Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on employment in the airline sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. Closing the scheme at the end of September is designed to strike the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring that incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns. This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.
The Government recognises the particular challenges that the travel industry has faced as a result of COVID-19. In England travel agents have recently benefited from Restart Grants worth up to £6,000, and can continue to benefit from the £2 billion of discretionary grant funding that has been made available to local authorities in England through the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG). Furthermore, the travel sector is being supported with over £12 billion that has been made available through loan guarantees and support for exporters. In addition, airports continue to benefit from the renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme announced at Budget.
The Global Travel Taskforce (GTT) report sets out a clear framework for the Government’s objective of establishing a safe and sustainable return to international travel, which is key to enabling the sector’s recovery. It has been created following extensive engagement with the international travel and tourism industries, and changes following the recent checkpoint review of the GTT are a vital step in enabling the recovery of travel operators and those whose jobs rely on the travel industry.
The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. It continues to engage closely with sectors across the economy, including the travel industry, in order to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many overpaid tax refunds have been refunded within three weeks in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the average refund time is.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Information in the form requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he had with people who lost their life savings as a result of the collapse of Blackmore Bond Plc prior to making the decision not to establish a compensation scheme.
Answered by John Glen
I am acutely aware of the situation at Blackmore Bond plc, and I am mindful that many individuals have lost money after investing in minibonds with the firm, which must be extremely distressing.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the compensation scheme of last resort for financial services. The FSCS is an independent non-governmental body that carries out its compensation function within rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), who are also independent of Government. Its scope is strictly limited and it can only pay compensation when a relevant regulated activity has been undertaken.
It is an important point of principle that the government does not step in to pay compensation in respect of failed financial services firms that fall outside of the FSCS. Doing so would create the wrong set of incentives for individuals and an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer.
However, as you will be aware, the government has taken the extraordinary step of establishing a compensation scheme for another failed minibond firm, London Capital & Finance (LCF). The government has considered the issues carefully, and the situation at LCF is unique and exceptional. While other minibond firms have failed, LCF is the only minibond firm which was authorised by the FCA and sold bonds in order to ‘on-lend’ to other companies. In particular, Blackmore Bond plc was not authorised by the FCA, and was not undertaking a regulated activity.
While I have not seen evidence that would indicate that the regulatory failings at the FCA were the primary cause of the losses incurred by LCF bondholders, they are a significant factor that the government has taken into account when deciding to establish this scheme.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has held with relevant stakeholders on the Upper Tribunal decision of 12 April 2021 in the context of the Government's policy on people subject to the Loan Charge.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC are carefully considering the Upper Tribunal decision of 12 April.
The decision does not affect the Loan Charge legislation which was subject to an independent review in 2019. The Independent Loan Charge Review assessed the impact of the Loan Charge policy on affected taxpayers. Its careful and considered report found that it was right to tackle disguised remuneration tax avoidance schemes and that everyone should pay their fair share of tax.
The report also examined the question of from when the Loan Charge should apply and concluded that the law about the tax treatment of DR loan schemes was clear from 9 December 2010. This was when draft legislation was published setting out that income provided through schemes using third parties, such as loan schemes, would be subject to Income Tax and NICs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the membership of the Prime Minister's Health and Social Care Taskforce.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The No10 and HM Treasury Health and Social Care Taskforce was made up of civil servants from a number of Government departments, who met on a daily basis as part of their policy development work, from the beginning of June through to the end of October 2020. It reported to the Prime Minister and Chancellor through a Steering Group chaired by Munira Mirza (Director of No10 policy unit), with membership from No10 and HM Treasury and attended variously by officials from Cabinet Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employers who have accessed the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme have made staff redundant in each month since April 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not hold information on which employees have been made redundant.
HMRC publish statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) for each month of the scheme. Alongside this, HMRC have published secondary analysis of furloughs that have ended. This shows that 90% of employees who stopped being furloughed between April 2020 and July 2020 were still on their original payroll in August 2020. However, this analysis does not distinguish between employees who chose to leave their jobs and those that were made redundant. The publication can be found on GOV.UK:
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Bromborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of Business interruption insurance claims that have been paid out since the Supreme Court ruling.
Answered by John Glen
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry.
The FCA has set out its expectation that insurers should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the Supreme Court judgment, making interim payments wherever possible.
The Government is working closely with the FCA to ensure that the rules are being upheld during this crisis and fully supports the regulator in its role.