Download or read book The 2005 Pre budget Report written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-01-25 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee's report examines the Government's Pre-Budget Report 2005 (Cm. 6701, ISBN 0101670125) published in December 2005. Issues discussed include: the state of the economy (including the UK Presidency of the G8, UK economic growth estimates for 2006 and beyond, and consumer spending) and public finance matters; as well as issues relating to taxation and pensions. Recommendations made include that the Treasury should give at least four weeks notice of the date of the Pre-Budget Report in order to enable sufficient parliamentary scrutiny, and if this target is not met, the Treasury should give an account of the reasons why.

Download or read book The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue 2000 written by Great Britain Stationery Office and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The 2006 pre budget report written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-01-25 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report from the Treasury Committee examines the recent economic analysis and assessment of the UK economy as outlined in the 2006 pre-budget report, and sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations, including: the Committee welcomes the recent rise in the growth rate of business investment, but with the caveat that the downside risk as highlighted in a previous weakness for business investment, remains unexplained; that several risks exist around the consumption growth forecast, including the potential of house prices to fall, and the increase of personal insolvency; the employment rate rise is commended, but a lack of migration statistics in relation to the labour market, means an overall assessment is not possible; although an improved forecast for economic growth in 2006, the Treasury has not forecast an improvement in the fiscal position; the Government appears to be on track to meet the golden rule in the current economic cycle, but will start the next economic cycle with its current budget in deficit; the Committee recommends also that the Treasury, in future Budgets and Pre-Budget reports provide a fuller explanation of its current forecast of the start and end dates of the current economic cycle; also, future Budget and Pre-Budget reports should provide a breakdown of reported efficiency gains by department, and further to enhance transparency and enable effective scrutiny, the Treasury should require departments in their departmental annual reports and Autumn Performance reports in 2007 and in later years to provide consistent and comprehensive information on progress against efficiency targets; the Committee expressed dissatisfaction at the lateness and vagueness of information in relation to expenditure on education, but approved the early announcement of capital spending plans for education up to 2010-11; the Committee though does welcome the Government's decision to commission and publish a range of reviews informing future economic policy, including tax policy; the Pre-Budget report is seen as an effective instrument of fiscal consultation, but this could be enhanced if Parliament and the public were given greater notice of the date of the report, perhaps 4 weeks before the statement is due to be made; where tax changes carry significant risk of forestalling activity or distorting market behaviour, such as the unusual timing and implementation of the increases in Air Passenger Duty, the Committee feels, as a general rule, that those increases should not come into force until the House of Commons has had an opportunity to come to a formal decision on such an increase.

Download or read book Pre budget Report 2009 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report acknowledges that deciding the right time for fiscal consolidation requires making a fine judgement about the resilience of the recovery. It emphasises that a plan to restore the health of the public finances must deal with the structural deficit. While the Treasury aims to cut the deficit from 9% of GDP to 3.6% of GDP in four years, the expert witnesses who examined it all criticised the document for not providing enough information about how this will be achieved. Future Budgets and PBRs should attempt to quantify the downside risks around the structural deficit forecast. There will be uncertainty in these figures, but they are produced as part of the Spending Review process so there appears to be no argument against their publication. Similarly the Bank of England publishes forecasts showing the possible range of inflation rates and publishing information about debt interest on a similar basis would be useful. The recession appears to have had substantially less impact on the labour market than might have been feared, though concern remains about the level of youth unemployment. Repossessions have been far lower than expected however it is recommended that the Treasury proceeds cautiously over the timing of removal of Government support in this area. We do not want to see a return to the times of easy credit, but the Government needs to remain aware of the risk that lending will not support renewed private sector growth as the public sector retrenches. The purpose of the tax on bank bonuses is to change behaviour so that banks increase their capital, rather than providing large discretionary payments to employees. The next Parliament needs to examine the effectiveness of any regime introduced by the Financial Services Bill, in terms both of its success in altering bank behaviour, and of its effect on the competitiveness of the UK financial sector

Download or read book Pre budget Report 2008 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Treasury Committee's report on the Pre-Budget Report 2008 (Cm. 7484, ISBN 9780101748421) considers that the balance of risks to the Treasury's forecast, for a swift recovery in economic growth for 2010 after a significant decline in output in 2009, is on the downside. The report highlights the lack of bank lending as the single most critical problem for the economy in the near term. The overall effect of the fiscal stimulus remains uncertain, the cost of the reduction in VAT is considerable and, in the view of the majority of commentators, the Treasury's analysis of its impact is an optimistic one. The report notes that the risk of a self-reinforcing deflationary cycle exists in the UK economy at present and recommends that the Treasury prepare and publish the actions it may consider taking should a period of "quantitative easing" be needed. While the need for lower interest rates to maintain economic growth is crucial at the present time, the needs of savers must not be forgotten and the Treasury should consider measures that will also support savers at this difficult time. The report notes with concern that the Pre-Budget Report contains no policy measures which will significantly advance meeting the 2010 child poverty target.

Download or read book Report of the Committee Appointed by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty s Treasury to Consider the Organisation of Oriental Studies in London written by Great Britain. Treasury. Committee on the organisation of oriental studies in London and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Cash Machine Charges written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About one third of ATMs now make direct charges to consumers, and in 2004 it is estimated that UK consumers paid £140 million in charges made whilst accessing funds through cash machines. The Committee's report examines the principle and increasing trend towards charging, the clarity of presentation of these charges to the consumer, the likely impact on financial exclusion and low-income households, and key areas for action from government, regulators and the industry. Findings include that although there has been an increase in free machines as well as charging machines, their location and the lack of transparency about which machines make charges hinders genuine competition and consumer choice. Recommendations include that there should be a clearer indication of the amount of surcharge on external signage with standardised labelling for all free and charging machines. The LINK network agreement needs to improve consumer representation and its enforcement mechanisms. The trend towards ATM charges should not be allowed to exacerbate existing financial exclusion, and the Government should ensure that the switch to direct payment of benefits does not disadvantage recipients in their access to cash.

Download or read book Pre budget 2006 and the Stern Review written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-19 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of the Committee's annual inquiry into the Treasury's Pre-Budget Report (PBR) and the progress made towards achieving environmental objectives with regards to its tax and spending policies, this publication examines the PBR's fiscal policy announcements in relation to the aviation, motoring, waste and energy sectors, focusing on the findings of the Stern Review of the economics of climate change (ISBN 9780102944204) published in October 2006. Amongst the 40 conclusions and recommendations made, the Committee notes that the Stern Review highlights the central problem involved in efforts to address the effects of global warning, that is the need to take action now before the more serious effects have begun to be felt in order to benefit future generations, a problem that will be both practically and politically challenging. The Committee urges the Government to use the Stern Report in order to promote a better informed public discussion of the science of climate change, so that we can use the limited window of opportunity presently available to prevent greenhouse gases growing to dangerous levels beyond which there are risks of major irreversible impacts, and recognising the Stern Review's accompanying argument that the sooner the world begins to cut its emissions, the easier and less costly mitigation will become.

Download or read book Climate change and the Stern Review written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008-02-05 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today and requires an urgent response from Government, industry and the individual. This inquiry was triggered by the publication of the Stern Review on "The Economics of Climate Change" (2006, ISBN 9780102944204), which stressed the need to stabilise carbon emissions sooner rather than later, and warned of potentially catastrophic impacts if that was not achieved. The Review framed the climate change debate in terms of economic choices, and considered the use of economic tools such as environmental taxation and permit trading schemes as economically-efficient mechanisms for cutting emissions. This Report recommends that the Government give primary consideration to the use of economic tools in combating climate change: The Treasury's policies and action in this regard were the main focus of the inquiry. The report looks at work on this topic by the Treasury and other select committees. It then assesses the economics of the Stern Review, and examines the Government's approach to reducing emissions. Further sections cover emissions trading schemes, environmental taxes and adaptation (designed to counter the negative impacts caused by time lags in global and local ecosystems). The Committee calls for a twin track approach involving both adaptation and mitigation.

Download or read book Budget Measures and Low income Households written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the impact of the abolition of the 10 pence rate of income tax, considering separately the effects of initial implementation and the effects in the light of the changes to personal allowances announced on 13 May 2008. The losers from the measures as initially implemented were people whose taxable income was small and for whom the loss might be significant when required to manage a personal or household budget at a time of sharply rising prices for many essential goods and services. For the current tax year, in the circumstances which the Chancellor of the Exchequer faced, the option chosen on 13 May of increasing personal allowances, but confining the benefits to basic rate taxpayers, was probably the least bad option, with the benefits of simplicity, transparency and greater incentives to work on the basis that fewer taxpayers face high marginal deduction rates. However, £2 billion of the £2.7 billion committed to that measure is not devoted to compensating losers from the removal of the starting rate of income tax, and is not well-targeted. The Government must learn lessons relating to budgetary processes. The Government should publish a Household Impact Assessment alongside future Budgets and Pre-Budget Reports. There is a pressing need for the Government to compensate the remaining 1.1 million households who lose from the removal of the starting rate of income tax even after the 13 May changes. In the longer-term, reforms should be centred on the greater challenges faced by the Government in combating poverty. The Committee recommends the establishment of a Poverty Commission on a similar basis to the Pensions Commission to examine the public policy challenges relating to poverty.

Download or read book The Stationery Office Annual Catalogue written by Stationery Office (Great Britain) and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 636 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Proposal for the Regulatory Reform Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 Order 2007 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Regulatory Reform Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-03-23 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the report of an examination of a proposed Order, which would reform the regulation of wholesale and retail financial markets. The unanimous conclusion of the Committee is that a draft Order in the form of the proposal should be laid before the House.

Download or read book Global Statesman written by David M. Webber and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-30 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New perspectives on the use and acquisition of a minority language

Download or read book Unclaimed assets within the financial system written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-08-06 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between £400 to £500 million is currently held in dormant bank and building society accounts in the UK where, for whatever reason, a financial institution has lost contact with an account holder. A large proportion of this money will never be reclaimed by its rightful owner. The Government, working with the banking industry, has therefore proposed the establishment of an unclaimed assets scheme to put these dormant accounts to productive use whilst continuing to recognise the ongoing rights of customers to reclaim their accounts at any stage. The Committee's report examines the proposed legislative framework for the scheme and its regulation, how to define and identify dormant accounts, the scope of the scheme, the proposed scheme to reunify customers with dormant accounts, a centralised national register for unclaimed assets, dormant accounts in building societies, the distribution of funds released from unclaimed assets, funding of a Social Investment Bank and local disbursement options.

Download or read book Pre budget 2005 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Committee reports on the progress made by the Treasury in placing environmental objectives at the heart of its fiscal policies. This year's pre-Budget report (Cm. 6701, December 2005, ISBN 0101670125) is found to be inadequate, especially in the context of UK CO2 emissions actually increasing once more. No significant new measures were announced, and the Committee sees a continued slowing down of the Treasury's momentum in turning rhetoric into action. It believes the Treasury should redefine Air Passenger Duty (APD) as an environmental tax and that APD rates should more accurately reflect the carbon emissions of the flights to which they apply. Charging APD on flights rather than passengers could also act as an incentive to more efficient use of aviation fuel. The Committee also recommends action on aviation fuel duty, biofuels, car energy efficiency, steps to wean the economy off over-reliance on oil, stamp duty and council tax reductions for homes built or refurbished to high environmental standards. Each pre-Budget report should include figures on total revenue from the climate change levy, aggregates levy, and landfill tax. Although the Treasury accepts the principle of increasing taxes on "bads" rather than "goods" its reluctance for bold reform of the tax system mystifies the Committee. A Green tax Commission should be reconsidered, to develop a proper communications strategy to sell the environmental programme to the public. The Committee exhorts the Government to make moves on the climate change problem, as waiting for universal agreement is a recipe for stasis. Finally, the Committee regrets the Treasury's decision to abolish the Operating and Financial Review required from large companies, in that it appears to view sustainable reporting as an optional extra. It hopes that the proposed new business reviews will continue to require some form of social and environmental disclosure from companies.

Download or read book The 2008 Budget written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the forecasts and measures contained in the 2008 Budget (HC 455, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780102953336). The Treasury's lower forecasts for economic growth in 2008 and 2009 are above the average of independent forecasters, suggesting that the Treasury may have given insufficient weight to the risks of continued financial market turbulence and that some of the UK economy's characteristics that have proven beneficial in past crises (rapidly rising residential property prices, close links with the US and an increasing reliance on the financial services industry, for example) might prove to be conduits through which the current problems in global financial markets are transmitted to the UK real economy. The further weakening of the forecasts for the public finances is noted, and it appears premature for the Treasury to state that it is "on course" to meet the golden rule in the next economic cycle, given the lack of an end date for the previous economic cycle. Measures on child poverty are welcomed, but there is a need for a clear explanation on deployment of resources to ensure that the target to halve child poverty by 2010-11 will be achieved. The abolition of the 10 pence rate of income tax will most affect those under 65 years of age, in childless households, earning under £18,500: the Committee feels this group is an unreasonable target for raising additional tax revenues. The Treasury should commission research into whether the withdrawal of the 10 pence income tax band and high marginal deduction rates are creating disincentives that could frustrate the Government's welfare to work objectives. The Committee also calls for a national Saving Gateway targeted at low-income households and more consideration of tax changes on the middle and lower income groups of non-domiciled taxpayers.

Download or read book Pre budget Report 2008 written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Environmental Audit Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines, firstly, the Treasury's response to recession. The fiscal stimulus measures intended to pull the economy out of recession represent an invaluable opportunity to transform the UK into a low carbon economy. But meeting climate change and renewable energy targets will require a step-change in environmental investment. This year's Pre-Budget Report announced a £535m package of green fiscal stimulus measures designed to tackle economic and environmental problems simultaneously. This investment is welcome, but the scale too small- most of this funding was already committed, and will be offset by reduced spending in 2010-11. Extra funding announced for the Warm Front programme will not deliver the scale and speed of change that is needed. Programmes aimed at improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings should be the number one priority for green fiscal stimulus. It is disappointing that the wider fiscal stimulus package contains hundreds of millions of pounds for road building and widening. The Treasury should publish an assessment of the net impacts of its fiscal stimulus package on the environment. The second part of the report looks at green taxation. In real terms, revenue from green taxes has gone down slightly since 1998, while revenue from all taxation has increased by around 30 per cent. On aviation taxes, the Committee criticise the Treasury's backtracking on replacing Air Passenger Duty with a 'per plane' charge, and exhorts the Government to seek reform of the Chicago Convention so as to allow taxation of international aviation fuel. On motoring taxes, it calls for re-examination of the merits and practicalities of a 'car scrappage' scheme to pay people to trade in their existing, older cars, for newer, more efficient models.