Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential fiscal impacts of increasing funding for sustainable aviation fuels.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The government is committed to supporting the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). A SAF mandate will be introduced to drive demand. A consultation setting out further detail on the mandate and potential uptake trajectories for SAF was published on 30 March. It reaffirms our commitment that at least 10% of fuel must be made from sustainable sources by 2030.
The government is investing in SAF plants to boost supply. 8 SAF plants received support through the green fuels, green skies competition. A further £165m is being invested through the Advanced Fuels Fund between 2022 – 25 to support UK SAF plants reach commercial scale.
DfT commissioned an independent review in October 2022 to understand how to accelerate investment in a UK SAF industry. The government will publish the review and respond to it shortly. The government has been clear that it wants to see the UK continue to capture its share of the global SAF market and play a leading role in the development, production and use of SAF. As the response to the independent report will set out, government will continue to work in partnership with industry and investors to explore the best approach to addressing barriers to investment.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of providing a long-term funding stream for specialist (a) mobility and (b) orthotic equipment for veterans that was previously provided under the Veterans Mobility Fund.
Answered by John Glen
The Government is committed to supporting all our veterans, and to ensuring that they continue to thrive after leaving the services.
Since 2014, the Government has committed £773m of LIBOR fines to support Armed Forces and Emergency Service charities.
As part of this package, the Chancellor awarded the Royal British Legion £3m to develop a Veterans Mobility Fund, designed to meet the wellbeing needs of veterans discharged with service-attributable serious physical injury. At the same time, the Chancellor also awarded £10m to develop a Veterans Hearing Fund, providing support to veterans who suffered hearing loss during service.
In 2019, at the Royal British Legion’s request, the Treasury authorised the transfer of almost £1.5m from the Veterans Mobility Fund to the Veterans Hearing Fund, following dramatic increases in the rate of applications for the Hearing Fund and a comparatively static application rate for the Mobility Fund. Both the Veterans Hearing and Veterans Mobility Funds have now closed.
Since 2020, we have announced a further £10m funding to support veterans’ mental health, £475k to support the development of a digital and data strategy for the sector, £5m to enable charities to address the impact of events in Afghanistan on veterans, a £5m Veterans’ Health Innovation Fund, and £8.55m in December last year to end veteran homelessness in 2023.
More than 100 service charities, including those who support veterans, also benefitted from £6m of the £750m to support the charity sector announced by the Chancellor in April 21 in support of COVID-19.
The Governments Veterans’ Strategy Action Plan sets out the steps we will take in the next two years towards our ambition of making the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran by 2028.
The Chancellor engages with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care routinely on health matters.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on VAT shopping at airports of the report by Oxford Economics entitled Assessing the impact of tax-free shopping in the UK, published in November 2022; and if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to re-establish the policy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Chancellor announced on 17 October 2022 that the Government will not be proceeding with plans to introduce a new VAT-free shopping scheme. This decision was included as part of the reversal of almost all of the tax measures set out in the Growth Plan on 23 September which were not legislated for in Parliament. The Chancellor has taken these decisions to ensure the UK’s economic stability and to provide confidence in the Government’s commitment to fiscal discipline. The Chancellor made clear in his statement that the UK’s public finances must be on a sustainable path into the medium term.
Introducing VAT-free shopping would come at a significant fiscal cost as it would subsidise a large amount of tourist spending which already occurs without a tax relief in place.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility published their assessment of the withdrawal of the previous VAT-free shopping schemes in November 2020. This showed that the withdrawal of VAT-free shopping would raise a significant amount of revenue and have a limited behavioural effect on decisions to visit, or spend, in the UK.
Nonetheless, the Government keeps all taxes under review and considers all available evidence as part of the policy-making process.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing duty free shopping on arrival at ports in Great Britain.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Duty-free on arrival would place additional pressure on the public finances to which excise duty makes a significant contribution.
Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.
Although there are no plans to introduce such a scheme, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.67 of the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, whether food and drink wholesalers will be eligible for the 50 per cent business rates relief discount.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Guidance setting out eligibility for the 2022-23 retail, hospitality and leisure reliefs will be published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in due course.