Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likelihood that the consultation on the pensions charge cap will lead to higher returns for savers.
Answered by John Glen
This is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses are affected by the VAT reduction for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions in (a) the Scottish Borders and (b) in Scotland.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
It is estimated that about 13,000 businesses in Scotland benefit from the VAT reduced rate for hospitality, accommodation and attractions. Estimates are not available for lower level geographic areas.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress has been made on the National Savings and Investment's green savings product; and whether the Government has plans to offer that product to savers in summer 2021.
Answered by John Glen
Since the Chancellor’s announcement at Spring Budget 2021 that a Green Savings Bond will be offered through NS&I, work has continued at pace on the development of this product. The Green Savings Bond will be linked to the UK’s sovereign Green Bond framework, due to be published in June 2021, and will give UK savers the opportunity to take part in the collective effort to tackle climate change. Further details on the Green Savings Bond will be published in due course, prior to the product going on sale this summer.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Gift Aid has been paid to charities in the Scottish Borders in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Soft Drinks Industry Levy has raised since that Levy was introduced.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Since its introduction in April 2018, the provisional total for revenue raised from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy up to and including December 2020 is £802 million. This consists of the following amounts raised per financial year:
2018-19: £240 million
2019-20: £337 million
2020-21: £224 million (provisional year to date total covering revenue received between April 2020 and December 2020).
The discrepancy of £1 million between the overall total (£802 million) and the sum of financial year subtotals (£801 million) is due to rounding used by HMRC when producing these statistics.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on freeports.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Freeports will attract new businesses, spreading jobs, investment and opportunity to towns and cities up and down the country.
Last month, I met with the Scottish Government a few days before they publicly announced their intention to work with the UK Government to launch a Freeports bidding process in Scotland before the end of March.
I strongly welcome that announcement and look forward to bringing the benefits of Freeports to Scotland.