Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the FCA’s decision to classify cryptoassets as a restricted mass market investment.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In January 2022 the government published a response to its consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of the Financial Promotion Order to ensure that cryptoasset promotions are fair, clear, and not misleading.
The forthcoming legislation, and supportive FCA rules, will regulate in-scope cryptoasset financial promotions. This is aimed at improving consumers’ understanding of the risks and benefits associated with cryptoasset purchases and ensuring that cryptoasset promotions are held to the same standards as similar risk financial services products.
The FCA’s consultation on its rules closed in March 2022 and it is currently considering representations from firms.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to (a) foster digital innovation and (b) maintain London as a key global capital market and fintech centre.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Digital innovation is a major priority for the Government and the UK has a world leading tech sector valued at over $1 trillion. To foster cutting-edge innovation, at the 2021 Autumn Budget and Spending Review the Chancellor announced an increase in public research and development investment to £20bn by 2024/25, including £1.1bn for core Innovate UK programmes targeting business innovation. At Spring Statement 2022, the Chancellor went further in support of digital innovation by announcing reforms to R&D tax credits which will expand qualifying costs to include data and cloud computing.
The UK is well known internationally as a hub for high quality capital markets backed by strong and effective regulation. Last year, the Chancellor launched the Wholesale Markets Review (WMR) with the aim to deliver a rulebook that is fair, outcomes-based and supports competitiveness, whilst ensuring the UK maintains the highest regulatory standards.
In addition, a sweeping set of reforms to sharpen the UK’s competitive advantage in financial services is underway. As set out in the Queen's Speech, the upcoming Financial Services and Markets Bill will implement the outcomes of the Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review as well as a series of important initiatives underpinning the Government’s ambitious vision for the financial services sector.
Finally, innovation and technology are central to the Government’s vision for the future of the UK’s financial services sector. The Government and regulators are taking forward the recommendations of the recent Kalifa Review of how government, regulators and industry can maximise the future growth of the fintech sector across the UK. In particular, on 29 October 2021, the Government announced £5 million of seed funding for a new Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) as part of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a ban on gambling advertising and sponsorship on the international competitiveness of the horse racing industry.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recognises the contribution that horse racing makes to our sporting culture and in particular to the rural economy.
The Gambling Act Review is wide-ranging and aims to ensure that the regulation of gambling is fit for the digital age. We will publish a White Paper setting out our conclusions and next steps in the coming weeks, with appropriate consideration of impacts being made at all stages.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to remove green levies for the short term to help consumers with energy bills.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Environmental and social policy costs currently represent 8% of the average dual fuel bill, however, they have actually saved consumers money on their energy bills overall over the past 10 years.
The Government’s investments in renewables and energy efficiency have led to a 26% fall in UK demand for natural gas since 2010, helping to reduce our exposure to global price volatility.
Furthermore, the Government has announced a package of support measures, totalling over £37 billion this year, including a £400 grant to households to help with their energy bills when it will be needed most.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the viability of modular nuclear reactors.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund includes funding for an Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development & Demonstration Programme which aims to enable a High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) demonstration by the early 2030s to understand the potential of the technology. The Government’s decision to pursue HTGR technology was informed by publicly available reports and a technical assessment of advanced modular reactors.
The Government has also announced £210m of funding to support development of the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor design. This has been matched by private investment. The work will further develop the design and enable it to undergo the first two of three stages of regulatory assessment.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to reduce tax for working people.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
As the Government announced at Spring Statement 2022, the basic rate of Income Tax will be reduced from 20 per cent to 19 per cent in April 2024. This will be the first cut to the basic rate in 16 years, and is over a £5 billion tax cut for workers, savers, and pensioners.
The Government is committed to doing this in a responsible and sustainable way. The cut to the basic rate of Income Tax will require continued fiscal discipline and depend on the broader economy
The Government has raised the Personal Allowance (PA) by over 40 per cent in real terms in the last decade. A typical basic rate taxpayer will still be over £600 better off in 2025-26 than they would have been if the Government had not taken this action to increase the PA above inflation since 2010-11.
The Government is aligning the Primary Threshold and Lower Profits Limit – the point at which employees and the self-employed respectively start paying Class 1 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions– with the internationally high Income Tax Personal Allowance rising to £12,570 from July 2022. This means the amount that people will be able to earn tax free will increase by £2,690 and is a tax cut worth over £330 for a typical employee in the first year.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the impact of the proposed increase in excise duty on small and medium size enterprises in the wine industry.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is currently considering all feedback put forward to it through the alcohol duty review consultation, which closed on 30 January. The Government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to resolve delays to processing of (a) visa applications for highly skilled workers and (b) visa sponsor licences.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Performance and efficiency of visa and sponsor licence processing is continually reviewed to ensure performance is as strong as possible.
Information on our immigration routes with service standards and whether they have been processed against these standards is available as part of our transparency data, at: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We are, however, currently flexing resources across all routes to ensure a robust response to the Ukrainian crisis while still processing standard applications and sponsor licences within service standard wherever possible. As a result, customers with standard applications in study, work, and family routes may experience some temporary impacts to the processing of their application.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to speed up the process of Ukrainian visa applications in circumstances where visas are issued for all but one member of a family, preventing them all from travelling.
Answered by Kevin Foster
UK Visas and Immigration have received thousands of applications for the Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine Scheme. UKVI are processing the paperwork as quickly as possible, and additional caseworkers have been brought in to manage this demand. UKVI staff are carrying out vital security checks for each application, and these checks are important to keep people safe in the UK, and protect people making journeys from Ukraine
Applications are normally processed in date order from when documents were uploaded, or after an appointment at a Visa Application Centre (VAC). We are working seven days a week to process applications, and where we have applications from family groups we would look to group these decisions together so families receive decisions wherever possible at the same time.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the backlog of applications in HM Passport Office.
Answered by Kevin Foster
Ahead of unrestricted international travel returning, HM Passport Office prepared extensively to serve an unprecedented number of customers, with 9.5 million British passport applications forecasted throughout 2022.
These preparations have ensured that passport applications can be processed in higher numbers than ever before. This was demonstrated in March and April 2022 when HM Passport Office achieved record outputs by completing the processing of two million applications.
Ministers continue to meet regularly with officials to monitor performance, and to explore further options which will help to ensure people receive their passports in good time