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  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take further steps to hold to account housing associations which do not provide adequate maintenance and repair services to their tenants.

    Brandon Lewis

    Registered providers are required to comply with the Home standard. This requires them to provide a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service which has the objective of completing repairs right first time. If the Social Housing Regulator finds that a registered provider has failed to comply with the standard and that there has been, or is a risk of, serious harm to tenants, it can issue a Regulatory Notice and could if appropriate take enforcement action against those providers.

    A tenant with a complaint against their landlord should raise it with their landlord in the first instance. Should the complaint remain unresolved tenants can contact a Designated Person (a local housing authority councillor, MP or recognised tenant panel) who has a role in seeking to resolve disputes and complaints. They can also take the matter to the Housing Ombudsman.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2015 to Question 16853, how the additional £4 million allocated for national minimum wage enforcement was allocated within national minimum wage enforcement activity.

    Greg Hands

    The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.

    Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.

    The extra funding was allocated in two tranches. The first of £3 million has been used by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to recruit additional staff primarily into front line compliance posts to increase the scope and coverage of interventions aimed at identifying employers who do not pay the minimum wage.

    The second tranche of £1 million has been used to appoint staff into new roles specifically geared to promoting compliance with the National Minimum Wage, through education and support for employers, helping workers to understand their rights, and tackling serious non-compliance where deliberate behaviour is suspected.

    Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing National Minimum Wage, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation. However, HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond those identified in UIN 16853.

    HMRC does not breakdown the overall budget allocated into specific activities. For details of the overall budget in 2015/16, I refer the honourable member back to the answer provided at UIN 16853. Funding allocations for 2016/17 onwards have yet to be confirmed.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funding has been allocated for national minimum wage enforcement activity within his Department from 2015-16.

    Greg Hands

    The Government is committed to increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.

    Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay arrears of wages at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to £20,000 per underpaid worker. A further increase in penalties will come into force in April 2016 and will increase the penalty percentage from 100% to 200% of the underpayments owed to each worker, up to the existing maximum.

    The extra funding was allocated in two tranches. The first of £3 million has been used by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to recruit additional staff primarily into front line compliance posts to increase the scope and coverage of interventions aimed at identifying employers who do not pay the minimum wage.

    The second tranche of £1 million has been used to appoint staff into new roles specifically geared to promoting compliance with the National Minimum Wage, through education and support for employers, helping workers to understand their rights, and tackling serious non-compliance where deliberate behaviour is suspected.

    Staff across HMRC contribute to enforcing National Minimum Wage, including people who work in legal advice, debt management, technical support and criminal investigation. However, HMRC does not record the specific numbers of those staff involved beyond those identified in UIN 16853.

    HMRC does not breakdown the overall budget allocated into specific activities. For details of the overall budget in 2015/16, I refer the honourable member back to the answer provided at UIN 16853. Funding allocations for 2016/17 onwards have yet to be confirmed.

  • Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, for what reasons the Government took the decision to close the Manufacturing Advisory Service.

    Anna Soubry

    As part of the Spending Review settlement, we decided to wind down the national delivery of the Business Growth Service (BGS) including the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).

    The BGS used substantial taxpayer resources, £85 million a year, which was distributed through a network of contractors and subcontractors. When it did eventually reach businesses, businesses would have to provide half the cost of advice themselves, despite the substantial taxpayer funding being provided.

    The Spending Review protected our economic security by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. The most important way we can help manufacturers is to continue to secure a strong, growing economy.

    Where we do use taxpayers money, we have targeted it where it will help businesses the most.

    We have extended the doubling of Small Business Rate Relief by another year, meaning 405,000 small businesses will pay no rates at all while another 200,000 small businesses will pay reduced rates. Next year we’ll be extending the Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £3,000, meaning thousands of small businesses will pay no jobs tax.

    We’re providing further funding to Growth Hubs to help businesses at the local level and away from Whitehall.

    We continue supporting our world leading research-led and advanced manufacturing sectors such as life sciences, defence, aerospace, automotive and chemicals to grow, export, and attract and retain inward investment. We are supporting industry with an extra £1 billion in aerospace and automotive R&D and investing £6.9 billion in the UK’s research infrastructure.

  • Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nusrat Ghani – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of people aged (a) 21 to 64 and (b) 65 and over who pay income tax pay tax at the higher rate.

    Mr David Gauke

    The information is not held in the form requested.

    Information on the number of taxpayers liable at the higher and additional rates of tax is set out in HM Revenue and Customs’ National Statistics table 2.1. This is available at the following internet address:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/429111/Table_2.1.pdf

    This data covers the number of taxpayers aged under 65 years old as well as those aged 65 and over.

    “

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, by when he expects to publish the outcome of HM Treasury’s consultation on the recommendation made in the review by Christine Farnish of the Money Advice Service, published in March 2015, for a breathing space mechanism to protect vulnerable customers making debt repayments.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is committed to exploring whether some form of “breathing space” would be a useful and viable addition to the range of formal and informal debt solutions available to consumers and creditors. Officials in HM Treasury and the Insolvency Service have been asked to discuss this issue with stakeholders with a view to identifying possible options and have begun work on this review.

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made representations to the Bank of England regarding the regulation of any specific bank since May 2015.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Prudential Regulation Authority is a subsidiary of the Bank of England and operationally independent of Government.

    Treasury Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Prudential Regulation Authority to discuss relevant regulatory issues.

    As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish monitoring his Department undertook on the impact on micro-businesses of the changes to dividend taxation included in the Finance Bill.

    Mr David Gauke

    At Summer Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced that the dividend tax credit will be replaced by a new £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance from April 2016, and that dividend tax rates would be amended from the same date.

    A tax information and impact note setting out expected impacts was published on 9 December. This is available to view at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-changes-to-dividend-taxation/income-tax-changes-to-dividend-taxation.

    “

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on micro-businesses of changes included in the Finance Bill in relation to dividend taxation.

    Mr David Gauke

    At Summer Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced that the dividend tax credit will be replaced by a new £5,000 tax-free dividend allowance from April 2016, and that dividend tax rates would be amended from the same date.

    A tax information and impact note setting out expected impacts was published on 9 December. This is available to view at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-changes-to-dividend-taxation/income-tax-changes-to-dividend-taxation.

    “

  • Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Wes Streeting – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Wes Streeting on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department has made to the Financial Conduct Authority on Symphony interbank communications software.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The FCA does not directly regulate the activities of Symphony Communication Services LLC or any other electronic messaging platform. However, firms that are authorised by the FCA who use messaging services such as Symphony are subject to a range of applicable requirements, including the recording and storage of such tapes and electronic communications. The FCA is monitoring developments in relation to the use of Symphony by FCA-regulated firms.

    The FCA is also in touch with regulated firms to monitor how they are using new technology in this area, and any risks that may exist.

    Treasury Ministers and officials meet regularly with the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss relevant regulatory issues.

    As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Treasury’s practice to provide details of all such discussions.