Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to make specific financial support available to the motor trade industry to compensate loss of revenue as a result of the six month extension of MOTs following the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises the importance of the UK motor industry and the severe impacts of Covid. The sector has benefited from unprecedented support for businesses and individuals over the past year. We continue to work with trade associations and companies to understand the sector’s needs and what support measures companies plan to use as we continue to restart the economy.
The extension to MOT certificates was introduced last year in response to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. This was to ensure that motorists could continue to use their vehicles to travel to work where essential, or to shop for essential food and medicine. The Government did not mandate garage closures, and car servicing was not prohibited. This meant that, while MOT certificates had been extended, motorists would still be able to keep their vehicles safe and roadworthy, including receiving any necessary repairs and maintenance.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to support calls for an independent review of the Financial Conduct Authority.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The FCA is an independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. The Treasury therefore has no general power of direction over the FCA and cannot intervene in its day-to-day operations.
There are a number of mechanisms already in place which enable Parliament and Treasury respectively to hold the FCA to account. In addition, there is nothing preventing a Select Committee from either House launching inquiries into the activities of the FCA, taking evidence from witnesses and reporting with recommendations.
The government also welcome the FCA’s commitment to reporting publicly on the progress of its Transformation Programme. A number of significant changes have already been introduced, including important structural changes within the organisation. The government will continue to regularly discuss the Transformation Programme with the FCA in order to monitor progress.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing funding to the private hire vehicle sector to help that sector recover from the effects of the national covid-19 lockdown restrictions that began in January 2021.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has recognised the challenging times faced by the private hire vehicle sector as a result of Covid-19, and throughout the pandemic, has sought to support businesses and individuals.
The overwhelming majority of taxi and private hire vehicle drivers are self-employed, and therefore may have been able to benefit from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). At Budget, the Chancellor announced that SEISS will continue until September, with a fourth and fifth grant, to provide certainty to businesses as the economy reopens.
The government will spend over £33bn supporting those in self-employment through the SEISS throughout this crisis, yet it remains to be just one element of a comprehensive package of support. Those ineligible may still be able to access other elements of the support available, including automatic, self-serve time-to-pay arrangements, loans, welfare support, self-isolation support payments and other business support grants.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on self-employed people of the delay in the fourth grant under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme; and whether he has plans to provide further support for those people.
Answered by Jesse Norman
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.
The Government also announced a major improvement in access to the self-employed scheme. As the deadline for 2019-20 tax returns has now passed, HMRC will use these tax returns for the fourth and fifth grants, provided they were submitted by 2 March. This means that 600,000 people, many of whom became self-employed in 2019-20, may now be able to claim the fourth and fifth grants, bringing the total number of people who could be eligible to 3.7 million.
Using these returns requires time to deliver due to the increased population and new data. In order to allow HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) time to process 2019-20 tax returns it has not been possible to invite applications or open the claims service earlier.
HMRC will open the online claims service for the fourth SEISS grant from late April 2021 and expect to notify potentially eligible people of their personal claim date from mid-April.
Guidance on how to claim the fourth grant is now available online: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme.
The SEISS is just one part of a wider package of support for the self-employed, which includes automatic, self-serve time-to-pay arrangements, loans, welfare support, and other business support grants.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on levels of employment.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The OBR produces independent forecasts for the Government, and in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in March 2021 it estimated that "unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of 2021 in the absence of fiscal stimulus and the extension of the CJRS".Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential effect of the Humber Freeport on the availability of seafarer apprenticeships in (a) Hull and (b) the Humber region.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor has not met with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss Freeports since the bidding process closed on the 5 February, in line with the government’s commitment to the fair, open and transparent assessment process outlined in the Bidding Prospectus.
Our focus has been on getting places to send us their bids and proposals, rather than second-guessing what they will do. The government will continue to work with successful bidders to help them achieve their objectives, across a variety of sectors.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what long-term plans his Department has to support small businesses and self-employed people throughout and after the period of covid-19 lockdown restrictions announced in January 2021.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Since March the Government’s priority has been to save lives and protect jobs, businesses, and livelihoods. To support workers and businesses across all sectors the Government has provided an unprecedented package of support worth more than £280 billion.
As of 5 January, England entered nationwide restrictions to manage a new variant of Coronavirus. With these restrictions, businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure facing forced closure in England are eligible for a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 to help them through to spring. This is on top of the existing Local Restriction Support Grant (Closed) which will continue to offer businesses support of up to £3,000 for each month they closed.
Local authorities are being provided with a top up to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) worth £500 million, bringing the total value of ARG to over £1.6 billion. This grant ensures local authorities can support, on a discretionary basis, businesses not eligible for other grants but still affected by restrictions. Business grant policy remains a fully devolved area, with the Devolved Administrations receiving their share of this funding through the Barnett formula in the usual way.
Businesses across the UK can continue to apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which as of mid-December had supported 9.9 million jobs at the cost of over £45 billion, and its extension until the end of April 2021 will give many businesses and workers much-needed security. The Government has also extended the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) until the end of April 2021, with a boosted package of support providing the self-employed with grants covering 80% of average trading profits. So far SEISS has seen 2.7 million self-employed workers make claims under the scheme totaling £13.7bn.
Businesses needing access to liquidity can also apply for guaranteed loans through various loan schemes, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, until the end of March 2021. Over 1.4 million small and medium sized companies have received government-backed loans, worth over £68 billion
This support comes on top of billions of pounds’ worth of Rate Reliefs, tax deferrals, and other labour market schemes.
As announced by the Prime Minister on 3 February, a gradual and phased approach to easing England-wide restrictions will be set out in the week beginning 22 February.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend the deadline for the first repayment under the Bounce Back Loan scheme until after the January 2021 covid-19 national lockdown is lifted.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Under the Bounce Back Loan scheme, borrowers do not have to make any repayments for the first 12 months of the loan, giving the smallest businesses the breathing space they need during this difficult time. In addition, the Government covers the first 12 months of interest payments charged to the business by the lender.
In order to give businesses further support and flexibility in making their repayments, the Chancellor has announced “Pay as You Grow” (PAYG) options. PAYG will give businesses the option to repay their Bounce Back loan over ten years, reducing their average monthly repayments on the loan by almost half. Furthermore, businesses will also have the option to move temporarily to interest-only payments for periods of up to six months (an option which they can use up to three times), or to pause their repayments entirely for up to six months (an option they can use once and only after having made six payments).
Taken together, the 12-month payment holiday and interest-free period for borrowers, along with the PAYG options, provide a generous support package, giving businesses the time to get back on their feet.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to review the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to allow employers to include in their claim to HMRC (a) employer contributions to the employee's pension and (b) employer National Insurance or tax contributions.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Since November, employers are only asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions for hours not worked under the CJRS, which is lower than the previous level in September and October. For an average claim, this accounts for just 5 per cent of total employment costs or £70 per employee per month. Furthermore, many small employers can benefit from the Employment Allowance for support with their NICs bill.
Since March, businesses have received billions in loans, tax deferrals, Business Rate reliefs, and general and sector-specific grants. This support can be used by businesses to cover the costs of NICs and pension contributions, ensuring that they can continue to furlough their employees.
The Government will provide a further update on the CJRS at the Budget.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to review the eligibility criteria for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to include people employed throughout November and December 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
For all eligibility decisions under Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), the Government must balance the need to support as many jobs as possible with the need to protect the scheme from fraud.
Under the CJRS extension, an employer can claim for employees who were employed and on their PAYE payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee. The 30 October 2020 cut-off date allowed as many people as possible to be included by going right up to the day before the announcement, while balancing the risk of fraud that existed as soon as the scheme became public. Extending the cut-off date further would have significantly increased the risk of abuse because claims could not be confidently verified against the risk of fraud by using the data after this point.
The Government understands that the new restrictions are challenging for some businesses. On 5 January, the Chancellor announced an extra £4.6 billion to protect jobs and support affected businesses as restrictions get tougher, including a new one-off grant of up to £9,000 to support businesses in England which are legally required to close. This comes in addition to the existing monthly grants for closed businesses of up to £3,000 per month. Local authorities will also receive an additional £500 million, to a total of £1.6 billion, of discretionary funding to allow them to support their local businesses.
The CJRS is not the only support available for employees. The Government has boosted the generosity of the welfare system by £7.4 billion in 2020-21 including through a temporary £20 a week increase in the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element.