Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) climate change and (b) new oil and gas production on the economy.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Illustrative analysis in the OBR's 2024 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report suggests that UK GDP could be around 3% lower by 2074 under a below 2°C warming scenario and around 5% lower under a below 3°C warming scenario.
For decades, the North Sea’s workers, businesses and communities have been at the heart of Britain’s energy future - something they will continue to do for decades to come. This Government will not revoke existing licences and will partner with businesses and workers to manage our existing fields for the entirety of their lifespans
This Government is engaging industry via the ‘Building the North Sea’s Energy Future’ consultation to develop and set out the next steps for the overarching objective for the North Sea. Scaling up industries that will shape the future of the North Sea (including offshore wind, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and decommissioning), will be vital for delivering the best outcomes for workers and communities, energy security, and sustainable economic growth.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she will consider including funding for homelessness services as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMT will consider departmental budget requests as part of the Spending Review process and set out funding for future years at Phase 2 of the Spending Review. The government has already made steps to tackle homelessness through: funding at Autumn Budget 2024 where we announced an additional £233 million of resource funding for services in 2025/26; a commitment to the delivery of the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament and through protecting renters by abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps her Department is taking to support the growth of small and micro businesses in the hospitality sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small businesses are vital to our high streets and communities. The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and we recognise the significant contribution they make to the UK economy.
The Government will introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27. In the meantime, the Government has prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year.
The Government has committed £250m in 25-26 for the British Business Bank’s small business loans programmes, including Start Up Loans and the Growth Guarantee Scheme.
To drive further progress on our manifesto commitments, as part of the growth mission, the Government will bring forward a Small Business Strategy this year.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing the tax regulations for Sharia-compliant mortgages in line with conventional mortgages.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to the continued strength of the UK Islamic Finance sector, both as an important part of the UK’s overall financial ecosystem and as an instrument of financial inclusion.
The alternative finance tax rules aim to provide a level playing field for tax purposes across alternative and conventional financing arrangements.
On 16 January 2024, HM Treasury published a consultation proposing changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rules that apply to alternative finance arrangements. The proposed changes seek to amend those rules so that where property is used as collateral for the purposes of raising finance, the CGT outcome is the same whether alternative finance or conventional finance is used. The consultation also asked whether there are any implications for capital allowances. The consultation closed on 9 April 2024 and the Government is considering responses. Next steps will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Tax Simplification for Alternative Finance, which closed 9 April 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to the continued strength of the UK Islamic Finance sector, both as an important part of the UK’s overall financial ecosystem and as an instrument of financial inclusion.
The alternative finance tax rules aim to provide a level playing field for tax purposes across alternative and conventional financing arrangements.
On 16 January 2024, HM Treasury published a consultation proposing changes to the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rules that apply to alternative finance arrangements. The proposed changes seek to amend those rules so that where property is used as collateral for the purposes of raising finance, the CGT outcome is the same whether alternative finance or conventional finance is used. The consultation also asked whether there are any implications for capital allowances. The consultation closed on 9 April 2024 and the Government is considering responses. Next steps will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish a list of the ten largest exporters of goods in each region of the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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 and download bulk datasets.
Under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a statutory duty of confidentiality to protect the information it holds about taxpayers. As a result, it is not possible to confirm the ten largest exporters of goods in each region of the UK without the request identifying information relating to an individual taxpayer or taxpayers.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of increasing Official Development Assistance funding for the Prosperity Fund.
Answered by John Glen
The cross-government Prosperity Fund operated between 2016 and 2021 to promote the inclusive economic growth needed to reduce poverty in partner countries, whilst contributing to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Fund was closed on the 31 March 2021, with residual programming and funding instead moving to the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
UK remains a champion for the international development agenda and a major donor globally. In 2022 the UK was the third largest development donor in the G7 as a percentage of Gross National Income, spending nearly £12.8 billion on aid. UK ODA, together with our business, trade, civil society, research and technology expertise, continues to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people and contributes to our prosperity and security by addressing key global challenges and strengthening our international partnerships.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2022 to Question 82307 on Car Allowances, if his Department will publish the findings of the most recent quarterly review of advisory fuel rates.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Advisory Fuel Rates (AFRs) apply when an employer reimburses an employee for business travel in a company car, or when an employee reimburses their employer for the cost of fuel used for private travel.
The AFRs are reviewed every quarter and reflect average miles per gallon (MPG) for vehicle types (calculated from manufacturers’ information, taking into account annual sales to businesses), combined with the latest petrol and diesel prices.
AFRs were last reviewed and updated on 1 December 2022 and the detail of current rates can be found on the Gov.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/advisory-fuel-rates
AFRs are not mandatory, and employers and employees can agree to use different rates to reflect scenarios in which a car is more fuel efficient or where the fuel cost per mile of business travel is higher. Where an employer pays a rate higher than the published AFRs, no tax charge will arise if the employee is able to demonstrate there is no profit element.
AFRs are next due to be reviewed by HMRC on 1 March 2023.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Energy Profits Levy on (a) clean energy producers and (b) encouraging energy producers to produce clean energy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Energy Profits Levy (EPL) was introduced in May 2022 in response to sharp increases in oil and gas prices over the past year. At the Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that the rate of the levy would rise by ten percentage points to 35% and will last until 31 March 2028. The Levy applies to profits earned by companies from the production of oil and gas in the UK or on the UK Continental Shelf.
The government has been clear it wants to see the oil and gas sector reinvest its profits to support the economy, jobs and the UK’s energy security. That is why the levy includes a new investment allowance, ensuring that for every £1 an oil and gas company spends, they can claim around 91p in tax relief for most types of investment expenditure.
For every £100 an oil and gas company invests to decarbonise upstream oil and gas production, they will be able to deduct £109.25 when calculating their levy profits. This provides an immediate and significant fiscal incentive to reinvest profits in the UK.
Since the levy is targeted at the extraordinary profits from oil and gas upstream activities, any relief for investment must also be related to oil and gas upstream activities. Therefore, tax relief is only available in relation to expenditure incurred for activity that is charged under the oil and gas ring fence corporation tax regime. For other investments, such as renewables, companies will continue to be able to claim relief for their investments from the Corporation Tax they pay.
In addition, the government is taking significant action to encourage investment in renewable energy generation in the UK, including committing £30 billion to support the domestic green industrial revolution from March 2021 to the end of 2027-28.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle increases in the cost of living.
Answered by John Glen
The government understands how the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. These are global challenges however, as set out in the Spring Statement, the government is providing support worth over £22 billion in 2022-23 to help families with these pressures.
For example, a typical family with 2 children where one adult is on the average employee salary and the other works 16 hours at the NLW will be around than £3,000 a year better off as a result of recent government action, notably the NICs primary threshold change, UC taper rate and work allowance changes, and increase in the National Living Wage, even taking account the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy.