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 adequacy of long-term funding for disabled children's health and care services.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury Ministers and officials regularly meet with other government departments and a range of stakeholders, which includes discussions around support for disabled children.
The government has to date provided the NHS with over £27bn to support its response to and recovery from Coronavirus, which includes the provision of healthcare services to disabled children. This is part of the overall £87bn support for health services since the start of the pandemic.
The government has also given over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including children’s services. At last year’s Spending Review, we provided councils with access to over £1bn of spending for social care through £300m of new social care grant and the ability to introduce a 3% adult social care precept. This funding was additional to the £1 billion social care grant announced in 2019 which was maintained in line with the government's manifesto.
We will continue to work with other government departments, including the Department for Health and Social Care and Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, to ensure the upcoming Spending Review reflects the requirements of disabled children’s health and care services in the longer term.
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 first-time buyers in Central London who cannot receive help through the Help to Buy ISA scheme due to high average house prices regularly exceeding £450,000.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Help to Buy: ISA scheme aims to help those that are struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder. The property price cap of £250,000 for those properties outside London or £450,000 within London, therefore allows the Government to target support at the people the scheme is intended to help. First-time buyers tend to buy smaller, therefore cheaper; first properties and the Government’s aim is to provide the opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market. Since the scheme launched in 2015, 410,075 property completions have been supported through the scheme with a mean property value of £175,010 compared to an average first-time buyer house price of £214,452.
The Government has introduced a number of measures to support homeownership, including the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, mortgage guarantee scheme, Shared Ownership schemes, and the First Home scheme.
Each scheme has its own eligibility criteria and more information on each scheme can be found on the Own Your Home (HM Government) website: https://www.ownyourhome.gov.uk/
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support his Department has allocated for the travel, aviation and tourism industries.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development.
In addition, the renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme that the Chancellor announced in his Budget will provide support for eligible businesses with their fixed costs for a further six months, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities for the first half of the 2021-22 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £4m.
In England, the wider travel and tourism sectors can benefit from the £5 billion package of grant support announced at Budget. This includes Restart Grants worth up to £6,000 if classified as non-essential retail or up to £18,000 if classified as a leisure or accommodation business. This package of support also includes the £425 million top-up to the Additional Restrictions Grant which has already provided Local Authorities (LAs) with £1.6 billion. This funding is at the LA’s discretion and is intended to support businesses which are not eligible for Restart Grants, but which are nonetheless experiencing a severe impact on their business.
The Government continues to review all the economic support schemes, including grant support, as the public health response evolves.
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 small firms in the leisure and hospitality industry, including those in the LGBT+ community, have access to insurance.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
It is important that SMEs have access to suitable insurance and the Government is working closely with the sector to understand what more they can do to help businesses both now and in the future.
The commercial decisions taken by insurers are also subject to regulation and legislation. Insurers must treat customers fairly and firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) rules. The Equality Act 2010 prohibits firms from discriminating against consumers with most protected characteristics, including sexual orientation.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the stamp duty window for those who are unable to sell their property as a result of new building regulations.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary SDLT relief was designed to stimulate immediate momentum in a property market where property transactions fell by as much as 50 per cent during the COVID-19 lockdown in March. This momentum in the property market has supported jobs which rely on custom from the property industry, such as retailers and tradespeople.
The SDLT holiday was extended to ensure that purchases that were unable to complete before 31 March because of delays in the sector are able to receive the relief. The Government will not extend the temporary relief further for any transactions.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on funding specific covid-19 recovery policies for disabled children and young people.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HM Treasury Ministers regularly meet with other government departments and a range of stakeholders, which includes discussions around disabled children and young people, and COVID-19 recovery.
As part of plans to boost education recovery, the government is investing £1.7 billion in academic years 20-21 and 21-22. This includes a £650 million catch up premium in 20-21, and £302 million one-off recovery premium in 21-22. Schools can prioritise this funding to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) where appropriate.
The government is providing a further £1.4 billion over the next three academic years for education recovery, including £1 billion to support up to six million, 15-hour tutoring courses for disadvantaged school children.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the possible merits of extending the zero VAT rating to personal safety alarms.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government already makes available a VAT relief on emergency alarm systems designed to be operated by a disabled person to call for help in case of illness or injury.
VAT makes a significant contribution towards the public finances, raising about £130 billion in 2019/20, and helping fund the Government's priorities including on health, schools, and defence. Extending the current VAT relief to all personal safety alarms would come at a significant cost to the Exchequer and would require reductions in spending or tax rises elsewhere.
Given this, there are no current plans to extend the scope of the relief already in place. However, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the zero VAT rating on children’s shoes to adult shoes in the event that those shoes are sold for children with larger feet.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Under the current VAT rules, a zero rate of VAT is applied to footwear designed for children younger than 14. HMRC limit this based on the average size of 13-year-old children using data provided by the British Standards Institution.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, but there are no plans to extend the scope of this relief to adult shoes.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on small businesses of VAT charges on goods imported from the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Any businesses, including small businesses, that are registered for UK VAT have the ability to reclaim VAT charged on goods imported from the EU on their VAT return.
As with all tax measures, where new changes have been introduced, the Government includes its assessment of the impacts of the changes in Tax Information and Impact Notes. Notes for measures recently legislated for in the Taxation (Post-transition Period) Act were published alongside that legislation.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending empty property business rates relief on properties that remain empty due to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government maintains an Empty Property Relief (EPR) to support property owners ahead of the reoccupation of vacated premises.
Under EPR, owners of retail properties do not normally have to pay business rates on newly vacated buildings for three months.
The Budget announced a three-month extension to the business rates holiday for eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors that was provided at Budget 2020. From 1 July 2021, 66% relief will be available subject to a cash cap that depends on whether businesses have been required to close or were able to open.
Properties which have closed temporarily due to the Government’s advice on COVID-19 should be treated as occupied for the purposes of the business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure properties.