Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the hospitality, retail and leisure grants to the wholesale food and drink sector.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that this is a very challenging time for businesses in a wide variety of sectors. Small businesses occupying properties for retail, hospitality or leisure purposes are likely to be particularly affected by COVID-19 due to their reliance on customer footfall, and the fact that they are less likely than larger businesses to have sufficient cash reserves to meet their high fixed property-related costs. The Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF) is intended to help small businesses in this situation.
Local Authorities (LAs) can choose to make discretionary grants to businesses in other supply chains, like the wholesale food and drink sector, if they feel there is a particular local economic need. The Government has allocated up to an additional £617 million to LAs to enable them to give discretionary grants to businesses in this situation. LAs may choose to focus payments on those priority groups which are most relevant to their local areas or to businesses outside of these priority groups, so long as the business was trading on 11th March, and has not received any other cash grant funded by central Government.
Small businesses which are not eligible for business grants should still be able to benefit from other elements of the Government’s unprecedented package of support for business. The Business Support website provides further information about how businesses can access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply - https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the application of business rates relief to food and drink wholesalers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has provided enhanced support to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance for local authorities on eligible properties.
A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as wholesalers, has also been made available. For example, the Government has launched the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms keep people in employment, and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the pay (a) minimum and (b) maximum is for each civil service grade in his Department below the Senior Civil Service (i) inside and (ii) outside the London area.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Treasury’s pay ranges as of 1st August 2019 are as follows:
Range | London pay range (£) as of 1 August 2019 Min - Max | National pay range (£) as of 1 August 2019 Min - Max |
Range E2 | 61,200 - 70,000 | 58,200 - 67,000 |
Range E | 51,000 - 64,498 | 48,000 - 61,498 |
Range D Experienced | 36,800 - 45,700 | 33,800 - 42,700 |
?Range D | ?32,000 - 36,800 | ?29,000 - 42,700 |
?Graduate entry salary | ?28,500 | ?- |
Range C | 26,000 - 31,000 | 23,000 - 28,000 |
Range B | 23,000 - 25,000 | 20,000 - 22,000 |
?Apprentice & Student single salary spot rate (£) | ||
GES Sandwich / Summer Students | 22,500 | - |
??Range C Apprentice | 23,600 | 20,160 |
?Range B Apprentice & Diversity Students | 19,800 | 17,300? |
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports he has received on the extent of the use of trusts as tax avoidance vehicles; and what steps he is taking to tackle that use of trusts.
Answered by Jesse Norman
While most trusts are used legitimately, some people use them in an attempt to avoid or evade tax. HMRC review and challenge these arrangements as part of their risk based compliance strategy.
Of the avoidance schemes disclosed under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS) regime since 2014, analysis at the point of disclosure indicates that around a third of them include trusts. However, the use of a trust may not be a material component of the scheme. The exact use of a trust will in many cases only become clear on further investigation.
Recent reforms have increased the tax transparency of trusts. These include international information exchange under the Common Reporting Standard (which includes financial accounts relevant to trusts) and a UK requirement that all trusts with a UK tax liability must register with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Development on establishing an Overseas Loan Transparency Register to ensure that people using UK law in loan contracts are not able to make secret loans to governments in the Global South.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not discussed proposals to establish an “Overseas Loan Transparency Register” with the Secretary of State for International Development.
The UK Government is concerned about the sustainability and transparency of loans to low income developing countries. Given the complex international nature of sovereign debt, we continue to believe that internationally-agreed approaches are the most effective way to promote sovereign debt transparency.
The UK is working through the G20 to monitor an industry-led initiative by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) to improve the transparency of lending of private creditors. The work of the IIF was acknowledged by finance ministers in June at the G20 finance ministers’ summit in Fukuoka, and the UK government will be closely monitoring its progress.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 in relation to the offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion.
Answered by Jesse Norman
On 13 March 2019 HMRC published research on the impact of the commencement of the corporate criminal offences introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017.
The research is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-corporate-behaviour-change-in-response-to-the-corporate-criminal-offences
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports he has received on the level of the practice of dividend arbitrage; and what steps he is taking to end dividend arbitrage.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Financial Conduct Authority published requirements for firms relating to dividend arbitrage in Market Watch 52, along with a summary of the findings of a review of firms engaged in the practice. These requirements are designed to ensure that firms maintain effective systems and controls to ensure they are not used to facilitate market abuse, or are used for a purpose connected with financial crime.
The UK is taking a leading role internationally in preventing the use of these practices for illicit purposes and I am working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure that these practices are not used to facilitate market abuse.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has received reports of UK involvement in the tax arrangements disclosed by the Mauritius Leaks in July 2019; and what steps he is taking to tackle the use of tax havens.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC have reviewed the data disclosed by the Mauritius leaks and identified limited information relating to UK taxpayers. HMRC will investigate any allegations of wrongdoing identified.
The UK Government is at the forefront of the international tax agenda and driving increased collaboration between tax authorities, including through the ground-breaking Common Reporting Standard that is shedding new light on offshore financial accounts around the world. In March 2019, HMRC refreshed their Offshore strategy, called No Safe Havens which sets out how they will continue to help those who try to get it right and tackle those who go overseas in an attempt to pay less than they should. This builds on HMRC’s success in tackling offshore non-compliance which, since 2010, has secured and protected £2.9 billion through offshore disclosure facilities from those who mistakenly believed they could hide money offshore.
HMRC continue to work alongside UK and international partners to identify and tackle tax and economic crime in all its forms.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the National Audit Report, The UK border: preparedness for EU exit update, published in February 2019, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HMRC's preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Jesse Norman
EU Exit preparations are HMRC’s absolute top priority. The Government has ensured that HMRC are funded to successfully deliver their EU Exit commitments, and has provided HMRC with over £1 billion from 2017/18 to 2020/21.
By 12 April HMRC had put in place legislation, guidance, systems, new border infrastructure and over 5,000 trained staff, to ensure that the UK would continue to have a functioning tax and customs system. They held hundreds of meetings with industry representatives and communicated with hundreds of thousands of businesses to encourage them to prepare, and have dynamically adjusted their plans to respond the state of business readiness.
HMRC have thorough plans for an October exit, with or without a deal, including a communications campaign to encourage and assist businesses to get ready
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether safety committees have been established to cover staff based at the inland pre-clearance Sites in (a) Hayes, and (b) Milton Keynes operated jointly by HMRC and UK Border Force.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HMRC are committed to providing working environments that meet all health and safety requirements.
HMRC have the appropriate Health and Safety Committees operating, covering the activities at both Hayes and Milton Keynes. Local representatives from HMRC, UK Border Force and the commercial contractor are present on these committees.