Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising funds through a windfall tax on oil and gas companies for allocation to (a) kidney patients receiving dialysis treatment at home and (b) other patients using large volumes of electricity in their homes for medical treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS is the Government's key spending priority and that is why it has committed to a historic settlement that provides a cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24. This takes the NHS budget from £114.6 billion in 2018-19 to over £160 billion in 2024-25. These investments will allow the NHS to continue providing the services people need.
The Government is also providing significant financial support – up to £350 – to the majority of households, which will cover more than half of the forecast £700 rise in energy bills for the average household. This support is worth £9.1bn in 2022-23.
The UK Government places additional taxes on the extraction of oil and gas, with companies engaged in the production of oil and gas on the UK Continental Shelf subject to headline tax rates on their profits that are currently more than double those paid by other businesses. To date, the sector has paid more than £375 billion in production taxes.
All taxes are kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential financial impact of the energy bills rebate on customers with pre-payment energy meters.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Domestic electricity customers will receive the reduction regardless of their type of payment method.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) will work closely with industry and consumer groups to ensure pre-payment customers receive the £200 reduction from October in a way that is convenient for them. BEIS will consult in the spring.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will introduce (a) capped tariffs and (b) regular reimbursement payments for people with disproportionate cost of living increases due to energy intensive medical treatments, including people with kidney failure receiving home dialysis treatment.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The NHS is the Government's key spending priority and that is why it has committed to a historic settlement that provides a cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24. This takes the NHS budget from £114.6 billion in 2018-19 to over £160 billion in 2024-25. These investments will allow the NHS to continue providing the services people need.
The Government is also providing significant financial support – up to £350 – to the majority of households, which will cover more than half of the forecast £700 rise in energy bills for the average household. This support is worth £9.1bn in 2022-23.
The Government is providing further support for vulnerable households, elderly and low-income people through the Warm Home Discount - which is being expanded by a third to 3m people and increased to £150 – in addition to the continuation of Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. Our £500m Household Support Fund has also been available to Local Authorities to help vulnerable households this winter.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support is being made available to support people employed under umbrella companies with the increase in National Insurance Contributions from April 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
From April 2022 all liable employees, including individuals employed through an umbrella company, will pay the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs).
NICs is a progressive tax. The Primary Threshold means that the lowest earners do not pay any NICs. The highest earning 15 per cent will pay over half of the revenues raised by the Levy and 6.1 million people earning less than the Primary Threshold (equivalent to £9,880 a year in 2022-23) will be kept out of the Levy.
We recognise the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, and that is why this Government has taken steps to help. This includes reducing the Universal Credit taper rate from 63 per cent to 55 per cent, increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 per annum to make work pay, as well as freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down. In addition to this, the Government has recently announced a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion in 2022-23.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of increased National Insurance Contributions on people who are employed under umbrella companies.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
From April 2022, all liable employees, including individuals employed through an umbrella company, will pay the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs). From April 2023, a new Health and Social Care levy will apply and the NICs rates will reduce by 1.25 percentage points. The highest earning 15 per cent will pay over half the revenue generated. 6.1 million people earning less than the Primary Threshold (equivalent to £9,880 a year in 2022-23) will not pay the Levy.Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Department for Education on the (a) viability, (b) potential merits and (b) impact on educational outcomes for children in the North of increasing special needs funding to local authorities.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department for Education’s Spending Review settlement provides for £2.6 billion over the SR period to create more than 30,000 new high-quality school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) nationally, more than tripling current capital funding levels to over £900 million by 24-25.
This funding will create high-quality new school places in mainstream and special schools, improve suitability and accessibility of existing buildings, and fund new special and alternative provision free schools to drive up standards for pupils across England, including in the North.
Alongside this transformational investment in capital funding, the core schools settlement provides an additional £4.7 billion for schools by 2024-25, which will enable increases in high needs funding for local authorities in response to rising demand for specialist support.
DfE will allocate this funding between local authorities through the high needs national funding formula, as part of its annual funding process.
HM Treasury Ministers and officials will continue to hold regular discussions with their counterparts at DfE on the best way to use this funding to support outcomes for children with SEND, including working together on reviewing the high needs funding arrangements and the SEND system as a whole.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of business rates on small and medium businesses in Barnsley Central constituency.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The review of the business rates system concluded at Autumn Budget 2021 with the publication of the Final Report.
The Final Report reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services, introduced substantive interventions to the business rates system, and announced a package of measures worth £7 billion over the next 5 years.
The review set out new measures to reduce the burden of business rates on firms, including further relief for high street businesses, including extending Transitional Relief for an additional year, restricting bill increases to 15 per cent for small properties (up to £20,000 Rateable Value), and 25 per cent for medium properties (up to £100,000 Rateable Value), subject to subsidy control limits.
Local authorities have discretion to determine how much funding they provide to businesses and have the flexibility to target local businesses that are important to their local economies.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to support mortgage prisoners who are in negative equity paying high interest rates and wish to sell their properties.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has undertaken significant work to understand the circumstances of borrowers whose mortgages are held by inactive firms, and it has worked with the FCA to create additional options for these borrowers, including through the introduction of a Modified Affordability Assessment which allows mortgage lenders to waive the normal affordability checks for borrowers with inactive firms who meet certain criteria, such as not wishing to borrow more.
During the recent passage of the Financial Services Act, I announced that the Treasury will work with the FCA on a review of their existing data to provide further detail on the characteristics of borrowers who have mortgages with inactive firms and are unable to switch, despite being up to date with payments. The FCA will also review the effect of its recent interventions to remove regulatory barriers to switching for mortgage prisoners and will report on this by the end of November. This will include borrowers who may be in negative equity. The Treasury will use the results of this review to establish whether there are any further possible solutions that can be found for these borrowers that are practical and proportionate.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support businesses that are experiencing retrospective withdrawal of input tax claims and fines following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There has been no change to the normal rules which apply in respect of input tax deduction in the UK.
Further information on recovering input tax is available in the VAT guide (VAT Notice 700) at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-guide-notice-700.
Full guidance for UK businesses on the arrangements following the end of the transition period can be found at https://www.gov.uk/transition.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support he is providing to food and drink manufacturers who are not eligible for the business rates relief schemes.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has protected people’s jobs and livelihoods while also supporting businesses and public services across the UK. Food and drink wholesalers have been eligible for a number of economic support schemes, including:
Wholesalers in England may also receive further support with their fixed costs from local authorities through the £2.1 billion in funding made available for discretionary Additional Restrictions Grants to support local businesses.
Businesses may also be eligible for other elements of the Government’s support package including government-backed loans, tax deferrals, and general and sector-specific grants. The Government urges businesses to visit the online Coronavirus Business Support Finder Tool for tailored information on how to access support available to them.