Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to reduce the time it takes for packages sent from EU member states to clear Customs House as a result of new and increased customs checks after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In the event of a 'no deal', the Government’s priority is to keep goods moving and avoid delays at the border. As the customs authority, HMRC will act to ensure that border processes are as smooth as possible, without compromising security. Our aim is to ensure the movement of all goods continues to operate effectively.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of (a) new and (b) increased customs checks after the UK leaves the EU on Customs House clearance times for packages sent from EU member states.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In the event of a 'no deal', the Government’s priority is to keep goods moving and avoid delays at the border. As the customs authority, HMRC will act to ensure that border processes are as smooth as possible, without compromising security. Our aim is to ensure the movement of all goods continues to operate effectively.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of grants made to (a) Government and (b) UK businesses and organisations from Horizon 2020 in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017 and (iv) 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Financial contributions from the European Commission to the UK, as part of Horizon 2020 and broken down by organisation type and calendar year, can be found online at:
The EIB publishes details of all projects on their website, which can be filtered by country. The EIB do not provide data on the split between the public and private sector. Details can be accessed via the link below :
http://www.eib.org/projects/loan/list/?region=1&country=GB.
The Government contributes to the EU budget as a whole and not to individual EU programmes, such as Horizon 2020. Therefore, it is not possible to separate UK funding which has been allocated to Horizon 2020. The European Commission does publish details of total annual expenditure on each EU programme which can be found online at: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/interactive/index_en.cfm.
Further information on the UK’s gross and net contributions to the EU Budget can be found in the European Union Finances 2018 statement, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/european-union-finances-2018.
The UK does not make an annual contribution to the EIB. Throughout the UK’s membership of the EIB, the UK has made payments totaling c.£1.8bn to the capital of the EIB.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, What is the value was of loans made by the European Investment Bank to (a) Government and (b) UK businesses and organisations in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017 and (iv) 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Financial contributions from the European Commission to the UK, as part of Horizon 2020 and broken down by organisation type and calendar year, can be found online at:
The EIB publishes details of all projects on their website, which can be filtered by country. The EIB do not provide data on the split between the public and private sector. Details can be accessed via the link below :
http://www.eib.org/projects/loan/list/?region=1&country=GB.
The Government contributes to the EU budget as a whole and not to individual EU programmes, such as Horizon 2020. Therefore, it is not possible to separate UK funding which has been allocated to Horizon 2020. The European Commission does publish details of total annual expenditure on each EU programme which can be found online at: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/interactive/index_en.cfm.
Further information on the UK’s gross and net contributions to the EU Budget can be found in the European Union Finances 2018 statement, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/european-union-finances-2018.
The UK does not make an annual contribution to the EIB. Throughout the UK’s membership of the EIB, the UK has made payments totaling c.£1.8bn to the capital of the EIB.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding the Government allocated from the public purse to (a) Horizon 2020 and (b) European Investment Bank in (i) 2015, (ii) 2016, (iii) 2017 and (iv) 2018.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Financial contributions from the European Commission to the UK, as part of Horizon 2020 and broken down by organisation type and calendar year, can be found online at:
The EIB publishes details of all projects on their website, which can be filtered by country. The EIB do not provide data on the split between the public and private sector. Details can be accessed via the link below :
http://www.eib.org/projects/loan/list/?region=1&country=GB.
The Government contributes to the EU budget as a whole and not to individual EU programmes, such as Horizon 2020. Therefore, it is not possible to separate UK funding which has been allocated to Horizon 2020. The European Commission does publish details of total annual expenditure on each EU programme which can be found online at: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/figures/interactive/index_en.cfm.
Further information on the UK’s gross and net contributions to the EU Budget can be found in the European Union Finances 2018 statement, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/european-union-finances-2018.
The UK does not make an annual contribution to the EIB. Throughout the UK’s membership of the EIB, the UK has made payments totaling c.£1.8bn to the capital of the EIB.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons VAT on (a) books, (b) newspapers and (c) magazines is zero-rated.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
A zero rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) has applied to supplies of books, newspapers and magazines in the UK since the adoption of VAT in 1973.
This served as a continuation of the exemption of those supplies from purchase tax, applied from its inception in 1940.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of officials in his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in the last 12 months; what proportion that leave was of total sick leave taken in his Department; and what the cost was to his Department of officials taking sick leave over that period.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Treasury’s sickness absence data for ‘mental health and related issues includes stress related conditions. HM Treasury publishes data in the Annual report and Accounts. The data for January to December 2017 can be found in the 2017/18 report and accounts, and data for the period January to December 2018 will be reported in the 2018/19 annual report and accounts which is due to be published in July.
For information I have attached a link below to the 2017/18 report.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-annual-report
We do not currently make an estimate of the cost of sick absence to the department.
HM Treasury has the following support in place for those that are suffering due to stress or poor mental health including:
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff of his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other Departments and (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
HM Treasury does not hold information centrally on Loans/Secondments that have returned that have worked on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU.
We estimate that to search and locate any information held would exceed the appropriate limit, therefore can only be answered at a disproportionate cost.
EU Exit is an all-of-government operation. The Department for Exiting the European Union is responsible for overseeing negotiations to leave the EU and establishing the future relationship between the UK and EU. The Department for International trade works to secure UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade.
Departments continually review workforce plans, reprioritise and assess changing needs, which includes identification and cessation of non-priority work where appropriate. We have accelerated our plans, and at the same time, the Civil Service as a whole is working to ensure that EU Exit Implementation is carried out to high quality without impacting public service delivery across the whole of government.