Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with business on interest rates.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Treasury ministers and officials hold regular discussions with businesses, both individually and through their representative organisations such as the Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors, The 100 Group and the British Chambers of Commerce, on a range of issues affecting businesses including interest rates.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an estimate of the number of large businesses paying into the highest bracket of corporation tax in calendar years (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
When the Corporation Tax rate change was announced at Budget 2021 it was estimated that around 200,000 companies would pay the 25% rate. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2021
Estimates of actual numbers paying the main rate will be published once data is available.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to impose a duty on (a) technology, (b) social media and (c) telecommunication companies to contribute towards the costs of refunding victims of fraud which originated on their platforms.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is vital that the tech sector takes a proactive role to prevent online fraud and that the requirement on the sector is proportionate to their ability, as a platform host, to identify online fraud.
In recognition of the responsibility of the tech sector for tackling fraud, the Online Safety Bill will place a requirement on relevant companies to take preventive measures to stop fraudulent content and advertising from appearing on their platforms, or face fines of up to £18m or 10% of their annual turnover. In the interim, the Fraud Strategy, published by the Home Office in May, set out measures to reduce fraud incidents by 10% by the end of the current Parliament, including the announcement that the government would negotiate and agree a voluntary Online Fraud Charter with the tech sector by the end of the summer. We will publish further details on the Charter in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department is taking to help ensure vulnerable groups have access to cash and in-person banking services.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that while the transition towards digital banking and payments brings opportunities, cash and in-person services continue to be used by many people, including those who may be in vulnerable groups, across the UK.
The government has recently legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish a new legislative framework to protect access to cash. The Act establishes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities. As part of this, the FCA must also seek to ensure that there is reasonable provision of free cash withdrawal and deposit facilities in relation to personal current accounts.
Decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue, and the government does not intervene in these. However, the FCA’s guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of any planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements for those who rely on in-person services. In particular, the FCA expects firms to analyse the needs and characteristics of customers in vulnerable circumstances currently using the sites. This includes known protected characteristics such as age or disability.
In the context of the government’s access to cash legislation, the financial services sector is working together to develop and provide shared services. To date, industry has committed to over 100 shared cash access services, including over 60 banking hubs. People can also access cash and everyday banking services via their local Post Office.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to support people with increases in mortgage costs, in the context of increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The pricing and availability of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene.
However, we recognise this will be a concerning time for all households with a mortgage. The Prime Minister has been clear, the best and most important way that we can keep costs and interest rates down for people is to halve inflation, and then return it to the 2% target.
Following the commitments agreed to support borrowers in December, the Chancellor met with mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority on 23 June. At this meeting, lenders agreed to a new Mortgage Charter to support borrowers struggling with their mortgage payments, which was published on 26 June. This sets out the standards lenders will adopt when helping their customers, including new flexibilities to help customers manage their mortgage payments over a short period.
This is in addition to the measures the Government has already taken aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of forecasted trends in the level of global growth in the next five years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a package to boost economic growth by removing the barriers to work to increase labour supply, reforming the UK’s tax system to incentivise business investment and improve productivity, and continuing to support the UK’s high growth sectors through better regulation.
The Office for Budget Responsibility expect that this package will result in the largest policy-induced permanent increase in UK GDP in their medium-term forecast. While international economic conditions remain challenging, the UK has exceeded expectations, leading to the IMF and OECD to revise up their UK growth forecasts, while taking into consideration global macro-economic conditions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has held recent discussions with banks on fixed rate mortgages for first time buyers.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
HM Treasury is regularly in contact with mortgage lenders on all aspects of their mortgage business to understand their position and current lending conditions. There is a wide choice of fixed-rate mortgage products available in the market for all prospective buyers. However, the pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of inflation on the assets of long-term savers.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises the importance of getting inflation down, and there are three key things the government is doing to deliver on the plan to halve inflation.
Firstly, remaining steadfast in our support for the independent MPC at the Bank of England, as they take action to return inflation to target. Secondly, making difficult but responsible decisions on tax and spending so we are not adding fuel to the fire. Third, tackling high energy prices by holding down energy bills for households and businesses, alongside investing in long-term energy security.
Both the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that inflation will fall notably this year. The government recognises the challenges faced by households due to elevated cost of living and has provided support worth £3,300 per household on average, across 2022-23 and 2023-24.
In addition, the Government has a number of savings tax reliefs to support to support savers.
Individuals can save up to £20,000 into their ISA each year and coupled with the Personal Savings Allowance of up to £1,000 for basic rate taxpayers and up to £500 for higher rate taxpayers, around 95% of people with savings income pay no tax on that income. ISAs have been a well-regarded and highly utilised investment and savings vehicle for many. Around £72 billion was subscribed to Adult ISAs in 2020 to 2021.
The government keeps ISA policy under review to ensure it remains and appropriate vehicle for savers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to recover public funds received improperly during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government has always been clear that fraud is unacceptable. Those who attempted to defraud public funds will be subject to both criminal and commercial recovery efforts.
On Covid-19 support schemes administered by HMRC, over £1.2 billion worth of grants were either blocked from being paid out or recovered through compliance work by the end of March 2022, with more work ongoing.
Significant work has been underway across Government and commercial lenders to address fraudulent activity in relation to the Covid-19 loan schemes. We are working with lenders, law enforcement, and partners across Government to recover fraudulently obtained loans. We have been clear that Government will not hesitate to take criminal action against serious cases, and as of January 2023 49 arrests have been made in relation to Bounce Back Loan fraud.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent trends in the level of GDP.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
HM Treasury does not prepare forecasts for the UK economy, including assessments of the impact of the Budget, which are the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The OBR judged that the overall impact of the policy package announced at Spring Budget 2023 is to increase the level of real GDP by around 0.2 per cent in 2027-28. This is the largest upward revision made to potential output as a result of government fiscal policy decisions in any of the OBR’s forecasts since 2010.
Further details can be found in the OBR’s latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published in March 2023: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-march-2023/