Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to introduce a tenant hardship loan fund.
Answered by Steve Barclay
The UK Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support which is available to tenants, and we will continue to monitor closely the impacts of Covid19 for renters.
Notably, we have increased the local housing allowance rate to the 30th percentile. This increase will mean nearly £1bn of additional support for private renters claiming Universal Credit or Housing Benefit in 2020/21 and benefits over 1 million households, including those in work.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has offered support for business to pay staff salaries, enabling people to continue to pay their rent.
For those who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments are available. As announced at the spending round for 2020/21, there is already £180m in Discretionary Housing Payments for Local Authorities to distribute for supporting renters with housing costs in the private and social rented sectors.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2020 to Question 60662 on Renewable energy, what plans his Department has to install solar panels and wind turbines in 1 Horse Guards Road in the next five years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
HM Treasury has no plans to install solar panels and wind turbines in 1 Horse Guards Road in the next five years.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to provide financial support to people with blood cancer that are advised to continue shielding by their treating team.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
From 1 August the Government will relax national advice to those shielding, bringing it in line with the advice to those who are clinically vulnerable. The advice for those shielding is still to stay at home as much as possible. However, if they are unable to work from home, they will be able to return to their workplace, provided their workplace is COVID-safe.
The Government has announced an unprecedented package of financial support through this period, all of which is available to those who have been asked to shield. This is not limited to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, but also includes the introduction of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and an increase in the generosity of welfare payments worth a further £9.3bn according to Office for Budget Responsibility estimates.
In addition to this, those required to shield and who are in receipt of a letter or notification advising them so, will have access to Statutory Sick Pay for the duration of their shielding period. The Government has made Statutory Sick Pay easier to access for these individuals, making it payable from day 1 rather than day 4.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse has been of private photographers for his Department in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
HM Treasury has not spent any money on private photographers over the last 12 months.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to open the new customs agent academy; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of potential delays in the opening of that academy.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognises the importance of the role of intermediaries in supporting trade and understands that existing UK to rest of world trade is heavily reliant on intermediary services.
HMRC have already made available £34 million of funding to support the expansion of the already well-established customs intermediaries sector. This includes the development of an online customs academy to deliver training to the sector which has been operational since November 2019.
The Government continues to work closely with industry to consider if further support may be needed.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new customs agents (a) have been trained and (b) are ready for deployment since 1 January 2020 in preparation for the end of the transition period with the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
HMRC do not employ customs agents/customs intermediaries directly. The UK has a well-established industry of customs intermediaries which serve British businesses trading outside the EU. The sector is varied and made up of a number of different business models including specific customs brokers, freight forwarders and fast parcel operators; all of which require differing numbers of staff. Government support of £34m has been designed to meet the needs of the sector flexibly to build capacity by covering training and IT innovation, as well as recruitment.
This support has funded approximately 20,000 training courses in customs processes and procedures and the creation of a new UK Customs Academy to provide online training courses and industry-recognised qualifications.
The sector is encouraged to innovate flexibly to meet demand and as such HMRC do not prescribe whether training support should be for existing or new staff.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding from the public purse his Department plans to allocate to (a) preparations for a response to covid-19 and (b) research into a vaccine against that virus.
Answered by Steve Barclay
Public safety is our top priority in our response to COVID-19. The UK is well prepared and the government is taking firm and comprehensive action to support families, businesses and public services. The government has already pledged £91m, of which £65m is for research to support the response to Coronavirus and other epidemic diseases, including vaccine research.
The government continues to look at a range of scenarios to ensure we can respond appropriately. The Budget on Wednesday will set out further details of HM Treasury’s response.