Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings were held between (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department and representatives of the alcoholic drink industry in the last 12 months; and if he will publish a list of those meetings.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury ministers have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at the link below.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of the active travel budget has been allocated to Slough over the next two years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Slough Borough Council has received £11,370,077 of dedicated active travel capital funding in total from 2020 to 2023. It also received £296,996 of revenue funding for capability building and engagement, from 2021 to 2023.
Local authority allocations from dedicated active travel budgets for 23/24 will be announced in due course. Allocations for 24/25 and 25/26 are dependent on future business planning and Spending Review decisions.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the retail and travel industries on the effect of the withdrawal of tax-free shopping for international visitors on those sectors.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the UK’s economic and finance ministry, HM Treasury has regular discussions with representatives from a wide range of industries including travel and retail as well as business representative organisations covering many sectors.
As announced in the Autumn Statement, the government is continuing to accept representations from industry on the impact of this policy decision and considering this evidence alongside broader data.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's publication entitled BEIS ministerial overseas travel, January to March 2022, published on 7 October 2022, how much of the (a) £73 spent on the visit of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation to France from 15 to 16 February 2022, and (b) £171 spent on his visit to Switzerland from 6 to 8 March 2022, was spent on air travel.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department’s ministerial travel, January – March 2022 publication has been republished to amend previous errors.
The visit by the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation to France was from 15 to 16 May 2022. Of the £76.14 spent on the visit, £76.14 was spent on air travel. Of the £308.53 spent on the visit to Switzerland from 06 to 08 February, £308.53 was spent on air travel.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) retail and (b) travel industries on the impact of the withdrawal of the VAT Retail Export Scheme on those industries.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the UK’s economic and finance ministry, HM Treasury has regular discussions with representatives from a wide range of industries including travel and retail as well as business representative organisations covering many sectors.
As announced in the Autumn Statement, the government is continuing to accept representations from industry on the impact of this policy decision, and considering this evidence alongside broader data.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to respond to the high level of transport poverty in rural areas, as outlined in the report Getting the measure of transport poverty published by the Social Market Foundation on 15 November.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government understands that the transport needs of communities in rural areas differ from those in urban environments for a variety of reasons including demographics, lower population density and travel distances.
The Department for Transport published its ‘Future of Transport: supporting rural transport innovation’ guidance in early October, and will now work to implement its pledges, such as working closer with local leadership to help deploy and scale innovative new technologies in rural communities. As part of this guide, the Department is making up to £3 million of funding available for rural innovation. This will help explore innovative solutions to long-standing issues, such as loneliness and isolation, poor access to services and economically challenging business cases for rural transport services.
The Department is also providing considerable support for bus and other transport services, including in rural areas. Our £20 million Rural Mobility Fund is supporting 16 innovative, demand-led minibus trials in rural and suburban areas across 16 local authorities, including Hertfordshire, in England. These pilots are exploring whether Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) can serve these communities more effectively than traditional public transport solutions alone. We have also announced that a new uplift of 60% will be added to Community Transport Operators’ (CTOs) Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) claims until 31 March 2025.
More widely, in May, we announced a long-term approach to protect and improve bus services backed by an additional £300 million from July 2023 until April 2025. £140 million of this funding will go to bus operators to support services, and the remaining £160 million will go to Local Transport Authorities (LTAs) to protect and enhance bus services, and support local fares initiatives.
The Government is investing nearly £600 million to deliver a £2 fare cap on single bus fares in England outside London to help passengers save on their regular travel costs, which the Prime Minister recently announced would be extended until the end of 2024.
On 4 October, as part of Network North, we announced a further £1 billion from redirected HS2 funding to level up bus services in the North and Midlands, helping to make them more frequent, reliable, cheaper, and easier to use.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with representatives of (a) supermarkets and (b) other retail outlets on steps being taken to mitigate the impact of increased costs on the prices of goods for consumers.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the process of policy development and delivery, Treasury Ministers and officials meet a wide variety of organisations, including retail businesses, supermarkets, and their representative organisations, to discuss a range of issues including inflation. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at gov.uk:
HMT ministers' meetings, hospitality, gifts and overseas travel - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Inflation was 4.6% in October, which is the lowest rate in two years. The government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to 2%. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that government policies in the Autumn Statement will help reduce inflation to 2.8% by the end of 2024, and return to target in the first half of 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the British Overseas Territories on increasing transparency in their financial services sectors.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers and officials regularly meet with representatives of the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories, and of overseas jurisdictions, to discuss issues of mutual importance.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to regulate the use of additional charges (a) on travel booking sites and (b) by (i) airlines and (ii) travel companies.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government consulted on options for how additional fees and so-called drip pricing should be regulated.
Following assessment of the consultation responses, the Government announced in the Autumn Statement that it will be introducing new measures to tackle drip pricing. Further details will be provided in the Government's formal response to the consultation.
Asked by: Lord Deben (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many private flights (1) took off, and (2) landed, in the UK in the most recent year for which figures are complete; and how much tax did those flights incur.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Data on receipts from Air Passenger Duty (APD) and chargeable passengers, including for the higher rate, can be found in the APD Bulletin on GOV.UK. [1]
Data on aircraft movements, including for business aviation and air taxis, are published by the Civil Aviation Authority. [2] These data are not collected from all UK airports, just those handling scheduled and major charter services, and so provide only a partial picture.
APD is the Government’s principal tax on the aviation sector, since tickets are VAT free and aviation fuel incurs no duty. APD is paid by aircraft operators on a per passenger basis for flights departing UK airports; there are different rates according to a passenger's class of travel and the distance of their journey.
Operators with aircraft of over 20 tonnes equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers must pay the higher rate of APD, equal to £78 per passenger for domestic and short-haul flights and rising to £601 for ultra-long-haul flights. These private and business jets generally provide a higher class of service and so incur more in APD.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps APD under review and any changes are announced by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/air-passenger-duty-bulletin
[2] https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/9116/47a460b2-0592-4ef7-b24b-aa5e27ccfce4/5623