Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement on 15 March 2023 that "subject to consultation, nuclear power will be classed as environmentally sustainable in our green taxonomy" (HC Deb col 841), when they will publish the associated consultation.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government reiterated its commitment in the 2023 Green Finance Strategy to delivering a UK Green Taxonomy and remains committed to implementing a UK Green Taxonomy, an important tool to increase transparency into the market to mobilise private investment into green activities and to tackle greenwashing.
Developing a usable and useful taxonomy is a complex and technical exercise. The government continues to work at pace and expects to publish in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to simplify the tax system.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor has been clear that tax simplification is a key priority. He has set a clear mandate for officials in HMT and HMRC to focus on simplification during tax policy making and implementation.
Recent fiscal events have included several simplification measures. At Autumn Statement 2023 the government abolished the obligation to pay class 2 self-employed national insurance contributions, simplified the capital allowances system for large businesses by making full expensing permanent, and made it easier for self-employed to use a simplified method for calculating small business profits known as the cash basis.
The Government announced additional simplifications in a Written Statement on 16th January.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average waiting time was for individuals submitting an IHT400 form to HMRC between 1 January to 30 April 2024 to receive a unique code to enable them to apply for probate; and how many individuals have waited for (a) one to two, (b) two to three, (c) three to four, (d) four to five, (e) five to six and (e) more than six months since submitting their IHT400 form to receive the unique code from HMRC as of 8 May 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC prioritises requests for IHT reference numbers and the follow up IHT400 forms submitted to set up an IHT account. Between 1 January and 30 April 2024 HMRC have exceeded its service standard for issuing unique codes for Probate cases where the correct tax amount has been accounted for. The service standard is to process 80% of these requests within 15 working days.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent fiscal steps his Department has taken to help support small and local businesses in the (a) seasonal tourism and (b) service industries.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting small and local businesses in the hospitality, tourism, and services sectors, which provide a significant contribution to the UK economy and society.
At the Autumn Statement 2023, the Government announced an extension to the 75% business rate relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2024-25, a tax cut worth £2.4 billion.
Spring Budget 2024 goes further to support SMEs by increasing the VAT registration threshold from £85,000 to £90,000 which means the UK now has the joint highest VAT registration threshold in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out.
Our Small Business Rates Relief means one-third of business properties in England already pay no Business Rates. We provide other tax reliefs benefiting SMEs such as the Annual Investment Allowance and Employment Allowance, and support investment in SMEs through British Business Bank programmes.
Furthermore, over this Spending Review period – the Government has allocated over £100m to the British Tourist Authority to support VisitBritain and VisitEngland with marketing activity to promote Britain as a destination.
Asked by: Michael Shanks (Labour - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of response times for ministerial correspondence.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence. Ministers and officials are committed to providing the highest level of service. The Cabinet Office publishes correspondence performance data on GOV.UK on a regular basis, detailing departmental performance in handling correspondence.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of a removing Value Added Tax on automatic external defibrillators.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government provides VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) through VAT refunds on purchases made by local authorities including parish councils, and VAT reliefs for purchases made through voluntary contributions where the AED is donated to eligible charities or the NHS.
The cost of relieving VAT on AEDs is uncertain owing to the lack of data on purchases of these devices. Businesses are not required to provide information at a product level in their VAT returns, as this may impose an excessive administrative burden.
The Government is currently inviting community organisations to bid for funding as part of a £1 million grant scheme that expands public access to AEDs, particularly in public places where they are most needed.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to oral evidence by officials on the work of HMRC given to the Treasury Select Committee on 24 April, how many HMRC employees on 1 January had earnings at or below the national minimum wage.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC complies with the statutory requirement and all colleagues are paid the National Living Wage rate or above.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on the procurement of (a) food and (b) drinks produced in the UK for use in its canteens and restaurants.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Our buildings are managed by the Government Property Agency (GPA), and they are responsible for the provision of catering services across our sites.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of banking hubs in helping to ensure access to banking facilities in rural communities.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is important that all customers, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking and cash services and the government monitors this situation closely.
Following recent discussions with the UK high street banks, UK Finance confirmed 225 Hubs will be announced by the end of 2024. Participating high street banks have also committed to improving Hubs by standardising the services available between firms, ensuring that customers do not require their own digital device to bank, trialling both a ‘customer liaison service’ and Saturday openings. The banks have agreed to keep services under review to ensure their effectiveness for all customers.
Banking Hubs are recommended by LINK and delivered by Cash Access UK, according to criteria set by industry. The Government does not intervene in these decisions. If a Hub is not available, rural communities can bank via the Post Office, which allows personal and business customers to carry out everyday banking services at 11,500 branches across the UK. The Post Office is also required to ensure that 95% of the total rural population across the UK is within 3 miles of their nearest Post Office.
Asked by: Margaret Hodge (Labour - Barking)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many individuals have been convicted for breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The majority of businesses supervised by HMRC are compliant and play an important role in our financial system.
Those who fail to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations leave themselves, and the UK economy, open to attacks by criminals. HMRC takes a robust approach to non-compliance and uses a wide range of measures to tackle those who breach the regulations, including civil penalties as well as criminal prosecutions.
HMRC does not publish the data of the number of prosecutions under the Money Laundering Regulations but details of other supervisory sanctions applied can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/businesses-not-complying-with-money-laundering-regulations-in-2018-to-2019/businesses-that-have-not-complied-with-the-regulations-2023-to-2024