Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that umbrella companies in the temporary labour market comply with tax legislation on (a) the proper (i) deduction and (ii) reporting of (A) income tax and (B) National Insurance contributions for temporary workers and (b) other matters.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to closing the tax gap and making the tax system fairer by ensuring temporary workers are protected from large, unexpected tax bills caused by unscrupulous behaviour from non-compliant umbrella companies. That is why the Chancellor announced in her Autumn Budget that the Government will introduce legislation to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for Pay As You Earn on workers’ pay.
The Government set out the expected Exchequer impacts of this measure at the Budget. The Government will publish a full Tax Impact and Information Note later this year.
HMRC recently launched a comprehensive guidance tool, ‘work out pay from an umbrella company’, that agencies and umbrella company workers can use to better understand umbrella company pay and ensure tax compliance. The tool automatically flags discrepancies between submitted payslip information and calculated estimates that could indicate hidden deductions or tax avoidance.
Earlier this month, HMRC published guidance with examples of how umbrella companies can demonstrate good practice. This guidance aims to raise standards across the umbrella company sector, creating a fairer market and helping workers and businesses understand what good practice looks like. This guidance can be found online at www.gov.uk/guidance/examples-of-good-practice-for-umbrella-companies-in-the-temporary-labour-market.
The measures in the Employment Rights Bill will bring the activities of umbrella companies in scope for future regulation to ensure individuals working through them can access the rights they are legally entitled to and can receive greater transparency in the terms of their employment.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to take steps to help (a) improve transparency within the umbrella company sector and (b) ensure workers are not subject to (i) excessive fees and (ii) improper tax arrangements.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to closing the tax gap and making the tax system fairer by ensuring temporary workers are protected from large, unexpected tax bills caused by unscrupulous behaviour from non-compliant umbrella companies. That is why the Chancellor announced in her Autumn Budget that the Government will introduce legislation to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for Pay As You Earn on workers’ pay.
The Government set out the expected Exchequer impacts of this measure at the Budget. The Government will publish a full Tax Impact and Information Note later this year.
HMRC recently launched a comprehensive guidance tool, ‘work out pay from an umbrella company’, that agencies and umbrella company workers can use to better understand umbrella company pay and ensure tax compliance. The tool automatically flags discrepancies between submitted payslip information and calculated estimates that could indicate hidden deductions or tax avoidance.
Earlier this month, HMRC published guidance with examples of how umbrella companies can demonstrate good practice. This guidance aims to raise standards across the umbrella company sector, creating a fairer market and helping workers and businesses understand what good practice looks like. This guidance can be found online at www.gov.uk/guidance/examples-of-good-practice-for-umbrella-companies-in-the-temporary-labour-market.
The measures in the Employment Rights Bill will bring the activities of umbrella companies in scope for future regulation to ensure individuals working through them can access the rights they are legally entitled to and can receive greater transparency in the terms of their employment.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of vehicle accidents resulting in death or serious injury involved a vehicle without valid vehicle excise duty; and how many and what proportion of these untaxed vehicles were (a) driven by an uninsured driver, (b) not the subject of a valid MOT certificate and (c) both driven by an uninsured driver and not the subject of a valid MOT certificate.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This information is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a national strategy on the efficiency and effectiveness of community equipment services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Individual National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts are responsible and accountable for their own purchasing decisions, which will include community equipment. NHS organisations are independent commercial entities, and it is for an NHS procuring authority to satisfy itself on how best to obtain quality and value for money through its procurement activity.
Local NHS organisations have access to a wide range of procurement routes, but the Government has put in place a range of initiatives to help NHS bodies make informed choices about products and the route through which they are bought. These include the NHS Supply Chain, a national body which is responsible for procuring and delivering the majority of consumables, equipment, and other supplies to the NHS. The NHS Supply Chain was set up to leverage the collective buying power of the NHS to drive savings and provide a standardised range of clinically assured quality products at the best value.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for the 10-year Health Plan of the report by the National Clinical Homecare Association entitled Best Kept Secret: The Value Of Clinical Homecare To The NHS, Patients And Society, published in July 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future. As part of these reforms, we are determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and families receive the care they need when and where they need it.
The use of evidence is embedded in our development of the 10-Year Health Plan, both by informing the proposals developed by the working groups supporting the plan, and in our ongoing assessment of the plan’s potential impacts. Both areas of work draw on a broad range of evidence, including published sources outside of the Department and NHS England.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing funding for early intervention in children’s social care on costs to the public purse.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Local government spending on children’s social care has risen by £4.4 billion over the last decade whilst spend on non-statutory, preventative services has fallen from £3.9 billion in 2012/13 to £2.7 billion in 2022/23, which is a fall of 31% in real terms.
The department wants to shift the dial to prioritise earlier intervention, removing barriers to accessing support. Families should access the right help at the earliest opportunity, to improve outcomes for children and to reduce the need for future costly intervention.
In this financial year, over £500 million is available to local authorities to roll out Family Help, multi-agency child protection and family network reforms through the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme. The FFP programme is based on strong evidence from several programmes delivered by local partners and we expect these reforms to lead to sustained reductions in spend on children’s social care. Local authorities will be able to recruit more practitioners who can spend more time with children and families at the earliest opportunity, to avoid later costly crisis intervention. We expect to generate savings by diverting children from care and improving school attendance and attainment, directly impacting the Opportunity Mission.
The government will continue to look at this closely in the next phase of the spending review.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a (a) consistent and (b) sustainable funding framework for community equipment provision across local authorities and NHS bodies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Government announced a £22.6 billion increase in day-to-day health spending and a £3.1 billion increase in the capital budget over 2024/2025 and 2025/2026. Departmental budgets beyond 2025/26 will be set through phase two of the Spending Review, which will conclude and be published in June 2025.
Local authorities and National Health Service procuring authorities are responsible for discussing and agreeing contracts with community equipment suppliers, which will take into account the resources available to them. Economic growth is the Government’s number one mission and the Government supports businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. To support the growth mission, the Government is driving forward work to implement a modern Industrial Strategy, to reset trade relations, to support small business and deliver a new deal for working people.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Stockport District Heat Network on energy costs for households in fuel poverty.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Stockport Council have applied for support from our Green Heat Networks Fund for their district heating network. To be eligible for support from the scheme, applicants must demonstrate that their networks will cause no detriment to domestic customers. This means that householders in fuel poverty should be no worse off.
We are also taking action to strengthen consumer protection by introducing Ofgem regulation of heat networks from January 2026, providing protections for vulnerable customers, and ensuring fairer pricing.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of funding further research into the long-term health impacts of chemicals in period products.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We work across Government, with stakeholders and with UKRI to identify the most pressing research priorities to understand the potential harms from chemicals, and opportunities to take action on them. Potential further research into the long-term health impacts of chemicals in period products would be considered in this context.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times the Valuation Office Agency has refused a request to change the council tax banding of a flat where the resident has compared their home to a lower council tax banded house of greater value, in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency does not centrally aggregate and record the data in the form requested.
When assessing a home for Council Tax banding purposes, the VOA will refer to relevant sales of comparable properties, look at the bands of other comparable properties in the locality and, when appropriate, consider any Valuation Tribunal decisions made on similar properties.
If there are very few comparable properties in the immediate locality, the VOA will consider comparable properties from a wider area, or properties which are similar in character but have some differences.
More information on how the VOA values and bands domestic properties can be found in the Council Tax manual which is published on GOV.UK. Statistics on Council Tax challenges and changes made to the England and Wales Council Tax valuation lists are published annually and can also be found on GOV.UK.