Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of an independent inquiry into the conduct of the FCA prior to the collapse of Lendy.
Answered by John Glen
The Government has made no such assessment at this time. The operationally independent Financial Conduct Authority has an ongoing investigation into the circumstances that led to the administration of Lendy, and it would be inappropriate for the Government to pre-empt its findings.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of imposing taxes on polluting goods to tackle climate change.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Government has legislated to amend its long-term greenhouse gas emissions target to reach net zero by 2050.
The Government has a number of policies in place to tax polluting goods in order to tackle climate change. These include the Carbon Price Support rate, a tax on fossil fuels used in power generation, and the Climate Change Levy, a tax on businesses’ consumption of gas, electricity and solid fuels.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of (a) R&D expenditure and (b) R&D tax credits as (i) payable credits and (ii) deductions to Corporation Tax for UK life science SMEs SIC codes (A) 21100, (B) 72110, (C) 72190 and (D) 86900 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC publish annual statistics on Research & Development (R&D) tax reliefs: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/corporate-tax-research-and-development-tax-credit
HMRC do not break down the statistics on R&D tax relief claims into the detailed sub-codes mentioned in the question, and this information would only be available at disproportionate cost.
Support for businesses through R&D tax reliefs rose to £3.7 billion in 2015-16 (£1.8bn for the SME scheme and £1.9bn for the RDEC), up by almost a quarter from the previous year, supporting almost £29 billion of R&D expenditure.
Within the ‘Professional, scientific & technical’ sector in 2015-16, there were 6,980 claims in the SME scheme worth £400m and SMEs also made 770 claims in the RDEC scheme worth £45m.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed cap on research and development tax credits for SMEs in the life sciences sector; and what steps he is taking to ensure that companies in the Cambridge area are not affected by the cap.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs, including the small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) scheme, support businesses to invest and are a core part of the Government’s support for innovation.
Budget 2018 announced a cap on the payable tax credit element of the SME tax relief scheme of three times the company’s total PAYE and NICs liability for that year, to help prevent identified fraud and abuse of the scheme.
The Government consulted between 28 March and 24 May 2019 on how the cap will be applied so as to minimise any impact on genuine businesses. The responses to that consultation, including those from representatives in the life sciences sector, are being analysed.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of freezing fuel duty since 2010.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The consumption of fuel is highly price inelastic. Therefore, fuel duty freezes only have a marginal impact on the amount of fuel purchased, and therefore limited impact on emissions.
Households spend a significant amount of their total spending on transport fuels, and fuel costs are a major factor in helping the competitiveness of British businesses. Duty on fuel remains at 57.95ppl. The government is also taking action to reduce emissions and improve air quality through Vehicle Excise Duty and the Company Car Tax system.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the BioIndustry Association report entitled Confident capital: backing U.K. biotech, published on 1 January 2019; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that 2019 is a successful year for the U.K. biotechnology sector.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We welcome the BioIndustry Association report, which the Government launched at the BioIndustry Association’s event, Strategic Technologies in Life Sciences: The Future is Now, attended by myself on 24 January 2018. The Government is proactively supporting the UK’s strong life sciences sector.
The Government has published two Life Sciences Sector Deals, which are supported by the Government’s commitment to delivering the biggest increase in R&D investment for 40 years. Since Autumn 2016, Government has committed an additional £7 billion in R&D by 2021-22, demonstrating clear progress towards the Government’s ambition to raise investment in R&D in the economy to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
At Budget 2017 the Government also announced a 10-year action plan to unlock over £20bn to finance growth in innovative firms, including life science companies.