Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Budget 2018, paragraph 1.60, if he will publish a breakdown of the £4.7 billion of extra DEL allocated to the reserves to cover additional costs arising from the reduction in the discount rate for employer contributions to public sector pension schemes.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The valuations of Public Service Pensions Schemes are ongoing. The Treasury is undertaking work with departments and devolved administrations to agree the allocation of the additional funding.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table 2.1 of Budget 2018, what estimate he has made of the cost of the public purse of (a) increasing the personal allowance to £12,500 and (b) increasing the higher rate threshold to £50,000, in each year of the forecast period.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
A breakdown for the Exchequer impact of the changes to the Income Tax Personal Allowance (PA) and Higher Rate Threshold (HRT) announced at the Budget 2018 on 29 October 2018 is provided in Table 1.
Table 1: Exchequer Impact of Budget 2018 announcement– “Personal Allowance and Higher Rate Threshold: increase to £12,500 and £50,000 for 2019-20 and 2020-21”, and Exchequer Impacts of the Personal Allowance and Higher Rate Threshold Elements.
Budget 2018 announcement (£ million) | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
Personal Allowance and Higher Rate Threshold: increase to £12,500 and £50,000 for 2019-20 and 2020-21 | 0 | -2,790 | -1,935 | -1,445 | -1,605 | -1,780 |
of which |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(i) Personal Allowance: increase to £12,500 for 2019-20 and 2020-21* | 0 | -1,980 | -885 | -600 | -650 | -725 |
(ii) Higher Rate Threshold: increase to £50,000 for 2019-20 and 2020-21 (given (i))** | 0 | -810 | -1,050 | -845 | -955 | -1,055 |
* This line assumes no change to the Basic Rate Limit (BRL).
** This line reflects the impact of increasing the HRT to £50,000, assuming the PA has been increased to £12,500.
The Exchequer impact above includes the impact from the Upper Earnings Limit and Upper Profits Limit for National Insurance being aligned with the Income Tax Higher Rate Threshold. Further information on the Exchequer impact from the “Personal Allowance and Higher Rate Threshold: increase to £12,500 and £50,000 in 2019-20 and 2020-21” measure can be found in “Budget 2018: policy costings”.
Totals may not sum due to rounding.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference paragraph 1.40 and Table 2.1 line 1 of the Budget 2018, how much has been allocated to the NHS in each of the next five fiscal years to provide for the adjustment in NHS pension costs as a result of the SCAPE rate change.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As part of the five-year settlement for the NHS in June, the Government committed to provide additional funding of £1.25billion per year for NHS pension costs until 2023-24, and committed to adjust the level of additional funding to reflect the final SCAPE rate change. Following the confirmation of the SCAPE rate reduction to 2.4% at Budget, we will make the necessary adjustment as part of finalising the NHS settlement by the Spending Review. Provision for the adjustment in 2019/20 was made through the £4.7billion in DEL allocated to the reserve to help all departments with pressures in 2019-20 relating to the SCAPE rate changes. Provision for remaining years will be made by the Spending Review.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the number of parents who have benefited from tax-free childcare to date is higher than the projection in the March 2014 forecast.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
We estimate that there are 1.5 million families with qualifying childcare costs that are eligible for Tax-free Childcare.
I refer the Honourable Member to the answers I gave on 17 September 2018 (173624).
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents were projected to benefit from tax-free childcare by October 2018.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
We estimate that there are 1.5 million families with qualifying childcare costs that are eligible for Tax-free Childcare.
I refer the Honourable Member to the answers I gave on 17 September 2018 (173624).
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to schools of increasing the employer contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in each of the next five fiscal years; and what plans he has to provide additional funding to the Department for Education to meet that cost.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
We undertake valuations of the public service pension schemes every four years. This is the first time that a full assessment of the pension schemes has been undertaken since the government introduced reformed schemes in 2015. Early indications are that the amount employers pay towards the schemes will need to increase. This is because of proposed changes to the discount rate, which is used to assess the current cost of future payments from the schemes, to reflect the Office for Budget Responsibility’s long-term growth forecasts. Further details will be known later this year.
Some increase in costs was anticipated at Budget 16, which departments and the devolved administrations will need to meet in full. Treasury will be supporting departments with any unforeseen costs for 2019/20. Further discussions will be taken forward as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents currently benefit from tax-free childcare; and how many parents were projected to benefit at this stage of the roll-out in the March 2014 forecast.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Over 92, 000 families have used their childcare accounts by early September 2018, to pay their childcare provider.
The Tax-Free Childcare service opened in April 2017; 2014 forecasts are based on a different roll-out profile and so it is not robust to compare the two.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Education of 13 March 2018, Official Report, Column 802, what steps he has taken during the six month extension to the childcare voucher scheme to address the concerns raised in that debate.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HM Treasury, the Department for Education and HM Revenue & Customs met with the Northern Ireland Department of Education in June to discuss the experience of developing and administering the 30 hours free childcare policy in England.
To reflect concerns about the timing of the closure of childcare vouchers and the transition to Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) raised in the debate in April, the government took the decision to keep childcare vouchers open for a further six months until October. This has allowed more time for TFC to bed in, for awareness to increase and for families to understand the support they can receive under the scheme.
HM Revenue and Customs have been making improvements to the childcare service since it was launched in April 2017. Over the last four months they have provided over 99% of parents with an eligibility decision within 5 working days; reduced the number of problems that parents experienced, meaning that less than 1% of parents now see an error screen whilst applying or using their account; and made improvements to the customer experience. As a result, there has been an increase in parent satisfaction to over 80%.
The government has increased communications about TFC and the Childcare Choices website. As a result, we have seen a rise in the number of visitors to the sites. Communications activity will increase further in September at the start of the new school year, with a marketing campaign in the autumn to support take up of TFC.
All public-sector workers in the UK who meet the eligibility criteria for TFC will be able to claim government support for 20% of their childcare costs, up to an annual maximum of £2,000 for each child. We are working to make sure all parents, including those in the public sector, are aware of this support and how to access it. Ministers and officials have also met with interested stakeholders across the UK.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of 13 March 2018, Official Report, column 767, what steps he has taken to address the specific circumstances affecting public sector employees in relation to childcare vouchers are; and what discussions he has had with colleagues from Northern Ireland in relation to those steps.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
HM Treasury, the Department for Education and HM Revenue & Customs met with the Northern Ireland Department of Education in June to discuss the experience of developing and administering the 30 hours free childcare policy in England.
To reflect concerns about the timing of the closure of childcare vouchers and the transition to Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) raised in the debate in April, the government took the decision to keep childcare vouchers open for a further six months until October. This has allowed more time for TFC to bed in, for awareness to increase and for families to understand the support they can receive under the scheme.
HM Revenue and Customs have been making improvements to the childcare service since it was launched in April 2017. Over the last four months they have provided over 99% of parents with an eligibility decision within 5 working days; reduced the number of problems that parents experienced, meaning that less than 1% of parents now see an error screen whilst applying or using their account; and made improvements to the customer experience. As a result, there has been an increase in parent satisfaction to over 80%.
The government has increased communications about TFC and the Childcare Choices website. As a result, we have seen a rise in the number of visitors to the sites. Communications activity will increase further in September at the start of the new school year, with a marketing campaign in the autumn to support take up of TFC.
All public-sector workers in the UK who meet the eligibility criteria for TFC will be able to claim government support for 20% of their childcare costs, up to an annual maximum of £2,000 for each child. We are working to make sure all parents, including those in the public sector, are aware of this support and how to access it. Ministers and officials have also met with interested stakeholders across the UK.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on overall public spending per capita in (a) Barnsley, (b) South Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
With regard to parts (a) and (b) of the question, the government does not hold information on overall expenditure at the level requested. However, per capita expenditure for Yorkshire and the Humber for the periods 2012-13 to 2016-17 is shown below as sourced from the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis (PESA) command paper.
Total identifiable expenditure on services in Yorkshire and The Humber, per head 2012-13 to 2016-17 | |
Financial year | £ per head |
2012-13 | 8490 |
2013-14 | 8523 |
2014-15 | 8701 |
2015-16 | 8804 |
2016-17 | 8810 |
Source: PESA 2018 | |
A link to the latest PESA edition is also provided below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2018
Table 9.2 will be of interest as it shows total identifiable expenditure on services by country and region, per head between 2012-13 and 2016-17.