Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his oral contribution of 25 November 2020, Official Report column 828, on 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 being guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250, on what basis that 2.1 million figure was calculated; and whether that figure is inclusive of local government workers.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Office for National Statistic’s ‘Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings’ (ASHE) shows that median basic weekly pay for the public sector is £504. This suggests that just under half of the public sector have basic weekly pay of £460 (whole economy median weekly basic pay) and less.
Since the uplift will be applied on a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) basis, we have used ASHE microdata to also exclude those earning less than the median but not on an hourly basis. This showed that 38% of the public sector earn less than £24,000 on an FTE basis.
The Office for National Statistics estimate that public sector employment was 5.51 million in June 2020. This includes: The National Health Service, central government and local government.
Sources: Table 13.a at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/publicandprivatesectorashetable13
ONS Public sector employment, UK: June 2020: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/june2020
The £24,000 earnings floor is taken from the Office for National Statistic’s ‘Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings’. This data gives whole economy median basic weekly earnings for all employees of £460. The equivalent annually is £23,985 (calculated by dividing by 7 days a week, and multiplying by 365 days a year).
Source: Table 1.3a at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/allemployeesashetable1
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government will allow businesses in the UK to produce hand sanitiser, for free local distribution, from waste alcohol without an industrial manufacturing licence during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Manufacturers of hand sanitiser do not need a licence, although anybody that uses alcohol or alcohol waste within a manufacturing process must be authorised by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
To meet the additional demand for hand sanitiser, the Government has been supporting manufacturers by ensuring they have access to the denatured alcohol they need. Since the beginning of March, HMRC has fast-tracked the authorisation of over 3 million additional litres of denatured alcohol for hand sanitiser production.
However, in light of continuing high demand for duty free alcohol in these products, HMRC have now announced several easements to their current requirements. Under these new measures alcohol or alcohol waste held within an excise warehouse may be used, without HMRC’s prior approval, to produce hand sanitiser without the payment of excise duty, provided that the final product meets the World Health Organization’s formulation for Handrub.
Further information on all the measures introduced by HMRC to support hand sanitiser production can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Welsh Government will receive from the covid-19 response package announced in Budget 2020.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As announced earlier this week, the devolved administrations will receive at least £1.5 billion to provide support to people, businesses and public services affected by COVID-19 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes at least £475 million for the Welsh Government.
Funding being provided this week is in addition to UK-wide support to tackle the impact of COVID-19, such as extending Statutory Sick Pay, making it easier and quicker to access benefits, and providing a Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on tackling the effect of pension taxation on NHS leaders.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that urgent action is needed to resolve the pensions tax issue which has caused some doctors to turn down extra shifts for fear of high tax bills.
We are committed to ensuring that hard-working NHS staff do not find themselves reducing their work commitments due to the interaction between their pay, their pension and the relevant tax regime.
That is why the Government is taking forward its manifesto commitment to carry out an urgent review of the pensions tapered annual allowance, to make sure that doctors spend as much time as possible treating patients. The Government has announced that the review will report at Budget.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has received representations on minting a coin with a date different from 31 October 2019 to commemorate the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Royal Mint has a long-established tradition of producing coins in order to commemorate historic moments, including the 2012 Olympics, the UK’s accession to the European Economic Community, and the centenary of the First World War. The commemorative 50p to mark the UK leaving the European Union will be made available following the UK’s departure.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on funding for the NHS.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government provided £6.3 billion of new funding to the NHS at the Budget – and has since made available an additional £4 billion for a new pay deal for 1.2 million NHS staff, including nurses.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question 116884, on tax avoidance: EU law, how much extra tax will be collected as a result of the implementation of the EU’s Tax Avoidance Directive in 2019.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The UK Government has taken significant action to counter multinational avoidance and tax-planning.
That includes the introduction of provisions required by the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive, such as rules to limit interest deductibility and counter hybrid mismatches.
These actions are forecast to increase tax receipts by £8bn by 2021.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK will benefit from the implementation of the EU's Tax Avoidance Directive in 2019.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The agreement of the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive in 2016 was an important step and demonstrates the Government’s commitment to fighting tax avoidance.
All Member States are required to apply these measures, with the UK having already implemented many of them. This will help ensure a consistent approach to tackling tax avoidance.
The UK will continue to engage with our international partners, including within the EU, to further tackle these issues.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the banking industry complies with the Access to Banking protocol; and what steps the Government has taken to ensure such compliance since that protocol was introduced in May 2015.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Decisions on the opening and closing of individual bank branches are taken by the management team of each bank on a commercial basis without intervention from Government. While banks and building societies need to balance customer interests, market competition, and other commercial factors when considering their strategy, the Government is pleased to see that the industry is committing to further improvements to protect those affected by branch closures. For this reason, the Government welcomed the industry-wide Access to Banking Protocol and Professor Russel Griggs’ independent ‘one year on’ review, published last November.
Building on this, the new Access to Banking Standard came into effect on 1 May. The Standard commits banks to ensure customers are better informed about branch closures and the reasons for them closing, along with the options they have locally to continue to access banking services, including specialist assistance for customer who need more help.