Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that banks continue to provide banking facilities for charities and community groups without imposing unaffordable charges.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been unprecedented demand for banking services, this accompanied with working restrictions due to social distancing has meant banks have faced significant capacity pressures which has limited their ability to meet demand for bank accounts, among other things.
Banks continue to work hard to meet this demand. Ultimately, 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. While I recognise the important role of the third sector, I hope you can appreciate that it would be inappropriate for the Government to intervene in these decisions.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reconsider the provisions under Section 33 of the VAT Act 1994 which mean charitable bodies cannot recover VAT on public benefit works on endowed sites.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Eligibility for VAT refunds for public bodies is subject to strict criteria, as set out in UK legislation. Although the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to extend the scope of Section 33 at this time.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that elderly people in self-isolation due to the outbreak of covid-19 are able to access cash for grocery shopping.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that cash will remain important to the daily lives of millions of people during the Covid-19 outbreak, particularly to those in vulnerable groups.
The UK has a resilient cash supply system and the cash industry has well developed contingency arrangements. The Government is working closely with the cash industry and regulators to ensure that people continue to be able to access their cash.
The banking and finance industry has committed to support all customers who are impacted. Customers who are impacted are advised to temporarily use alternatives where possible - such as digital banking, telephone banking or the Post Office - or contact their account provider.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of the (a) freezes and (b) reductions in alcohol duty in each year since 2012.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) published policy costings, we estimate the cumulative loss to the Exchequer from the successive alcohol duty freezes and cuts from financial year 2013-14 to the current financial year 2018-19 to be around £5.2bn.
The annual impacts on the Exchequer are reported in the table below.
(£m) | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
Exchequer Impact | -170 | -505 | -685 | -770 | -820 | -1,059 | -1,217 |
These past decisions will also incur future losses to the Exchequer in years beyond 2019-20. The OBR’s costings of previously announced policies currently extend to 2023-23, and the future impact of these announced freezes and cuts in the alcohol duties to that year is estimated to be around £5.2bn.
The future annual impacts are set out in the table below.
(£m) | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Exchequer Impact | -1,246 | -1,282 | -1,320 | -1,361 |
The OBR’s policy costings are available at the following link:
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/download/policy-measures-database/
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure the immediate release of Roadchef pension fund monies to Christine Slack and other former Roadchef employees; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if HMRC will ensure the immediate release of Roadchef pension fund monies to Christine Slack and other former Roadchef employees; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate the Government has of the effect of the alcohol duty freeze on (a) public health and (b) alcohol-related deaths.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
HM Treasury keeps all taxes, including alcohol duties, under review.
The Government has assessed that the increase in alcohol duty rates in line with inflation at the last budget is likely to lead to a minor decrease in overall alcohol consumption in the UK.
Further information on the impact of the alcohol duty changes can be found on the associated Tax Information and Impact Note, published in October 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/increase-in-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-uprating
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the income tax system has been in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the tax and welfare systems.
The income tax system does this through various allowances including the married couples allowance and marriage allowance, and by providing tax reliefs for childcare. The Government also supports families through increasing tax thresholds including increasing the Personal Allowance to £12,500 for 2019 to 2020.
The annual costs of most of these types of support in each financial year since 2010 have been set out in various HMRC publications.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost of recognising family responsibility in the welfare system has been in each financial year since 2010.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government supports families in a number of ways, including through the welfare system.
For instance, every year the Government spends more than £11bn on Child Benefit in recognition of the costs to families of raising children. In addition to this, at the last Budget, the Chancellor put an additional £1.7bn per year into the Universal Credit Work Allowances for families with children and those where someone has a disability.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much of the £4.3 billion set aside for preparations for the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal has been spent.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Government is committed to ensuring all necessary preparations are made before the UK’s departure from the EU, for all scenarios, deal or no deal. HM Treasury has in total allocated over £4.2bn across government to help departments and devolved administrations prepare for Brexit. Of this, some £2.2bn has been allocated to financial years that have now past, covering 2016-17 to 2018-19. Individual departments report on all of their spending to Parliament through their annual reports and accounts, however aggregate outturn data on EU Exit spending is not available.
Over £2bn of additional funding has been allocated to the current financial year, 2019-20. A full breakdown of the allocations can be found in the Chief Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement, HCWS1205, laid on the 18th December (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2018-12-18/HCWS1205/)