Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the zero rate of VAT applied to women's sanitary products since 1 January 2021, what additional steps his Department is taking to ensure that women can access and afford sanitary products in light of the rising cost of living.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
A zero rate of VAT has applied to women’s sanitary products since 1 January 2021. This applies to those products which were previously subject to the reduced rate of 5 per cent, for example, tampons and pads, and to reusable menstrual products, such as keepers. The zero rate will ensure that every woman that needs Period protection during their monthly cycle will now have access to a variety of zero-rated products on which they had previously paid a 5 per cent rate of VAT.
Although there are currently no plans to remove VAT on all personal hygiene products, the Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
The Government recognises the pressures that families across the UK are currently facing with the cost of living. The Energy Price Guarantee is a scheme that will cap the unit price households pay for electricity and gas, which means that a typical household in Great Britain will have to pay bills equivalent to no more than £2500 a year on their energy bills between October 22 and April 23.
A review will be launched to consider more targeted measures to support households with their energy bills after this period.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help people who have fallen into hygiene poverty and cannot afford basic necessities such as soap and toothpaste with the exception of removing VAT on goods.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
A zero rate of VAT has applied to women’s sanitary products since 1 January 2021. This applies to those products which were previously subject to the reduced rate of 5 per cent, for example, tampons and pads, and to reusable menstrual products, such as keepers. The zero rate will ensure that every woman that needs Period protection during their monthly cycle will now have access to a variety of zero-rated products on which they had previously paid a 5 per cent rate of VAT.
Although there are currently no plans to remove VAT on all personal hygiene products, the Government keeps all taxes under review and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy, as part of the tax policy making cycle and Budget process.
The Government recognises the pressures that families across the UK are currently facing with the cost of living. The Energy Price Guarantee is a scheme that will cap the unit price households pay for electricity and gas, which means that a typical household in Great Britain will have to pay bills equivalent to no more than £2500 a year on their energy bills between October 22 and April 23.
A review will be launched to consider more targeted measures to support households with their energy bills after this period.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department will take to support food banks in the event that donations decrease as a result of increases to the cost of living.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and HM Government does not have any role in their operation.
However, the Government understands that people across the UK are worried about the cost of living, including the rising cost of food. That is why the Government has provided £1.5 billion since October 2021 to enable the creation and extension of the Household Support Fund in England, which will be in place until the end of March 2023. The Fund continues to support vulnerable households with the cost of food, energy and other essentials, and some Local Authorities have used their allocations to support food banks.
The Household Support Fund is only one part of the Government’s £37 billion package of support for the cost of living this financial year.
This is in addition to over £200 million per year invested by the Government in the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities for children from low-income families in England during the school holidays. Over £1 billion is also spent annually on delivering free meals to pupils in schools.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of uprating the eligibility threshold for pension credit in line with inflation.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
I meet regularly with other Ministers to discuss cross-Government issues.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has an annual statutory duty to review benefits and pensions. Her decisions will be announced to Parliament in due course.
We understand that higher prices are affecting pensioners, including those receiving Pension Credit. Most households on Pension Credit will receive £1,500 as part of the Government’s £37 billion cost of living package. They will also benefit from the recently announced ‘Energy Price Guarantee’.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to introduce cost of living support for university students.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials.
On 8 September, government announced that the energy price cap will be superseded with a new Energy Price Guarantee, which means that a typical UK household will pay no more than £2500 a year on their energy bill over the next 2 years from 1 October.
This announcement comes in addition to the £37bn of support previously announced, which will see eight million of the most vulnerable households receive £1200 support, with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.
However, the Government recognises that students have also been impacted by the cost of living pressures that have arisen this year, and we have confirmed in our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022-23 financial year that universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through their own hardship funds and the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for academic year 2022/23.
The government has also worked closely with the OfS to clarify that English providers can draw upon this funding now, to provide hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by cost-of-living pressures.
Later this month, the Chancellor will set out a package of measures to deliver on the Prime Minister’s commitment to cut taxes and boost growth, laying the groundwork for the change we need in the long term to make our economy stronger.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons university students were excluded from cost of living support packages.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government understands that people across the UK are worried about the rising cost of living and are seeing their disposable incomes decrease as they spend more on the essentials.
On 8 September, government announced that the energy price cap will be superseded with a new Energy Price Guarantee, which means that a typical UK household will pay no more than £2500 a year on their energy bill over the next 2 years from 1 October.
This announcement comes in addition to the £37bn of support previously announced, which will see eight million of the most vulnerable households receive £1200 support, with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.
However, the Government recognises that students have also been impacted by the cost of living pressures that have arisen this year, and we have confirmed in our guidance to the Office for Students (OfS) on funding for the 2022-23 financial year that universities will continue to be able to support students in hardship through their own hardship funds and the student premium, for which up to £261 million is available for academic year 2022/23.
The government has also worked closely with the OfS to clarify that English providers can draw upon this funding now, to provide hardship funds and support disadvantaged students impacted by cost-of-living pressures.
Later this month, the Chancellor will set out a package of measures to deliver on the Prime Minister’s commitment to cut taxes and boost growth, laying the groundwork for the change we need in the long term to make our economy stronger.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the Small Breweries' Relief on breweries that produce less than 5000hl of beer annually.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The alcohol duty review consultation closed on 30 January 2022 and the Government is currently reviewing the responses. We will publish the consultation response later this year.
This will include further detail on the Small Producer Relief which will be replacing the Small Brewers Relief.