Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the impact of ending tax-free shopping for international visitors on levels of spending by international visitors since 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published its next steps, in relation to tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of ending tax-free shopping for international visitors on levels of tourism since 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published its next steps, in relation to tax-free shopping in the Spring Budget 2024 which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to provide financial support to parents for childcare.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
At Spring Budget 2023, the government announced the biggest ever investment in childcare in England, meaning eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks per year from when their child is 9 months old, to when they start school.
To support this expansion, the Government will spend over £4.1 billion by 2027-28, has provided over £400 million to substantially uplift the hourly rate paid to providers to deliver the existing childcare entitlements in 24-25, and is allocating £100 million capital funding to support childcare settings to increase their physical space. At Spring Budget 2024, the government also announced a commitment to increasing the national average hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the offers in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 in 2025-26 and 2026-27, representing £500m of additional investment.
Parents who are not eligible for the 30 free childcare hours may still be able to access other offers. Parents can find more details on the support available and check if they are eligible at the following link: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the decline in international postgraduate student numbers on the UK’s economy.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
International students make a significant positive contribution to the British economy. According to a study by HEPI and Kaplan, the lifetime net economic benefit of the 21/22 cohort of international students was £37bn with each student making a net contribution of nearly £100,000 on average.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) make a net migration forecast to underpin their economic and fiscal forecasts, which reflects the latest data and migration policy. At Spring Budget, the OBR assessed migration to fall more sharply than the ONS net migration projections in the short-term before it reaches 315,000 at the end of the forecast period. Rising emigration and effect of policy explain their adjustment.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Spring Budget 2024, whether he has made an estimate of the potential return on investment of (a) violence reduction units, (b) hot spot policing, (c) increasing the capacity of children's homes and (d) the building of 15 new special free schools.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
These measures are part of the Public Sector Productivity Review, which will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029.
We have committed £75 million to expand the Violence Reduction Unit model across England and Wales, supporting a prevention-first approach to serious violence. Violence Reduction Units enable local public services such as health boards, schools and police leaders to coordinate their joint strategy to tackle serious violence among young people, preventing violent crime and reducing burdens on healthcare, schools and criminal justice.
As part of the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, we committed £66.3 million to scale up hotspot enforcement. From April 2024, hotspot response will be rolled out across every police force area in England and Wales, which will see thousands of additional high visibility patrols in the places most affected by Serious Violence and Anti-Social Behaviour.
An independent evaluation found that in 2022/23, VRUs and hotspot policing prevented 3,220 hospital admissions from violent injury – a statistically significant drop. Please find a link to the evaluation here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/violence-reduction-units-year-ending-march-2023-evaluation-report/violence-reduction-units-2022-to-2023#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20a%20further%202,data%20sharing%20and%20analysis.
On increasing the capacity of children’s homes, the Government announced £165 million of funding over the next 4 years to reduce the reliance of local authorities on costly emergency provision.
Finally, the building of 15 new special free schools through £105 million of investment over the next 4 years will deliver over 2,000 additional special places for children with special education needs and disabilities.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the childcare tax free cap.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Tax-Free Childcare provides financial support for working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they’re 17.
The Government recognizes the importance of supporting parents with the costs of childcare and continues to support families with a range of other childcare offers, including the free hours offer, and support through Universal Credit childcare.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, how many applications for contingent liability approval his Department has (a) received and (b) approved have fallen in the average cost per crystallisation category of (i) less than £10 million, (ii) £10 million to £50 million, (iii) £50 million to £100 million, (iv) £100 million to £500 million, (v) £500 million to £1 billion and (vi) more than £1 billion in each financial year from (a) 2017-18 to (B) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, how many applications for contingent liability approval his Department has (a) received and (b) approved have fallen in the reasonable worst case exposure category of (i) less than £10 million, (ii) £10 million to £50 million, (iii) £50 million to £100 million, (iv) £100 million to £500 million, (v) £500 million to £1 billion and (vi) more than £1 billion in each financial year from (A) 2017-18 to (B) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department's contingent liability approval framework guidance, updated on 20 April 2023, what the total lifetime expected net cost was of all the applications for contingent liability approved by his Department in each financial year from (a) 2017-18 to (b) 2023-24 to date.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The contingent liability approval framework sets out government’s policy framework for new contingent liabilities and a delegation approach.
The government is committed to transparency on its contingent liability portfolio. For that reason, at the 2023 Autumn Statement UKGI published a comprehensive assessment of government exposure to contingent liabilities, the “Annual Report on the UK Government’s Contingent Liabilities, November 2023”.
Government also reports individual liabilities to parliament, as set out in Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the temporary easement for wine products will end on 1 February 2025.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the new alcohol duty system, the Government introduced the temporary wine easement. During this period, all wine between 11.5-14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) will pay duty as if it were 12.5% ABV. The temporary wine easement will last until 1 February 2025, giving the wine industry over two years to adapt to the new system.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.