Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure businesses who pay business rates via their rent are eligible for coronavirus business support grant funds.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund have been designed to support the smallest businesses, and smaller businesses in some of the sectors which have been hit hardest by measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The two schemes have been tied to the business rates system and rating assessments, which together provide a framework for Local Authorities to make payments as quickly as possible. Businesses in the business rates system are also likely to face particularly high fixed costs, such as fixed rents.
In some shared spaces, individual users have their own rating assessments and may therefore be eligible for the grants schemes. In these cases, Local Authorities are urging landlords and management agents to support them in ensuring that the grants reach the correct ratepayers.
Businesses operating in shared spaces which do not have their own ratings assessment are not eligible for the grants schemes. Extending eligibility to these businesses would not be practicable as it would require Local Authorities to create an entirely new system and to put in place appropriate anti-fraud checks. This would significantly increase Local Authorities’ workloads at a time when they are already working under pressure to support struggling businesses as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much has accrued to the public purse from the increase in (a) vehicle excise duty and (b) benefit-in-kind for diesel vehicles since April 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Any diesel car that is not certified to the Real Driving Emissions 2 (RDE2) standard is liable to pay a diesel supplement on its Vehicle Excise Duty and company car tax rate.
At Autumn Budget 2017, the government published an OBR certified costing of the diesel supplement changes. In 2018-19, these changes are expected to raise £220 million, with this revenue being used to pay for a Clean Air Fund to help English local authorities with the most challenging pollution problems. Aside from the diesel supplement, VED rates for cars, vans and motorbikes increased by RPI in 2018-19 maintaining receipts in real terms.
The costings can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661428/Autumn_Budget_Policy_costings_document_web.pdf
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of public expenditure is spent on children’s services delivered by local government.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
As outlined in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2018 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, total managed expenditure was £793.8bn in 2017/18 and will increase to £812.8bn in 2018/19.
Local authority spending on children’s services in 2017/18 was £9.4bn. Councils have access to over £200 billion to deliver local services, including children’s services, between 2015/16 and 2019/20 and local government core spending power will increase in real terms next year.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to introduce free VAT reporting software for small businesses as part of the introduction of the Making Tax Digital system in April 2019.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The government is not planning to introduce any software for taxpayers as part of the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD). Instead, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is working closely with third party software developers, giving them the support they need to design and develop products that will enable taxpayers to comply quickly, easily and securely with their MTD obligations.
The eligibility criteria for free software under MTD is set out in Annex C of the document covering the relationship between HMRC and software developers.
The document can be found at : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-tax-digital-software-suppliers-terms-of-collaboration/terms-of-collaboration-between-hm-revenue-and-customs-and-software-developers
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the reasonableness of the levels of interest which banks apply to homeowner loans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen
Action taken by this Government in the years following the financial crisis has supported low and stable interest rates, so that mortgage borrowers have been able to benefit from historically low mortgage rates. For example, an average 2-year fixed rate mortgage has fallen consistently over the last 8 years, from 6.64% in December 2009 to 2.21% in December 2017.[1]
[1] Bank of England, G1.3 - Average quoted household interest rates, 2 year 90% LTV fixed-rate owner occupied Secured Lending Rates