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Written Question
Public Expenditure: Scotland
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, HC 560, if he will publish a detailed breakdown of the Barnett consequential for Scotland.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

As a result of decisions at Spring Budget, the Scottish Government are now receiving around £295 million in additional funding in 2024-25 through the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to allocate their resources in devolved areas as they see fit.


Written Question
Apprentices: Taxation
Wednesday 31st January 2024

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total revenue raised via the apprenticeship levy from businesses in Scotland for each of the last five years.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Reliable estimates of the revenue raised from businesses in Scotland from the apprenticeship levy are not available as any estimate would need to be based on where employers are registered, and therefore would not necessarily reflect where the liabilities are accrued or where employees are based. Any estimate would not include businesses registered in Wales, Northern Ireland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Scotland.


Written Question
Research and Development Expenditure Credit
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of HMRC's Research and Development Tax relief reform changes on the number of UK SMEs submitting applications for tax relief.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Government is currently undertaking a review of R&D tax reliefs, to ensure the UK remains a competitive location for cutting edge research, that the reliefs continue to be fit for purpose, and that taxpayer money is effectively targeted. A number of reforms have already been announced as part of this review.

HMRC has considered the impacts of these measures, and these are set out Tax Information and Impact Notes published alongside any announcements.

HMRC publishes annual statistics on the number of R&D tax relief claims received: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/corporate-tax-research-and-development-tax-credit
Written Question
Research and Development Expenditure Credit
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Research and Development tax credit relief applicants have received repeated requests for information in the last 12 months.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Research and Development tax reliefs are a vital driver of innovation, growth and productivity and are crucial to the government’s pledge to grow the economy. It’s important that these reliefs are easy to claim and are provided quickly to genuine claimants.

HMRC does not record details of the number of additional requests for information, however, HMRC asks for information only where it is needed to support a claimant in justifying their claim.


Written Question
Whisky: Excise Duties
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer ,what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rise in alcohol duty on the (a) growth and (b) job creation prospects of the Scotch whisky industry.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The potential impacts of the recent changes to alcohol duty rates were published at Spring Budget in HMRC’s Tax Information and Impact Note and can be found online (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-rate-changes#summary-of-impacts).


Written Question
Revenue and Customs: Staff
Wednesday 6th September 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff working on Research and Development tax relief schemes in HMRC have (a) prior experience in and (b) qualifications relevant to the technological sector.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

HMRC does not expect staff working on Research and Development (R&D tax relief schemes to be experts in the field of technology. That is not required because it is HMRC’s responsibility to ask questions to establish that the claimant understands and has correctly applied the definition of qualifying R&D. HMRC are seeking to gather information to test against the requirements for eligibility.

HMRC staff work with customers to understand the commercial context of their activities and whether they qualify for R&D relief and as part of the checking process. Where HMRC deal with complex matters HMRC staff can seek technical support or specialist advice.


Written Question
Trade Marks: Registration
Wednesday 19th July 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority's procedures for authorising the association of multiple trading names with a single registration.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an operationally independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the FCA is responsible for developing and implementing rules, including relating to trading names. Further information on the FCA’s approach is available on its website.

Through the Financial Services Act 2021, the government granted the FCA new powers to remove permissions from firms when they are not carrying out the regulated activities they are permitted to. The FCA has since undertaken a ‘use it or lose it’ exercise, removing firms’ permissions where they are not carrying out regulated activities.

This has seen the FCA carry out 1,090 assessments in 2021/22 and resulted in 264 firms applying to voluntarily cancel, and a further 47 to modify, their permission to carry out regulated activities.

Ministers regularly engage with the FCA on a range of issues while recognising that the independence of the FCA is critical to its functions.


Written Question
Trade Marks: Registration
Tuesday 18th July 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority's procedures for ensuring that all trading names associated with a single registration are properly authorised.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an operationally independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry. Although the Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services, the FCA is responsible for developing and implementing rules, including relating to trading names. Further information on the FCA’s approach is available on its website.

Through the Financial Services Act 2021, the government granted the FCA new powers to remove permissions from firms when they are not carrying out the regulated activities they are permitted to. The FCA has since undertaken a ‘use it or lose it’ exercise, removing firms’ permissions where they are not carrying out regulated activities.

This has seen the FCA carry out 1,090 assessments in 2021/22 and resulted in 264 firms applying to voluntarily cancel, and a further 47 to modify, their permission to carry out regulated activities.

Ministers regularly engage with the FCA on a range of issues while recognising that the independence of the FCA is critical to its functions.


Written Question
Swimming: VAT
Monday 12th June 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits for children's participation in swimming of removing VAT from the price of children's swimming lessons.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The standard rate of VAT applies to most goods and services. Exceptions have always been strictly limited by legal and fiscal considerations.

Swimming lessons provided by local authorities may be exempt from VAT, as are swimming lessons and other supplies of education made by specified eligible, non-profit making bodies. The Government has no plans to change this.

Going further would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. Nevertheless, the Government keeps all taxes under review.


Written Question
Cash Dispensing: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 2nd May 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help maintain the number of free-to-use cash machines.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government is currently taking legislation to protect access to cash across the UK through Parliament as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill 2022. The legislation will establish the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.

With regards to the provision of free-to-use ATMs, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has made commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. According to LINK data for February 2023, there were 39,500 free-to-use ATMs across the UK. Further information is available at: https://www.link.co.uk/initiatives/financial-inclusion-monthly-report/

Treasury Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-giftsand-overseas-travel