Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.60 of the Budget 2018 Red Book, whether the funding for state-funded schools to cover pension costs will be allocated from the £4.7bn extra DEL in the reserve for 2019-20.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Additional funds will be allocated to the Department for Education to meet the proportion of the expected £4.7 billion in additional pension costs that falls to them. The Department for Education are proposing to provide state-funded schools with funding to cover their additional pensions costs for the rest of this Spending Review period.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley South)
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 South)
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 - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
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 South)
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 South)
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).