Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has carried out an impact assessment on plans to redistribute council tax.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government has no plans to redistribute council tax.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of plans to redistribute council tax on councils with lower rates of tax.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Government has no plans to redistribute council tax.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to provide (a) financial and (b) other support to places of worship and community groups affected financially by the covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Luke Hall
As the Department responsible for?Faith, MHCLG?continues to play a facilitative?role?in ensuring?Government?understands?the needs of faith communities and the challenges they?may be currently?facing?due to the pandemic. We are working closely with a range of faith and community groups to better understand how Government can support them to respond to the pressures they face on sustaining their?organisations during this period of time.
There are a range of Government-backed financial support measures that these organisations can access.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Scheme are both available to registered charities, and therefore places of worship registered with the Charities Commission. Registered charities have now been exempted from the requirement that the applicant derives at least 50 per cent of its income from its trading activity, so that more charities can access the scheme.
Any person or organisation, including places of worship, that is unable to pay any HMRC bill due to Covid-19 should get in contact through the HMRC Coronavirus helpline. HMRC will be able to agree payment plans, which can include a gap before any initial payment is required. If charities or places of worship are VAT registered, they are also able to use the VAT deferral scheme.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme provides support for entity with a UK payroll - small or large, charitable or non-profit, to be reimbursed 80 per cent of furloughed worker wages by HMRC, up to a cap of £2500 per month.
However, we know that some charities cannot furlough staff as they are contributing to the frontline response. There is a substantial package of targeted support for charities on the frontline of responding to Covid-19. The Chancellor on 9 April announced £750 million of funding for charities providing key frontline services to vulnerable people affected by the pandemic. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-sets-out-extra-750-million-coronavirus-funding-for-frontline-charities