Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the exclusion of Further Education Colleges from section 33 of the VAT Act 1994 on social mobility for students at those colleges.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised from leaving local authority control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the exclusion of Further Education Colleges from section 33 of the VAT Act 1994 on economic growth.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised from leaving local authority control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the inability of Further Education colleges to reclaim VAT on their financial sustainability.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised from leaving local authority control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered extending Section 33 of the VAT Act 1994 to Further Education colleges.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies which are designed variously to ensure that VAT is not a burden on local taxation, and that academies are not disincentivised from leaving local authority control. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to take steps to stop joint ventures using corporation tax reliefs through the purchase or transfer of trading losses.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Group relief allows the transfer of allowable losses from one company to another in the same group. Consortium relief is a type of group relief which allows companies that jointly own another company (a consortium company) to obtain relief for their share of that company’s tax losses, so that they are taxed on a measure of profits that reflects losses they may make from their participation in a joint venture.
For these reliefs to apply, groups and consortia must meet certain eligibility criteria. For example, both types of relief are available to companies that have specific shareholding ownership relationships and are subject to UK Corporation tax. Joint ventures must meet the eligibility criteria to claim relief which is limited by reference to the proportion of member’s economic interest in the consortium company.
Existing legislation already contains targeted anti‑avoidance provisions designed to prevent the exploitation of losses, and the Government keeps these rules under review.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure mortgage availability for people wishing to purchase residential properties that were converted from office space.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The availability and pricing of mortgages is a commercial decision for firms in which the Government does not intervene.
However, the UK benefits from a competitive mortgage market; prospective buyers are encouraged to shop around and speak to a mortgage broker to find the best possible product for their circumstances.
We are also helping buyers who may struggle to save for a large deposit by delivering on our manifesto commitment to a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme. The scheme is permanently available and will help to ensure mortgages are available for first-time buyers and home movers with small deposits across the UK, supporting our mission to boost economic growth across the country and make sure people are better off.
More broadly, in response to the Prime Minister’s and Chancellor’s request for reforms to support growth, the Financial Conduct Authority have launched a major programme of work to refresh its mortgage lending rules, including to support first-time buyers’ access to mortgages. We welcome the actions that the Financial Conduct Authority have already taken as part of this work, including reminding firms of the flexibility available within the stress testing rules which allows lender to offer larger loans to customers, and its Discussion Paper, which is an important step towards putting home ownership within reach of many more.
The Government also welcomes the recent decision of the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England to reform the flow limit, enabling lenders to offer more mortgages at over 4.5 times buyers’ income - helping up to 36,000 more first-time buyers own their own home in the first year.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent companies de-listing in London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets including overhauling the Listing Rules, providing more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital. To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, with capital markets as a core pillar, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.
Asked by: Luke Murphy (Labour - Basingstoke)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to increase public and investor confidence in small and mid-sized quoted companies listed in the UK.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We have already delivered an ambitious set of reforms to boost the competitiveness of UK markets, including for small and mid-sized quoted companies. This includes overhauling the Listing Rules, reforming the Prospectus regime to provide more flexibility to firms and founders raising capital and reducing reporting requirements for the smallest companies.
The government also maintains generous tax reliefs for small and mid-sized quoted companies including the Growth Market Exemption which provides relief from Stamp Taxes on Shares for companies on Recognised Growth Markets.
To create a stable regulatory environment, and complementing these reforms, the government is also establishing a 10-year strategy for financial services, which will be published at Mansion House on 15 July 2025.