Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism on the UK steel industry.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is continuing to assess the potential impact of the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) on UK businesses, including the steel industry, and is engaging with UK businesses on this.
As the UK has an ambitious carbon pricing system through our Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and Carbon Price Support mechanism, we expect the EU CBAM to take account of this in its implementation.
Full details of the EU CBAM will be known when the EU adopt the required implementing and delegated acts. UK officials are continuing to closely monitor this process and are waiting to see these before building a full understanding of potential impacts on UK businesses.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of exports of UK-manufactured ceramic products in each year since 2019.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
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. However, it should be noted that HMRC does not hold data regarding the manufacture of those exported goods.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Trade Tariff. Goods moving 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.
Ceramics can be classified under a number of commodity codes depending on the item produced. The classification codes in chapter 69 are used for ceramic products other than porcelain and china. However, there are other Tariff chapters that may also contain ceramic in them.
The value of ceramics exported from the UK since 2019 is available from the above uktradeinfo website. As referenced above, the online data available does not distinguish where the ceramics are manufactured.
The Office for National Statistics do publish statistics on UK manufacturers’ sales by product (latest available 2021), of which Division 23 SIC(07) 2341 to (07)2349 may be of interest. However, these statistics do not differentiate between domestic and export sales.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of Exchequer, with reference to the National Semiconductor Strategy, published 19 May 2023, whether it is his policy to fully restore R&D tax credits that were reduced to incentivise research and development.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Semiconductors are an essential component for the functioning of almost every electronic device we use, as well as underpinning future technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum and 6G. To support this vitally important sector, the Semiconductor Strategy set out how £1 billion of Government investment over the next decade will improve access to infrastructure, power more research and development and facilitate greater international cooperation.
As part of the ongoing research and development (R&D) tax reliefs review, the Government announced at Autumn Statement 2022 that the R&D tax reliefs would be reformed to ensure taxpayer’s money is spent as effectively as possible, whilst leaving the level of R&D related business investment in the economy unchanged.
The SME scheme cost twice as much as the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC), and its cash value to firm was three times that of RDEC - yet it incentivised as little as 60p of additional R&D for each £1 spent, compared to as much as £2.70 additional R&D per £1 of RDEC. Following the corporation tax rise from April 2023, the SME scheme would have become even more generous in cash terms, and RDEC less.
The Chancellor committed to considering the case for further support for R&D intensive SMEs, and at Spring Budget announced a new permanent rate of relief for the most R&D intensive loss-making SMEs. This is worth around £500 million a year and will benefit around 20,000 SMEs a year by 2027-2028.
To support modern methods of innovation, the Government is expanding the scope of qualifying expenditure for R&D tax reliefs to include data, cloud computing and pure mathematics costs. This means that businesses will be able to claim more R&D tax relief for cutting-edge R&D methods such as genome sequencing, machine learning, and data analytics.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of a carbon border adjustment mechanism on the domestic steel industry.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is currently consulting on potential future measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks, including the potential for a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The consultation is currently open, and the government is seeking a wide range of stakeholder views before taking any decisions. The government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of raising the de minimis customs threshold to £1000.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The customs duty de minimis threshold allows for ease of trade when importing low value consignments, benefiting businesses and consumers. This threshold remains under continuous review as part of ongoing work to develop and enhance our independent customs regime.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential merits of reforming business rates in the period since the Spring Budget.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years, including:
Treasury Ministers regularly engage with other Government departments and external stakeholders on a range of issues.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what requirements there are for bakeries to be eligible for the higher rate of business rates relief.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I refer the Hon. Member to UIN 134057, UIN 135352 and UIN 135262 answered on 02 February.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to reform business rates at the Spring Budget.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years. The package contains new measures to reduce the burden of business rates, including a freeze in the multiplier, extended relief for high street businesses, and targeted support for small businesses.
As part of the 2020 Business Rates Review, the Government committed to more frequent revaluations from 2023, which represents significant reform of the system and will ensure that liabilities are more responsive to changing market conditions. The Government is also permanently scrapping downwards caps from Transitional Relief, so that businesses will see the full benefit of falling bills immediately, meeting a key business ask. Alongside the Government’s commitment to more frequent revaluations this represents significant reform and will make the system fairer and more responsive for all ratepayers.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effectiveness of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in ensuring that imported steel is subject to similar carbon taxes to UK steel.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government committed to consult on this issue, and intends to do so in the spring.
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-05-16/hcws26
The Government recognises the role that steel plays within the UK economy and is working with industry on its decarbonisation options.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor for the Exchequer, whether (a) bakeries which also run cafés, (b) wholesale producers of baked goods and (c) retail outlets for baked good produced offsite qualify for the higher relief rate.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years. This includes an increased 75 per cent relief for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2023-24.
This is a tax cut worth over £2 billion for around 230,000 RHL businesses, to support the high street and protect small shops. This support builds on the previous temporary 50 per cent RHL scheme announced at Autumn Budget 2021, as well as the unprecedented £16 billion of relief provided to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors throughout the pandemic.
Local Authorities determine eligibility for the 2023-24 scheme with regard to Government guidance which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-rates-relief-202324-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-scheme-local-authority-guidance