Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to support mortgage prisoners who are in negative equity paying high interest rates and wish to sell their properties.
Answered by John Glen
The Government has undertaken significant work to understand the circumstances of borrowers whose mortgages are held by inactive firms, and it has worked with the FCA to create additional options for these borrowers, including through the introduction of a Modified Affordability Assessment which allows mortgage lenders to waive the normal affordability checks for borrowers with inactive firms who meet certain criteria, such as not wishing to borrow more.
During the recent passage of the Financial Services Act, I announced that the Treasury will work with the FCA on a review of their existing data to provide further detail on the characteristics of borrowers who have mortgages with inactive firms and are unable to switch, despite being up to date with payments. The FCA will also review the effect of its recent interventions to remove regulatory barriers to switching for mortgage prisoners and will report on this by the end of November. This will include borrowers who may be in negative equity. The Treasury will use the results of this review to establish whether there are any further possible solutions that can be found for these borrowers that are practical and proportionate.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support businesses that are experiencing retrospective withdrawal of input tax claims and fines following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
There has been no change to the normal rules which apply in respect of input tax deduction in the UK.
Further information on recovering input tax is available in the VAT guide (VAT Notice 700) at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-guide-notice-700.
Full guidance for UK businesses on the arrangements following the end of the transition period can be found at https://www.gov.uk/transition.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support he is providing to food and drink manufacturers who are not eligible for the business rates relief schemes.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has protected people’s jobs and livelihoods while also supporting businesses and public services across the UK. Food and drink wholesalers have been eligible for a number of economic support schemes, including:
Wholesalers in England may also receive further support with their fixed costs from local authorities through the £2.1 billion in funding made available for discretionary Additional Restrictions Grants to support local businesses.
Businesses may also be eligible for other elements of the Government’s support package including government-backed loans, tax deferrals, and general and sector-specific grants. The Government urges businesses to visit the online Coronavirus Business Support Finder Tool for tailored information on how to access support available to them.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the feasibility of extending the eligibility of the business rate relief scheme to businesses that manufacture (a) food and (b) soft drink products for hospitality businesses to sell.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government has provided enhanced support to eligible properties in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.
As announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March the Government is providing a further £1.5 billion of additional support to businesses that have not already received business rates relief. This is the fastest and fairest way to support businesses outside the retail, hospitality and leisure relief who have been most adversely affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic.
A range of other measures has been made available for all businesses, including those in the supply chain, such as the extension of the furlough scheme, Recovery Loan schemes, and enhanced Time to Pay for taxes.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2021 to Question 152528 on Infrastructure: Finance, when he plans to publish the next iteration of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority is committed to publishing regular National Infrastructure and Construction Pipelines. The last Pipeline, published in response to COVID-19, set out planned procurements with an estimated contract value of up to £37bn across the 20/21 financial year.
As stated in the National Infrastructure Strategy, the next iteration of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline will be published in 2021 and will set out future planned investments and procurements.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the announcement in Budget 2021 of the creation of the economic campus in Darlington and National Infrastructure Bank in Leeds, how many civil servant jobs will be (a) created and (b) relocated to each respective institution.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
At least 750 roles from across HM Treasury, the Department for International Trade, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Office for National Statistics will be based at the Darlington economic campus. The Treasury’s workforce will be made up of staff who voluntarily relocate from London and through direct recruitment. The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) is a new institution and will be headquartered in Leeds. The UKIB will be launched in interim form later in the Spring with the recruitment of the bank’s Chair currently underway with further roles to follow in due course.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the (a) Towns Fund and (b) UK Community Renewal Fund.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
MHCLG oversees the Towns Fund and the UK Community Renewal Fund. Treasury Ministers have a broad range of discussions with Ministerial colleagues about all significant Government investment programmes.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what further plans he has to make financial support available to (a) people and (b) businesses that have been excluded from Government financial support during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
In response to the unparalleled economic shock created by COVID-19, the government quickly provided one of the most comprehensive and generous packages of economic support globally, adapting the help offered as the situation evolved. This has provided timely and targeted temporary support to individuals, families and businesses up and down the UK. At the Budget, the Chancellor announced an additional £65 billion of further measures to support the economy this year and next year, taking the total cumulative cost of the COVID-19 rescue package since the start of the pandemic to £352 billion.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has now supported 11.2 million jobs across the UK, worth £53.8 billion, and has been extended until the end of September. At the Budget, the Chancellor also announced two further grants of the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. Self-employed people who filed their 2019/20 tax returns by 2 March will be eligible for both grants, meaning that over 600,000 self-employed individuals may be newly eligible for the SEISS, including many new to self-employment.
The government has also extended support for the lowest paid and most vulnerable. The temporary £20 uplift to Universal Credit will continue for a further six months. Working Tax Credit claimants will receive an equivalent of six months of support through a one-off £500 payment.
To support businesses through the next stage of the pandemic, the government is providing a Restart Grant of up to £18,000 to over 680,000 business premises, giving them the cash certainty they need to plan ahead and safely relaunch trading over the coming months. To replace the Bounce Back Loans and Business Interruption Loans, the government is introducing a new Recovery Loan Scheme. The government is also providing English local authorities with an additional £425 million of discretionary business grant funding on top of the £1.6 billion already allocated. In addition, the government is extending previous VAT reductions and business rates reliefs for sectors heavily impacted by the pandemic.
Finally, we must recognise that it will not be possible to preserve every job or business indefinitely, nor stand in the way of the economy adapting and people finding new jobs or starting new businesses.