Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to ensure the equity of the High Income Child Benefit charge for single income households in the context of the application of that charge to households with two incomes below the threshold.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support for families is targeted at those who need it most. The tax charge applies to anyone with an individual income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit, or whose partner claims it, regardless of family make-up.
HICBC is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other income tax policy. Basing HICBC on household incomes would mean finding out the incomes of everyone in each of the 7.8 million households currently registered for Child Benefit. This would effectively introduce a new means test, which would be costly to administer and create burdens on the majority of families who receive Child Benefit.
The Government has no current plans to review HICBC but, as with all elements of tax policy, keeps this under review as part of the annual Budget process.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ring-fenced fund to support the provision of local authority social care.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Spending Review provides local authorities with an additional £1.6 billion of grant funding in each of the next three years. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 confirmed that local authorities will have access to over £1 billion of additional resources next year specifically for social care. Ultimately, it is for local authorities to manage their budgets within the funding available and prioritise spending based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that compensation is provided to Equitable Life Assurance Society policy holders.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Honourable Member for Nottingham East to the answer I gave on the 19 April 2021. UIN: 179543
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether student accommodation providers have been eligible for covid-19 business support and assistance during the outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that businesses up and down the UK are feeling the impact of this crisis. That is why the Government has put in place an economic package of support measures which are carefully designed to complement each other to ensure we provide businesses with certainty, even as measures to prevent further spread of the virus change.
UK businesses – including student accommodation providers where eligible – have benefitted from a range of these measures, including the generous Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and billions in government-backed loans.
In response to the current restrictions, and the Prime Minister’s roadmap to easing public health measures, the Chancellor announced further support at the recent Budget to businesses on top of our previous economic responses. This includes the extension of the CJRS until the end of September 2021, which provides a substantial grant for employers to cover 80% of the wages of their employees, and the new Recovery Loan Scheme (80% Government-guaranteed loans between £25,000 and £10 million), which opened on 6 April and will run until the end of the year.
We recognise that universities also rent accommodation to their students and are feeling the impact of this crisis. We have established the Higher Education (HE) Restructuring Regime, which may be deployed as a last resort, if a decision has been made to support a HE provider in England facing severe financial difficulties related to COVID-19. This is for when other steps to preserve its viability and mitigate the risks of financial failure have not proved sufficient. HE providers can also access the CJRS if they meet the published criteria.
As measures to control the virus change, it is right that Government support should also evolve. Because of this, we will continue to take a flexible but cautious approach as we review restrictions, ensuring support reflects the easing of restrictions to enable the private sector to bounce back as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will confirm that the amount of funding allocated to education in 2022-23 will be at least that allocated in 2021-22.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Discussions on spending allocations for 2022-23 between the Treasury and other governmental departments, including the Department for Education, are ongoing. These will be decided at the Spending Review later this year. More details will be set out in due course.
The core schools budget for 2022-23 has already been agreed as part of the 3-year schools settlement announced at Spending Round 19. This represents a £7.1 billion increase in school funding compared to 2019-20 budgets.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with major banks on support for small businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
The Treasury recognises the vital role that major banks, non-banks, and challenger banks play in the provision of credit to SMEs. It is grateful for the way the sector has responded to the crisis, providing a range of commercial support to their customers and participating in the coronavirus guarantee loan schemes.
On 23 March 2020, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) was launched to support small and medium sized businesses’ access to lending, with viable businesses eligible to apply for loans of up to £5m. Furthermore, on 4 May 2020, the Government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) which ensures that the smallest businesses can access loans from £2,000 up to £50,000, capped at 25% of businesses' turnover in a matter of just days.
The British Business Bank has so far accredited 29 BBLS lenders, including challenger banks and non-bank lenders, and more than 100 CBILS lenders. Together, as of 13 December, the schemes have supported more than 1.5 million businesses with facilities totalling over £63 billion.
In order to give the smallest businesses further support and flexibility in making their repayments for BBLS, the Chancellor has announced “Pay as You Grow” (PAYG) options. Furthermore, the Government has amended the CBILS rules to allow lenders to extend loan terms from six to a maximum of ten years where they judge that this will help borrowers repay their loan, helping them to reduce their monthly repayments.
Banks are also providing a range of commercial support to their customers. Businesses struggling to repay any pre-existing loans should talk to their lender to discuss options.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take to support (a) employers and (b) furloughed employees in the events and hospitality industry who are in financial difficulty.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises the extreme disruption the necessary actions to combat Covid-19 are having on sectors like events and hospitality.
We have already announced considerable and unprecedented support for businesses and individuals through the national restrictions.
Businesses forced to close can claim grants of up to £3,000 per month (worth over £1 billion per month) through the Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed). Any business in England forced to close due to national or local restrictions can claim grants, via their local authority, of up to £3,000 per month, per business premises, depending on rateable value.
In addition, on 5th January, the Government announced an extra £4.6 billion to protect jobs and support affected businesses as restrictions get tougher. Businesses forced to close can claim a one-off grant of up to £9,000. This is in addition to the monthly closed grant amounts above. Local authorities (in England) will also be given an additional £500 million discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion discretionary funding (worth £20 per head of population) which local authorities in England have already received to support their local economies and help businesses impacted
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been extended until the end of April. This provides a substantial grant for employers to cover 80% of the wages of their employees. As of 13 December, CJRS has support 9.9 million jobs at the cost of roughly £46.4bn.
Furthermore, individuals who are furloughed, become unemployed, or anyone who sees a fall in their earnings, may become eligible for support through the welfare system, notably, Universal Credit. We have announced significant temporary extra support worth £7.4bn in 2020-21 for families who rely on the safety net of the welfare system. This includes a £20 per week increase to the 2020-21 UC standard allowance, a suspension of the Minimum Income Floor for self-employed UC claimants, and an increase in UC and Housing Benefit Local Housing Allowance rates so they cover the lowest third of local rents
We will continue to monitor the impact of government support on public services, businesses, individuals and sectors, including the events and hospitality sector, as we respond to this pandemic. But we must recognise that it will not be possible to preserve every job or business indefinitely, nor stand in the way of the economy adapting and people finding new jobs or starting new businesses.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of financial support for the events industry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises the extreme disruption the necessary actions to combat Covid-19 are having on sectors like events and exhibitions.
During this difficult time the Treasury is working intensively with employers, delivery partners, industry groups and other government departments such as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to understand the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the events sector.
The Chancellor has already announced unprecedented support for individuals and businesses to protect against the current economic emergency. This includes the deferral of VAT payments and a year-long rates holiday for eligible businesses while some businesses have benefitted from a range of grants and government-backed and guaranteed loan schemes.
The Government has further set out our economic package of support for businesses over the Winter, including monthly grants for closed businesses worth up to £3,000 per month, extending the furlough scheme to April and providing further SEISS grants to support the self-employed to April.
But given the further national restrictions announced by the Prime Minister, the Treasury is providing additional support to the most affected businesses, worth £4.6 billion across the United Kingdom.
Furthermore, the application deadline for the loan guarantee schemes – Bounce Back Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme – has been extended to the end of March 2021 and we will also adjust the Bounce Back Loan Scheme rules to allow businesses who have borrowed less than their maximum (i.e. less than 25 per cent of their turnover) to top-up their existing loan.
We will continue to monitor the impact of Government support with regard to supporting businesses, individuals, and sectors such as events as we respond to this pandemic.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of employees made redundant from companies who have been in receipt of financial support from the public purse during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
An estimate of the number of employees made redundant from companies receiving financial support during the COVID-19 outbreak is not available.
HMRC publish experimental monthly estimates of payrolled employees and their pay from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data (jointly with the ONS): https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/earningsandemploymentfrompayasyouearnrealtimeinformationuk/previousReleases.
On 22 October HMRC published secondary analysis which matched CJRS and PAYE Real RTI data. This showed that 90% of employees who left the CJRS furlough scheme between April and July were still on their original payroll in August, suggesting they remained working for their original employer. This analysis does not distinguish between employees who have chosen to leave their jobs and those who have been made redundant. There are many other reasons that people leave, for example to start a new role, retirement, or to enter full time education. The secondary analysis can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-secondary-analysis/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-secondary-analysis-of-ended-furloughs
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by delays in payments under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; what assessment he has made of the effect of those delays on potential recipients of support; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
97% of payments in respect of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) have been made within 6 working days.
There are several reasons why a payment could have been delayed, including mistakes made by the user when completing the claim, or the need for HMRC to conduct additional fraud checks before payment is made.
Where delays in payment have been identified, HMRC have worked quickly to establish the cause and ensure that any issues are resolved quickly.