Public Sector: Pay
Treasury

Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith, Labour)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer

(1) if he will expand the remit of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's review into the tax arrangements of senior public servants to include (a) all NHS bodies, (b) all publicly-funded schools and other educational bodies, (c) the BBC, (d) local government, (e) publicly-owned or part-owned banks and (f) all other publicly-funded bodies;

(2) when he expects the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's review into the tax arrangements of senior public servants to report.

Danny Alexander (Chief Secretary, HM Treasury; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)

The review will cover all bodies covered by HM Treasury guidance on Managing Public Money, including all central Government bodies, such as Departments and their arm’s length bodies (which include NHS trusts).

Those that are not covered by HM Treasury guidance will not be covered by the review. Therefore, public corporations, public broadcasting authorities, including the BBC, publicly owned banks and local government are not covered by the review.

The Department of Communities and Local Government will write to the Local Government Association encouraging them to follow the Government's policy and approach in this matter.

Adding to this, the Treasury Officer of Accounts has written to departmental accounting officers to remind them that public sector organisations should not use tax avoidance devices, and requesting an investigation to ensure that all senior consultancy appointments provide value for money.

The review will be published in the next few weeks.