Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that the coach travel sector is treated as part of the leisure sector and able to access support available to leisure businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government has delivered on its promise to stand by businesses and workers throughout the pandemic and has provided one of the most comprehensive and generous packages of support globally. This support has included billions of pounds for businesses through loans and grants, support for millions of jobs through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS.
Coach companies, along with other businesses, continue to have access to a range of support measures including, but not limited to:
• A Discretionary Grant Fund for Local Authorities in England
•The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
• The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBL) for small and micro enterprises
• VAT deferral for up to 12 months (for the period 20 March – 30 June 2020)
• The Time To Pay scheme, through which businesses in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, can receive support with their tax affairs
• Protection for commercial leaseholders against automatic forfeiture for non-payment until September 30, 2020.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme opened to all employers on 20th April.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a scheme similar to the Eat Out to Help Out scheme for concerts, festivals and other live events as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The Government recognises the extreme disruption the necessary actions to combat Covid-19 are having on sectors like events and the live performance industry.
That is why the Chancellor has already announced unprecedented support for individuals and businesses, to protect against the current economic emergency. This includes a £1.57 billion support package for eligible cultural and heritage organisations (including the performing arts and live music venues) and a temporary reduction in VAT, designed to support businesses and jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry (including admission to shows, theatres, concerts, circuses and similar events).
During this difficult time the Treasury is working intensively with employers, delivery partners, industry groups and other government departments to understand the long-term effects of social distancing across all key areas of the economy.
We will continue to monitor the impact of government support on public services, businesses, individuals and sectors as we respond to this pandemic, and keep all policies under review.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his Answer of 16 April 2018 to Question 134639, on Children: Day Care, what the technical issues were that were experienced by parents when applying for tax-free childcare through the online service; and what caused those issues.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The majority of parents apply for Tax-Free Childcare without any issues. For the small number of parents that have a technical problem applying for Tax-Free Childcare the majority of these are caused by:
delayed eligibility responses, caused by the application effectively becoming stuck at some point in the IT system;
issues with children incorrectly duplicating on the system which is caused by the interaction between HMRC and NS&I IT systems; and
parents seeing error screens during their application which have a number of root causes.
Following work by HMRC to improve the childcare service and fix these problems, over 99% of parents now receive an eligibility response within 5 working days, only a small number of parents are experiencing a duplicate child issue and the number of parents seeing an error screen at some point through their application, has reduced to less than 2%.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the technical issues which are affecting the Childcare service; and what the timetable is for those issues to be resolved.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The majority of parents use the childcare service without problems.
Many of the issues experienced by parents are intermittent and may affect customers in different ways. HM Revenue and Customs have procedures in place to ensure any parent who experiences a technical issue when applying for Tax-Free Childcare through the online service, receives support and does not lose out financially.