The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people who are paid at a rate below the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation in Bolton North East constituency.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graeme Morrice on 2014-06-17.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to prevent employers who engage in blacklisting receiving Government contracts.
Mr Nick Hurd
The blacklisting of employees is an unacceptable and unlawful practice, and Government takes any such allegations very seriously.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps the Government is taking with banks and credit card companies to ensure PPI repayments are made in full.
Andrea Leadsom
It is important that consumers get the redress which they are due. Ensuring that banks provide appropriate redress for their customers is a matter for the independent regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
The Government is supportive of action taken by the FCA to recompense customers for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) and prevent cases of mis-selling in the future through regulatory action. The FCA has stated that it is keeping a close eye on how the industry handles all PPI complaints and will be quick to challenge anything it thinks is unfair.
I have asked the FCA to write to the Member in more detail about action being taken in regard to PPI. A copy of the response will be placed in the Library of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance and support (a) HM Revenue and Customs and (b) National Savings and Investment will provide for parents who encounter IT problems during the quarterly reconfiguration process for tax-free childcare; and if he will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan
On the 23 May the Government published a further consultation on the delivery of childcare accounts within Tax-Free Childcare. The consultation will be open until 27 June and the Government will consider the responses alongside those to the first consultation before it makes its decision on the provision of childcare accounts. Following this decision the Government will work with stakeholders to develop guidance to support parents, and assisted approaches will be provided to parents without access to the internet.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of divorced and separated parents who will have to decide which of them should own a tax-free childcare account; how HM Revenue and Customs plans to resolve disputes over such decisions; and what additional resources will be committed for this purpose.
Nicky Morgan
It is estimated that of the families that will directly benefit from the Tax-Free Childcare scheme around 95% are couples and 5% are lone parents. Based on the best available data, we estimate that around half of these lone parents will be either divorced or separated.
Working lone parents are more likely to have lower income levels than working couples. More lone parents will therefore receive support for childcare through Tax Credits and then subsequently Universal Credit which is generally more generous than Tax-Free Childcare.
On the 18 March the Government published its response to the consultation on design and operation of Tax-Free Childcare which sets out that where adults in a family are unable to reach agreement about which of them should claim, HMRC will consider the facts of the case and make a decision.
The resource requirements of the scheme will be settled once the scheme’s details have been finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to promote the video games tax relief to video games producers.
Mr David Gauke
The video games tax relief came into effect from 1 April 2014. This generous new relief will provide support for the growing video games sector in the UK.
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are currently presenting a series of events across the country to promote and explain the new relief to the industry. A specialist unit has been provided to assist businesses with making claims. Guidance is available on HMRC’s website to explain the relief and help businesses decide whether they are eligible for relief. HMRC are working closely with the video games industry to develop more detailed guidance, which will be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date each of the 25 firms named and shamed for breach of the national minimum wage by his Department on 8 June 2014 was issued with the relevant Notice of Underpayment of the minimum wage by HM Revenue and Customs.
Jenny Willott
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
The dates that the Notice of Underpayments (NoU) were issued for the 25 firms named and shamed for breach of the national minimum wage (NMW) are as follows.
| Month | NoUs |
|
December 2013 |
1 |
|
January 2014 |
9 |
|
February 2014 |
10 |
|
March 2014 |
4 |
|
April 2014 |
1 |
They were issued under the revised Naming Scheme which was introduced on 1 October 2013. It takes time for cases to work their way through the system as there is a process to follow before an employer can be named. If HMRC investigates an employer that is breaking NMW law they will be issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NOU) by HMRC. An employer has 28 days to appeal against the NOU and 14 days from when the case closes to make representations to BIS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HM Revenue and Customs has made of changes in the extent of (a) fuel smuggling and (b) other organised revenue avoidance schemes in Northern Ireland in the last three years.
Nicky Morgan
Estimates of the non UK duty paid market for petrol and diesel fuels in Northern Ireland are published in ‘Measuring Tax Gaps 2012-13′. The non UK duty paid estimate covers both the illicit market and cross border shopping. These estimates cannot be disaggregated into its component parts or by the type of illicit activity e.g. through smuggling or other fraud.
The excise duty losses due to the non-UK duty paid diesel market for 2010-11 were £110m and for 2011-12 were £120m. The excise duty losses due to the petrol non-UK duty paid market for 2010-11 were £30m and for 2011-12 were £30m. Figures for 2012-13 will be published in the autumn.
The information on other organised revenue avoidance schemes in Northern Ireland is not available. The figures cannot be disaggregated by country. UK figures are available from “Measuring Tax Gaps 2012-13”.
The methodologies for producing the estimates are provided in the ‘Methodological Annex for Measuring Tax Gaps 2013′.
Both documents can be accessed via the following page on the HMRC website:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/tax-gaps.htm
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the last assessment was carried out of the perceived community background of HM Revenue and Customs staff recruited in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years.
Mr David Gauke
HMRC assesses annually the community background information relating to its Northern Ireland staff. This is done as part of the annual reporting arrangements to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and helps inform HMRC’s Equality Analysis work and Northern Ireland Equality Scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cathy Jamieson on 2014-06-17.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he last met the Scottish Government to discuss air passenger duty.
Nicky Morgan
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings and discussions with a wide variety of organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.