Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering stamp duty rebates to households that upgrade their EPC rating within the first two years of home ownership.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Improving the energy efficiency of our housing stock will be vital in the long-term to making the UK more energy resilient, bringing down energy bills and meeting our 2050 net zero commitment.
Introducing tax incentives based on green energy installations could add significant complexity to the operation of the current system, as well as having an impact on the Exchequer. The government keeps all tax policy under review, and any changes are announced at fiscal events as usual.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing stamp duty for homes with higher energy efficiency.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Improving the energy efficiency of our housing stock will be vital in the long-term to making the UK more energy resilient, bringing down energy bills and meeting our 2050 net zero commitment.
Introducing tax incentives based on green energy installations could add significant complexity to the operation of the current system, as well as having an impact on the Exchequer. The government keeps all tax policy under review, and any changes are announced at fiscal events as usual.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the timeliness with which HMRC conclude their assessment of inheritance tax due on estates.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC is currently processing IHT form IHT400 within their agreed service level standards of 80 per cent within 15 working days.
When HMRC have processed the IHT400, if the appropriate amount of tax has been paid, they send the IHT421 to HMCTS. At the same time, a letter is also sent to customers which provides a date by which they will hear from HMRC if a compliance check needs to be undertaken. This date provided will be 12 weeks from the date the tax calculation letter was issued and does not impact the process being undertaken separately by the UK Court Services.
If HMRC has not contacted the customer by the 12 weeks date provided, then HMRC does not have any further questions to ask about the information and values provided in the IHT form and no compliance check will be undertaken.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact on the (a) economy and (b) public purse of delays in concluding inheritance tax assessments.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
No assessment has been made of the impact on the economy and public purse on the time taken to conclude inheritance tax assessments.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many estates HMRC has yet to conclude the inheritance tax assessments on within two years after the death.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
There are no estates for which IHT400 Accounts (self-assessment of inheritance tax by executors) have been filed for which inheritance tax assessments have not been concluded within two years of death.
Compliance enquiries may be opened within 12 weeks from processing of the IHT Account.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of households who (a) will need debt advice in 2021-22 and (b) needed debt advice in (i) 2019-20 and (ii) 2020-21.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government works closely with the Money and Pensions Service to understand the need for debt advice and monitor financial difficulty through an annual survey and notes the Financial Conduct Authority’s biennial Financial Lives Survey.
The Government recognises that some people are struggling with their finances at this challenging time. To help people in problem debt get their finances back on track, an extra £37.8 million support package has been made available to debt advice providers this financial year, bringing this year's budget for free debt advice in England to over £100 million.
In May 2020, the Government announced the immediate release of £65 million of dormant assets funding to Fair4All Finance, an independent organisation that has been founded to support the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances. The funding is used to increase access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services for those in financial difficulties.
From May 2021, the Breathing Space scheme will offer people in problem debt a pause of up to 60 days on most enforcement action, interest, fees and charges, and will encourage them to seek professional debt advice.
The Government has delivered unprecedented support for living standards during this challenging time, protecting livelihoods with the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), and temporary welfare measures.
The Government has extended the CJRS until 31 March 2021. Eligible employees will continue to receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
The Government has increased the overall level of the third grant under the SEISS to 80% of average trading profits, meaning that the maximum grant available has now increased to £7,500.
The Government has provided local authorities with £500 million to support people who may struggle to meet their council tax payments this year. The Government expects that this will provide all recipients of working age local council tax support with a further reduction in their annual council tax bill of £150 this financial year.
These measures are in addition to the changes this Government has made to make the welfare system more generous, worth over £7 billion according to recent estimates by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The Government has worked with mortgage lenders, credit providers and the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure the financial sector provides support for people across the UK to manage their finances by providing payment holidays on mortgages and consumer credit products.
The Government has also delivered protections for renters, including an extension to the ban on bailiff evictions for all but the most egregious cases until at least 21 February 2021, with measures kept under review.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding from the charging infrastructure investment fund for new rapid charge points has been allocated to South West Bedfordshire constituency.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (CIIF) was announced at Autumn Budget 2017 and aims to catalyse the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The CIIF is managed and invested on a commercial basis by private sector partners, and Government will invest up to £200m to be matched by private investors. The location of investments will depend on the business plans of the chargepoint companies the fund invests in. As a result, the Government does not hold the requested information.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help couples claim the marriage allowance.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Marriage Allowance was introduced in April 2015 to recognise the importance of marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system, and support those on low incomes by helping them keep more of the money they earn.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ran a number of advertising campaigns to encourage eligible couples to apply for Marriage Allowance. HMRC continues to raise awareness through ongoing communication on social media and on GOV.UK.
Marriage Allowance can be claimed through the Personal Tax Account on gov.uk or by phone to HMRC. Once the claim for the current year is processed, there is no need to reapply every year because it remains in individuals’ tax code until they tell HMRC that their circumstances have changed or they become a higher rate taxpayer.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of raising the personal tax allowance from £11,850 to £12,500.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The cost of raising the income tax Personal Allowance may be approximated using the “Direct effects of illustrative tax changes” table as published at the following address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes
The table shows the cost of a £100 increase and a 10% increase in the Personal Allowance in 2018-19 through to 2020-21. This can be used to assess the expected cost of raising the Personal Allowance to £12,500.
Asked by: Andrew Selous (Conservative - South West Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to include hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund in the future.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The purpose of the Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund is to catalyse private sector investment into the electric vehicle chargepoint network. Electric vehicle infrastructure is at a different stage of market development to hydrogen and currently has sufficient viable commercial propositions which is suitable for investments of this type.
The government is committed to introducing appropriately targeted interventions in hydrogen to support its growth as a transport fuel in the UK. The government has allocated £30m funding to increase the uptake of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and roll out more cutting edge infrastructure – part of this funding has now been awarded to a successful consortium bid which will see additional hydrogen refuelling stations being built as well as upgrades to existing refuelling infrastructure. In addition, government funding has supported the opening of the UK’s first integrated forecourt hydrogen refuelling station at the Shell Beaconsfield site, making it the first location in the country selling hydrogen fuel as well as petrol and diesel.