Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the level of final support provided by UK banks for new oil and gas projects.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Bank’s decisions on commercial lending are matters for them.
The British Energy Security Strategy, published on 7 April 2022, sets out the importance of oil and gas to energy security and the transition to net zero. Nearly all major UK banks are signatories to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and are committed to transition their lending to align with Net Zero.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing Mileage Allowance Payments for business travel from 45 pence in the context of the rise in the cost of petrol and diesel.
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 the actual cost incurred, where individuals can provide evidence of the expenditure, without an Income Tax or National Insurance charge arising.
Alternatively, they can choose to pay a different mileage rate that better reflects their employees’ circumstances. However, if the payment exceeds the amount due under AMAPs, and this results in a profit for the individual, they will be liable to pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions on the difference.
The Government keeps this policy under review.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of recent changes to customs import and export legislation on the ability of small businesses to import and export products.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Overall, our assessment is that many businesses have adapted well. Our focus is now on ensuring that those still facing challenges get the support they need to trade effectively with the EU.
HMRC are continuing to support traders adjust to changes in their customs obligations following the end of the transition period, with extensive engagement and communication campaigns, guidance, and educational resources, working in collaboration with other Government departments. The Government launched the SME Brexit Support Fund in March 2021 to support Small Medium Enterprises adjust to new importing and exporting processes. The scheme closed for applications on 30 June 2021, and over 4,000 businesses have benefitted from it.
The Department for International Trade launched its Export Support Service on 1 October 2021, which is a dedicated hotline and a ‘one stop shop’ to help more British businesses export to Europe.
We continue to work with industry to ensure that as many traders as possible understand the new rules and where they can access further support.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of the length time taken to transfer data in respect of the Postponed VAT Accounting system on small businesses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) was introduced on 1 January 2021 for goods imported from anywhere in the world. This means UK VAT registered businesses are now able to simultaneously account for and recover import VAT on the same VAT return, subject to the normal rules on input tax deduction, rather than paying import VAT at or soon after the time that the goods arrive at the UK border. This is similar to the way that VAT on goods acquired from the EU was accounted for prior to 1 January 2021.
Businesses that opt to use PVA on their customs declaration will be provided with a monthly import VAT statement no later than the sixth working day of the month following the import. Businesses that use staged customs controls, for which PVA is mandatory, will be provided with an import VAT statement no later than the sixth working day following submission of their supplementary declaration. Businesses access this statement through the financial dashboard of the Customs Declaration Service and will use it to both account for the import VAT in Box 1 of their VAT return and recovery of import VAT in Box 4.
Comprehensive guidance has been published and businesses should find PVA to be a cost effective and straightforward method of accounting for import VAT.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on local communities of closures of local branch banks.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises the continued importance of access to banking. However, decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue for banks and building societies.
In May 2017, the largest banks and building societies signed up to the Access to Banking Standard which commits them to ensure customers are well informed about branch closures, the bank’s reasons for closure and options for continued access to banking services.
Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority also sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This ensures the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly.
Alternative options for access can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
Furthermore, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. The financial services industry is also working with retailers to introduce cashback without a purchase to thousands of local shops following changes to the law by the Government through the Financial Services Act 2021.
The Government also remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK's cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term. The Government’s Access to Cash Consultation closed on 23 September 2021. This set out proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to the normal minimum pension age on the Pensions Dashboard which is built around the concept of a single retirement age.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Pensions dashboards are still at an early stage of development and testing. The information that will be presented to consumers via pensions dashboards, and how it is displayed, will continue to evolve. DWP plans to consult in due course on regulations which would set out the requirements for dashboards.
Pensions dashboards will increase overall awareness and understanding of pensions, where individuals will be able to see information about the value of their different pensions, all in one place.
The way in which pension value information is produced and displayed is also under development and will be subject to user testing and consultation.