Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a list of rateable values for airports and ancillary uses in England.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Rateable values (RVs) for all rateable non-domestic properties in England are published in the rating lists. The latest RVs can be found here: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-rates-find.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of vehicle checks that will be required daily from (a) Great Britain to Northern Ireland and (b) Northern Ireland to Great Britain after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
No such estimate is available. The deal agreed with the EU will enable the Government to ensure that no tariffs are payable for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom and that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. The deal also ensures that unfettered access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK can be maintained.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase protection for small businesses taking out finance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 1 April 2019 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) widened eligibility to take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to include ‘small businesses’ who have:
an annual turnover of less than £6.5m; and
an annual balance sheet total of less than £5m; or
fewer than 50 employees.
‘Micro-enterprises’ were already eligible, and over 99% of businesses are now within the remit of the FOS. The FCA also increased the maximum FOS award limit to £350,000.
The banking industry have also committed to establishing a new Dispute Resolution Service to resolve both future complaints from businesses with a turnover between £6.5m and £10m, and unresolved historic complaints.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking through the business rate system to support large retailers that act as anchor stores.
Answered by Jesse Norman
From April 2018 the Government switched the annual indexation of the business rates multiplier from RPI to the lower rate of CPI inflation.
This change is worth almost £6bn over the next five years and benefits all ratepayers, large and small.
The Government is also increasing the frequency of property revaluations, from every five years to every three, so that bills are fairer and more closely reflect properties’ current rental values.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve the protection of funds held by companies for prepaid funerals.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HM Treasury launched a call for evidence on the regulation of pre-paid funeral plans in June 2018. The call for evidence has confirmed that consumer detriment is present in the pre-paid funeral plan sector and that there is broad demand for the sector to come under compulsory regulation.
Consequently, the government intends to bring the pre-paid funeral plan market within the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority and is currently consulting on the proposed legislative framework to implement this proposal. This will allow the FCA to establish a robust regulatory regime which will apply to all funeral plan providers, and improve protection for consumers.