Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the rate of VAT on refurbishment, repair and maintenance of buildings from 20 per cent to five per cent or below.

Reducing the rate of VAT on refurbishment, repair and maintenance of buildings from twenty per cent to five per cent would be very expensive. For example, such a rate for repair and renovations of buildings would cost the Exchequer approximately £4 billion per year. This would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere. While the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to change the VAT treatment of the repair and renovation of buildings.