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  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2016 to Question 26467, what recent estimate he has made of the average cost of private rented property in the West Midlands.

    Brandon Lewis

    Statistics on average rents by region and local authority are published by the Valuation Office Agency at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/private-rental-market-summary-statistics-england-2014-15

    These show the estimated mean monthly rent between 1 October 2014 and 30 September 2015 by type of property.

    “

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of public-private partnerships delivering local authority services and representing good value for money.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Local authority Private Finance Initiative Public Private Partnership projects, whether supported by this or other departments, were subject to extensive value for money assessments before authorities entered into their individual contracts. This Department does not undertake post-implementation value for money assessments of local authority Private Finance Initative contracts and services. However authorities are encouraged to continue to seek to improve the value for money of their projects wherever possible and the Department will provide advice and support upon request.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to assist local authorities renegotiating public-private partnerships.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department offers advice and support directly to individual local authorities and collectively through sector briefings on renegotiation matters. The Department has also worked with Local Partnerships to help them provide advice and assistance to local authorities across a range of Private Finance Initiative Public Private Partnership sector projects.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the proposed changes to the Landfill Communities Fund on the restoration and repair of listed church properties and church buildings.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Church of England has engaged with the recent consultation from the Treasury over the future of the Landfill Communities Fund. Local churches are able to apply to the fund to support restoration, extension and repair projects.

    Local parishes have benefitted from this generosity since its creation in 1996. Over its lifetime the scheme has enabled churches across the country to benefit from an approximate £75 million worth of repairs. As part of its submission the Church of England asked the Treasury to consider reducing the administrative burdens on applicants to the fund.

    The Church has since received assurances that the scheme will continue and we await with interest further detailed announcements from the Treasury regarding the operation of the fund.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to make representations to EU institutions on EU plans to tax (a) e-cigarettes and (b) other reduced risk products at the same rates as combustible cigarettes.

    Damian Hinds

    There are no plans to mandate EU-level rules on taxing e-cigarettes and no legislative proposals have been submitted. As the EU Commission clarified last week, all that has happened is that the Commission has been asked to further analyse the issue of e-cigarettes as part of a wider review of the Tobacco Duties Directive (2011/64/EU). Any proposal would need the unanimous support of all 28 EU governments for it to be approved.

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in Easington constituency who will be affected by the reduction of the income rise disregard for tax credits to £2,500.

    Damian Hinds

    This information is not held and statistically reliable projections at constituency level could only be provided at disproportionate cost. From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

    The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

    In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women in Easington constituency who will be affected by the reduction of the income rise disregard for tax credits to £2,500.

    Damian Hinds

    This information is not held and statistically reliable projections at constituency level could only be provided at disproportionate cost. From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

    The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

    In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of tax credit claimants with a disability in Easington constituency who will be affected by the reduction of the income rise disregard for tax credits to £2,500.

    Damian Hinds

    This information is not held and statistically reliable projections at constituency level could only be provided at disproportionate cost. From April 2016, the income rise disregard – the amount by which a tax credit claimant’s income can increase within a year before their tax credit award is adjusted – will be reduced from £5,000 to £2,500.

    The only people who will be affected by this will be those who see an increase in their in-year income by more than £2,500. There will be no net cash losers because their income will have increased.

    In the subsequent tax year, a claimant’s tax credits award will be calculated in the usual way, using their full annual income for the previous year to determine their tax credit entitlement. This means that after the change in the tax year, whether the claimant’s increase in income was above or below the disregard level, their tax credit award for the following year will be adjusted to what it would have been had no disregard existed

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the amount currently owed to HM Revenue and Customs in tax credit overpayments and (b) the potential effect of the reduction in the income rise disregard on the amount so owed in each of the next three years.

    Damian Hinds

    The amount of tax credit debt owed to HMRC as at 31 March 2015, the latest available figure, is published in HMRC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2014-15. The Annual Report and Accounts for 2015-16 are due to be published in June this year.

    The impact on new debt from the reduction in the disregard is not available.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gerald Kaufman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-03-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he intends to answer the letter dated 12 January 2016 from the Right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms S. Lyons, transferred by the Department for Work and Pensions.

    Harriett Baldwin

    HMRC officials are looking into this case and the Right hon. Member will receive a reply in due course.