Every parliamentary written question tabled by Charlie Dewhirst this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 101–118 of 118 · Treasury
Whether Ian Corfield has left his role at her Department following the International Investment Summit in October 2024.
Ian Corfield was appointed on a short-term basis to carry out urgent work in support of the government’s International Investment Summit on 14 October. He has now left the department, as planned.
Pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2024 to Question 6995 on Public Expenditure: Impact Assessments, if she will publish the equality and environmental assessment that her Department conducted.
As highlighted previously, officials conducted Equalities and Environmental impact assessments of the savings measures put forward by Departments within the July ‘Fixing the Foundations’ statement, and HM Treasury has processes in place to ensure that it complies with its legal requirements. Impact assessments are a core part of the internal decision-making process, and they are not usually published.
Pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2024 to Question 5747 on Government Departments: Cost Effectiveness, if she will publish a table of the monetary value of the 2% reduction in administration budget of each public body that aggregates to £225 million.
As part of the measures the Chancellor took following the spending audit, departments were asked to reduce their admin budgets by 2%, saving £225 million across departments. All savings and investments announced at the July statement have been factored into the departmental budgets for 24-25 which were set out on 30 October as part of the Spending Review. The split between programme and administration spending will be published as part of the Supplementary Estimates.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7020 on Treasury: Official Cars, what form of vehicular transport does the Chancellor of the Exchequer use to travel on official business; and what was the cost of this transport in (a) July 2024, (b) August 2024, (c) September 2024 and (d) October 2024.
We do not comment on the specific arrangements in place for the Chancellor because of security.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7020 on Treasury: Official Cars, whether the car is an electric car.
Due to driver working patterns HM Treasury’s pool car is not always the same make and model. Cars used include ones that are electric, plug-in hybrid petrol or hybrid petrol.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7021 on Treasury: Official Cars, whether the Car Service in her Department is provided to senior officials for departmental travel.
HM Treasury has one departmental car that is available to the Chief Secretary or other junior ministers for official travel. HM Treasury follows the guidance set out by the Propriety and Ethics team in the Cabinet Office on use by Senior Officials.
What meetings (a) Ministers and (b) her officials have held with external stakeholders since 5 July 2024.
Details relating to the department’s meetings with external stakeholders at ministerial level are published in line with Cabinet Office guidelines as part of the transparency reporting commitment. The details relating to the period in question will form part of the agreed Q2 publication set. This is due to be published at the end of October.
How many people who pay income tax via PAYE also paid capital gains tax across (a) basic, (b) higher rate and (c) additional rate taxpayers in the most recent year for which figures are available.
HMRC does not routinely produce estimates of how many capital gains taxpayers are in each PAYE-specific Income Tax band. A reliable estimate would only be available at disproportionate cost. HMRC does produce estimates of the number of capital gains taxpayers split by total taxable income as part of its annual accredited official statistics. These are available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/capital-gains-tax-statistics Table 3 shows the estimated number of individual taxpayers by size of gain and taxable income.
What her Department's policy is on the allocation of Government Car Service cars to senior officials; what the policy was on 24 May 2024; and which senior officials have been granted access to the service since 4 July 2024.
HM Treasury follows the guidance set out by the Cabinet Office on use by Senior Officials, which has been in place since before 24 May 2024.
Pursuant to the Answers of 6 September 2024 to Questions 2306 and 2308 on Ministers: Official Cars, which (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have (i) been allocated a dedicated vehicle and (ii) access to use of a shared vehicle from the Government Car Service; what the (A) make, (B) model and (C) fuel type is for each car; and what the budget was for those cars in the 2024-25 financial year.
HM Treasury has one departmental car that is allocated to the Chief Secretary, and it is used by other Treasury junior ministers when available. Due to driver working patterns it is not always the exact same make and model of car. The budget for this service is £120,000 per year.
With reference to Table 2, page 9 of her Department’s publication entitled Fixing the foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, published in July 2024, for which savings measures set out in that Table her Department has conducted a (a) equality impact assessment and (b) environmental principles assessment.
As per standard practice, HMT officials conducted an equality and environmental assessment of all savings measures put forward by Departments within the July ‘Fixing the Foundations’ statement. In developing proposals, the Treasury took care to consider the equality impacts on those sharing protected characteristics in line with its legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
Whether provisions are in place for the independent audit of efficiency savings reported by departments in line with the Government Efficiency Framework to ensure that non-cash-releasing savings are not used as a method to (a) defer costs to future years and (b) reduce essential services.
The Government Efficiency Framework, published in July 2023, sets out what an efficiency is and how it should be categorised, including the difference between technical and allocative efficiencies. It states that an efficiency should not mean deferring costs to future years or be a reduction in costs with the intention to achieve less. HM Treasury has been clear that these definitions apply to all government departments. Accounting Officers are expected to oversee the application of the definitions and monitoring of efficiencies. This includes having an appropriate internal assurance process. As per the government response to the recommendations from the PAC report entitled “Cabinet Office functional savings”, HM Treasury will set out further detail on its approach to providing assurances on the use of GEF definitions in due course.
With reference to the Government Finance Function guidance on the Government Efficiency Framework, published in July 2023, whether she is taking steps to ensure consistency in departmental interpretation of (a) technical and (b) allocative efficiencies.
The Government Efficiency Framework, published in July 2023, sets out what an efficiency is and how it should be categorised, including the difference between technical and allocative efficiencies. It states that an efficiency should not mean deferring costs to future years or be a reduction in costs with the intention to achieve less. HM Treasury has been clear that these definitions apply to all government departments. Accounting Officers are expected to oversee the application of the definitions and monitoring of efficiencies. This includes having an appropriate internal assurance process. As per the government response to the recommendations from the PAC report entitled “Cabinet Office functional savings”, HM Treasury will set out further detail on its approach to providing assurances on the use of GEF definitions in due course.
How much her Department has spent on (a) branding, (b) communications and (c) marketing in relation to her Fixing the Foundation (i) announcement, (ii) speech and (iii) documentation.
The Department's in-house communications team is responsible for producing branding and communicating key messages as part of its core function. Any costs related to the Chancellor’s Fixing the Foundations announcement and speech were met within the Department's existing communications budget.The cost of typesetting the Fixing the Foundations: public spending audit 2024-25 document and printing copies of this and supplementary publications to be made available to MPs and Members of the House of Lords on the day of the statement was met within the Department's existing printing budget.
Pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2024, to Question 2627, on Public Sector: Pay, what estimate (a) her Department and (b) the Office for Budget Responsibility have made of the limited increase in (i) inflation and (b) wage expectations from the public sector pay rises.
HM Treasury have assessed the impact of the public sector pay rises announced at the Chancellor’s July Statement on inflation and wage expectations to be negligible given they were broadly in line with private sector wage growth, at the time of the announcement. The OBR will take into account any impact from all government policy announcements on the UK’s economic and fiscal outlook in their next forecast. This will be available in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook report which will be published on the 30th October, alongside the Autumn Budget.
Pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2024 to Question 2637 on Office for Value for Money, what plans she has for targeted interventions; and what estimate she has made of operating cost of the office in its first full year of operation.
As a new venture, the Office is developing its workplan and will make more information public as it develops.The Office for Value for Money is currently a part of HM Treasury. Existing departmental resources will be reprioritised to fulfil the needs of the office where possible.
Pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2024 to Question 2631 on Civil Service: Pay, what estimate she has made of the potential cost of the civil service pay award for 2024-25 (a) in total and (b) for senior civil service staff; and whether she has had discussions with the Office for Budget responsibility on the estimated cost of that pay award.
Pay for civil servants outside of the Senior Civil Service is not set centrally; rather, departments and bodies have freedom to make decisions on pay within the parameters of the Pay Remit Guidance published annually by the Cabinet Office. The Pay Remit Guidance for 2024/5 can be found using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2024-to-2025/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2024-to-2025 The Pay Remit Guidance sets a percentage maximum by which bodies can increase their average paybill. Each department will need to consider how they intend to apply the award to their workforce, before implementing it. The final cost of the civil service pay award for 2024/25 will not be confirmed until this is concluded. Senior Civil Service pay is set on the basis of recommendations from the Senior Salaries Review Body, one of the Pay Review Bodies (PRB) which make recommendations on pay for many public sector workforces. The 2024-25 pay awards for PRB workforces, alongside a 5% maximum average award to the delegated Civil Service grades create an estimated further pressure of around £9 billion in 2024-25, on top of what the last government set aside for pay. These 2024/25 pay announcements do not represent a change to the funding allocated to departments or to borrowing plans. Nonetheless, the Government’s full fiscal plans will be set out at the upcoming Budget and Spending Review on 30th October, accompanied by the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Pursuant to the Answer of 4 September 2024, to Question 2625, on Prime Minister: Public Expenditure, what the monetary value is of the 2% administrative savings that each individual government department and public body will be expected to make; and in which financial years those savings will fall.
As part of the tough measures the Chancellor is taking to address the £22bn inheritance, departments were asked to reduce their admin budgets by 2%, saving £225 million across departments. 2024-25 administration budgets are set out in 2024 Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis (PESA).