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.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will publish the Government's response to the Alcohol Duty Review.
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.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on progress made on reforms to the business rates system.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
With the conclusion of the business rates review, the Government has delivered meaningful reform and cuts worth £7 billion to business over the next five years.
The review has implemented significant new measures to reduce the burden of business rates on firms, including a freeze in the multiplier and further relief for high street businesses during 2022-23, new support for green technology from 2022, and improvement relief from 2023. The Government is committing to more frequent revaluations, which represents significant reform of the system and will ensure that liabilities are more responsive to changing market conditions. This addresses a key ask of stakeholders for more frequent revaluations, reducing the burden of business rates to make the system fairer.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2022 to Question 157540 on Aviation: Taxation, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of tolerating the potential administrative complexity of a frequent flyer levy to facilitate the move towards net zero.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of a consultation on aviation tax reform between March and June 2021, the Government sought views on whether a frequent flyer levy could replace APD as the principal tax on the aviation sector.
In the responses received to the consultation, the Government received a wide range of views on a frequent flyer levy. Some stakeholders, including those from the aviation industry, strongly opposed any suggestion that APD should be replaced with a frequent flyer levy, on the grounds that it would be significantly more difficult to administer. Conversely, environmental stakeholders supported the introduction of a frequent flyer levy, considering that the benefits of such a levy outweighed any potential administrative complexity.
Following the consultation, having considered all views received carefully, the Government published a response which outlined that it was minded to retain APD as the principal tax on the aviation sector, noting in particular concerns about the possible administrative complexity and data processing, handling and privacy of a frequent flyer levy.
Full details of the consultation and the Government’s response can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-aviation-tax-reform
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 impact of the rising cost of living on levels of personal debt.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is committed to monitoring and understanding personal debt levels in the UK, including the impact of cost-of-living pressures, and help individuals access appropriate guidance and support if they need help to get their finances back on track. The Government monitors personal debt levels by working closely with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and by engaging regularly with many other stakeholders on their research and findings.
The FCA conducts a biennial Financial Lives Survey which provides a comprehensive insight into the finances of the UK population. MaPS monitors financial difficulty through an annual survey of 22,000 people. The results of MaPS’ latest Debt Need Survey were published on 23 February 2022.