Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of calculating child benefit on household rather than individual income.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Child Benefit remains a universal benefit. The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge which applies to anyone with an income of over £50,000 who gets Child Benefit, or whose partner gets it. HICBC is calculated on an individual rather than a household basis, in line with other income tax policy.
Basing HICBC on household incomes would mean finding out the incomes of everyone in each of the 7.7 million households currently registered for Child Benefit. This would effectively introduce a new means test, which would be costly to administer and create burdens on the majority of families who receive Child Benefit. The Government decided that charging HICBC to those on higher incomes ensures that everyone makes a fair contribution, while those with the lowest incomes continue to be supported.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the Marriage Allowance.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government introduced the Marriage Allowance (MA) in April 2015 to recognise marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system. It allows a spouse or civil partner to transfer 10 per cent of their Personal Allowance (PA) if their partner is a basic rate taxpayer.
At Spring Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced that the PA would be maintained from the years 2022-23 to 2025-26. The transferable tax allowance of £1,260 provided through the MA will remain at its current level until 2025-26.
As with all elements of Income Tax, the Government keeps this under review as part of the annual Budget process.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to reduce the tax burden on families.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Chancellor’s Tax Plan cut the burden on working families by raising the threshold at which people pay National Insurance contributions from July 2022 and by cutting fuel duty by 5 pence for 12 months.
This plan will also spread the benefit of economic growth by cutting the basic rate of Income Tax from April 2024.
The Government has also provided at least £1200 to the most vulnerable households this year to help with the cost of living.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the life sciences sector to discuss the issue of territoriality for R&D tax relief.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced reforms to Research & Development (R&D) tax reliefs to support modern research methods. The Government did this by expanding qualifying expenditure to include data and cloud costs, to more effectively capture the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs by refocusing support towards innovation in the UK and to target abuse and improve compliance. The review will continue to identify areas for further change. A report was published at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day. The report provided more detail on the reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2021 and set out areas where the Government is seeking views to inform the draft legislation that will be published next year.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect on research and development tax relief of territoriality restrictions having been in place for each of the last five years, by sector.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced reforms to Research & Development (R&D) tax reliefs to support modern research methods. The Government did this by expanding qualifying expenditure to include data and cloud costs, to more effectively capture the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs by refocusing support towards innovation in the UK and to target abuse and improve compliance. The review will continue to identify areas for further change. A report was published at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day. The report provided more detail on the reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2021 and set out areas where the Government is seeking views to inform the draft legislation that will be published next year.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish his Department's response to its consultation entitled R&D Tax Reliefs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
At Autumn Budget 2021, the Government announced reforms to Research & Development (R&D) tax reliefs to support modern research methods. The Government did this by expanding qualifying expenditure to include data and cloud costs, to more effectively capture the benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs by refocusing support towards innovation in the UK and to target abuse and improve compliance. The review will continue to identify areas for further change. A report was published at Tax Administration and Maintenance Day. The report provided more detail on the reforms announced at Autumn Budget 2021 and set out areas where the Government is seeking views to inform the draft legislation that will be published next year.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to Green Book recommended discount rate of 1.5 per cent per annum for policies that impact health or life outcomes, if he will have discussions with NICE on reducing the discount rate of 3.5 per cent that it applied in its recent Methods Review consultation.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s independent review into its methods is currently live. NICE is an independent body, and I look forward to seeing the outcome of the Review in due course.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to amend the existing R&D tax credits scheme to expand qualifying criteria to encourage larger companies to invest in research and innovation.
Answered by Jesse Norman
At Budget 2021, the Chancellor announced a review of R&D tax reliefs, supported by the publication of a wide-ranging consultation on the nature of private-sector R&D investment in the UK, how that is supported or otherwise affected by the R&D tax reliefs, and where changes may be appropriate.
The consultation closed on 2 June and next steps will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to use the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Throughout the pandemic, covid secure Treasury offices have been operating in line with government workplace guidance including use of the NHS Test and Trace service where appropriate.
Asked by: Chris Green (Conservative - Bolton West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on using the NHS Test and Trace database system.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.