Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value in sterling is of imports of Russian produced coking coal in the last 24 months.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website: www.uktradeinfo.com.
From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/
The value of coking coal imported from Russia into the UK in the last 24 months is set out below.
| Month | Value of imports £ |
1 | February 2020 | 3,966,692 |
2 | March 2020 | 0 |
3 | April 2020 | 11,136,389 |
4 | May 2020 | 0 |
5 | June 2020 | 7,926,624 |
6 | July 2020 | 427,528 |
7 | August 2020 | 7,446,127 |
8 | September 2020 | 2,897,470 |
9 | October 2020 | 0 |
10 | November 2020 | 4,841,498 |
11 | December 2020 | 7,553,490 |
12 | January 2021 | 0 |
13 | February 2021 | 8,269,888 |
14 | March 2021 | 0 |
15 | April 2021 | 10,787,749 |
16 | May 2021 | 4,437,114 |
17 | June 2021 | 5,168,023 |
18 | July 2021 | 0 |
19 | August 2021 | 0 |
20 | September 2021 | 10,119,919 |
21 | October 2021 | 0 |
22 | November 2021 | 276,806 |
23 | December 2021 | 11,125,753 |
24 | January 2022 | 14,639,058 |
| Imports from Russia to the UK | |
| Based on commodity code CN8 27011210 | |
Source: HMRC, Overseas Trade-in-Goods Statistics | ||
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the UK last received a shipment of coking coal from Russian producers; and when the next shipment is planned.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website: www.uktradeinfo.com. From this website, it is also possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/.
It is not possible for HMRC to identify the country of production of goods from the data held.
The last recorded import of commodity code 2701 1210 00 (coking coal) from Russia to the UK had a clearance date of 25 January 2022.
HMRC does not have details of any planned shipments of coking coal from Russia.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT on (a) petrol and (b) diesel.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to the vast majority of goods and services, including petrol and diesel. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
All taxes are kept under reivew, but there are no plans to cut VAT on petrol and diesel. Cutting VAT on road fuel from 20% to 5% would come at a significant cost to the Exchequer and such a relief would not be targeted as it would also benefit high income households that do not need support.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will take steps to reduce the administrative steps involved in assessing child benefit by household income to ensure that families in (a) Ashfield and (b) the UK receive the support they need.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) was introduced in January 2013 to target support at those who need it most. It applies to anyone with an income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit or whose partner claims it. The charge is tapered for taxpayers with incomes between £50,000 and £60,000. Where income is over £60,000, the amount of the charge is equal to the Child Benefit payments. Families where at least one taxpayer has an income over £50,000 can opt out of getting Child Benefit payments, which means they do not have to pay the charge.
The HICBC is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other Income Tax policy. Basing HICBC on household income would mean finding out the incomes of every person in the 7.8 million households currently registered for Child Benefit. This would effectively introduce a new means test, which would be costly to administer and create burdens on most families who receive Child Benefit.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to remove environmental levies on domestic energy in response to increasing energy costs.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Environmental and social policy costs represent around 12% of the average dual energy bill, however over the past 10 years their net effect has been to reduce consumer energy bills. Investment in renewables and energy efficiency has reduced UK demand for natural gas by 26% since 2010. This has helped reduce our exposure to global price volatility.
While the majority of these costs represent contractual obligations to fund previous investments in renewables, we need to ensure our green policies are fit for the future, and Government keeps all costs on bills under review.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to reduce energy prices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the recent increase in wholesale global gas prices will be a cause of concern for consumers, businesses, and energy suppliers across the UK.
Consumers have been shielded from price volatility this winter by the Energy Price Cap. The Government is also supporting low income and fuel poor households with their energy bills in a number of ways, including:
The increase in the price of wholesale gas is a global issue. We will continue to keep options to further support households under review. In the longer term, Government will look to reduce our reliance on global gas prices by moving to a cleaner, more resilient energy system and improve energy efficiency to help keep bills down.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT on domestic energy in response to rising fuel costs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In recognition of the fact that families should not have to bear all the VAT costs they incur to meet their energy needs, the Government already maintains a reduced rate of 5 per cent VAT on the supply of domestic energy, at a cost of £5 billion per year.Although the Government keeps all taxes under review, going further would impose additional pressure on the public finances, to which VAT makes a significant contribution. VAT raised around £130 billion in the year 2019-20, and helps to fund key spending priorities, including on health, education, and defence.