Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, dated 1 October 2020, reference ZA10051.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
HM Treasury has received unprecedented amounts of correspondence since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, and apologises for the delay in responding to the Member. The Member’s correspondence is receiving attention and will be replied to as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett consequential is for Scotland from the Local Restrictions Support Grants announced as part of the expanded winter economic support package.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Any additional funding provided to BEIS for the Local Restrictions Support Grants will result in Barnett consequentials for the Scottish Government.
As is the normal process, changes to departmental and devolved administrations’ funding will be confirmed at Supplementary Estimates.
Therefore, to give the Scottish Government the upfront certainty to plan and deliver their coronavirus response, we have guaranteed they will receive at least £7.2bn in additional funding this year on top of their Spring Budget funding.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to phase out the Carbon Price Support Cap; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
At Spring Budget 2020, the Government announced that the Carbon Price Support rate would be frozen at £18/tCO2 in 2021/22. The Carbon Price Support rate is recognised as one of the main drivers of the significant decline in electricity sector emissions and coal generation in Great Britain over recent years, and it continues to support the decarbonisation of electricity across the country and the Government’s Net Zero commitment.
HM Treasury keeps all taxes under review, and announcements on the future rate of the Carbon Price will be made as appropriate at fiscal events.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 11 of the Written Statement of 13 October 2020, HCWS508 on High Speed Two: Update to Parliament, Autumn 2020, what level of Barnett consequential money (a) has already been allocated and (b) is still to be allocated to the Scottish Government of the £9.6 billion spend to date.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As set out in the Treasury’s Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula is applied at departmental level at Spending Reviews, and at programme level at fiscal events.
Since HS2 typically receives its annual funding at Spending Reviews, the funding for HS2 cannot be associated with specific Barnett consequentials. The Scottish Government’s Barnett consequentials resulting from changes in the Department for Transport’s budget were £1.3 billion at Spending Review 2015 (which determined resource funding up to 2019-20 and capital funding to 2020-21), and £48 million at Spending Round 2019 (which just determined 2020-21 resource funding).
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 11 of the Written Statement of 13 October 2020, HCWS508 on High Speed Two: Update to Parliament, Autumn 2020, what level of Barnett Consequential money is to derive to Scotland (a) in total and (b) to provide an annual profile of the projected allocation of the £11.5 billion contracted spend.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As set out in the Treasury’s Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula is applied at departmental level at Spending Reviews, and at programme level at fiscal events.
Since HS2 typically receives its annual funding through the Department for Transport’s settlements at Spending Reviews, the spending on HS2 cannot be associated with specific Barnett consequentials. The Scottish Government’s Barnett consequentials resulting from changes in the Department for Transport’s budget were £1.3 billion at Spending Review 2015 (which determined resource funding up to 2019-20 and capital funding to 2020-21), and £48 million at Spending Round 2019 (which just determined 2020-21 resource funding).
Funding for future years will be settled at the upcoming Spending Review.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what live PFI contracts his Department has; and for each of those contracts (a) what service is provided, (b) when the contract became live, (c) what the remaining term of the contract is and (d) what the annual repayments are.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Department has one live PFI contract.
a) Building and facilities management services are provided.
b) The contract became live in 2000.
c) The remaining term is 17 years.
d) The annual Unitary Payment charge for FY 2019/2020 was £26,885,116.28.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish an eighth edition of the Statement of funding policy: funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The eighth edition of the Statement of Funding Policy will be published alongside the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will conclude in the Autumn.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding has been allocated to Scotland as a result of the programmes listed as 100 per cent comparable for the purposes of Barnett consequentials in Table C.16 of the Statement of funding policy: funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly, seventh edition, published November 2015.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
A breakdown of all the funding provided to the devolved administrations since the 2015 Spending Review can be found in the Block Grant Transparency publication from July 2020 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2020).
In addition to the £6bn of resource funding in relation to Covid-19 allocated at Main Estimates 2020-21, and therefore included in the Block Grant Transparency publication, the UK government has guaranteed the devolved administrations will receive at least an additional £6.7bn this year.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2020 to Question 84292 on Hospitality Industry: VAT, whether a company that has paid VAT at 20 per cent in advance for services that fall within the discount rate period that started on 15 July 2020 can claim the 15 per cent differential back from HMRC in subsequent VAT returns.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 24 September 2020 that the temporary reduced rate for tourism and hospitality will be extended to 31 March 2021. This measure has been extended to support the cash flow and viability of businesses in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
All businesses that supply services which benefit from the temporary reduced rate are able to apply the reduced rate to advance bookings that take place between 15 July 2020 and 31 March 2021 and can make any necessary adjustments in subsequent VAT returns.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential contribution to the economy of the introduction of a hydrogen hub.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously and acknowledges the potential positive contribution that hydrogen can play in our efforts to decarbonise the economy.
The Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy commissioned an Energy Innovation Needs Assessments in 2019. Within this series of studies, produced by Vivid Economics, the ‘hydrogen and fuel cells’ study found that potential domestic opportunities could reach £1.5 billion in GVA and 15,000 jobs per annum by 2050.