Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to secure a share of the European Investment Bank’s retained earnings, interest and dividends for the 12-year period over which the UK’s investment capital will be repaid.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The EIB has lent to a range of sectors in the UK, including infrastructure projects and UK businesses. As you may know, the UK will cease to be a member of the EIB Group (consisting of the EIB and EIF) on exit day, as membership is only available to EU member states. Under the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement, the UK has secured the return of its €3.5bn capital in the European Investment Bank (EIB) through twelve annual instalments. We have reached a fair settlement with the EU, honouring commitments we made during our period of membership, and have ensured a fair deal for UK tax payers.
Alongside the terms of exit set out in the withdrawal agreement, the Political Declaration, which sets out the framework for the future relationship between the EU and the UK, states that both parties note the UK's intention to explore options for a future relationship with the EIB Group. As we leave the EU, we continue to consider options for our future relationship and discussions on this will form part of the wider negotiations on the future EU-UK relationship.
However, while Government wishes to explore a future relationship with the EIB Group, we recognise the need to be prepared for a range of scenarios. The Government already has a range of existing tools to support infrastructure finance, including the UK Guarantees Scheme and funds that support the development of new technologies including the Digital Infrastructure Investment Fund and Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund. The Infrastructure Finance Review, launched at the Spring Statement, explores future challenges in infrastructure finance, including new technologies, and seeks views on the Government’s existing tools. The review will conclude alongside the National Infrastructure Strategy at the Spending Review later this year. The Government also provides support for business and emerging technologies Research and Development (R&D) through a wide range of measures, including the largest increase in direct public R&D spending in 40 years, R&D tax reliefs, and the £2.5bn British Patient Capital programme, enabling long-term investment in innovative companies.
Government support announced following the Patient Capital Review means that the British Business Bank has the capacity to make venture capital commitments this financial year that would exceed the combined average annual commitments from the European Investment Fund and British Business Bank in the years preceding the UK’s vote to leave the EU. In April, the government made an additional £200m support for venture capital and growth finance available through the British Business Bank to support the financing of smaller businesses.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Statement of 13 March 2019, Official Report, volume 656, column 372, what recent discussions he has held with the Secretary of State for Transport on future investment in the East Coast Main Line.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Chancellor holds regular bilateral meetings with the Secretary of State for Transport where they discuss a range of issues. With regards to facilitating greater transport connections for regions north of York, a £780m fund was made available in July 2018 for major upgrades. A significant proportion of this will fund power supply upgrades between Doncaster and Edinburgh. When combined with the new Intercity Express Trains, this will provide passengers with more seats as well as faster, more frequent journeys on the line.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to extend the zero rate of VAT to digital publications.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT on e-publications.
Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic and fiscal considerations.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support his Department makes available to children under the age of 16 that are carers.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Children and young people should be protected from inappropriate and excessive caring responsibilities, and we have changed the law to improve how young carers and their families are identified, assessed and supported. Government set out further details on our plans to support young carers in the Carers Action Plan earlier this year.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Financial Conduct Authority has the statutory power to prosecute offences under (a) Sections 327-329 and (b) Sections 330-332 of the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Answered by John Glen
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can prosecute offences under these provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) where doing so is in accordance with its statutory functions and it is not expressly prohibited from doing so as a result of statutory restrictions or other conditions. It has obtained, prosecuted and secured 10 convictions against five individuals for money laundering offences under POCA.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to promote personal savings and investments in (a) the North East and (b) England.
Answered by John Glen
The Government is committed to supporting savers across the UK at all stages of life and has introduced a range of measures in recent years to help people build their savings in the way that is right for them.
This year we are introducing a new Help to Save scheme to support working families on low incomes to build up a rainy-day fund, by offering a 50% bonus on up to £50 of monthly savings. We have also increased the ISA allowance by a record amount to £20,000 and introduced a Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and £500 for higher rate taxpayers. Thanks to these measures over 95% of people pay no tax on their savings income.
ISA statistics detailing the percentage of the adult population who hold an ISA and their average market value, broken down for different regions and countries in the UK, can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individual-savings-account-statistics
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has identified costs in addition to the estimation of a settlement of £35-39 billion that the UK will need to pay as a result of leaving the EU.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The settlement agreed with the EU represents a comprehensive settlement covering all of the mutual commitments between the EU and the UK. The Chancellor was clear in his letter to the TSC that £35-39 billion is a reasonable central estimate, as agreed in the joint report and produced using publicly available European Commission data. The NAO report concluded this was a reasonable estimate. The OBR estimated, at the Spring Statement, that the settlement would be around £37bn.
With respect to additional spending to deal with exit preparations HM Treasury has allocated over £2 billion of additional funding to departments and the Devolved Administrations so far. This breaks down as:
-£412m of additional funding over the spending review period for DExEU, DIT and the FCO at Autumn Statement 2016.
-£286m of additional funding for 17/18 (a full breakdown of which can be found in Supplementary Estimates 17/18).
-Over £1.5bn of additional funding for 18/19. A full breakdown of which can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS540, laid on the 13th March (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-03-13/HCWS540/).
The Chancellor also set aside at Autumn Statement 2017 an additional £1.5 billion for costs in 2019-20. This money will be allocated later this year. The Chancellor was also clear in his letter that the value of the settlement is, by its very nature, dependent on future events and that it was not possible to put a definitive number on it.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of tax-free childcare on employer engagement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
For question 165013 I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave the honourable member for Birmingham Selly Oak on 30 January 2018 (124940).
The forecast expenditure on Tax-Free Childcare was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March 2018 at http://cdn.obr.uk/EFO-MaRch_2018.pdf
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the number of parents applying for tax-free childcare.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
For question 165013 I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave the honourable member for Birmingham Selly Oak on 30 January 2018 (124940).
The forecast expenditure on Tax-Free Childcare was published by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March 2018 at http://cdn.obr.uk/EFO-MaRch_2018.pdf
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to reduce VAT on digital editions of magazines, books and newspapers.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Under EU law, a standard rate of VAT must be applied to e-publications. Although Member States are discussing a legislative proposal to allow the same VAT rate to apply to e-publications as apply to physical publications, this is yet to be agreed.