Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many customs intermediaries are employed in the UK as of November 2020; how many customs intermediaries he estimates will be employed by January 2021.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC do not employ customs agents/customs intermediaries directly.
The sector is varied and made up of a number of different business models including specific customs brokers, freight forwarders and fast parcel operators; all of which will require varied numbers of staff. Many in the sector have innovated and brought in significant IT solutions which have reduced the numbers of staff they require.
The Government has made available over £80 million to increase the capacity of the sector. The grants are flexible in order to reflect the diversity of the sector and cover IT, training and recruitment to support businesses to innovate and work within their own business model.
The Government continues to monitor progress carefully and keeps all support mechanisms under review.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) changing the requirements of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Job Support Scheme to allow for eligibility to be considered on an individual basis and (b) those schemes using national insurance numbers to allow support to be transferable between successive employers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The requirements of the Job Support Scheme (JSS) have been carefully considered to ensure that the scheme is effective at supporting jobs, is accessible to those who need it and minimises the risks of fraud.
Further details are set out in the JSS Policy Paper, which was published on 22 October 2020 and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-job-support-scheme/the-job-support-scheme
Full guidance will be published shortly.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Welsh Government has received in Barnett consequentials as a result of the £1.6 billion allocated to cladding remediation in England.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At Spring Budget 2020, £1 billion of additional funding was allocated to cladding remediation in England through the creation of the Building Safety Fund. This generated a Barnett consequential of around £59 million for the Welsh Government. The remaining £600m was funded through existing MHCLG budgets as set at the 2015 Spending Review. The Welsh Government has therefore already received the Barnett consequentials associated with this funding.
HM Treasury’s Block Grant Transparency publication sets out the breakdown of changes in the devolved administrations’ block grants, including all Barnett consequentials, since the 2015 Spending Review.
This is available on the gov.uk website here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2020
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what tests he has carried out on the application of the Goods Vehicle Movement Service for goods moving through Welsh ports; and what the outcome of those tests was.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC will work with carriers and operators to develop delivery plans, provide technical support and guidance on their key milestones of development, IT build and test, and will monitor progress against their plans.
The Goods Vehicle Movement Service technical specifications have been available since mid-July and provide carriers and operators with the specifications and understanding of the technical requirement.
A new Virtualised Test Service has been available since 3 August 2020 which allows carriers and operators to test their software against the HMRC specification to ensure alignment and compliance.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has identified an inland customs clearance area for Holyhead port.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC are working closely across Government and with ports to understand requirements and implement infrastructure changes in line with the support announced by the Government. As well as engaging with ports to understand what infrastructure may be required, HMRC are reviewing a number of potential sites which are close to ports, and near strategic road networks, including options to support Holyhead.Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on customs clearance areas for Holyhead port.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Treasury ministers and officials meet with a wide range of stakeholders across the public and private sector as part of policy development and implementation.
In addition, HMRC hold regular discussions at working level with the Welsh Government concerning the need for clearance facilities for traffic moving through the port of Holyhead. They are also engaging with Anglesey County Council.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to undertake an independent quality assurance review of RBS Global Restructuring Group's treatment of SMEs.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The fact that there were areas of widespread inappropriate treatment of firms by RBS GRG is clearly unacceptable. RBS rightly apologised for these mistakes, and set up a scheme to compensate victims. This scheme has, to date, paid out [£150] million to complainants.
This complaints process, overseen by Sir William Blackburne, adds a robust, transparent and independent step to the complaints process, should SME customers who were in GRG wish to complain about their treatment or challenge the bank’s decision on a previous complaint.
Therefore the Government will not establish an independent quality assurance review.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the upcoming G20 meeting of Finance Ministers, what steps he has taken to facilitate debt relief for developing countries.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
HM Government is concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the debt vulnerabilities low-income developing countries, which were already at worrying levels before the crisis.
While the UK cancelled most of our low-income developing country debt under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the Chancellor joined his G20 counterparts to commit to a temporary suspension on debt service repayments from the 77 poorest countries under the debt service suspension initiative (DSSI). Through the DSSI, official creditors will provide up to US$12bn of cash flow relief to help countries respond to the health and economic impacts of COVID-19.
The Chancellor and his counterparts will be meeting with his G20 counterparts later this month, in part to discuss DSSI implementation. The DSSI provides the breathing room for countries to respond to the crisis and for the international community to determine what further support may be needed for countries on a case-by-case basis. If debts do require restructuring, the UK will work with the Paris Club of official creditors, IMF, and WBG to support equitable debt reductions and long-term sustainable growth.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the valuation of properties under the Non-Domestic Rating (Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2010, what guidance his Department has issued to the Valuation Office Agency on non-domestic properties that have been let out to key workers during the covid-19 pandemic; and what discussions he has had with representatives from the Welsh Government on that matter.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Business rates and ratings are devolved in Wales, and are therefore a matter for the Welsh Government.
In England, to be classed as non-domestic property the owner must have made the property available for commercial short-term letting for at least 140 days in the last year; to have actually let it for a total of at least 70 days; and have arranged for it to be available on the same basis over the next 12 months.