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Written Question
Business Rates and VAT
Tuesday 28th March 2023

Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of business rates and VAT for (a) micro businesses and (b) SMEs.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

On business rates, the Government has announced a package of support worth £13.6 billion for businesses over the next five years. Together with the revaluation, this package ensures bills will more accurately reflect current market values whilst protecting businesses from large bill increases.

The Government's generous Small Business Rate Relief scheme sees over a third of properties (720,000) pay no business rates at all, with an additional 76,000 in the taper seeing their bills reduced. Combined with an updated Retail, Hospitality & Leisure (RHL) relief, 80% of RHL properties will see bills fall or stay the same at the 2023 Revaluation, protecting the UK's high street businesses.

The Government is also providing over £500 million of support over the next three years with a new Supporting Small Business scheme. This will cap bill increases to £50 per month (£600 per year) for businesses losing some or all of their Small Business or Rural Rate Relief due to the revaluation.

The Government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on businesses. This is why, at £85,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.

Although the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no current plans to change the levels of VAT.


Written Question
Banks: Russia
Tuesday 21st February 2023

Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the level of Russian Central Bank reserves held in the UK; and in what form those reserves are held.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In conjunction with our partners, we have blocked access to £275 billion of the Russian Central Bank’s foreign currency reserves globally. Under the Russia sanctions regime, the Russian Central Bank’s assets have been immobilised in the UK as a result of a prohibition on the provision of financial services in respect of these assets. We continue to work with relevant stakeholders on the implementation of this sanction.


Written Question
UK Infrastructure Bank: Small Businesses
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that funding provided by the UK Infrastructure Bank is targeted to small and medium-sized enterprises in (a) rural, (b) isolated and (c) deprived communities.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) was launched in June 2021 and is a government-owned lending institution headquartered in Leeds.

UKIB has a mandate to tackle climate change and support regional and local economic growth across the UK by investing in economic infrastructure including clean energy, transport, digital, water and waste. As of 10th November, the UKIB has announced 10 deals worth over £1 billion covering all areas of the UK.

Within its remit, UKIB is able to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) indirectly through its financing of infrastructure projects.

Over the past two years, the Government has taken unprecedented action to protect millions of SMEs, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Government-guaranteed loans. This year we are extending the Recovery Loan Scheme until June 2024.


Written Question
Small Businesses: Rural Areas
Wednesday 9th March 2022

Asked by: Bob Seely (Conservative - Isle of Wight)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help tackle inflating overhead costs for small and medium businesses in rural and isolated communities.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

As the global economy recovers, many economies are experiencing high inflation, in part due to pressures from rising energy prices and disruptions to global supply chains. These global pressures are the main driver of higher inflation in the UK. We understand the pressure that higher costs place on businesses up and down the UK, and the Government’s commitment to price stability remains absolute.

We recognise the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes. Ofgem and Government are in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face.

The government has also already provided substantial support to small and medium sized businesses through the pandemic such as business rates relief and the Recovery Loan Scheme for SMEs. Over the past two years we have taken unprecedented action to protect millions of businesses. There are over 400,000 more people on payrolls, investment is rising, and monthly business insolvencies have only recently returned to normal after sitting 25% below pre-pandemic levels since April 2020.

We are also supporting SMEs to improve their growth and productivity through our innovative Help to Grow programme. Help to Grow will support over 100k SMEs to access subsidised leadership and management training and productivity-enhancing software.

We will continue to monitor the wider situation very closely and there is extensive engagement across government on the matter.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 03 Feb 2022
Economic Update

Speech Link

View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Economic Update

Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 15 Jun 2021
Levelling-up Agenda

Speech Link

View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Levelling-up Agenda

Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 15 Jun 2021
Levelling-up Agenda

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View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Levelling-up Agenda

Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 15 Jun 2021
Levelling-up Agenda

Speech Link

View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Levelling-up Agenda

Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 15 Jun 2021
Levelling-up Agenda

Speech Link

View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Levelling-up Agenda

Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 15 Jun 2021
Levelling-up Agenda

Speech Link

View all Bob Seely (Con - Isle of Wight) contributions to the debate on: Levelling-up Agenda