Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish guidance on the requirement of logistics businesses delivering goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to provide statistical returns specifying which goods are being transported.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The UK Government and the EU have shared proposals with each other in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol and are currently in intensive talks. As none of the reported changes or documents published by either party on the Protocol have yet been agreed, existing arrangements will continue for now. This includes some easements for specific businesses and trade sectors. We have published guidance on these existing arrangements and will update this guidance in due course and give operators time to prepare for any changes.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the proposal to establish a Global Centre for Secure and Intelligent Regulatory Technologies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government is committed to maintaining the UK’s position a world-leading destination for fintech.
In line with this ambition, the Government is taking forward key recommendations of the independent Kalifa Review of UK Fintech as part of ensuring the UK remains at the global cutting edge of technology and innovation in financial services.
Government funding for future years will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review which will be announced on 27th October.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to retain the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme beyond September 2021 for sectors of the economy that have not returned to pre-covid-19 pandemic levels of customers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. Closing the scheme at the end of September is designed to strike the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring that incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns. This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.
The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. It continues to engage closely with sectors across the economy in order to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the reduced VAT rate for hospitality until 31 December 2021.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In order to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and to protect over 2.4 million jobs, the Government has applied a temporary reduced rate of VAT (5 per cent) to goods and services supplied by the tourism and hospitality sectors, which will now end on 30 September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent will be introduced for these goods and services to help affected businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate. The new rate will end on 31 March 2022.
The Government has been clear that the reduced rate of VAT is a temporary measure. It is right that, as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in the tourism and hospitality sectors increases, this relief is reduced and eventually removed in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances. This policy will cost the Exchequer over £7 billion and, while the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to make the reduced rate of VAT permanent.