Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the domestic Air Passenger Duty band announced on 22 July 2022 on the number of passengers travelling by train between UK cities.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced that, from April 2023, it will introduce a new reduced domestic band of Air Passenger Duty (APD) set at £6.50 for economy passengers. The new domestic band will cover flights between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in order to support connectivity across the UK. As a result, around 9 million passengers will pay lower rates of APD in 2023-24.
The Government will also introduce a new ultra long-haul band, which will ensure that those who fly furthest, and have the greatest environmental impact, will pay the most.
The announcement of these reforms to APD followed the 2021 consultation on aviation tax reform, full details of which can be found on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-aviation-tax-reform. On 20 July 2022, the legislation and tax information and impact note (TIIN) was published in draft on GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-passenger-duty-banding-reforms-from-april-2023. The TIIN provides a summary of impacts.
During the COVID-19 pandemic rail ridership fluctuated widely, with the Government providing more than £16 billion of funding for rail passenger services from when it started until now. This is in addition to over £35 billion of capital investment over the Spending Review period including High Speed Two, rail enhancements and vital renewals to boost connectivity across the country – focusing on the Midlands and the North.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of stakeholder groups on the approval of the Shared Outcome Fund bid for the creation of a National Skills Academy for Maritime (Shipbuilding).
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMT Officials are in regular contact with stakeholders. But it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence, who are leading the National Skills Academy for Maritime bid, to engage with relevant stakeholders prior to submission of the bid.
This Government is committed to supporting people to develop the skills needed to get good jobs and improve national productivity. The Department for Education recently published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper which sets out how the government will put employers at the heart of the skills system to ensure skills provision meets local labour market needs.
The Shared Outcomes Fund encourage Departments to work together to overcome some of the most difficult social, environmental and economic challenges that sit across the areas of responsibility of multiple public sector organisations.
The second round of the Shared Outcomes Fund, announced at Spending Review 2020, will provide a further £200 million for projects to improve the join up across government.
The assessment process to award the funding is ongoing.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussion he has had with the Secretary of State for (a) Work and Pensions and (b) Health and Social Care on reform of the tax exemption for employer-funded medical treatment.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Employers normally incur expenditure on employee healthcare for a business purpose and can deduct this when calculating the employer’s own taxable profits.
However, from 1 January 2015, the Government also exempted any benefit in kind or payment of earnings, up to an annual cap of £500 per employee, from a charge to income tax when an employer meets the cost of recommended medical treatment. There is also a corresponding National Insurance contributions disregard.
Medical treatment is recommended where it is provided in accordance with a recommendation from an occupational health service in order to help an employee return to work after a period of absence due to ill-health or injury. The 28 consecutive day qualifying period makes sure that the tax exemption is targeted at those cases in greatest need of support. Evidence showed that sickness absence cases lasting four weeks or longer were at the greatest risk of turning into long term cases.
The Government ensured that this exemption would be easy to understand and administer, so employers do not need to inform HMRC about payments for treatments covered by the £500 per employee per year limit. This means that information is not available to assess the direct impact of the exemption. However, the Government estimated in 2014 that employees working for approximately 10,000 businesses each year would benefit and Table 2.2 of Budget 2014 set out the expected cost to the Exchequer of £20 million per annum by 2018-19.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has any plans to amend the Income Tax (Recommended Medical Treatment) Regulations 2014 to incentivise employers to support staff returning to work after a period of sickness absence; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the 28 consecutive day qualifying period on the number of staff returning to work.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Employers normally incur expenditure on employee healthcare for a business purpose and can deduct this when calculating the employer’s own taxable profits.
However, from 1 January 2015, the Government also exempted any benefit in kind or payment of earnings, up to an annual cap of £500 per employee, from a charge to income tax when an employer meets the cost of recommended medical treatment. There is also a corresponding National Insurance contributions disregard.
Medical treatment is recommended where it is provided in accordance with a recommendation from an occupational health service in order to help an employee return to work after a period of absence due to ill-health or injury. The 28 consecutive day qualifying period makes sure that the tax exemption is targeted at those cases in greatest need of support. Evidence showed that sickness absence cases lasting four weeks or longer were at the greatest risk of turning into long term cases.
The Government ensured that this exemption would be easy to understand and administer, so employers do not need to inform HMRC about payments for treatments covered by the £500 per employee per year limit. This means that information is not available to assess the direct impact of the exemption. However, the Government estimated in 2014 that employees working for approximately 10,000 businesses each year would benefit and Table 2.2 of Budget 2014 set out the expected cost to the Exchequer of £20 million per annum by 2018-19.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to EIM21774 of the Employment Income Manual, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the tax exemption for employer-funded medical treatment; and what estimate he has made of the (a) cost to the public purse of implementing that exemption, (b) savings accrued to the public purse of the use of that exemption and (c) amount that has been claimed by employers under that exemption since its introduction.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Employers normally incur expenditure on employee healthcare for a business purpose and can deduct this when calculating the employer’s own taxable profits.
However, from 1 January 2015, the Government also exempted any benefit in kind or payment of earnings, up to an annual cap of £500 per employee, from a charge to income tax when an employer meets the cost of recommended medical treatment. There is also a corresponding National Insurance contributions disregard.
Medical treatment is recommended where it is provided in accordance with a recommendation from an occupational health service in order to help an employee return to work after a period of absence due to ill-health or injury. The 28 consecutive day qualifying period makes sure that the tax exemption is targeted at those cases in greatest need of support. Evidence showed that sickness absence cases lasting four weeks or longer were at the greatest risk of turning into long term cases.
The Government ensured that this exemption would be easy to understand and administer, so employers do not need to inform HMRC about payments for treatments covered by the £500 per employee per year limit. This means that information is not available to assess the direct impact of the exemption. However, the Government estimated in 2014 that employees working for approximately 10,000 businesses each year would benefit and Table 2.2 of Budget 2014 set out the expected cost to the Exchequer of £20 million per annum by 2018-19.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Martin Vickers (Conservative - Cleethorpes)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Northern Powerhouse policy on the economy of northern Lincolnshire.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As a key part of the Northern Powerhouse, in February, the government announced the Long-term Economic Plan for Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, which aims to increase the size of the region’s economy by an extra £13 billion in real terms by 2030.
This will build on the progress seen since 2010, with employment in Yorkshire and the Humber up by 122,000.
This is welcome progress, but we will continue to build a Northern Powerhouse that strengthens all parts of the North of England.