Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to provide additional financial support for the pub and brewery sector; and whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of reducing (a) business rates and (b) VAT for those sectors.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government is committed to supporting the pub and brewery sector.
As announced at Autumn Budget, the duty rates on alcohol, including beer, will be frozen for another year. This is expected to save consumers £3 billion over the next six years and will save beer drinkers £900 million. Beer duty rates are now at their lowest level in real terms since the 1990s.
The Government also announced on 1 October 2021 a new reduced rate of 12.5% would apply to eligible goods and services in the tourism and hospitality sector, to ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022. While the Government is sympathetic to recovering businesses, this relief has cost over £8 billion. It is appropriate that temporary tax reliefs are first reduced and then removed in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.
On business rates, the Government is providing a new temporary relief worth almost £1.7 billion for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, resulting in over 90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses receiving at least a 50% reduction in their business rates bills in 2022-23. The Government has also announced the multiplier will be frozen in 2022-23, a tax cut worth £4.6 billion over the next 5 years.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to support people who are self-employed during the next stages of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
We recognise the impact Omicron and Government guidance is having on businesses and individuals, including the self-employed, which is why on 21 December 2021 we announced £1 billion of new grant support for the hospitality, leisure, and cultural sectors, and reintroduced the Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme. This is on top of the existing package of support, in place through to Spring 2022, which includes the Recovery Loan Scheme, business rates relief, VAT reduction, and the ongoing commercial rent moratorium.
The effectiveness of our £400 billion package of interventions since the start of the pandemic, and the strength of the recovery that we have seen from previous waves means the economy is in a different place now. Employee numbers are above February 2020 levels in every part of the country and grew consistently through last year. So, it is right that our economic response in the face of Omicron adapts too and that our support is better targeted at the businesses that need it the most, providing better value for taxpayers and helping the economy to bounce back more quickly.
Throughout the pandemic, the Government has a strong track record of responding quickly, flexibly, and comprehensively in supporting jobs, businesses, individuals, and families when needed. We will continue to respond proportionately to the changing path of the virus.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people have access to banking services.
Answered by John Glen
The way consumers and businesses interact with their banking continues to change, bringing significant benefits to those who choose to opt for the convenience, security, and speed of digital payments and banking. However, the Government also recognises that physical access to banking continues to play an important role in many people’s lives.
Decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue for banks and building societies and the Government does not intervene in these decisions. However, the Government firmly believes that the impact of branch closures should be understood, considered and mitigated where possible so that all customers and businesses continue to have access to banking services.
In May 2017, the largest banks and building societies signed up to the Access to Banking Standard which commits them to ensure customers are well informed about branch closures, the bank’s reasons for closure and options for continued access to banking services. Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority also ensures firms carefully consider the impact of branch closures on customers’ needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements.
Alternative options for access can be via telephone banking, through digital means, such as mobile or online banking, or via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 99% of personal banking customers and 95% of business to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure charities are not faced with additional costs from excessive bank charges.
Answered by John Glen
The decisions about what products are offered and to whom remain commercial decisions for banks and building societies. Similarly, decisions concerning the pricing of products, including account charges, are also commercial decisions for these institutions. Regulating on this issue could put additional costs on lenders that could ultimately lead to higher costs for customers. Therefore, while the government recognises and values the vital role played by the charitable sector, I hope you can appreciate that it would be inappropriate for it to intervene in these decisions.
UK Finance has developed a Business Current Account (BCA) finder tool, designed to help businesses, including charities, to compare the full range of bank accounts available and find products that best suit their needs. This tool also has a useful ‘Covid Update’ feature to highlight which providers are currently open and closed to applications.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle tax evasion by multinational companies.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC’s role is to collect the right amount of tax due under UK law. HMRC work to make sure large businesses, like all other taxpayers, pay all the taxes due under UK law.
In line with HMRC’s published criminal investigation policy, while HMRC reserve the right to undertake criminal investigations, it is their policy to deal with fraud by use of cost-effective civil fraud investigations. This applies to multinational enterprises (MNEs) as it does to other types of organisations and taxpayers.
In order to address tax risks which particularly relate to MNEs, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have over 450 employees working on international issues including transfer pricing, diverted profits tax, controlled foreign companies and cross border debt. This continuing programme of investigations into potential tax avoidance, and sometimes tax evasion, by MNEs has helped secure around £6 billion from MNEs between April 2015 when Diverted Profits Tax was introduced and March 2020.
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 - Leader of HM Official Opposition
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 - Leader of HM Official Opposition
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.