Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of extending the 12.5 per cent VAT rates until the end of 2022 to help hospitality businesses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This relief ended on the 31 March 2022.
The Government has been clear that the reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism was a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It was appropriate that as restrictions were lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increased, the temporary tax reliefs were first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to increase the number of staff in his Department assigned to work on tackling tax avoidance by multinational companies.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government has taken significant steps, domestically and internationally, to ensure companies pay the right amount of tax on their UK activities. That includes measures aimed at countering aggressive tax planning techniques like the introduction of the Diverted Profits Tax. It also includes taking a leading role in OECD discussions to reform the international tax framework and the agreement to a global minimum Corporation Tax as part of a two-pillar solution which helps ensure that the right companies pay the right amount of tax in the right place.
Further, the Government has ensured that HMRC has the resources it needs through investing over £2 billion in HMRC since 2010 and allocating almost £300 million additional funding in the 2021 spending review to tackle avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to support the use of cash and increase access to cash machines.
Answered by John Glen
The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, and remains committed to legislating to protect access to cash.
From 1 July to 23 September last year, the Government held the Access to Cash Consultation on 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 intend to 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.
The Government received responses to the consultation from a broad range of respondents, including individuals, businesses, and charities. The Government has carefully considered responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to wine duty announced in his Alcohol Duty Review on (a) inflation and (b) the cost of living.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
As announced at Autumn Budget 2021, the Government intends to move to a duty system where all wines are taxed in reference to their alcohol content, as is already the case for beer and spirits. Subsequently, some higher strength still wines will increase in duty, while lighter wines (below 11.5% alcohol by volume – ABV) will become cheaper. For lower strength wines below 8.5% ABV, duty rates will be reduced even further.
Further detail about the impact of our alcohol duty reforms will be included in a tax information and impact note when the policy is final, or near final, in the usual way.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is making funds available to support the care and housing of refugees from Ukraine.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to the most vulnerable people. To support those fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office has launched the Ukraine Family Scheme to allow thousands of families to be reunited in the UK. The Scheme allows immediate and extended family members of British nationals and people settled in the UK to come to the country. Those joining family through the Scheme will be granted leave for 3 years, giving them certainty and ensuring their future in the country. The Scheme is free, and does not include any salary or language requirements.
In addition, a new sponsored humanitarian visa route will be established to allow communities, private sponsors, or local authorities to sponsor people to come the UK from Ukraine. The Treasury is working closely with departments across government on the design and funding of these new routes.
In addition to these changes to the immigration system, the government has already committed around £400m to support the current crisis in Ukraine. This includes up to £220m in humanitarian aid, making the UK the largest bilateral humanitarian donor to Ukraine. This much-needed humanitarian assistance will help aid agencies respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation, saving lives, protecting vulnerable people and creating a lifeline for Ukrainians with access to basic necessities. It also includes a commitment to match-fund the public’s first £20m of donations to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, our largest ever aid-match contribution. UK Government humanitarian experts have also been deployed to the region to bolster the UK's support to countries receiving those fleeing the violence in Ukraine.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department had made of the cost per day of covid-19 lockdowns to the economy.
Answered by John Glen
The pandemic and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) created significant economic disruption and drove the largest recession on record, with the UK economy contracting by 9.4% in 2020.
The government has outlined the impact of restrictions and lockdowns on the economy in the following publications: Analysis of the health, economic and social effects of Covid-19 and the approach to tiering (30 November 2020), Budget 2021 (3 March 2021) and Living with Covid (21 February 2022). These documents can be found below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-health-economic-and-social-effects-of-covid-19-and-the-tiered-approach
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2021-documents
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-living-with-covid-19
Any attempt to estimate the specific economic impacts of precise changes to individual restrictions for a defined period of time would be subject to very wide uncertainty. HM Treasury, as part of its normal activities, carefully monitors the UK economy, and any risks to it, and remains ready to respond to challenges.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle inflation.
Answered by John Glen
The Government’s commitment to price stability remains absolute. Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England, which has the primary objective of maintaining price stability. Since the MPC became responsible for controlling inflation it has averaged close to the 2% target.
We understand the pressure that a higher cost of living places on people. The government is working with international partners to tackle global supply chain disruption and providing support worth around £12 billion this financial year and next to help people with the cost of living. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down, and providing targeted support to help vulnerable households with their energy bills and other essentials.