The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average duration of a claim for tax credits was in the most recent (a) 12 and (b) 24 months for which data is available.
Damian Hinds
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support his Department is providing to the spirits industry in Scotland.
Damian Hinds
The government is committed to supporting the spirits industry in Scotland. The duty on spirits was cut by 2% at March Budget 2015, building on the duty freeze at Budget 2014. These measures have benefited the Scotch whisky industry in addition to the overall spirits industry across the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average duration is of a tax credit claim.
Damian Hinds
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of tax credits in each of the last five tax years for which data are available did not make a claim in the following tax year.
Damian Hinds
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karen Buck on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of households in receipt of tax credits in each of the last five tax years for which figures are available had not made a claim in the preceding tax year.
Damian Hinds
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to lines 41 and 42 of Table 2.1 of the Summer Budget 2015 Red Book (HC 264), page 73, what the savings to the public purse would be if those measures were to be applied only to households that are not currently in receipt of tax credits or universal credit.
Damian Hinds
This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor made clear on [Monday / 26 October], the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.
The Summer Budget offered a new deal for working people. A new National Living Wage for workers aged 25 and above, initially set at £7.20 per hour from April 2016, will directly benefit 2.7 million low wage workers, and up to 6 million could see a pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution. The new National Living Wage will boost pay for those currently earning the National Minimum Wage by £4,800 a year by 2020 when the National Living Wage is expected to rise to over £9 per hour.
To help working families keep more of what they earn, the personal allowance will increase to £11,000 in 2016-17 and £11,200 in 2017-18. The government has committed to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 which will mean that a typical basic rate taxpayer will see their income tax cut by £1,205 a year compared to 2010.
The government set out its assessment of the impacts of the Summer Budget policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on 20th July 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12792, for what reason the nationality of EU citizens in receipt of working tax credits is not recorded; and if he will make a statement.
Damian Hinds
Nationality is not a condition of entitlement to tax credits. The information requested is, therefore, not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart McDonald on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the quality of the information available for HM Revenue and Customs claimants to distinguish between genuine communications from Concentrix and phishing scams.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) undertakes a wide range of work to protect customers from websites which attempt to unlawfully obtain information. This includes:
HMRC’s pages on GOV.UK make clear that Concentrix works on behalf of HMRC, and that some tax credits customers will receive a letter showing both logos. Neither HMRC, nor agencies working for HMRC, will ever ask for online banking or other information via email or over the phone that would enable an unauthorised person to access bank accounts or otherwise commit fraud.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal support his Department is giving to infrastructure initiatives in East Suffolk.
Greg Hands
The Government has committed to invest £100bn in infrastructure over the course of this Parliament. There are 31 projects and programmes in the East of England in the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which include the energy, transport and waste sectors. The Pipeline is a strategic overview of the level of public and private infrastructure investment planned over the rest of this decade and beyond. These projects and programmes have a total capital value of more than £6 billion, of which more than £2.5 billion is public spending.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2015-10-27.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many civil servants of his Department are members of trades unions; how many working hours of facility time are taken by such civil servants; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that facility time to his Department.
Harriett Baldwin
Information relating to the number of HM Treasury staff who are members of Trade Unions is a matter for the relevant trade unions.
The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 at and is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time.