Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the role of free ports in tackling global tax avoidance and evasion.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Free Trade Zones and ports play a clear role in facilitating legitimate international trade, but where there is lax oversight or weak governance they are susceptible to abuse by transnational criminal networks. Under the joint leadership of HMRC and the US Department of Homeland Security, the OECD Countering Illicit Trade Taskforce has made significant progress in developing draft guidance on measures to enhance the transparency of Free Trade Zones, so as to promote clean and fair trade and to make them unattractive to people and organisations looking to conduct tax evasion and commit crime.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends in the Sovereign Grant and Sovereign Grant Reserve over the last three years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the three Royal Trustees, alongside the Prime Minister and the Keeper of the Privy Purse. As required under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, in each financial year the Royal Trustees publish a report setting out how the Sovereign Grant is calculated for the following financial year. This includes an analysis of the Reserve.
The Royal Trustee’s report on the Sovereign Grant for 2019-20 was published in October 2018, and can be found on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sovereign-grant-act-2011-report-of-the-royal-trustees-on-the-sovereign-grant-for-2019-20
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the revenue forgone to the public purse from the recalculation of the Sovereign-Grant from 15 per cent to 25 per cent of the Crown Estate profits for the financial years 2017-18 to 2027-28.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As set out in the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, the Sovereign Grant is set by reference to the revenue of The Crown Estate. In exchange for the Sovereign Grant, The Queen surrenders the revenue from The Crown Estate to the government, which in 2018-19 was £343.5 million, and over the last ten years has resulted in an over £2.8 billion contribution to supporting our vital public services. The Sovereign Grant for 2019-20 is £82.4 million.
Under Section 8 of the Sovereign Grant Act, HM Treasury can vary by order the percentage for the Sovereign Grant where the Royal Trustees consider that the current percentage is not appropriate. Following the 2016 Report of the Royal Trustees on the Sovereign Grant Review, in 2017 the percentage was increased from 15% to 25% in order to enable substantial works to reservice Buckingham Palace, to ensure that the Palace can continue to be able to support the Sovereign in the performance of Her official duties. This report set out in detail that Buckingham Palace’s infrastructure urgently needed a major overhaul to avoid the very real danger of catastrophic failure leading to fire or flood. The reservicing will be a ten year programme, at a total cost of £369 million.
The report is available on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-of-the-royal-trustees-on-the-sovereign-grant-review-2016
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the difference between the expenditure of the Royal Household and the amount of the Sovereign Grant allocated in each year since its introduction.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is one of the three Royal Trustees, alongside the Prime Minister and the Keeper of the Privy Purse. As required under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, in each financial year the Royal Trustees publish a report setting out how the Sovereign Grant is calculated for the following financial year. This includes an analysis of the Reserve.
The Royal Trustee’s report on the Sovereign Grant for 2019-20 was published in October 2018, and can be found on the gov.uk website at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sovereign-grant-act-2011-report-of-the-royal-trustees-on-the-sovereign-grant-for-2019-20
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of the £37.8 million spent by the Sovereign on property maintenance was spent on (a) Buckingham Palace, (b) St James's Palace, (c) Windsor Castle, (d) Hampton Court Mews, (e) Windsor Home Park and (f) Kensington Palace.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
HM Treasury does not hold this information. As set out in the 2018-19 Sovereign Grant Annual Report and Accounts, the £37.8 million spent on property maintenance comprises £14.1 million expenditure on the Reservicing of Buckingham Palace and £23.7 million on core activities. The Report and Accounts detail all core projects across the Estate costing over £350,000, as set out on pages 8 to 12. Future projects are outlined on pages 24 to 25.
The Report and the Accounts can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sovereign-grant-accounts
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of firms have signed up to the no-deal customs facilitation scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Listening to concerns from business, HMRC is introducing temporary easements for a ‘no deal’ scenario including Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSP). Once registered for TSP, traders will be able to import goods from the EU into the UK without having to make a full customs declaration at the border and will be able to postpone paying any duties. As of 9 June 2019, 17,900 businesses have applied for TSP. It is for businesses to decide whether TSP is right for them.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of offices of transit that will be required for full customs formalities in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on the 31 of October 2019.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The UK has been invited to accede to the Common Transit Convention (CTC) as a contracting party when it leaves the EU. If the UK is outside the EU customs union it will have to carry out the office of transit function on transit movements entering the UK from the EU and other countries. Many existing UK ports and airports have existing facilities for transit movements, including carrying out the office of transit function. These offices will continue to operate, and HMRC and Border Force are working to ensure they will be able to meet the increased demand that will result from EU exit.
At three high volume locations the UK has agreed a different arrangement with the other parties to the CTC. Under this agreement the office of transit function will not be a physical location, but will be carried out digitally.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of forms hauliers travelling from the UK to the EU would be required to submit daily to maintain current levels of trade with the EU in the event of full customs formalities at the border if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
It will be for exporters to the EU, rather than hauliers moving the goods, to submit export declarations and any associated documentation to HMG.
However, to ensure that the goods are being legally exported, hauliers will need to check with the trader that the goods have received ‘permission to progress’ to the port from HMRC before taking them across the border.
Hauliers should check with the relevant EU Member State to find out what forms are required to import into the EU.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what date has been set for the conclusion of the next spending review.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As the Chancellor announced at Spring Statement, if a deal with the EU is agreed, the 2019 Spending Review will conclude alongside an Autumn Budget.