Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to increases in the cost of living, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the VAT threshold for small businesses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on small businesses. This is why the UK maintains the highest VAT registration threshold in the OECD and as compared to EU Member States at £85,000. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.
Views on the VAT registration threshold are divided and the case for change has been regularly reviewed over the years. While some businesses have argued that a higher threshold would reduce administrative and financial burdens, others contend that a lower threshold would provide a fairer competitive environment.
Whilst the Government keeps all taxes under review, it was announced at Budget 2021 that the VAT threshold will be maintained at its current level of £85,000 until 31 March 2024.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the sale of Truephone does not permit sanctioned individuals and their business partners to recoup a substantial part of their investment.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We understand that this question relates to the entity Truphone Limited.
Financial sanctions restrictions apply to any entity that is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by a designated person. This includes where that person holds (directly or indirectly) more than 50% of the shares or voting rights in an entity, has the right (directly or indirectly) to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the entity, or it is reasonable to expect that the person would be able to ensure the affairs of the entity are conducted in accordance with the person’s wishes.
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), in the Treasury, does not aggregate different designated persons’ holdings in a company unless (for example) the shares or rights are subject to a joint arrangement between the designated parties or one party controls the rights of another.
Therefore, OFSI does not consider that Truphone is subject to an asset freeze.
If any sanctioned individuals are due to receive funds as a result of the sale of a company which is not subject to financial sanctions restrictions, any funds they receive from a UK company or into a UK bank account will need to be frozen. An OFSI licence would then be needed for any onward movement of such funds, otherwise breaches of financial sanctions restrictions may occur. Any suspected breach of financial sanctions should be reported to OFSI.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of writing off all debt owed by Ukraine to the UK.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Chancellor continues to engage with G7 partners and International Financial Institutions on progressing current and future support to Ukraine.
Alongside our allies, we’ve hit Russia with the most severe package of sanctions it has ever seen. Our economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine also now totals around £400 million. This includes a £220 million package of aid, making the UK a leading bilateral humanitarian donor; a £100 million grant to support Ukraine’s energy and security reforms, primarily delivered through World Bank programmes; and a $100 million budgetary support grant, which contributed to a package agreed on 8 March of over $700 million for direct fiscal support to Ukraine via the World Bank, to help mitigate direct economic impacts.
The UK also stands ready to provide up to $500 million in guarantees to support Multilateral Development Bank lending, which will enable them to significantly scale up their financial support offer to Ukraine.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the take home pay was of a worker who was working 40 hours a week on the minimum wage in 2009-10 aged (a) 18, (b) 23 and (c) 30; and how much those sums will be in 2021-22 in (a) cash terms and (b) real terms including in terms of (i) gross wage and (ii) total deductions.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
To help tackle low pay in the UK, in 2016 the Government introduced the National Living Wage (NLW). The Government has an ambitious target for the NLW to reach 2⁄3 median earnings and to be extended to those 21 and over by 2024, provided economic conditions allow. Consistent with that target, on 1 April 2022, the Government will increase the NLW by 6.6 per cent to £9.50 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, whilst young people and apprentices will also see their wages boosted as National Minimum Wage rates will also be increased.
The information requested can be found in the table below:
| 2009-10 | 2021-22 | ||||||
| Minimum Wage (£/hr) | Annual gross earnings (cash terms) | Annual net earnings (cash terms) | Minimum Wage (£/hr) | Annual gross earnings (cash terms) | Annual net earnings (cash terms) | Annual gross earnings in 2009 prices | Annual net earnings in 2009 prices |
18-year-old | £4.83 | £10,046 | £8,856 | £6.56 | £13,645 | £12,941 | £10,474 | £9,933 |
23-year-old | £5.80 | £12,064 | £10,248 | £8.91 | £18,533 | £16,264 | £14,226 | £12,485 |
30-year-old | £5.80 | £12,064 | £10,248 | £8.91 | £18,533 | £16,264 | £14,226 | £12,485 |
Notes:
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the current rate of the car mileage allowance; and if he will make it his policy to increase that allowance in light of the rising cost of (a) fuel and (b) servicing and maintenance of vehicles.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government sets the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) rates to minimise administrative burdens.
Organisations are not required to use the AMAPs rates. Instead, they can agree to reimburse a different amount that better reflects their employees’ circumstances. However, tax is charged on any payment received by employees which exceed the AMAPs rate.
This policy is kept under review by the Government.