Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of stopping the rise in the Energy Prince Guarantee planned for 1 April 2023.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As announced at the Autumn Statement, the Energy Prince Guarantee (EPG) will rise to £3000 from April 2023 until April 2024. It is important to ensure fiscal sustainability whilst continuing to provide support on energy bills.
The EPG continues to be a significant intervention and will save the average household around £900 this winter, based on forecasts at the Autumn Statement. The EPG, alongside the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) for all households, will mean the typical household has received around £1300 of support this winter. The Government has announced £37 billion of support for households and individuals for the cost of living in 2022-23. As part of this financial year’s cost of living support and in addition to universal support with energy bills, millions of the most vulnerable households have received £150 Council Tax rebate and one-off £650 Cost of Living Payment for those on means-tested benefits, with additional £300 cost of living support for pensioners and a one-off cost of living payment of £150 for those claiming disability benefits.
The Government has announced further support for 2023-24 designed to target the most vulnerable households. This cost of living support is worth £26 billion in 2023-24, in addition to benefits, including £300 cost of living payments for pensioners, £150 for individuals on disability benefits and £900 for those on means-tested benefits.
The Government continues to keep the current situation under review. The economic and fiscal position remain challenging, which is why it is right that the Government has taken action to maintain fiscal sustainability whilst targeting its support to the most vulnerable.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of Brexit on the UK economy.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
It is for the Office for Budget Responsibility to provide economic and fiscal forecasts. Global external factors, including Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continue to put pressures on the UK economy. It is not possible to definitively disentangle the effect of these global factors from the longer-term impacts of EU exit on the UK economy and households.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many high street businesses in (a) England and (b) Battersea constituency have closed each year in the last five years; and whether the Government has plans to make changes to the business rates system.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The most recent review of Business Rates concluded at Autumn Budget 2021. The review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services and announced a £7 billion package of measures including a new temporary 50 per cent relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure in 2022-23, freezing the multiplier for another year, and extending schemes to support small businesses. Business rates raise over £25 billion a year in England to fund vital local services. The Government is not able to release the specific information requested due to contractual agreements with data providers. The Government keeps all taxes under review. Any future decisions regarding the tax system will be taken in line with the normal Budget process.Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with relevant stakeholders on reducing the headline rate of business rates.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The most recent review of business rates concluded at Autumn Budget 2021. The review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services and announced a £7 billion package of measures to support business over the next 5 years.
This includes a freeze to the business rates multiplier in 2022-23, which will support all ratepayers, large and small, meaning bills are 3 per cent lower than without the freeze. The Government has also introduced a new temporary relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure in 2022-23, worth almost £1.7 billion to the sector. These measures will support the businesses that make our high streets and town centres successful.
As with all taxes, HM Treasury keeps business rates under review.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support local businesses in Battersea through reforming the business rates system.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The most recent review of business rates concluded at Autumn Budget 2021. The review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services and announced a £7 billion package of measures to support business over the next 5 years.
This includes a freeze to the business rates multiplier in 2022-23, which will support all ratepayers, large and small, meaning bills are 3 per cent lower than without the freeze. The Government has also introduced a new temporary relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure in 2022-23, worth almost £1.7 billion to the sector. These measures will support the businesses that make our high streets and town centres successful.
As with all taxes, HM Treasury keeps business rates under review.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that business rates bills do not cause high street shops in (a) Battersea and (b) the rest of the UK to close.
Answered by Richard Fuller
The most recent review of business rates concluded at Autumn Budget 2021. The review reaffirmed the importance of business rates for raising revenue for essential local services and announced a £7 billion package of measures to support business over the next 5 years.
This includes a freeze to the business rates multiplier in 2022-23, which will support all ratepayers, large and small, meaning bills are 3 per cent lower than without the freeze. The Government has also introduced a new temporary relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure in 2022-23, worth almost £1.7 billion to the sector. These measures will support the businesses that make our high streets and town centres successful.
As with all taxes, HM Treasury keeps business rates under review.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support disabled people who are disproportionately affected by the rising cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The government understands that the rising cost of living has presented additional financial challenges to many people, and especially to the most vulnerable members of society, such as disabled people. That is why this government announced on 26th May a new Cost of Living package, providing over £15bn of support targeted particularly at those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22bn already announced, bringing total government support for the Cost of Living to over £37bn this year. The latest package includes additional UK-wide support to help disabled people with the particular extra costs they are facing, with 6 million people who receive non-means-tested extra-costs disability benefits due to receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150. This payment can be received in addition to the other Cost of Living Payments for households on means-tested benefits or in receipt of Winter Fuel Payments. Disabled people will also benefit from the £400 of support for energy bills that the government is providing through an expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme, doubling the £200 of support announced earlier this year and making the whole £400 a grant that will not be recovered through higher bills in future years.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK's departure from the EU on the cost of living; and if he will publish the (a) economic and (b) equality impact assessments conducted by the Government on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government understands how the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. These are global challenges however, as set out in the Spring Statement, and the government is providing support worth over £22 billion in 2022-23 to help families across the UK with these pressures.
It remains challenging to separate out the effects of Brexit and COVID on the UK economy, with recent events and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine adding further pressures to trade, prices and the wider economy. The Bank of England has noted that the majority of the increase in inflation since the pandemic is likely due to global factors.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the allowance for stamp duty tax relief for those living in London, in the context of higher average house prices in that city.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The nil rate band (the price threshold at which SDLT becomes payable) is set at £125,000 outside of the SDLT holiday.
In 2017, the Government increased the price at which a residential property becomes liable to SDLT to £300,000 for first-time buyers; this means that over 70% of first-time buyers will pay no SDLT at all. First-time buyers purchasing houses worth between £300,000 and £500,000 save £5,000, outside of the SDLT holiday.
SDLT rates and thresholds apply consistently across England and Northern Ireland. Introducing regional variations in the nil rate band could create distortions in the housing market, be complex to achieve and be confusing for taxpayers.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing dedicated covid-19 recovery funding for families with disabled children.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government’s Covid-19 support package during the pandemic, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, sits alongside a substantial set of existing welfare support for families with disabled children. The Government will spend over £55 billion in 2021-22 on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions.
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) remains our primary means of supporting families with disabled children to help with the extra cost of long-term ill-health or disability. DLA is tax-free, non-contributory and non-means tested. It is available to those under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or have needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition. DLA is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled.
DLA can passport families to a range of additional support such as: child disability premiums paid within income related benefits, Carer’s Allowance, the Motability vehicle scheme, and the Blue Badge scheme. DLA also exempts the eligible household from the Benefit Cap.
The Government has acted swiftly to provide support during the pandemic, including for parents on lower incomes with disabled children through its package of welfare measures worth £7.4 billion in 2020-21 and £4.3 billion in 2021-22. These changes include relinking Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile in March 2020 at a cost of almost £1 billion – over 1.5 million households gained just over £600 per year on average in additional support, and this is being maintained at the same cash level this financial year to ensure that claimants continue to benefit from this increase.