Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the self-employed during the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and means the SEISS will continue to be one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world, and one of the few where support is committed until September.
The fourth and fifth SEISS grants are an estimated £13.5bn of additional support, taking total support for the self-employed to over £33 billion since the start of the pandemic.
Self-employed people may also have access to other elements of support available, including Restart Grants, the Recovery Loan scheme, business rates relief, and other business support schemes.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on small businesses of the requirement to complete customs paperwork for export to the EU.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government has put in place a number of measures to facilitate trade with the EU, including publishing comprehensive guidance on the new arrangements.
HMRC continue to work closely with industry to ensure they are engaging with the new requirements for trade with the EU and can take the necessary steps to prepare, including through step by step guides, public information campaigns, cross-Government industry steering groups, webinars and events.
The Government has also provided a £20 million Brexit Support Fund to support small and medium sized businesses who are new to importing and exporting processes in adjusting to new customs procedures, rules of origin, and VAT rules when trading with the EU. In addition, small and medium sized businesses can use the grant to seek professional advice and/or training in these areas.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of The Woolward Review: A review of change and innovation in the unsecured credit market, published on 2 February.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government welcomes The Woolard Review – A review of change and innovation in the unsecured credit market. The review will contribute to the evidence base to inform the Government’s future decisions in relation to this market.
We have already taken action to respond to the review’s urgent recommendation for government to legislate to regulate interest-free Buy-Now-Pay-Later agreements, announcing on 2 February that these agreements will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). On 19 March, the Government tabled an amendment to the Financial Services Bill to provide the Government with the powers to ensure a proportionate approach to this regulation.
The review acknowledges that the longer-term recommendations it makes will take time to implement. The FCA will build these recommendations into their forthcoming Business Plan, as one driver of their priorities for 2021-22. The Government will work with the FCA to deliver to them as appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Northern Ireland Executive about the UK Government's decision to increase the level of corporation tax.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The UK Government and Northern Ireland Executive have regular discussions at official and Ministerial level on matters of mutual interest.Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the self-employed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has supported the livelihoods of millions of self-employed people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, the three grants already provided through the scheme have provided up to £21,570 of support for each claimant, placing the SEISS among the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world. There will also be a fourth grant covering February to April 2021. Further details on the SEISS, including the fourth grant, will be announced on 3 March.
The SEISS continues to be just one element of a substantial package of support for the self-employed. People who are ineligible for the SEISS may still be eligible for other elements of the support available. The Universal Credit standard allowance has been temporarily increased for 2020-21 and the Minimum Income Floor relaxed for the duration of the crisis, so that where self-employed claimants' earnings have fallen significantly, their Universal Credit award will have increased to reflect their lower earnings. In addition to this, they may also have access to other elements of the package, including Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, mortgage holidays, self-isolation support payments and other business support grants.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of the collapse of the German Property Group for UK investors in that company, and the prospect of compensation payments.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is working closely with financial advisers who advised customers to make these investments, and operators of Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs), whose customers currently hold investments with the German Property Group.
The FCA has published a joint statement with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The statement sets out what UK consumers should do if they invested in the German Property Group via an FCA authorised firm, either a financial adviser firm or a SIPP operator. If the customer believes these investments were mis-sold, they may be eligible for compensation via the FOS or FSCS. The FCA’s statement can be accessed at https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/gpg-companies-preliminary-bankruptcy-proceedings.
Companies under the German Property Group are incorporated in Germany and have never been authorised by the FCA. However, consumers should be assured that the FCA is working closely with the FOS and FSCS on this matter and will share any further updates as and when they are able to.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide additional economic support to areas affected by local restrictions put in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Since March the Government’s priority has been to save lives and protect jobs, businesses, and livelihoods. The Government has supported people and businesses via an unprecedented package of financial support worth more than £280 billion.
As of 5 January, England entered a national lockdown in order to manage a new variant of the virus. Under these England-wide restrictions, businesses can continue to apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which has been extended until the end of April 2021 and has helped to pay the wages of people in 9.9 million jobs across the UK. Support continues also to be available for the self-employed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) which will cover 80% of trading profits and is open until the end of April 2021. So far SEISS has seen 2.7 million self-employed workers make claims under the scheme totaling £13.7bn
Businesses needing access to liquidity can also apply for guaranteed loans through various loan schemes, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, until the end of March 2021. Over 1.4 million small and medium sized companies have received government-backed loans, worth over £68 billion
With the new restrictions, the Chancellor announced that an additional one-off grant worth up to £9,000 will be offered to businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure facing forced closure in England to help them through to spring. This is alongside the existing Local Restriction Support Grant (closed) which will continue to offer businesses support of up to £3000 for each month they closed.
England’s Local authorities and devolved administrations will also receive a £594 million top-up to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) which has already provided local authorities with £1.1 billion throughout the Autumn. This ensures that local authorities can provide discretionary support to businesses not eligible for existing grants, but which may still be affected by the restrictions. Business grant policy remains a fully devolved area with Devolved Administrations receiving their share of this funding through the Barnett formula in the usual way.
This support comes on top of billions of pounds’ worth of Rate Reliefs, tax deferrals, and other labour market schemes.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the EU about equivalence recognition for UK-based financial services companies after 31 December.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
On 9 November, the Government announced as many equivalence decisions for EEA Member States as it could in favour of openness, and where it made sense to do so, in the absence of clarity from the EU. These decisions were made to provide clarity and stability to industry. The granting of these equivalence decisions provides a broad range of benefits in terms of having open markets that are well regulated, facilitating firms’ ability to pool and manage risks effectively, and supporting UK and EEA clients’ access to financial services and market liquidity.
Equivalence assessments are an autonomous process, managed separately from trade negotiations. This applies in the case of the EU, and where the EU choose to grant the UK equivalence, this will be done in accordance with their own decision-making process. However, the Government has made sure that the EU has the information it requires to make a positive decision for the UK for all equivalence regimes, including decisions for which the EU have announced they are not currently assessing the UK. The Government has not received any further questions from the EU since returning all questionnaires to the EU in early July.
The Government is not ruling out further equivalence decisions for the EEA Member States in the future as it continues to believe that comprehensive mutual findings of equivalence between the UK and the EEA are in the best interests of both parties and we remain open and committed to continuing dialogue with the EU about their intentions in this respect.
The recognition of individual firms for the purposes of equivalence is a matter for the UK and EU financial services regulators. These regulators continue to be obliged to discharge their responsibilities for financial stability, consumer and investor protection and financial market operation. The regulators continue to cooperate on those issues and engage with each other as firms consider their planning for the end of the transition period and what will follow.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future of Ulster Bank.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
This is a commercial matter for the management and Board of NatWest Group.
The government manages its shareholding in NatWest Group at arm’s length on a commercial basis through UK Government Investments Ltd (UKGI). UKGI's role is to manage the investment, not the bank itself. NatWest Group retains its own independent board and management team for strategic and operational decisions.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in addressing (1) tax avoidance, (2) fraud, and (3) money laundering.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Since 2010 this government have secured and protected over £250 billion that would otherwise have gone unpaid due to tax related fraud, avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance within the tax system. During this time we have introduced over 120 new measures and invested over £2 billion extra in HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to tackle all forms of tax fraud and non-compliance. This includes £63 million in additional funding for HMRC in 2020/21 to ensure that more of the tax that is owed is collected.
HMRC achieved its commitment, made at Summer Budget 2015, to raise an additional £5 billion a year by 2019/20 by tackling tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning, evasion and other non-compliance.
The UK tax gap (the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid and what is actually paid) in tax year 2018/19 (the latest figure available) is estimated to be 4.7% (£31 billion). The tax gap has fallen from 7.5% in 2005 to 2006, showing a long term downward trend.
Tackling financial crime remains an important priority for the government. We are committed to preventing money laundering, financial exploitation and fraud, closing down vulnerabilities in the system that may be exploited by criminals and hostile actors and ensuring members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters. We continue to work closely with industry on these issues.
In 2019, the Government and private sector jointly published a landmark Economic Crime Plan which brought together the Government, law enforcement and the private sector in closer cooperation than ever to deliver a whole system response. This Plan sets out 52 actions of which 13 have been fully completed. We plan to publish a detailed update on ECP actions in the new year.
This year, the government completed its transposition of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive, bringing new sectors into scope for money laundering regulation, including cryptocurrencies, the art market, and the letting sector. We also significantly expanded the scope of the Trusts Registration Service in order to drive greater transparency of who ultimately owns trusts that present a money laundering or terrorist financing risk. This ensures our system remains responsive to emerging threats and is in line with evolving international standards set by Financial Action Task Force.
We have made significant process on the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) staffing uplift, who will undertake greater analysis of SARs reports and provide more timely and meaningful feedback to reporters, with c.130 staff currently in post (up from c.80 at the time of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review in 2018).
The government is also committed to ensuring the UK’s anti-money laundering supervision system is effective and consistent across the 25 supervisors. HM Treasury publishes annual reports on the performance of the AML/CFT supervision system, most recently in August 2020. In 2018, the government introduced legislation to create the Office for Professional Body Anti Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS). OPBAS’s remit is to ensure a consistently high standard of AML supervision by the 22 professional body supervisors and facilitate information sharing between AML supervisors and law enforcement agencies.