Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made on reducing air passenger duty on domestic flights from Northern Ireland's airports; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The government has established a technical working group that is considering the operational and legal context of APD in Northern Ireland. The group met in Belfast in March, and will meet again next month to continue discussions with stakeholders.
For domestic journeys, airlines are liable on both outward and return leg domestic journeys as APD applies to all departures from a UK airport. It is not possible under current EU law to have different rates of APD on intra-UK flights than on flights from the UK to other European Union destinations.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much tax was taken by HM Treasury on the interest accrued on Libyan assets frozen in UK banks in each of the years since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government’s response of 24 June to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report (on Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Qadhafi-supplied Semtex and weapons) set out the information the Government had obtained about tax receipts derived from frozen Libyan assets held in UK banks. The response states: “Around £17 million has been received in total since the start of the 2016-17 tax year. HMRC currently receives around £5 million each year.”
Information on the tax taken on interest accrued on Libyan assets frozen in UK banks is not held centrally within government and would involve disproportionate costs to collect and collate.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his oral contribution of 29 October 2018, Official Report, column 664, Financial Statement, which aspects of the Belfast Region City Deal will require a functioning Northern Ireland Executive for their implementation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The government will work with local partners to ensure that robust governance, accountability and transparency arrangements will be in place to allow funding for the Belfast City Region Deal to be spent in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made in assessing the business case submitted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland for additional resources required for preparations for the UK leaving the EU; and if he will make a statement on the timescale for his Department making a final decision on that matter.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As the Chancellor announced at Budget 2018, an additional £500 million will be made available to allow departments and the devolved administrations to continue to prepare for EU exit, taking the total for 2019/20 to £2 billion. As a result of this announcement, the Treasury will have invested over £4 billion in EU exit since 2016.
We are working to assess the resource requirements of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to prepare for the UK leaving the EU. Allocations from the £2 billion to departments and the devolved administrations will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that hospices throughout the UK will be zero rated from VAT after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Charities providing palliative care, such as hospices, are already able to fully recover their input VAT under Section 33C and Section 33D of the 1994 VAT Act. This means that VAT is not a burden on those hospices. VAT incurred by NHS Palliative care organisations is funded by the government through existing budgets.
Asked by: Lady Hermon (Independent - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral contribution of 29 October 2018, Official Report, column 665, who the members will be of the working group that will be established to progress plans for short-haul air passenger duty devolution; and what criteria will be used to appoint those members.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Budget announced that, following the call for evidence on ‘VAT, Air Passenger Duty and Tourism in Northern Ireland’, the government will establish a technical working group to explore further the practical and legal challenges to changing APD in Northern Ireland.
Further details, including the membership of the group, will be announced in due course.