Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department takes to ensure that at least one official from his Department is present during all (a) meetings and (b) phone calls relating to Government business between Ministers and third parties.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers holding meetings or phone calls on government business are routinely accompanied by a private secretary or other official, in line with paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Court of Appeal decision in R. (on the application of Motherhood Plan) v HM Treasury [2021] EWHC 309 (Admin), published on 24 November 2021, if he will review Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grants given to self-employed women who have recently given birth.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) did not unlawfully discriminate against self-employed women who had taken time away from work related to pregnancy or caring for a new baby. The Government welcomes this judgment.
Under SEISS, the Government has been able to support millions of self-employed people, at scale and pace, making it one of the most generous self-employment income COVID support schemes in the world. The SEISS grant was based on data HMRC already held and could quickly and easily calculate at scale. Without this mechanism, the schemes might have run into unacceptable delay, created unmanageable manual demand, or risked exposing our support to unacceptably high levels of error and fraud.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department’s process is for (a) recording and (b) keeping minutes of all meetings relating to Government business.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
All Treasury officials are responsible for reliable record keeping, including meetings relating to Government business, and must use the corporate records system to store these items.
Formal meetings are usually minuted, however, not all meetings need to be minuted.
Specific procedures are in place for external meetings involving ministers. These are publicly available and can be found in the Guidance on the management of Private Office Papers.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance the Government has issued to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero on adopting an agreed definition of net zero.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) was launched in April 2021 by Mark Carney (the Prime Minister’s Finance Adviser for COP26) in partnership with the UNFCCC Climate Action Champions, the Race to Zero campaign and the COP26 Presidency.
Access to GFANZ is anchored in the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero campaign to ensure credibility and consistency. This means GFANZ firms’ net-zero commitments must use science-based guidelines to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, cover all emission scopes, include 2030 interim target settings and commit to transparent reporting and accounting in line with Race to Zero criteria. The net zero guidelines and standards used are drawn from UNFCCC’s Race to Zero, as well as the conveners and secretariats of the underlying alliances – such as UN Environment Programme, the Science Based Targets Initiative, and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. GFANZ facilitates collaboration between practitioners, scientists, academics, the official sector, and NGOs to help to identify, develop, and mainstream best practice in this area. The UK government engages with and supports these initiatives but does not issue formal guidance to them.
Next year, GFANZ will continue to partner with the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero, who will continue to set the net zero criteria for entry, alongside the secretariats of the alliances that compromise GFANZ (such as UNEP FI). Further, the Chancellor announced at COP26 that a Taskforce would be established to develop standards for disclosure of transition strategies for companies listed in the UK, which will include industry, academics, and civil society. HMG and GFANZ will therefore continue to collaborate on accelerating the decarbonization of the UK and global financial system.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help protect the economy from the potential economic impact of initiation of bankruptcy proceedings against Evergrande China by DMSA.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government will continue to monitor risks to the UK economy, including from significant developments in the Chinese property market. Our monitoring will inform any action needed to mitigate risks.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage conversations between Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and Bounce Back Loan Scheme lenders and borrowers seeking to restructure or refinance their debt.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Any business concerned about repayments should get in touch with their lender who will be able to provide support and talk them through their options.
In order to give businesses who have borrowed under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme further support in making their repayments, the Government announced “Pay as You Grow” (PAYG) options. PAYG will give businesses the option to repay their Bounce Back Loan over ten years. This will reduce their average monthly repayments on the loan by almost half. Businesses will also have the option to move temporarily to interest-only payments for periods of up to six months (an option which they can use up to three times). They can also pause their repayments entirely for up to six months. If borrowers want to take advantage of these options, they should notify their lender when they are contacted about their repayments.
For those who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Government has taken action to allow lenders to provide borrowers with more time to make their repayments where they assess that borrowers are in difficulty and will benefit from the extension. Given loans under CBILS are more varied than the standardised BBLS and resemble more traditional commercial lending, CBILS borrowers are likely to benefit from engagement with their lender if they have concerns about repayments. Lenders have an ongoing relationship with CBILS borrowers and will be best placed to provide support tailored to an individual business’s circumstance.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assurances he has sought from lenders of the (a) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and (b) Bounce Back Loan Scheme that they are being flexible in assisting borrowers in restructuring and refinancing their debt to avoid default.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Any business concerned about repayments should get in touch with their lender who will be able to provide support and talk them through their options.
In order to give businesses who have borrowed under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme further support in making their repayments, the Government announced “Pay as You Grow” (PAYG) options. PAYG will give businesses the option to repay their Bounce Back Loan over ten years. This will reduce their average monthly repayments on the loan by almost half. Businesses will also have the option to move temporarily to interest-only payments for periods of up to six months (an option which they can use up to three times). They can also pause their repayments entirely for up to six months. If borrowers want to take advantage of these options, they should notify their lender when they are contacted about their repayments.
For those who borrowed under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Government has taken action to allow lenders to provide borrowers with more time to make their repayments where they assess that borrowers are in difficulty and will benefit from the extension. Given loans under CBILS are more varied than the standardised BBLS and resemble more traditional commercial lending, CBILS borrowers are likely to benefit from engagement with their lender if they have concerns about repayments. Lenders have an ongoing relationship with CBILS borrowers and will be best placed to provide support tailored to an individual business’s circumstance.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the main cashflow challenges affecting businesses.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Covid-19 pandemic left many businesses in the UK and elsewhere facing sharp revenue falls in the absence of support. Due to the unprecedented support package put in place by HM Government, UK businesses have made it through the pandemic, often with higher levels of cash reserves than they started. And they are rebounding strongly, with recent figures for August showing that hospitality GVA returned to pre-Covid levels.
However, as the UK and other economies recover from the pandemic, a number of pandemic-related and global factors have led to rising commodity prices, particularly for energy. These and other disruptions in global supply chains, are driving up expenses for UK businesses such as the cost of labour, raw materials and logistics.
We will continue to work closely with other departments to actively monitor these disruptions and their effects on business cashflow, which are being experienced by economies across the globe.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reconsider the no right to appeal rule for those who are denied Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grants from HMRC.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government has provided generous support to the self-employed during the COVID-19 pandemic through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS). The SEISS has helped nearly 3 million self-employed individuals with claims totalling over £27 billion.
Customers can ask HMRC to review their SEISS claim. However, HMRC have limited discretion in operating the SEISS and this discretion can only be used in exceptional circumstances. Such circumstances could include situations where HMRC have made an error that has affected an individual’s eligibility for, or amount of, a SEISS grant.
There is no legal right of appeal against decisions made in relation to the SEISS, and there is also no legal provision for ‘reasonable excuse’ within the legal framework for the SEISS.
The fifth and final SEISS grant closed on 30th September 2021.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to review the planned increase to National Insurance in response to the increase in inflation to 3.2 per cent.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government currently has no plans to review the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy.