Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) number of business exits, (b) number of insolvencies and (c) extent of consolidation within the business population as Government covid-19 support is phased out; and what assessment he has made of the impact of each of those categories on the employment rate.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Support schemes such as the CJRS and government-backed loans kept insolvencies and business exits below normal levels throughout much of the pandemic.
To protect businesses from aggressive creditor action during Covid enforced restrictions there was a temporary ban on Winding Up Petitions (WUP) for Covid-19-related debt. As the economy returns to normal trading conditions, it is right that creditor powers are restored.
Insolvencies returned to pre-covid levels in September 2021, coinciding with the end of the WUP ban. It is too early to assess the full impact of support ending on business consolidation as some support schemes, such as the rent moratorium, are still in place.
Vacancy levels are higher than normal. As a result, we expect that the employment rate should remain relatively stable in the face of business exits and consolidation in 2022-23.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of payroll employee jobs that will be impacted by the rise in (a) employee and (b) employer National Insurance Contributions.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has not made an estimate of the proportion of payroll employee jobs affected by the rise in National Insurance contributions from April 2022 as this information is not available.
Individual employees are not directly impacted by the employer National Insurance rise which is paid by employers.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses in the gaming, gambling and leisure industries that applied to reclaim VAT, following the Upper Tribunals decision in favour of Rank and Done Bros in 2020, have yet to receive a refund on the tax.
Answered by Jesse Norman
144 businesses have received a refund. In addition, 157 claims have been rejected as invalid, and 474 are in the process of validation.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value of covid-19 related grants and payments is from the public purse to duty holders in the UK sector of the offshore oil and gas industry, broken down by support for (a) revenue streams, (b) capital investment and (c) employment costs.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government does not publish the level of data requested in order to prevent the release of potentially disclosive information.
The Government is closely monitoring the impacts of the pandemic and period of low oil prices on the upstream oil and gas industry and continues to engage closely with a range of stakeholders from the sector.
Throughout this crisis, the Government has sought to protect people’s jobs and livelihoods, and support businesses and public services across the UK. The Government has spent over £280 billion to do so this year.
Covid-19 related grants and payments available to businesses and individuals across the country include the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS). Further grants to help businesses include the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) to local authorities in England.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons the coach sector is not eligible for support through the expanded job support scheme.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor postponed the Job Support Scheme and has announced the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until the end of March 2021. This scheme provides support for the whole of the UK and employers in the coach sector can access the scheme and claim the grant if they meet the CJRS criteria.
The Government will continue to work closely with representatives from the coach sector including the Confederation of Passenger Transport, and across government departments, to understand the ongoing risks and issues, including demand considerations and how these could be addressed.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) his Department and (b) HMRC has set a target date for the elimination of the gender pay gap.
Answered by Simon Clarke
HM Treasury and HMRC are committed to reducing the gender pay gap as quickly as reasonably possible but have not set a target date. For further details on how this is being achieved please read HM Treasury’s latest gender pay gap report and HMRC’s gender pay gap report.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 49 of Budget 2018, what progress he has made on the establishment of a UK-wide Anti-Illicit Trade Group.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Following the recommendations in the report of the APPG on Illicit Trade, the Government announced, at Budget 2018, the establishment of a new UK-wide Anti-Illicit Trade Group.
Officials are currently working to establish a first meeting of the new Group and further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the financial benefits for drivers of LPG vehicles; and whether the Government has plans to reduce tax for drivers who have converted their vehicle to run on LPG.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The government uses the tax system to encourage the purchase of cars with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Vehicles powered by Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) benefit from a reduced rate of fuel duty in comparison to the main road fuel rate. Budget 2018 extended the current duty differential until 2032, subject to review in 2024.
Furthermore, from 1 March 2001, cars powered by LPG, including those converted following first registration, receive a £10 discount on their annual VED payment.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of alcohol duty freezes and reductions since 2013.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) published policy costings, we estimate the cumulative loss to the Exchequer from the successive alcohol duty freezes and cuts from financial year 2013-14 to the current financial year 2018-19 to be around £4.0bn. This is equal to the yearly cost of employing over 100,000 teachers.
The annual impacts on the Exchequer are reported in the table below.
(£m) | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Exchequer Impact | -170 | -505 | -685 | -770 | -820 | -1,025 |
These past decisions will also incur future losses to the Exchequer in years beyond 2018-19. The OBR’s costings of previously announced policies currently extend to 2022-23, and the future impact of these announced freezes and cuts in the alcohol duties to that year is estimated to be around £4.4bn.
The future annual impacts are set out in the table below.
(£m) | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
Exchequer Impact | -1,050 | -1,075 | -1,105 | -1,140 |
The OBR’s policy costings are available at the following link:
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/download/policy-measures-database/
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the estimated annual cost of the apprenticeship levy will be to primary schools in North Tyneside constituency; and if he will make it his policy to seek small school exemption from the levy.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The apprenticeship levy will apply across the UK and will be collected from employers on a UK-wide basis. The Government wants as many schools as possible to take advantage of apprenticeships.
It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the amount of the levy which will be paid by individual schools. However, the expected yield for the apprenticeship levy is published in table C.5: ‘Current Receipts’, in the Autumn Statement 2016 document. This is available to view at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/571559/autumn_statement_2016_web.pdf.
The Government has been clear that there will be no exemptions to paying the apprenticeship levy.