Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the replacement of the VAT margin scheme on small car dealerships.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In order to provide certainty for businesses and to continue to support the Northern Ireland second-hand car market, the Government introduced the Second-Hand Motor Vehicle Payment Scheme on 1 May 2023. The scheme ensures that for cars moved after May 1 2023, businesses selling in NI will pay the same net amount of VAT as if they had continued access to the VAT margin scheme for these cars.
The Government is regularly engaging collaboratively with the EU as we implement the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett Consequential for Northern Ireland will be as a result of the 6.5% pay increase for teachers in England.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s pay recommendations for the 2023/24 teacher pay award in England in full. We are reprioritising from within the Department for Education’s existing budget to deliver the additional funding to schools in England for the costs of the pay award over 3.5%.
The Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) receives funding through the Barnett formula when UK Government departmental DEL budgets change. As there is no change to the Department for Education’s DEL budget associated with this announcement, there are no associated Barnett consequentials. Barnett consequentials for Northern Ireland would already have resulted from the Department for Education’s initial budget settlement at Spending Review 2021 (SR21).
The devolved administrations are well funded to deliver all their devolved responsibilities. SR21 set the largest annual block grants for the devolved administrations, in real terms, of any spending review settlement since the Devolution Acts. This provided on average £15 billion per year for the NIE. The NIE continues to receive at least 20% more funding per head than the UK Government spends on the same things in the rest of the UK.
A full breakdown of changes to devolved administrations’ block grants, including Barnett consequentials, is set out in the published Block Grant Transparency document.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will commit to reviewing the Higher Income Child Benefit Charge.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Restricting Child Benefit for those on higher incomes via the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) ensures that the Government can support the majority of families whilst keeping welfare expenditure sustainable. In 2020-21, the latest year that data is available, 88% of Child Benefit claimants were unaffected by the HICBC.
Moreover, the threshold for HICBC affects taxpayers who are on comparatively high incomes. In 2020-21, 99.7% of those who declared a liability for HICBC paid income tax at the higher rate or above. The Government therefore considers that the current approach to HICBC remains appropriate.
Nonetheless, the Government has introduced improvements recently. In April this year, we announced we would take steps to ensure parents can retrospectively receive a National Insurance credit. This means parents who were eligible to claim Child Benefit but who chose not to are able to protect their future State Pension entitlement. In July, we announced that employed individuals will be able to pay HICBC through their tax code, without the need to register for Self-Assessment, simplifying the process for taxpayers.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help support businesses which are coming to the end of fixed-term loans with increases in interest rates in Northern Ireland.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
I would encourage businesses coming to the end of fixed term rates to explore UK Finance’s Business Current Account Finder tool, which was designed to help businesses compare the full range of accounts available to find products that best suit their needs – including business loans.
The Government has taken unprecedented steps to protect millions of businesses across the UK both following the outbreak of Covid-19, and more recently high energy prices. Latest measures include:
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will hold discussions with mortgage lenders on providing flexibility to people who will find it difficult to afford mortgage repayments following the recent rises in interest rates.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
On Friday 23 June the Chancellor met with the largest mortgage lenders, UK Finance and the Financial Conduct Authority to discuss a new package of support for those who encounter problems keeping up with their mortgage payments. These commitments include an agreement permitting customers to switch to an interest only mortgage, or extend their mortgage term, for 6 months, after which they can switch back without a new affordability check or it affecting their credit score. Lenders also agreed borrowers won’t have their home repossessed within 12 months from their first missed payment without their consent or unless in exceptional circumstances. Borrowers coming to the end of their deal will be able to lock in a new rate up to six months in advance of their deal coming to an end, and apply for a better rate if one becomes available.
This is in addition to the measures the Government has already taken aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many households in Northern Ireland are on (a) fixed and (b) b) variable rate mortgages.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics), the Financial Conduct Authority (https://www.fca.org.uk/data) and UK Finance (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data).
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 9 of his Department's Guidance on decision-making for Northern Ireland Departments until an Executive is formed or for the six month period beginning with the day on which the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2022 is passed (6 December), published on 19 December 2022, CP 766, for what reason an increase in Housing Benefit Annually Managed Expenditure was granted to the Department for Communities in February 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The UK Government funds Northern Ireland Executive Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) programmes if they offer broadly similar terms to the equivalent UK Government programme.
As AME programmes are usually demand led, AME forecasts are periodically updated to ensure necessary funding is provided.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT for the hospitality sector.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/2024, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
While there are no plans to reduce the rate of VAT paid by hospitality businesses, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing or raising the maximum monthly limit for childcare support through Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare in the context of his upcoming Spring Budget.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The maximum monthly limit for childcare support through Universal Credit and the similar offer in Tax-Free Childcare is in place to provide fairness in the welfare system between those receiving out of work benefits and those in work.
It is therefore right that there should be a reasonable cap on the childcare costs that a household can have reimbursed through Universal Credit in each of their monthly assessment period, as well as in Tax-Free Childcare.
As with all tax and welfare policy, we keep these amounts under constant review.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of taking steps to ensure that vulnerable households receive long-term support for energy bills in the context of his upcoming Spring Budget.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
We do not comment on the Budget process ahead of fiscal events.
The government will support the most vulnerable with targeted support throughout the next year, via the substantial package of cost of living support announced at the Autumn Statement. This includes £300 cost of living payments for over eight million pensioners households, £150 for over 6 million individuals on disability benefits and £900 for over eight million households on means-tested benefits. The government also announced an additional £1bn will be provided help with the cost of household essentials, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion. In England this includes an extension to the Household Support Fund in 2023/24, with the devolved administrations receiving funding through the Barnett formula. We have also uplifted benefits and the state pension in line with inflation and increased the National Living Wage.