
Highways England continue to refine cost estimates as they develop the business cases for these schemes.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 November 2018 to Question 185590 on A303 and Lower Thames Crossing: Private Finance Initiative, whether private finance will be used for the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The government is committed to increasing private investment in infrastructure through a range of models. The 2017 National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline estimates that almost half of the UK’s £600 billion infrastructure pipeline is expected to be financed by the private sector.
The Budget announced that the government will no longer use Private Finance 2 (the successor to the Private Finance Initiative) for new projects, as the model was inflexible and overly complex. Private finance will not be used for the upgrade of the A303 and the Lower Thames Crossing.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2018 to Question 129135 on Private Finance Initiative: Taxation, if he will publish the (a) legal and (b) technical advice he has received on the principle of a windfall tax on PFI companies.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Chancellor announced at the Budget 2018 that Private Finance 2 will not be used for new projects.
Private Finance contracts include non-discriminatory clauses such that if a tax were targeted at PFI companies, these companies would be contractually entitled to recover this cost from the procuring authority.
A windfall tax would therefore be a tax on local authorities, NHS Trusts and government departments that hold PFI contracts.