Tag: Rachel Reeves

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has invested in transport in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire since 5 February 2015.

Andrew Jones

Information on transport spend in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire is not available for this period. The latest data from HM Treasury’s Country and Regional Analysis identifies Department for Transport investment of £898 million in Yorkshire and the Humber (which covers the same area) in 2014/15.

Over the period from 5 February 2015, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire has benefitted from significant investment in transport schemes, for example £16.4m to support the Leeds Inner Ring Road essential maintenance scheme, £10.3m for the Leeds Rail Growth scheme for two new stations at Apperley Bridge (now open) and Kirkstall Forge (due to open in June), £10.3m for the Leeds Station Southern Access Scheme, and £18.1m from the Cycle City Ambition scheme to deliver a cycling ‘super highway between Leeds to Bradford (due for completion May 2016).

This month the Department for Transport informed Leeds Council that it was accepting the independent Planning Inspector’s decision, which said the Leeds Trolleybus system promoted by the council is not suitable for development, and not providing consent for their Trolleybus scheme to go ahead. We have however agreed in this instance that £173 million of DfT funding will be retained so the right public transport scheme in Leeds can be developed as quickly as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-07-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of a reduction in corporation tax to (a) 15 (b) 14 and (c) 10 per cent on (i) GDP, (ii) unemployment and (iii) investment in (A) 2016, (B) 2017, (C) 2017, (D) 2018, (E) 2019 and (F) 2010.

Mr David Gauke

The corporation tax reductions since 2010 have been designed to increase the competitiveness of the UK business tax system and to support investment and jobs in the UK. Their positive effect has been evidenced by strong growth in GDP, employment, and business investment since 2010.

The Chancellor has now set out his ambition to reduce the corporation tax rate further, to 15 percent or below, to reinforce this strategy and send a clear message that the UK is open for business.

Updated government economic modelling set out in the Business Tax Road Map suggests that corporation tax cuts delivered since 2010 could increase long-run GDP by over 1 percent. Details of this model can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysis-of-the-dynamic-effects-of-corporation-tax-reductions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Education Funding Agency budget has been allocated to fund the removal of asbestos from schools in (a) 2016, (b) 2017, (b) 2018, (d) 2019 and (e) 2020.

Nick Gibb

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) does not hold a breakdown of funding information, in the format requested, in relation to the removal of asbestos or renovation of school buildings.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the primary responsibility for managing asbestos lies with the person or persons responsible for the maintenance or repair of a building. For schools, this will be the local authority, school governors or academy trust.

The table below summarises the capital budgets from 2011-12 to 2016-17 that were provided for school maintenance, refurbishment and rebuilding, including where appropriate the removal and/or safe containment of asbestos-containing materials. As these works are covered by the capital funding programmes listed below, the Department does not allocate a separate budget for this purpose; and there are no plans to do so in future years.

The Department does not hold directly comparable allocation or expenditure data on prior years.

(All values £m)	2011-12 Budget	2012-13 Budget	2013-14 Budget	2014-15 Budget	2015-16 Budget	2016-17 Budget
School Condition Allocations (funding provided to local authorities and voluntary-aided schools)	1,054	861	749	699	690	661
Devolved Formula Capital (funding provided direct to schools)	185	162	149	138	134	130
Funding for academies, multi-academy trusts, state-funded special schools and other specialist providers for state-funded pupils (including DFC).	161	376	504	562	576	617
Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP) (delivered by central government)	0	0	90	603	999	1,050
Total	1,400	1,399	1,492	2,002	2,399	2,458

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of a family in receipt of tax credits with (a) three, (b) four and (c) five children of the Government’s proposals to limit claims for tax credit and universal credit to two children as announced in the Summer Budget 2015 and the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Damian Hinds

At Summer Budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that families will no longer be able to claim additional support through Child Tax Credit or Universal Credit for third or subsequent children in a family where the child is born after April 2017. In addition families making a completely new claim to Universal Credit after April 2017 will no longer be entitled to support for their third or subsequent children.

A family currently claiming Child Tax Credit with three or more children will see no change to their household income because of this change. This policy will only affect families claiming Child Tax Credit where they have a third or subsequent child on or after 6 April 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding is available to assist with the travel costs of patients who have to travel more than 100 miles to receive a particular treatment for their condition.

Alistair Burt

The Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme allows patients on low incomes and those in receipt of specific qualifying benefits or allowances to be reimbursed in part or in full for costs incurred in travelling to receive certain NHS services. Eligible patients can claim payment of travel expenses to appointments made to receive non-primary medical and non-primary dental services when referred by a primary care practitioner. There are no mileage restrictions on this scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-04-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of exempting plant and machinery from the calculation of business rates.

Mr David Gauke

The government has carefully considered the case for exempting plant and machinery from business rates. However, there would also be fundamental operational challenges to delivering an exemption on account of the way in which the plant and machinery is embedded in the premises concerned, making its exclusion from the calculation more difficult.

The government will continue to incentivise investment through better targeted measures, such as the Annual Investment Allowance and Research and Development Tax credits, and through the reductions in the rate of Corporation tax that are in place and that have been announced.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-05-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 36241, what assumptions were made about the number of people (a) taking up a Lifetime ISA and (b) subscribing the maximum annual amount to an ordinary ISA in calculating the estimated Exchequer impacts set out in that Answer.

Mr David Gauke

The Lifetime ISA is a voluntary product. For further information on the costing of this policy, please see page 9 of the Budget 2015 Policy Costings document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

ISA statistics are published on the GOV.UK website. Table 9.7 sets out the number of individuals subscribing to ISAs by income and amount subscribed: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/number-of-individuals-subscribing-to-an-individual-savings-account-isa-by-income.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-07-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential annual cost to the Exchequer of a reduction in corporation tax to (a) 15 (b) 14 and (c) 10 per cent.

Mr David Gauke

The corporation tax reductions since 2010 have been designed to increase the competitiveness of the UK business tax system and to support investment and jobs in the UK. Their positive effect has been evidenced by strong growth in GDP, employment, and business investment since 2010.

The Chancellor has now set out his ambition to reduce the corporation tax rate further, to 15% or below, to reinforce this strategy and send a clear message that the UK is open for business.

However, since 2010-11, onshore corporation tax receipts have increased almost 20%, despite lowering the rate from 28% to 20%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect on the household income of a family with two earners and three children which becomes a new claimant of universal credit and which is not migrating from a legacy benefit of the Government’s proposed changes to universal credit announced in the Summer Budget 2015 in each of the next four financial years.

Priti Patel

At the summer budget the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out the Government’s commitment to move the UK from a high tax, high welfare, low wage society to a lower tax, lower welfare, higher wage society. This remains the case, and Universal Credit (UC) is delivering this.

UC is a fundamentally different benefit to the legacy benefit system and provides people with support into, and to progress in work.

Therefore there is no meaningful way of comparing an unreformed Tax Credit system with Universal Credit. The Government has committed to transitional arrangements as we reform the benefits and Tax Credit system. Those transferred by DWP from tax credits to UC will receive Transitional Protection. In addition, estimates of entitlements under UC of the sort requested will vary depending on assumptions on the level of earnings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the evidential basis that underpinned the decision on the allocation of funding to Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Leeds flood defence scheme in 2011.

Rory Stewart

A proposal for a £188 million flood alleviation scheme for central Leeds was submitted to Defra in January 2010. The proposal was analysed and a number of concerns were identified. As a result of that analysis the Environment Agency agreed to work with Leeds City Council to consider alternatives. The City Council subsequently submitted a bid for the first phase of a phased scheme. We have committed £33 million to better protect Leeds City Centre, benefitting thousands of homes and businesses. No bid has yet been made for further phases.

Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will be doing this following the recent flooding incident. The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill, who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt.

Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

In response to the flooding, £40 million of funding has been committed to repair flood defences. Construction of the new flood defences is already underway. The Secretary of State will be discussing this issue and the future resilience of the city with Leeds MPs shortly.