Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce tax credits for businesses that invest in research and development.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government offers two separate Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and an additional Corporation Tax deduction for Small and Medium-sized enterprises. Both are available to loss-makers as well as profit-makers.
The estimated total number of R&D tax credit claims for the year ending March 2020 was 85,900, with total support claimed £7.4 billion. This corresponds to £47.5 billion of R&D expenditure.
The Government is currently undertaking a review of the reliefs. The objectives of the review are to ensure the UK remains a competitive location for cutting edge research, that the reliefs continue to be fit for purpose, and that taxpayer money is effectively targeted.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce tax credits for Research and Development.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government offers two separate Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs, the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and an additional Corporation Tax deduction for Small and Medium-sized enterprises. Both are available to loss-makers as well as profit-makers.
The estimated total number of R&D tax credit claims for the year ending March 2020 was 85,900, with total support claimed £7.4 billion. This corresponds to £47.5 billion of R&D expenditure.
The Government is currently undertaking a review of the reliefs. The objectives of the review are to ensure the UK remains a competitive location for cutting edge research, that the reliefs continue to be fit for purpose, and that taxpayer money is effectively targeted.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the suspension of trading shares in China's Evergrande on the global economy.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 22 September to the Hon. Member for Midlothian.Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of China's Evergrande suspending shares from trading and the potential collapse of the company on British businesses.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 22 September to the Hon. Member for Midlothian.Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure value for money in public spending.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Spending Review 2021 has placed a renewed emphasis on ensuring that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent well and focused on the areas that make the most difference to people’s daily lives.
As Chief Secretary, I work closely with the Director General for Public Spending to hold Departments to account on delivering Value for Money.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have received funding through the SME Brexit Support Fund.
Answered by Jesse Norman
As of 7 June 2021, nearly 2,000 businesses have been offered grants amounting to £3.1m through the SME Brexit Support Fund.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee on advance payments to pharmacies during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Treasury received representations from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee concerning advance payments to pharmacies during the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2021.
The Government has put in place a comprehensive package of support for community pharmacy during the pandemic, including providing extra funding for Bank Holiday openings, advance cash payments, a new medicines delivery service for shielded patients and a contribution to social distancing for every pharmacy.
The Government has also put forward proposals for additional funding to meet extra costs incurred by pharmacies during the pandemic, and discussions between the Department of Health and Social Care and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) are ongoing.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the ending the VAT Retail Export Scheme on the fashion industry.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
On 11 September 2020, the Government announced the VAT and excise duty treatment of goods purchased by individuals for personal use and carried in their luggage arriving from or going overseas (passengers) following the transition period. The following rules were implemented on 1 January 2021:
- Passengers travelling from Great Britain to any destination outside the United Kingdom (UK) can purchase duty-free excise goods once they have passed security controls at ports, airports, and international rail stations.
- Personal allowances apply to passengers entering Great Britain from any destination outside of the UK, with alcohol allowances significantly increased.
- The VAT Retail Export Scheme (RES) in Great Britain has not been extended to EU residents and has been withdrawn for all passengers.
- The concessionary treatment on tax-free sales for non-excise goods has been removed across the UK.
The Government published a consultation which ran from 11 March to 20 May 2020. During this time the Government held a number of virtual meetings with industry stakeholders to hear their views and received 73 responses to the consultation. The Government has also met and discussed these changes with many stakeholders following the announcement of these policies.
The detailed rationale for these changes are included in the written ministerial statement and summary of responses to the recent consultation: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2020-09-11/hcws448 and https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-consultation-on-duty-free-and-tax-free-goods-carried-by-passengers. A technical note has also been issued to stakeholders to expand on this document and to respond to issues raised by stakeholders.
On 25 November 2020 the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) set out their assessment of the fiscal impact of the withdrawal of the VAT RES.
Factoring in a higher-than-usual elasticity of 1.9 to account for spending on luxury goods, the OBR estimate that the withdrawal of the VAT RES will result in a significant direct Exchequer saving of around £400 million per year, once passenger numbers recover from the impacts of Covid-19. Based on the 1.2 million users of the scheme who received a refund in 2019, this includes an assumption that approximately 20,000 – 30,000 fewer tourists visit Great Britain a year. That is 0.07% of the 40 million visitors to the UK in 2019.
The OBR also looked at this package in the round when assessing the indirect impact on the economy – including the effects of extending duty-free sales – alongside the substantial support provided to the economy and retail industry.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received on the clarity of VAT payments on exports to and imports from EU member states.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is working hard to support businesses to enable them to continue trading with the EU.
In addition to publishing guidance on GOV.UK, the Government has also introduced the SME Brexit Support Fund. This offers individual grants of up to £2,000 to SMEs. This pays for practical support, including training and professional advice on, for example, the VAT rules on import and export.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential scope for fraud in claims by directors of limited companies in respect of future financial support provided in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has prioritised delivering support to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, while guarding against the risk of fraud or abuse. This meant making difficult decisions, and the Government has acknowledged that it has not been able to support everyone as they would want.
The practical issues that prevented the Government from being able to include company owner-managers in the original Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), namely not being able to verify the source of their dividend income without introducing unacceptable fraud risk, still remain.
Similarly, it would not be appropriate for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), designed to replace the immediate costs of employment, to be used to replace a distribution of net profits that have yet to be determined.
Opening up the CJRS or SEISS scheme to cover dividends, for which no up-to-date accurate data source is available, would either have required allowing “pay now check later” claims, which HMRC could not realistically have policed, or added one-to-one manual review steps which would have drastically slowed down payments and required unfeasible amounts of resources to process.
Company owner-managers may still be eligible for other support available including CJRS (in respect of their salary but not their dividends), Bounce Back loans, tax deferrals, rental support, increased levels of Universal Credit, mortgage holidays, and other business support grants.