Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the report by Nevin Associates Ltd, entitled The fiscal impact of lower VAT rates on visitor accommodation and attractions in the United Kingdom: Final Report, published in July 2014, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the conclusion on page 29 of that report that a reduction in VAT on tourism would generate a positive net present value of £3.9 billion for his Department over the course of 10 years and would create 123,000 jobs in the tourism sector.

The Government does not always agree with the conclusions of the reports it receives, nor the assumptions underlying them. I refer the Hon gentlemen to my comments during the Westminster Hall debate on 11 February 2014.