Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will answer the letter that he wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer concerning COVID-19 bonds on 8 March.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HM Treasury responded to the Member on 29 March 2021 and a further copy has been sent by email.Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the key (1) economic, (2) health, (3) education, and (4) other, indicators they plan to use to monitor their 'levelling-up' agenda.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We are committed to levelling up the economy, ensuring strong employment and increasing productivity across the regions and nations of the UK. The Spending Review established a set of provisional priority outcomes and metrics across all departments and policy areas which have been published on the Gov.uk website.Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will instruct the Payment Systems Regulator to take the necessary steps to prevent further reductions in access to free-to-use cash machines.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises the continued importance of free access to cash to the day-to-day lives of many consumers and businesses in the UK. The Government is engaging, and will continue to engage, with the regulators and industry on this important topic.
LINK, the scheme that runs the UK’s ATM network, has publicly committed to maintain the broad geographic spread of ATMs and has put in place specific arrangements to protect remote free-to-use ATMs one kilometre or further from the next nearest free-to-use ATM. More recently, LINK has committed to protecting free access to cash on high streets – where there is a cluster of five or more retailers – that don’t have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within 1 kilometre.
UK Finance has also launched a Community Access to Cash Initiative, offering grants to local communities to improve cash access.
The Government established the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in 2015, with robust powers and a statutory objective to ensure that the UK's payment systems work in the interests of their users. The PSR regulates LINK and is monitoring ATM market developments closely. The PSR has used its powers to hold LINK to account over their public commitments.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reinstate local housing allowance rates to the 30th percentile.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government took the difficult decision to freeze LHA rates for 4 years from 2016-17 as part of efforts to bring welfare spending under control.
The Government recognises that the impact of the freeze will differ across the country, and has recycled 50% of the savings from the LHA freeze to increase LHA rates in areas where rental growth has been strongest.
In addition, as part of the 2019 Spending Round, the Chancellor announced an additional £40m in funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) in 2020-21 to help Local Authorities protect the most vulnerable claimants.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many manufacturing firms have received help from the annual investment allowance in each year since that allowance was introduced; and what the total value of savings is accrued by those firms that have received such help.
Answered by Jesse Norman
By introducing the AIA, the Government has made tax simpler for the majority of UK businesses that invest in eligible plant and machinery below the AIA limit each year.
The total value of capital allowances received by manufacturing firms making AIA claims in the period 2011-12 to 2016-17 inclusive is £11.2bn. Full information, including data for earlier years, is available in Table 11.10 of each year’s National Statistics Publication “Corporation Tax Statistics”, accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/analyses-of-corporation-tax-receipts-and-liabilities
The total number of manufacturing companies claiming under the AIA each year is as follows: 32,110 (2011-12); 34,154 (2012-13); 34,418 (2013-14); 36,060 (2014-15); 36,807 (2015-16); 36,756 (2016-17).
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT from all items of school and PE clothing after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government currently applies a zero rate of VAT on clothing and footwear which is designed for children under the age of 14. This is the maximum relief allowed under EU law.
While there may be more flexibility in the future, introducing a VAT relief for all school uniforms and PE clothing would come at a cost to the Exchequer, and that cost would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, or reductions in government spending.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of credit guarantees provided by the Government to the manufacturing industry in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government recognises the vital role that manufacturing plays in the UK economy. Therefore, we support the sector in a number of ways, including through the provision of several credit guarantee schemes.
Please see below for an indication of the support made available to the manufacturing industry over the last 10 financial years through credit guarantee schemes. This includes data on the flow of credit guarantees from UK Export Finance, and the British Business Bank (since its establishment in 2014/15).
Manufacturing £m | |
2009/2010 | 1,930 |
2010/2011 | 1,877 |
2011/2012 | 1,798 |
2012/2013 | 2,284 |
2013/2014 | 1,044 |
2014/2015 | 1,215 |
2015/2016 | 554 |
2016/2017 | 1,784 |
2017/2018 | 1,297 |
2018/2019 | 3,734 |
This data has been identified from credit guarantees to the manufacturing sector using the standard industrial classification (SIC) as used by the Office for National Statistics, where possible. This does not include other forms of credit support, such as the Repayable Launch Investments.
In addition to manufacturing-specific support, the Government also supports various programmes to help businesses access the finance they need through the British Business Bank.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a price cap across the whole consumer credit market.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 1 April 2014 the Government transferred regulatory responsibility for consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA proactively monitors the market, focusing on the areas most likely to cause consumer harm. The Government has given the FCA the power to cap all forms of credit, and the FCA can do so if it thinks it is necessary to protect consumers.
The FCA introduced a price cap on the cost of payday lending in 2015, and more recently introduced a price cap on rent-to-own which came into force on 1 April 2019. The Government has strong concerns about the practices that the FCA has identified in the rent-to-own market, and welcomes the FCA’s decision to introduce a price cap.
The FCA has said that it will keep the issue of capping the cost of credit in other markets under review.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Defence on the annual tapered allowance and its effect on the recruitment and retention of doctors in the NHS and armed forces.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to public service pensions which are fair to workers and fair to other taxpayers. The tapered annual allowance is focussed on the highest earning pension savers, to ensure that the benefit they receive is not disproportionate. The Government is aware of specific concerns raised by some high-earners impacted by annual allowance tax charges. All public sector pay and pensions policies are kept under constant review and discussed with relevant departments.Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will call a summit with industry representatives, with the objective of ensuring the continued provision of free cash withdrawals at ATMs in deprived communities.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Last year, the Government initiated a discussion on payment methods through a Call for Evidence on Cash and Digital Payments in the New Economy. This sought to gather evidence from industry and the public alike on how changing preferences for cash and digital payments impact on different sectors, regions and demographics.
A formal Summary of Responses to this Call for Evidence was published in May 2019. This response set out the Government’s commitment to supporting digital payments, whilst safeguarding access to cash for those who need it. It also highlighted that the Treasury would set up and chair a Joint Authorities Cash Strategy Group, made up of regulators and the Bank of England, to facilitate further co-ordination between the authorities and provide comprehensive oversight of the overall cash infrastructure.
The Government-established Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is closely monitoring developments in ATM provision, including those that are free-to-use. The PSR regulates LINK, the scheme which runs the UK’s ATM network, and has used its powers to hold LINK to account over LINK’s commitments to preserve the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs.
LINK has put in place specific arrangements to protect free-to-use ATMs more than 1 kilometre away from the next nearest free-to-use ATM. LINK has also enhanced its Financial Inclusion Programme by tripling the funding available for free-to-use ATMs in the most deprived areas of the UK.