Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government has taken to help regulate the advertising of spread-betting sites across television channels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government takes the issue of consumer protection in relation to spread betting very seriously. Spread bets are subject to financial regulation, and as such the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ensures consumers are properly informed and protected from any harms that arise from them.
On 1 July 2019, the FCA published Policy Statement (PS)19/18 that finalised rules restricting the sale, marketing and distribution of contract for differences (CFDs) and CFD-like options to retail clients in or from the UK. This includes spread bets. These rules include the mandatory inclusion of standardised risk warnings, and restrictions on the monetary and non-monetary incentives that can encourage retail customers to buy these products, when marketing them.
More broadly, the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) restricts spread betting adverts so that they can only be placed on specialist financial channels or in the breaks between programming that is on financial issues.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) financial and (b) economic modelling his Department is undertaking to assess the effect of the Government's guidance on (a) travelling, (b) social distancing and (c) social gatherings during the covid-19 outbreak on the UK economy; and if he will make statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the UK economy and the Government has taken swift action to deliver unprecedented rescue packages.
While the actions we have taken have come at significant fiscal costs, the costs of inaction would have been far higher.
Treasury officials undertake a wide range of internal analysis to support policy development and advice to ministers. However, the Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or the public finances. Indeed, the Office for Budget Responsibility are the UK’s official forecasters.
We continue to monitor the impact of the policies to tackle Covid-19 as circumstances develop. The Chancellor will set out further details on his plans for sustainable and balanced fiscal policy at the next Budget, as the economic and fiscal outlook becomes clearer.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2020 to Question 52118, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the private coach hire sector on the ongoing risks and issues to that sector of the covid-19 outbreak in order to allocate additional funding to support that sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel.
The Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers to protect them against the current economic emergency including almost £300 billion of guarantees – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP. Coach companies, along with other businesses, may be able to benefit from a range of the available support measures.
There are no plans to make any further statements at this time.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will issue guidance to (a) banks and (b) other financial institutions on the timely provision of information to Executors seeking to wind-up estates for probate during the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government, alongside the financial regulators, has been working closely with the financial services industry to ensure that individuals and businesses have the support they need. If anyone has concerns or questions about their banking, including the administration around bereavement, we urge them to speak to their provider. Frontline staff in banks, building societies and credit unions are working tirelessly to deal with a significant volume of customer enquiries.
The treatment of customers by UK firms which are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is governed by its Principles of Business. This includes a general requirement for firms to provide a prompt, efficient and fair service to all of their customers, including those who have recently suffered a bereavement. The Government is also supportive of previous industry efforts to improve handling of these sensitive cases, including the implementation of the British Bankers’ Association’s (now known as UK Finance) Bereavement Principles. These Principles include a commitment from firms to provide support to meet individuals’ needs throughout the bereavement process and to work to resolve everything as quickly and simply as possible.
The Government will continue to work with the FCA and industry to understand how they are handling bereavement processes and policies around probate in the current context.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the (a) Business Rates Relief and (b) Hospitality, Retail and Leisure Grant to the food and drink wholesale sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that this is a very challenging time for businesses in a wide variety of sectors.
Businesses occupying properties for retail, hospitality or leisure purposes are likely to have been particularly affected by COVID-19 due to their reliance on customer footfall. The Government has provided enhanced support to these businesses through a twelve-month business rates holiday. The Government also recognises that small businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors are less likely than larger businesses to have sufficient cash reserves to meet their high fixed property-related costs. To help these small businesses, the Government created the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund, which gives grants of up to £25,000 to businesses which occupy properties used for these purposes with a rateable value below £51,000.
Local Authorities (LAs) can choose to make discretionary grants to businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure supply chains, like the wholesale food and drink sector, if they feel there is a particular local economic need. The Government has allocated up to an additional £617 million to LAs to enable them to give discretionary grants. While food and drink wholesalers are not one of the priority groups which Government has asked LAs to focus on, LAs may choose to make payments to businesses outside of these priority groups, so long as the business was trading on 11th March, and has not received any other cash grant funded by central Government (with the exception of grants from the SEISS).
Small businesses which are not eligible for business grants should still be able to benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Coronavirus Recovery Bond with an above market, fixed coupon to help generate an income return for existing and new small scale investors and savers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government will continue to fulfil its financing requirements via its normal debt management operations. This includes the package of measures to provide the critical support needed by individuals, families and businesses in the wake of COVID-19, which as previously announced by the Chancellor will be fully funded through the Debt Management Office’s (DMO’s) core gilt programme.
The Government also raises finance through National Savings and Investments (NS&I), which operates in the retail sector and offers a number of savings products for retail customers, which can help generate income for small-scale investors. NS&I’s core remit is to raise cost-effective financing for government. In effect, customers’ deposits with NS&I are a form of Government borrowing, and the rates that NS&I offer impact the cost to Government of this borrowing. HM Treasury therefore has a close interest in whether borrowing through NS&I is cost effective when compared with other methods of government financing.
At present, the UK Government does not have any plans to introduce a special gilt in response to COVID-19, nor does it have any plans to introduce a special NS&I product. The Government remains open to the introduction of new debt instruments, but would need to be satisfied that any new instrument would meet value-for-money criteria, enjoy strong and sustained demand in the long-term and be consistent with wider fiscal objectives.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the tax charge on company cars in cases where the covid-19 outbreak has reduced their use or resulted in them being unused by the beneficiary.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Where a car is made available to an employee which they can use for private purposes, this represents a taxable non-cash benefit, regardless of whether the employee uses the car.
Normally, HMRC would only consider a company car to be unavailable if it has been physically handed back. However, the Government recognises the challenges faced by households as a result of COVID-19, including restrictions on movement that may prevent a company car from being handed back or collected. Therefore, during this period HMRC will accept that a car is unavailable if its keys are returned and either the contract is terminated or thirty consecutive days pass.
HMRC’s guidance on this can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-treat-certain-expenses-and-benefits-provided-to-employees-during-coronavirus-covid-19
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will amend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme so that sole traders, acting as limited companies, that complete their yearly payroll after 19 March can access that scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
To be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), firms must have created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 19 March 2020; enrolled for PAYE online; and have a UK bank account.
Processing claims for the CJRS where there was no RTI data by 19 March would require much greater manual handling by HMRC and significantly slow down the system, while risking substantial levels of fraud. It would also require greater resource for HMRC when they are already under significant pressure to deliver the system designed.
Individuals may have access to a range of grants and loans depending on their circumstances, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loan Scheme and the deferral of tax payments.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the amount of fuel duty which has not accrued to the public purse as a result of the freeze in duty introduced in the March 2011 Budget.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
To support British households and businesses, at Autumn Budget 2017, the government froze fuel duty for the eighth successive year. Since public finances are based on the assumption that fuel duty will increase with RPI at every Budget, any increase below this represents a cost to the Exchequer. Successive freezes since 2011 have saved the average driver £620 compared to what it would have been with RPI increases.
Since 2011, the announced freezes to fuel duty have meant the Exchequer has not collected around £46 billion in revenues through to 2018-19. For the purposes of comparison, this is around twice as much as we spend on all NHS nurses and doctors each year.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government has made in working with non-governmental organisations to mitigate the effect of bank de-risking on their ability to provide humanitarian, peace-building and development assistance in broken and fragile states.
Answered by Simon Kirby
The government recognises the challenges that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) face from the withdrawal of banking services to the NGO sector. NGOs play a vital role in delivering humanitarian assistance in some of the most challenging and high-risk environments. The government is committed to helping them play this vital role whilst managing the risks that inevitably arise from operating in fragile states and conflict zones.
Banks’ reduced appetite for risk, or ‘de-risking’, is a global trend affecting many countries and a number of sectors, and is due to a complex set of issues that makes finding a solution difficult.
The government has been working with industry and affected sectors in the UK to better understand the issues and encourage dialogue with affected sectors and the banking sector. A recent report by the Financial Conduct Authority found that banks could do more to improve how they assess risks and communicate with their customers. The government will therefore continue to work with the regulators and banks to improve understanding in the banking sector.
The government also provided comprehensive guidance for the NGO sector in November 2015 on the range of legislative frameworks covering the activities of NGOs overseas and is reviewed as required. The government will continue this dialogue to support the NGO sector in managing their risks when operating overseas in fragile states. HM Treasury is also working with other relevant departments to set up a HMG-NGO Working Group.