Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to introduce VAT relief for pilot training.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pilot training may be exempt from VAT when provided by an eligible body which meets certain conditions (for example, when provided by a government institution or certain regulated organisations), but otherwise will be subject to the standard rate. The Government currently has no plans to remove VAT on pilot flight training courses more broadly.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the tax-free threshold for pensioners to £15,000.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve. The Personal Allowance is currently set at a level high enough to ensure that those pensioners whose sole income is the full new State Pension or basic State Pension do not pay any income tax.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional funding his Department provided to the block grant for Wales as a consequence of the five per cent uplift determined following the agreement between the Welsh government and the UK Government on the Welsh government’s fiscal framework, published on 19 December 2016, in each financial year since 2020-21.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Block Grant Transparency publication sets out a full breakdown of funding for the Welsh Government, including the impact of the 5% uplift.
This publication is updated regularly, and the most recent report was published in July 2023.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how each Barnett consequential due to the Northern Ireland Executive was accrued in the period since 1 April 2023; when each was accrued; and what the value of each consequential was.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The UK Government provided £297 million of non-ringfenced RDEL funding to the Northern Ireland Executive at Supplementary Estimates 2022-23 to ensure the delivery of a balanced budget.
In the absence of an Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set a budget for 2023-24 via Written Ministerial Statement on 27 April 2023. This included flexibility on the repayment of the 2022-23 overspend.
The Northern Ireland Executive received £17 million non-ringfenced RDEL and £13 million general CDEL in Barnett consequentials at Mains Estimates 2023-24. Any further Barnett consequentials will be confirmed if UK Government departmental budgets change at subsequent fiscal events.
A more detailed breakdown of Barnett funding can be found in the Block Grant Transparency publication.
Block Grant Transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the Northern Ireland Executive's overspend in the financial year 2022-23.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The UK Government provided £297 million of non-ringfenced RDEL funding to the Northern Ireland Executive at Supplementary Estimates 2022-23 to ensure the delivery of a balanced budget.
In the absence of an Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set a budget for 2023-24 via Written Ministerial Statement on 27 April 2023. This included flexibility on the repayment of the 2022-23 overspend.
The Northern Ireland Executive received £17 million non-ringfenced RDEL and £13 million general CDEL in Barnett consequentials at Mains Estimates 2023-24. Any further Barnett consequentials will be confirmed if UK Government departmental budgets change at subsequent fiscal events.
A more detailed breakdown of Barnett funding can be found in the Block Grant Transparency publication.
Block Grant Transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much remains in the Northern Ireland Executive's 2022-23 financial year overspend following the deduction of Barnett consequentials.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The UK Government provided £297 million of non-ringfenced RDEL funding to the Northern Ireland Executive at Supplementary Estimates 2022-23 to ensure the delivery of a balanced budget.
In the absence of an Executive, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland set a budget for 2023-24 via Written Ministerial Statement on 27 April 2023. This included flexibility on the repayment of the 2022-23 overspend.
The Northern Ireland Executive received £17 million non-ringfenced RDEL and £13 million general CDEL in Barnett consequentials at Mains Estimates 2023-24. Any further Barnett consequentials will be confirmed if UK Government departmental budgets change at subsequent fiscal events.
A more detailed breakdown of Barnett funding can be found in the Block Grant Transparency publication.
Block Grant Transparency: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money has been returned from Stormont to the UK Government in un-used Financial Transaction Barnett Consequentials in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2022-2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Northern Ireland Executive receive ringfenced Financial Transactions Capital (FTC) funding. FTC funding is different to other aspects of the DEL block grant as it is treated as a financial transaction rather than spending and does not affect Public Sector Net Borrowing.
The Northern Ireland Executive Financial transaction budgets are provided with FTC funding through the Barnett formula in a consistent manner to UK Government departments. Where funding is provided on a net basis, repayments of loans can be recycled indefinitely into new loans. Where funding is provided on a gross basis, the Northern Ireland Executive is required to return funding to HM Treasury within an agreed period.
There were no underspends for the financial years 2010-11 through 2015-16. In subsequent years, the underspends were as follows:
Outturn data for 2022-23 is not yet available.
Any income from repayments of loans or underspends against the Northern Ireland Executive’s wider FTC funding can be used to reduce the amount of gross FTC repayable over time and the Executive have made use of this option. The UK Government maintains regular engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive on treatment of FTC funding.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional funding was contributed to the Welsh Block grant in each financial year between 2017-23 as the result of the 5 per cent uplift arising from the December 2016 Agreement between the Welsh Government and the United Kingdom Government on the Welsh Government’s fiscal framework.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Block Grant Transparency publication sets out a full breakdown of funding for the Welsh Government, including the impact of the 5% uplift.
The publication is regularly updated after each UK Budget. The next update is expected before summer recess following Spring Budget 2023.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to protect access to cash in the last 12 months.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, and remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash.
As part of the Financial Services Act 2021, the Government made legislative changes to support the widespread offering of cashback without a purchase by shops and other businesses.
From 1 July to 23 September last year, the Government held the Access to Cash Consultation on further proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities.
The Government received responses to the consultation from a broad range of respondents, including individuals, businesses, and charities. The Government has carefully considered responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.
Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to extend the temporary VAT rate of 12.5 per cent for the hospitality sector beyond March 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022.
This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases, the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.