Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether further financial support will be provided to businesses in response to the postponement of step four of the easing of lockdown restrictions to 19 July 2021.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Throughout the pandemic, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods while also supporting businesses and public services across the UK.
The Government put in place an economic package of support totalling £352 billion through the furlough and self-employed income support schemes, support for businesses through grants and loans, business rates and VAT relief.
At Budget the Government deliberately went long and erred on the side of generosity – specifically to accommodate any short delay to the roadmap. Most of the Government’s Covid support schemes do not end until September or after, in order to provide continuity and certainty for businesses and families.
The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) announced at Budget 2021 ensures lenders continue to have the confidence to lend, ensuring viable businesses, including small businesses, continue to have access to Government-backed finance needed throughout 2021. The scheme launched on 6 April 2021, following the closure of the emergency schemes to new loan applications on 31 March 2021, and will run until 31 December 2021. The scheme operates UK-wide, providing an 80% guarantee to lenders for term loans, overdrafts, and invoice and asset finance.
At Budget, it was also announced that local authorities in England will receive a top-up worth a total of £425m to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund. This, combined with the £1.6 billion previously allocated, means local authorities will have received over £2bn of discretionary grant funding to support businesses which are not eligible for Restart Grants but which are nonetheless experiencing a severe impact on their business due to public health restrictions. Nearly half of the £2bn is still with local authorities and yet to be allocated.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was introduced to help employers whose operations have been severely affected by coronavirus to retain their employees and protect the UK economy. All businesses across the UK can access the scheme, with employees receiving 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. At Budget the government extended the CJRS until the end of September 2021, to support businesses and employees through the next stage of the pandemic. The economy now is in a stronger position than it was last autumn, when businesses also contributed up to 20 per cent of wage costs.
In line with the extension to the CJRS, the government announced at Budget 2021 that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will continue until September, with a fourth and a final fifth grant. This provides certainty to business as the economy reopens and means the SEISS will continue to be one of the most generous schemes for the self-employed in the world.
As restrictions have been lifted, it is right that we ask employers to contribute more to strike the balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring incentives are in place to get people back to work.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure correspondence sent to his Department is responded to within 20 working days.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
We recognise the great importance of the effective and timely handling of correspondence.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, HM Treasury has brought in additional staff to its central correspondence team and ensured its correspondence processes are as efficient as possible so Members receive timely, accurate and informative replies to their queries.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support his Department has allocated to (a) NHS and (b) public sector staff who have been asked to shield during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Where individuals have been advised to shield, guidance available on gov.uk should be followed wherever possible. Employers are expected to support staff to safely shield.
Those working for fully funded public sector organisations, including those that need to shield, should be paid as normal out of existing budgets.
Arrangements should have been made to facilitate working from home wherever possible, and reprioritisation and redeployment should be considered to minimise issues with service delivery.
In public sector organisations not fully funded by public grants, where working from home has not been possible, shielding staff were eligible for furlough, and the scheme continues to support them. In all instances, CJRS claims should remain proportionate to the impact on revenue disruption, and those that need to shield should be furloughed before other staff. It should be noted that from 1 July, employees can only be furloughed if they have completed the minimum 3-week furlough period between 1 March and 30 June.
Similarly, guidance issued by NHS England states that staff will continue to receive full pay for any period in which they are required to self-isolate as a result of public health advice.
The Chancellor has been clear that the NHS will receive as much funding as needed to manage the Covid-19 outbreak, with £31.9 billion of support now approved for health and care services.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of (a) banks and (b) other lenders on extending payment holidays for loans in line with the term of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In April, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a series of measures intended to provide temporary support to consumers that have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including a three-month payment holiday on personal loans. Ministers recognise the important role payment holidays play in supporting people through this period and have engaged with lenders throughout. The government will continue to work closely with the FCA and industry on the next steps for payment holidays.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme rules allow (a) agencies, (b) the BBC and (c) other quasi non-governmental organisations to furlough their staff.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Any entity with a UK payroll can apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), including businesses, charities, recruitment agencies and public authorities, providing they have a UK bank account, have enrolled for PAYE online, and have created and started a PAYE payroll scheme on or before 19 March 2020.
As the guidance on the CJRS on GOV.UK sets out, the Government expects that the scheme will not be used by many public sector organisations, as the majority of public sector employees are continuing to provide essential public services or contribute to the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, the Government expects employers to use that money to pay staff in the usual fashion; and not to furlough them.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support the Government is providing to people who began employment before 19 March 2020 but were only added to their employers' payroll after the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme's cut-off date.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Furloughed employees must have been on their employer’s PAYE payroll and HMRC must have received an RTI (Real Time Information) submission notifying payment in respect of that employee on or before 19 March 2020. The use of RTI allows HMRC to verify claims in the most efficient and timely way, ensuring payments can be made quickly while reducing the risk of fraud. Without the use of RTI returns it would be difficult to verify claims without significant additional checks, which would delay payment for genuine claims.
The Government is also supporting people on low incomes who need to rely on the welfare system through a significant package of temporary measures. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element, and a nearly £1bn increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. These changes will benefit all new and existing claimants. Anyone can check their eligibility and apply for Universal Credit by visiting: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to reverse the decision on charging interest on deferred PAYE.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has announced an unprecedented package of support for businesses and individuals during the Covid-19 outbreak.
This includes the deferral of certain VAT and Self-Assessment payments in 2020-21, and the waiving of associated interest and penalties.
HMRC have also scaled up their Time to Pay (TTP) service, where individual and business taxpayers can agree tailored plans to defer certain tax payments due, and repay them over an agreed period of time. These arrangements can include any tax or duty administered by HMRC, including PAYE. Interest will continue to accrue on TTP arrangements, in the usual way, to cover the costs to Government of late payment.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with mortgage providers on automatically extending mortgage offer deadlines for people unable to exchange contracts for a property purchase due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Following discussions with Government, UK Finance announced on 26 March that mortgage lenders will give customers who have exchanged contracts the option to extend their mortgage offer for up to 3 months to enable them to move at a later date.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has also issued guidance for home moving during the COVID-19 outbreak which advises that all parties should work to delay the exchange of contracts until after the period where stay-at-home measures to fight COVID-19 are in place. The guidance can be viewed in full here:
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has for private nurseries to be included in the plans for 100 per cent business rates relief.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In an exceptional response to Covid-19, from 1 April non-local authority providers of childcare will pay no business rates in 2020-21. This is alongside eligible businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality sectors who will benefit from a business rates holiday, irrespective of a property’s rateable value. MHCLG will publish guidance on the business rates holiday for nurseries shortly.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individual dwellings have gardens in each local authority in England and Wales according to valuation data held by the Valuation Office Agency in (a) absolute terms, (b) as a proportion of the total number of dwellings in that local authority and (c) as a proportion of dwellings for which recorded data is held on that indicator in that local authority.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) does not hold information on which domestic properties have gardens. While the VOA used to have value significant codes (VSCs) relating to gardens, this data is no longer collected. While the VOA holds some data on plot sizes for domestic properties, this data is not complete, as it is no longer routinely collected, and cannot be used to determine whether a property has a garden.