Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact of business rates tax on online shops.
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 almost £13.6 billion over the next five years, including:
Together with the revaluation, this package ensures bills will more accurately reflect current market values whilst protecting businesses from large bill increases.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the sunset clause stipulated in s. 261(3) (za) of the Income Tax Act 2007 (as amended by the Finance (No. 2) Act 2015 (c. 33), Sch. 6 para. 2(2)), whether his Department plans to extend income tax relief through venture capital trusts to subscriptions made on or after 6 April 2025.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Venture Capital Trusts, which were introduced in 1995, are designed to encourage individuals to invest indirectly in a range of unquoted smaller, higher-risk, trading companies.
The Government keeps this scheme under review to ensure that it continues to meet its policy objectives in a way that is fair and effective.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to increase the competitiveness of the financial services sector.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In his Mansion House statement last July, the Chancellor set out the Government’s vision an open, competitive, green, and technologically advanced financial services.
A sweeping set of reforms to sharpen the UK’s competitive advantage in financial services is already underway; and in November the Government published the second consultation in its Future Regulatory Framework review, which provides a once in a generation opportunity to ensure that the UK maintains a coherent, agile, and internationally respected approach to financial services regulation.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made in response to the recommendations of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government responded to the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech on 26 April 2021, setting out actions alongside regulators to ensure the UK remains at the global cutting edge of technology and innovation in financial services.
These actions include improved regulatory support for new and growing fintechs; initiatives to supercharge commercial support for UK fintechs seeking to expand internationally; and a new visa ‘scale up’ stream to attract global talent and boost the fintech workforce.
The Government’s full response is available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-04-26/hcws938.
On 29 October the Government announced £5 million of seed funding for a new Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) as part for Spending Review 2021. CFIT was a central recommendation of the Kalifa Review, and it will focus on creating the right conditions for firms to scale, encouraging the mainstream adoption of fintech solutions, and fostering collaboration between growing regional fintech hubs.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the £450,000 maximum home purchase price allowed via a Lifetime ISA in line with the UK average year-on-year increase in house prices.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus of 25% on up to £4,000 of savings each year.
The Government maintains that the 25% bonus should be focused on those that need it most and who may find it more difficult to get onto the property ladder, while ensuring sustainable public finances. First-time buyers who can purchase a home valued over £450,000 are likely to have an income significantly above that of the average household in the UK and are therefore more likely to be able to purchase a first home without the support of this scheme.
The Government considers a property price cap of £450,000 appropriate to support the majority of first-time buyers across the UK. However, the Government keeps all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the £50,000 maximum limit of investment in Premium Bonds to provide an additional incentive to invest and support the post-covid economy.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The current Premium Bond investment limit is £50,000, which is also set out in UK legislation. In line with NS&I’s operating framework, when setting the Premium Bond investment limit, HM Treasury and NS&I must strike a balance between the differing needs of savers, taxpayers and the wider financial sector. While some customers may wish to invest more than the current limit in Premium Bonds, raising the limit can lead to the scheme becoming dominated by a small number of people with large investments. Customers are sensitive to taking part in a prize draw in which some people hold a very large number of bonds. NS&I offer a number of other savings products with a higher investment limit than that of Premium Bonds.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions the exemption in relation to the multiple dwellings relief for property transactions of six or more separate dwellings FA03/S116(7) was used in 2018-19; and what estimate he has made of the revenue foregone to the public purse as a result of that relief.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Information on multiple dwellings relief is available; this information available relates to two or more properties. The cost of this relief and the number of people claiming the relief was published in the publication ‘Estimated cost of structural tax reliefs’ in October 2019.
Specific information for six or more properties would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions the exemption in relation to the multiple dwellings relief for property transactions of six or more separate dwellings FA03/S116(7) was used in 2017-18; and what estimate he has made of the revenue foregone to the public purse as a result of that relief.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Information on multiple dwellings relief is available; this information available relates to two or more properties. The cost of this relief was published in the publication ‘Estimated cost of structural tax reliefs’ in October 2019. The number of cases claiming that relief is available in the Annual Stamp Taxes Publication which was also published in October 2019.
Specific information for six or more properties would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many occasions the exemption in relation to the multiple dwellings relief for property transactions of six or more separate dwellings FA03/S116(7) was used in 2019-20; and what estimate he has made of the revenue foregone to the public purse as a result of that relief.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
This information on the number of relief claims will be published in the Annual Stamp Taxes publication at the end of September and the revenue forgone figure will be published in the Tax Relief publication in Autumn 2020.
Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to publish weekly statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for each (a) local authority and (b) parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme are published on GOV.UK. The latest publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-june-2020. This includes a breakdown of the total number of employments furloughed by local authority and by parliamentary constituency. HM Revenue and Customs are continuing to develop statistics on the CJRS and plan to publish monthly updates.