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 potential effect of trends in the level of interest rates on people who are mortgage prisoners.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Ministers and officials meet regularly with industry, trade bodies, and regulators to understand their policies and the impact of the increased cost of living on all mortgage borrowers. I am also in regular contact with mortgage prisoner campaigners about their concerns.
The Treasury continues to work with industry to determine if there are any further solutions which would meaningfully benefit mortgage prisoners and are fair to other borrowers in the wider mortgage market, including those who are also paying variable rates.
The Government continues its efforts to support mortgage borrowers by offering Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans to homeowners in receipt of an income-related benefit to help prevent repossession. Recently, the Prime Minister announced a package of homeownership measures, including changes to SMI Loans. When introduced, these changes will provide support more quickly to homeowners by reducing the qualifying period for SMI loans and remove the ‘zero earnings rule’. There is also protection in place in the courts under the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol which stipulates that repossession should always be a last resort for lenders.
On the cost of living more broadly, the Government has introduced over £15bn of additional support, targeted particularly at those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year. Millions of the most vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the withdrawal cost on Lifetime ISAs to 20 per cent in response to cost of living increases.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Lifetime ISA (LISA) was designed as a long-term savings product to encourage people to save for either a first home or for later life by providing a generous 25% government bonus on up to £4,000 of contributions each year. Money held in a LISA, including the government bonus, can be withdrawn from the age of 60 or at an earlier stage if used as a deposit for the account holder’s first home worth up to a maximum of £450,000. All other withdrawals are subject to a 25% government charge made to reflect the account’s specific intention.
The Government has no current plans to reduce the LISA withdrawal charge to 20%. This would mean that the LISA would provide greater benefits than a current account or traditional savings account and undermine its positioning as a long-term savings vehicle. There are a range of other savings products allowing for immediate access of savings, including cash ISAs.
The government keeps all aspects of savings tax policy under review in the context of future fiscal events.
However, to support millions of households across the UK who are struggling to make their incomes stretch to cover the rising cost of living, the government is providing over £15bn of additional support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package builds on the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the evidential basis is for his fiscal policy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cars; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing that policy in order to incentivise the use of LPG cars.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
The temporary fuel duty cut announced at Spring Statement 2022 reduced rates for LPG proportionately to the 5p reduction for petrol and diesel to maintain the relative differential.
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: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of properties are in Council Tax bands A to D in each (a) local authority and (b) constituency as of 21 June 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Valuation Office Agency publishes annual statistics on the number of domestic properties in each Council Tax Band, by Local Authority area. The latest publication can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/council-tax-stock-of-properties-2022.
Table 1.0 shows the number of properties by Council Tax band and Local Authority for each year from 1993 to 2022. Table 2.0 shows the number of properties by Council Tax band and Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies for 2022.
The current publication displays statistics up to 31 March 2022. The next publication for figures up to 31 March 2023 will be published next year.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential economic merits of permitting the use of red diesel in the (a) construction industry and (b) timber industry in response to rising oil prices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At Budget 2020, the Chancellor announced that he would remove the entitlement to use red diesel from most sectors from April 2022.
The Government recognised that this would be a significant change and ran a consultation to gather information from affected users on the expected impact of these tax changes and make sure it had not overlooked any exceptional reasons why other sectors should be allowed to continue to use red diesel beyond April 2022.
Following the consultation, the Chancellor announced at Spring Budget 2021 that the Government would grant further entitlements to use red diesel after April 2022 for a limited number of users. However, having assessed the cases made by other sectors to retain their red diesel entitlement, including the construction sector, the Government did not believe that they were compelling enough to outweigh the need to ensure fairness between the different users of diesel fuels, the Government's long-term environmental objectives and the need for the tax system to incentivise the development of greener alternatives to polluting fuels.
Rebated fuel can be used in permitted vehicles and machines for accepted purposes relating to forestry, but not for the further processing or use of timber. Further guidance is available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/using-rebated-fuels-in-vehicles-and-machines-excise-notice-75-from-1-april-2022
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.