Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the revenue that will be raised by the Energy Profits Levy by March 2029.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Forecasts for government revenues from oil and gas production, including for Energy Profits Levy, are provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Their most recent published forecast, provided for Spring Budget 2024 on 6 March, is available on the OBR website at the following link https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2024/.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to introduce a specific advisory fuel rate for hybrid vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Advisory Fuel Rates apply when an employer reimburses an employee for business travel in a company car, or when an employee reimburses an employer for the cost of fuel used for private travel. Rates vary by engine size and fuel type and are reviewed quarterly. There are no current plans to introduce a specific advisory rate for hybrid vehicles.
The Advisory Fuel Rates are not mandatory. Employers and employees can instead agree to reimburse different amounts, subject to certain tax conditions.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports of a decline in venture capital investment in UK start-ups in the first quarter of 2024; and what steps they are taking to support the growth of the UK's innovation ecosystem.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government notes that while there have been reports of a decline in venture capital (VC) investment in UK start-ups, this has been broad based and global in nature. We also note that because of the nature of private markets, there is a lag in data reporting for VC deals, meaning that final data on investments made in Q1 2024 will not be available until later in the year.
The BBB’s Small Business Finance Monitor 2024, which covers data up to the end of Q3 2023, found that there has been a “slowdown in activity that has occurred in the market since Q2 2022” and that the market decline over the past 18 months is not unique to the UK and can be seen across other global regions.
However, we also note that VC funding in the UK has reduced from record levels in 2021/2022, and that despite this slowdown, early stage/seed funding has remained robust, indicating that there is a pipeline of future investment opportunities still being created.
The government recognises that VC funding is an important source of finance for innovative companies and is proud of the fact that the UK has the third largest VC market in the world, behind only the US and China. The government is backing British business by tackling barriers to investment, cutting taxes and rewarding work, and by supporting the priority growth sectors, including digital technology, which are helping to turn the UK into the world’s next Silicon Valley.
This includes making over £3.5 billion of public investment in the AI ecosystem since 2014, extending the sunset clause for the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Venture Capital Trust scheme to 6 April 2035, making changes to simplify and improve R&D tax reliefs, extending the British Business Bank’s Future Fund: Breakthrough investment programme, and implementing the measures the Chancellor announced at last year’s Mansion House speech to reform the pensions market to unlock investment into high growth sectors and generate increased returns for savers.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with insurance companies on trends in the level of car insurance premia.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials have regular meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, including financial services firms, on an ongoing basis.
The Government does not prescribe the terms, conditions or price that insurance companies set when offering insurance. Insurers make commercial decisions about the pricing of insurance following their assessment of the relevant risks. The Government does not intervene in these decisions as this could damage competition in the market.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent regulator responsible for supervising the insurance industry. The FCA requires firms to ensure their products offer fair value (i.e. if the price a consumer pays for a product or service is reasonable compared to the overall benefits they can expect to receive). The FCA has been clear that it will be monitoring firms to ensure they are providing products that are fair value, and, where necessary, it will take action.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on external consultancies in the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC spend on consultancy is reported in HMRC Annual Report and Accounts published on GOV.UK. Consultancy spend for the last 5 five years can be accessed from these links:
HMRC annual report and accounts: 2018 to 2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2018 to 2019 (Print). Page 128.
HMRC annual report and accounts: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2019 to 2020 (Print). Page 140.
HMRC annual report and accounts: 2020 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2020 to 2021 (Print). Page 171.
HMRC annual report and accounts: 2021 to 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2021 to 2022 (Print). Page 139.
HMRC annual report and accounts: 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2018 to 2019 (Print). Page 140.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average cost of a mortgage was in Warwick and Leamington constituency in January (a) 2023 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics), the Financial Conduct Authority (https://www.fca.org.uk/data) and UK Finance (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data).
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many times HMRC has taken enforcement action against employers for the underpayment of national living wage for domiciliary care workers as a result of unpaid travel time in the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the NMW receives it.
HM Revenue and Customs enforces the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and National Living Wage (NLW) in line with the law and policy set out by the Department for Business and Trade. This involves a wide-ranging programme of education and risk led enforcement activity across the whole of UK labour market including social care
HMRC consider all of the risks that might be relevant, when carrying out a review and record whether an employer is compliant or non-compliant.
HMRC does not hold information on how many times HMRC has taken enforcement action against employers for the underpayment of national living wage for domiciliary care workers as a result of unpaid travel time.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value was of (a) cigars, (b) snuff and (c) other tobacco products exported from the UK in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023; and what were the principal countries of destination for those exports.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff.
The data on these exports and for other tobacco products can be obtained from www.uktradeinfo.com.
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to correspondence from the Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly Finance Committee dated 21 February 2024, regarding the Northern Ireland Executive Restoration Package Settlement.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A response has been issued to the Chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly Finance Committee’s letter on the Northern Ireland Executive’s restoration financial package.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value of imports of (a) vapes and (b) vaping equipment was in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023; and what proportion of the total value of those imports came from China.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff. Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff.
The data on the import for these items, including country of export can be obtained from www.uktradeinfo.com.
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.