To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O’Neill of
Gatley on 8 December (HL3854), what were the dates of the last three written communications
from HMRC to Trading Standards about VAT fraud among online traders operating from
abroad, including email, and to what persons at what offices they were addressed.
<br /><p>HM Revenue & Customs does not disclose communications it has with its
enforcement partners, or the content of those communications, to avoid compromising
sensitive policy and operational activities.</p><br />
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the amount of stamp
duty reserve tax that will be repaid following the 2012 decision of the First-Tier
Tribunal (Tax) in the case of <i>HSBC Holdings PLC and the Bank of New York Mellon
Corporation v HMRC </i>(TC/2009/165484)<i>.</i>
<br /><p>HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is not in a position to provide an assessment
of Stamp Duty Reserve Tax that may be repaid following the 2012 First Tier Tribunal
decision in the case of HSBC Holdings PLC and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
v HMRC. This is due to ongoing litigation of cases arising from that decision.</p><br
/>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much stamp duty reserve tax has been repaid following
the 2012 decision of the First-Tier Tribunal (Tax) in the case of<i> HSBC Holdings
PLC and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation v HMRC</i> (TC/2009/165484).
<br /><p>The First Tier Tribunal in the case of HSBC Holdings PLC and the Bank of
New York Mellon Corporation v HMRC decided in March 2012 that the taxing of Stamp
Duty Reserve Tax at 1.5% on a transfer of shares which is integral to a share capital
raising exercise to a depositary receipt issuer or clearance service, infringed the
Capital Duty Directive. Following that decision, HMRC has repaid a total of £168 million
Stamp Duty Reserve Tax to various claimants.</p><br /> <br />
<br /><p>Treasury Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in
the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.</p><p>Ministers’
Quarterly Transparency Returns provide details of ministerial meetings with external
organisations on departmental business and are published on a quarterly basis and
can be found on the Government’s website.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each financial year from 2015–16 to 2020–21,
what are the estimated annual costs of (1) child benefit, (2) child tax credits, (3)
free school meals for Year 1 and Year 2 children, (4) Universal Credit First Child
Premium, (5) Working Tax Credit Childcare element, (6) working tax credit lone parent
element, (7) housing benefit family premium, (8) child care grant, and (9) healthy
start.
<p>(1, 2, 5, 6)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Office for Budget Responsibility
(OBR) has published expenditure forecasts for tax credits and Child Benefit as part
of their recently published Economic and Fiscal Outlook document. The relevant information
relating to personal tax credits and child benefit is reproduced below. Expenditure
forecasts are not produced for individual elements of tax credits.</p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="4"> </td><td
colspan="7"><p>£ billion</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Estimate</p></td><td colspan="6"><p>Forecast</p></td></tr><tr><td>
</td><td colspan="6"><p>Welfare cap period</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>2020-21</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Personal
tax credits</p></td><td><p>29.7</p></td><td><p>29.5</p></td><td><p>25.3</p></td><td><p>26.3</p></td><td><p>27.3</p></td><td><p>27.5</p></td><td><p>28.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Child
benefit</p></td><td><p>11.6</p></td><td><p>11.5</p></td><td><p>11.4</p></td><td><p>11.4</p></td><td><p>11.3</p></td><td><p>11.3</p></td><td><p>11.4</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(3)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is providing
over £1 billion of funding in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to meet the costs of universal free
school meals for children in reception, year 1 and year 2. Funding for later years
will be considered as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>Schools also provide free school meals for children up to the age of 18, based
on their parents’ eligibility for certain benefits. This will include children in
years 1 and 2. This is funded separately from within the Dedicated Schools Grant allocated
to schools. It is up to schools to decide how to use their budgets and the Government
does not measure spend on free school meals for this cohort.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(4)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Office for Budget Responsibility
(OBR) has published expenditure forecasts for Universal Credit as part of their recently
published Economic and Fiscal Outlook document. The relevant information is reproduced
below.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Expenditure forecasts are not produced by individual
Universal Credit elements and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="3"> </td><td colspan="7"><p>£ billion</p></td></tr><tr><td>
</td><td colspan="6"><p>Welfare cap period</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>2020-21</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Universal
credit*</p></td><td><p>0.1</p></td><td><p>0.5</p></td><td><p>-0.2</p></td><td><p>-0.9</p></td><td><p>-1.7</p></td><td><p>-2.7</p></td><td><p>-3.1</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="8"><p>*Universal credit actual spending for 2014-15 and 2015-16. Spending
from 2016-17 onwards represents universal credit additional costs not already included
against other benefits (i.e. UC payments that do not exist under current benefit structure).</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(7)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The information
relating to housing benefit is not readily available and could only be provided at
disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(8)</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Forecasts
are not available for child care grants, for which the rate is set annually. £74 million
of awards were made in the 2013/14 academic year. Information relating to student
support grant for childcare for 2016/17 was published in a written statement by the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 21 July 2015. It confirmed that
the maximum childcare grant payable in 2016-17, which covers 85 per cent of actual
childcare costs, will be £155.24 per week for one child only and £266.15 per week
for two or more children. Student support grants for childcare form just one component
of the overall student grant budget.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(9)</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The estimated annual costs for the Healthy start scheme for
2015/16 are £81.6 million, net of devolved administration receipts.</p><p> </p>
<p>.</p><p>In 2012, the Government published “Tunnelling: A Capability Analysis” which
identified the tunnelling skills essential to deliver key projects, including Crossrail,
HS2 and the Thames Tideway Tunnel.</p><br /><p>To help meet this demand and maintain
the UK’s skills base, the National Construction College delivers training at a purpose-built
facility: the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy in East London.</p><br
/><p>In September, the Government published the National Infrastructure Plan for Skills,
to ensure the UK has the right skills base to deliver and maintain world-class infrastructure.
This report sets out the scale of the challenge and is just the first step. The Government
is now consulting with stakeholders across industry, academia and training providers
to build a series of detailed actions to address the skills challenge.</p><br />
<p>65+ GGB “Pensioner” Bonds were a special issue aimed at helping pensioners who
rely on their savings in retirement. There are currently no plans for a further issue.</p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guarantees are in place to ensure that European
structural and investment funding commitments that have already been entered into
are honoured.
<p><em>The Government remains committed to encouraging economic growth across the
regions and nations of the UK. The Government is carefully considering the use of
these funds and will make an announcement on EU funding in due course.</em></p><p><strong>
</strong></p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is their intention to allocate sufficient
funding to meet the level and profile of the current calls by the UK on European structural
and investment funding.
<p><em>The people of the UK have voted to leave the EU. It would not be appropriate
to commit, without due consideration, to continuing to spend money over a long period
as if we had not voted to leave the EU. But the Government remains committed to encouraging
economic growth across the regions and nations of the UK. The Government is therefore
carefully considering the use of these funds and will make an announcement on EU funding
in due course.</em></p><p><strong> </strong></p>
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to commit to future funding
that reflects the total level of the 2014–20 European structural and investment funding
programme in line with the needs of local areas.
<p><em>The people of the UK have voted to leave the EU. It would not be appropriate
to commit, without due consideration, to continuing to spend money over a long period
as if we had not voted to leave the EU. But the Government remains committed to encouraging
economic growth across the regions and nations of the UK. The Government is therefore
carefully considering the use of these funds and will make an announcement on EU funding
in due course.</em></p><p><strong> </strong></p>