Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the compatibility of the Loan Charge scheme with the principles of natural justice.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Loan Charge was introduced to tackle a particular form of tax avoidance that has been going on in many forms for years. It would be unfair to ordinary taxpayers to let anybody benefit from tax avoidance of this sort, and that is why the Government took this action.
In 2019, the Independent Loan Charge Review, led by Lord Morse, found that it was right for the Government to ensure that the tax was collected and that the Loan Charge should remain in force, though with changes to manage its impact. The Government implemented 19 of the 20 recommendations made by Lord Morse.
HMRC’s powers are balanced by a comprehensive suite of safeguards for taxpayers, and the Loan Charge follows these. All taxpayers have the right to appeal tax decisions made by HMRC. Where someone disagrees with HMRC’s assessment that the Loan Charge applies they can appeal that decision.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of introducing a right of appeal for people affected by the Loan Charge.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Loan Charge was introduced to tackle a particular form of tax avoidance that has been going on in many forms for years. It would be unfair to ordinary taxpayers to let anybody benefit from tax avoidance of this sort, and that is why the Government took this action.
In 2019, the Independent Loan Charge Review, led by Lord Morse, found that it was right for the Government to ensure that the tax was collected and that the Loan Charge should remain in force, though with changes to manage its impact. The Government implemented 19 of the 20 recommendations made by Lord Morse.
HMRC’s powers are balanced by a comprehensive suite of safeguards for taxpayers, and the Loan Charge follows these. All taxpayers have the right to appeal tax decisions made by HMRC. Where someone disagrees with HMRC’s assessment that the Loan Charge applies they can appeal that decision.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2021 to Question 58455, on Schools: Uniforms, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of VAT on school uniforms on parents whose children are required to wear school uniform in years five and six of secondary schooling.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Under the current VAT rules, all children’s clothing and footwear designed for children who are less than 14 years of age, including school uniforms, attract a zero-rate of VAT, meaning that no VAT is charged on the sale of these items.
The UK is one of only two countries among the 37 OECD member countries to maintain a VAT relief for children’s clothing, which costs the Exchequer £2 billion per year. Expanding that relief would come at a further cost and would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere or reductions in Government spending.
The Government keeps all taxes under constant review.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2021 to Question 45154 on Maternity Allowance and Parental Pay, if he will conduct a review of the accuracy and reliability of the data relating to the annual number of claimants of (a) statutory maternity pay, (b) statutory paternity pay and (c) statutory shared parental pay provided by HM Revenue & Customs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information held by HMRC in relation to statutory payments is collected through an employer’s monthly PAYE returns. HMRC aim to limit the collection of information from employers to what is required for assuring PAYE. Information which could identify new parents is not necessary for HMRC’s PAYE collection processes. There are no plans review the data.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new claims for (a) statutory paternity pay, (b) statutory maternity pay and (c) maternity allowance were approved in each quarter of financial year 2020-21.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The information is not held in the form requested. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does hold information on claimants of statutory maternity pay and statutory paternity pay, but this is not limited to new claims. Quarterly counts of claims would include claimants in each quarter in which they received the statutory payment. HMRC does not hold any information on payments of Maternity Allowance.
The Department for Work and Pensions publishes statistics about benefits, including average caseloads for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with mortgage lenders on their treatment of payments under the Self Employed Income Support Scheme when assessing the income of self-employed mortgage applicants.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Ministers and officials regularly meet with lenders to understand their lending policies. However, decisions concerning the pricing and availability of loans, including application requirements, remain commercial decision for lenders which the Government does not seek to intervene in.
For individuals applying for new credit, it remains important that lenders are able to carry out the proper checks to ensure that these individuals are not lent to in an unaffordable way, especially if, for example, a borrower’s income has changed as a result of Covid-19.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recognises that lenders should have flexibility to decide what evidence of income they can accept from self-employed customers. Due to the wide variety of mortgage products available in the UK, self-employed borrowers may find it useful to contact a broker to help them identify the best lender for their circumstances, and prepare for and organise their mortgage application.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of responses received to the technical consultation on Small Brewers Relief were from (a) breweries producing less than 5,000 hectolitres a year, (b) breweries producing more than 5,000 hectolitres a year and (c) breweries producing more than 60,000 hectolitres a year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish our response to the technical consultation in due course. This will contain information on those who responded to the consultation.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of applications under the Alcohol Warehouse Registration Scheme since that scheme's introduction have been (a) approved and (b) revoked in (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the form requested as HM Revenue and Customs does not record Alcohol Warehouse Registration Scheme (AWRS) data by ‘nation’.
AWRS Data showing the number of applications received and numbers approved up to April 2019 was published on 10th June 2021 and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-alcohol-smuggling-outputs/tackling-alcohol-smuggling-outputs-april-2016-to-april-2019.
Data up to April 2021 will be published in the normal way in October 2021.
Please note the numbers for approved and revoked applications do not total the number of applications received. The reason for this is because withdrawals, deregistrations and stock on hand have not been included.
For Scotland:
Applications received 1343
Applications approved 980 (73%)
Applications revoked 24 (2%)
For the UK:
Applications received 15410
Applications approved 10880 (71%)
Applications revoked 546 (4%)
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new parents received (a) statutory paternity pay, (b) statutory maternity pay and (c) maternity allowance in each financial year since 2010-11.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The information is not held in the form requested. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do hold information on claimants of statutory parental payments, but this is not limited to new parents and will include claimants in each year in which they received statutory payments.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publish statistics about benefits, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will consider the operational challenges facing self-employed driving instructors, who are unable to operate their businesses at full capacity as a result of the need to mitigate against the transmission of covid-19, when deciding which types of businesses are eligible for funding in the future under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government recognises that many self-employed people have encountered immense challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) provides substantial support to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria, including self-employed driving instructors.
Together, the five SEISS grants combined will have provided an individual with support of up to £36,570, making it one of the most generous self-employment income support schemes in the world.
At the Spring Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced a generous extension of economic support for businesses and individuals, with many schemes including the SEISS continuing well beyond Step 4 of the Roadmap in order to accommodate even a cautious view about the time it might have taken to exit restrictions. The Government has confirmed that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the SEISS will be closing at the end of September 2021 and the Government will maintain its focus on helping people back into work.