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 much funding the Government has allocated to the (a) Belfast Region City Deal, (b) Derry and Strabane Region City Deal, (c) Mid South West Growth Deal and (d) Causeway Coast and Glens Growth Deal in the 2021 Spending Review.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The UK Government has committed to investing £617 million into four City and Growth Deals spanning Northern Ireland. This includes:
Funding for City and Growth Deals is allocated through the Estimates process.
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 make it his policy to extend the reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector beyond April 2022.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022.
This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.
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 his Department has made of the potential merits of temporarily cutting VAT on energy to assist vulnerable households with rising energy costs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
However, in recognition of the fact that families should not have to bear all of the VAT costs they incur to meet their needs, domestic energy such as gas and electricity, as well as heating fuels and oils, is subject to a reduced rate of VAT of 5 per cent.
Although the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are currently no plans to change the VAT treatment of domestic energy.
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 publish guidance on the requirement of logistics businesses delivering goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to provide statistical returns specifying which goods are being transported.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The UK Government and the EU have shared proposals with each other in relation to the Northern Ireland Protocol and are currently in intensive talks. As none of the reported changes or documents published by either party on the Protocol have yet been agreed, existing arrangements will continue for now. This includes some easements for specific businesses and trade sectors. We have published guidance on these existing arrangements and will update this guidance in due course and give operators time to prepare for any changes.
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 the proposal to establish a Global Centre for Secure and Intelligent Regulatory Technologies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The government is committed to maintaining the UK’s position a world-leading destination for fintech.
In line with this ambition, the Government is taking forward key recommendations of the independent Kalifa Review of UK Fintech as part of ensuring the UK remains at the global cutting edge of technology and innovation in financial services.
Government funding for future years will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review which will be announced on 27th October.
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 make it his policy to retain the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme beyond September 2021 for sectors of the economy that have not returned to pre-covid-19 pandemic levels of customers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme was designed as a temporary, economy-wide measure to support businesses while widespread restrictions were in place. Closing the scheme at the end of September is designed to strike the right balance between supporting the economy as it opens up, continuing to provide support and protect incomes, and ensuring that incentives are in place to get people back to work as demand returns. This approach has worked; the OBR have estimated that without the short-term fiscal easing announced in the Budget, and in particular the CJRS extension, unemployment would have been about 300,000 higher in the fourth quarter of this year than the 2.2 million in the central forecast.
The Government has shown throughout the pandemic that it is prepared to adapt support if the path of the virus changes. It continues to engage closely with sectors across the economy in order to understand their recovery horizons as the vaccine is rolled out and restrictions ease.