Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2023 to Question 260 on Cycle to Work Scheme: Fees and Charges, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of administration fees charged by providers of services operated under the Cycle to Work scheme on independent cycle shops.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury has not made any such assessment.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of his fiscal policies on the cost of living.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government understands how the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. These are global challenges however, as set out in the Spring Statement, the government is providing support worth over £22 billion in 2022-23 to help families with these pressures.
For example, a typical family with 2 children where one adult is on the average employee salary and the other works 16 hours at the NLW will be around than £3,000 a year better off as a result of recent government action, notably the NICs primary threshold change, UC taper rate and work allowance changes, and increase in the National Living Wage, even taking account the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the Exchequer of exempting defibrillators from VAT liability.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government provides support to aid the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) through VAT refunds on purchases made by local authorities and VAT reliefs for purchases made through voluntary contributions, where the AED is donated to eligible charities or the NHS. Otherwise, they attract the standard rate of VAT.
Introducing any new VAT reliefs would come at a cost to the Exchequer and the Government has received over £50 billion worth of requests for relief from VAT since the EU referendum. Given this, there are no plans to change the current VAT treatment on defibrillators. However, the Government keeps all taxes under constant review.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure wholesalers have access to the forthcoming Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Funding for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that have not otherwise been eligible for existing reliefs will be available once the legislation relating to material change in circumstance provisions, the Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, has passed and Local Authorities (LAs) have established their own local relief schemes. The Government will support LAs to do this as quickly as possible, including through new burdens funding.
Formal guidance will follow in due course, setting out the specific considerations that LAs should have regard for when providing relief. Relief will be for LAs to award on a discretionary basis.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including wholesalers in the forthcoming Covid-19 Additional Relief Fund guidance for the wellbeing of that sector.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Funding for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that have not otherwise been eligible for existing reliefs will be available once the legislation relating to material change in circumstance provisions, the Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill, has passed and Local Authorities (LAs) have established their own local relief schemes. The Government will support LAs to do this as quickly as possible, including through new burdens funding.
Formal guidance will follow in due course, setting out the specific considerations that LAs should have regard for when providing relief. Relief will be for LAs to award on a discretionary basis.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the business rate cut for retail, leisure and hospitality sectors set out in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 will apply to the leisure marine industry.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Guidance setting out eligibility for the 2022-23 retail, hospitality and leisure relief will be published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the financial effect on the Exchequer of reduced income from the travel sector during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances facing the travel sector as a result of Covid-19, and firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital, flexibilities with tax bills and the extended furlough scheme.
As set out in the Covid-19 Impact Assessment last November, the Government cannot forecast with confidence the precise impact of specific changes to restrictions, including those on the travel sector, as this will depend on a broad range of factors which are, in many cases, difficult to estimate.
The Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy and public finances, these are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The OBR’s latest forecast (March 3) highlighted that
the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented fiscal support has caused significant but necessary increase in borrowing and debt.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of introducing an aviation recovery package.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Chancellor regularly discusses a wide range of matters related to economic recovery with Cabinet colleagues.
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances facing the aviation industry as a result of Covid-19 and firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital and flexibilities with tax bills. In addition to economy-wide measures such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with almost £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development. This includes £8bn of guarantees provided by UK Export Finance.
In addition, the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme launched on 29 January 2021 will provide support for eligible businesses, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities in the 2020/21 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £8m. This will help companies with their fixed costs and could unlock shareholder and lender support.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings he has had with representatives of the aviation industry to discuss the planned aviation recovery package.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Chancellor speaks to industry representatives on a regular basis about a range of matters.
The Government recognises the challenging circumstances facing the aviation industry as a result of Covid-19 and firms experiencing difficulties can draw upon the unprecedented package of measures announced by the Chancellor, including schemes to raise capital and flexibilities with tax bills. In addition to economy-wide measures such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the aerospace sector and its aviation customers are being supported with almost £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development. This includes £8bn of guarantees provided by UK Export Finance.
In addition, the Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme launched on 29 January 2021 will provide support for eligible businesses, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities in the 2020/21 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £8m. This will help companies with their fixed costs and could unlock shareholder and lender support.
Asked by: Gavin Newlands (Scottish National Party - Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with professional accountancy bodies on the health implications for accountants and other allied professions in meeting HMRC deadlines for tax returns.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government understands the considerable pressures that the accountancy and other allied professions have been under in the past year, and that they have helped deliver the economic response to the pandemic, while at the same time suffering the effects of the pandemic on their own firms. The Government is very grateful to them for their valuable work.
HMRC have had constructive engagement with the professional bodies representing tax agents, and Jim Harra, HMRC’s First Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive, has personally written to them in response to their letters drawing his attention to the pressures their members are under.
HMRC are encouraging as many people as possible to file on time, even if they cannot pay their tax in full straight away, but they have also announced on 25 January that Self-Assessment taxpayers who file online by 28 February will not receive a late filing penalty.
Not charging late filing penalties for late filed Self-Assessment returns submitted online in February will give both taxpayers and accountants breathing space to complete and file their returns without the added worry of receiving a penalty.