Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will place in the Library HM Revenue and Customs' full workings, including the methodology, modelling and assumptions, which underpinned the figures included in the Tobacco Levy Consultation, published in September 2015, on the tobacco levy yield after behavioural effects.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The response to the tobacco levy consolation included the HMRC costing note and the DEFRA review of HMRC’s methodology, alongside consultation responses and the government’s summary. Since the government does not generally publish analysis of polices that do not go ahead, the publishing of these documents goes significantly beyond usual practice. HMRC also publish a methodological paper on tobacco entitled Econometric Analysis of Cigarette Consumption in the UK. This can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will undertake an analysis of the feasibility of devolving property taxes to London linked to specific infrastructure projects.
Answered by David Gauke
By 2020, local government will retain 100% of business rates and will have the power to reduce business rates. Directly elected mayoral authorities, such as the Mayor of London, will have the power to levy a small supplement on business rates to fund new infrastructure.
In the last Parliament, the Government gave local councils greater power over council tax support schemes and the treatment of second homes and empty properties. The Government believes there would be difficulties in devolving other property taxes, such as Stamp Duty Land Tax and Capital Gains Tax, to London as this would create a distortive effect around the border, increase administration costs and complexity and expose local government to significant fiscal risk.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will undertake analysis of the feasibility of devolving skills and employment powers to London.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Spending Review confirmed that the Mayor of London will jointly commission employment support for the long-term unemployed and will work with government on shaping delivery and provision. The government is strongly committed to devolving powers and responsibilities to the local level and will continue to assess where appropriate the opportunities for future skills and employment support devolution.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will undertake an analysis of the feasibility of further financial devolution to London.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is strongly committed to devolving powers and responsibilities to the local level. The Chancellor has announced details of the reform to Business Rates nationally whereby Local Government will be able to retain 100% of Business Rates. The government will set out in due course the implications of this reform for London
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the feasibility of further financial devolution to London and other cities.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government keeps all decisions on tax policy under review. In addition, the Government has recently devolved a range of responsibilities and funding through the Localism Act 2011 and have decentralised local government finance through the Local Government Finance Act 2012. Any further fiscal devolution to sub-national authorities in England would represent a significant change to the existing tax landscape with potentially significant legal, economic and constitutional implications.