Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Lifetime ISAs for helping first-time buyers in (a) Merseyside (b) St Helens.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting people of all incomes and at all stages of life to save, and to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible.
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus of 25% on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000.
The Government remains of the view that the property price cap is set at an appropriate level to support most first-time buyers across the UK while targeting households that may find it most difficult to get onto the property ladder. The withdrawal charge is needed to protect the LISA’s status as a long-term savings product. Reducing this and would encourage the use of LISAs in ways for which they were not intended.
The Government does not undertake an assessment of the effectiveness of the LISA by region, however the Government regularly publishes annual savings statistics, which includes information on the LISA. (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2022)
The Government will continue to keep all aspects of savings tax policy under review and considers all representations made carefully, with any changes made as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of trends in the level of interest rates on homeowners in St Helens North constituency.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The pricing and availability of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. However, the Government recognises this is a concerning time for mortgage borrowers.
Rising interest rates are in part driven by Bank Rate. Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. The MPC continues to have the Government’s full support as it takes action to return inflation to target through its independent monetary policy decisions.
The average offered mortgage rates on 2-year and 5-year fixed rates have now fallen from their peak in the Summer.
The Government has taken steps to limit the impact of rising interest rates on mortgage holders, through the Mortgage Charter. This Charter sets out the standards that signatory lenders – who represent over 90% of the UK mortgage market – will adopt when helping their customers.
We have also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), and Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans. Accordingly, arrears and repossessions remain low by historical standards, despite the rise in interest costs.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the potential to use tax incentives to encourage investment in the creative industries.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The UK offers eight creative industry tax reliefs for film, high end TV, animation, children’s TV, video games, orchestras, theatres and museums and galleries exhibitions. The reliefs have a key role in stimulating growth and encouraging investment in the UK’s world-leading creative industries. Inward investment in UK film and high-end TV reaching a record figure of more than £5.3 billion in 2022.
The Chancellor has identified the creative sector as a priority for economic growth. The Chancellor regularly engages stakeholders, including through the Creative Industries Conference which the Chancellor hosted on 3 May 2023. The conference brought together industry leaders and stakeholders from across the creative industries and covered a range of issues related to driving further growth in the sector.
The Government keeps the tax system under continuous review. Any changes to tax reliefs would be communicated through the normal fiscal event process
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with firms across the vehicle leasing sector on the potential merits of extending benefit-in-kind taxation rates for battery electric cars beyond 2024-25.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Like all taxes, benefit-in-kind tax rates for company cars, also known as Company Car Tax (CCT), are kept under review. The Government aims to announce CCT rates at least two years ahead of implementation to provide certainty for employers, employees and fleet operators.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the 5p per litre reduction in fuel duty announced on 23 March 2022, what assessment he has made of that policy’s (a) efficacy and (b) impact for consumers to date.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At Spring Statement 2022 in response to fuel prices reaching record levels, the Government announced a temporary 12-month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre.
This is the largest cash-terms cut across all fuel duty rates at once, ever, and is only the second time in 20 years that main rates of petrol and diesel have been cut. This cut represents savings for households and businesses worth around £2.4 billion in 2022-23.
The Government has been clear that it expects those in the supply chain to pass the fuel duty cut through to consumers as promptly as possible. Following a request from the Business Secretary, the Competition and Markets Authority will undertake a short and focused review of the fuel market and will provide advice to the Government on steps that could be taken to improve outcomes for consumers.
All taxes, including fuel duty, remain under review.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the status is of the Access to Cash consultation; and when his Department plans to respond to it.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, particularly those in vulnerable groups, and has committed to legislate to protect access to cash.
From 1 July to 23 September last year, the government held an Access to Cash Consultation on proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities. The government has carefully considered responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
On access to free-to-use ATMs specifically, free-to-use ATMs, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.
Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions his Department has had with commercial banks operating in St Helens North constituency on protecting (a) free to use ATMs and (b) wider access to cash.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, particularly those in vulnerable groups, and has committed to legislate to protect access to cash.
From 1 July to 23 September last year, the government held an Access to Cash Consultation on proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities. The government has carefully considered responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.
Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel
On access to free-to-use ATMs specifically, free-to-use ATMs, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.
Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many employees in (a) St Helens Borough Council, (b) St Helens CCG, (c) St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, (d) Merseytravel, (e) Merseyside Police and (f) Liverpool City Region Combined Authority are paid more than (i) £80,000, (ii) £100,000, (iii) £150,000, (iv) £200,000 and (v) £250,000 per annum.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The information cannot be provided in the form requested due to taxpayer confidentiality and the low numbers of recipients in the bands requested, which could be identifiable.
However, HMRC in collaboration with the ONS publish Employment and Earnings statistics that show that fewer than 5% of UK employees each month are paid more than an annual equivalent income of £80,000 and less than 1% of employees are paid more than an annual equivalent income of £150,0001.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the financial effect of the restrictions on hospitality businesses in the covid-19 tier system on the wholesale sector in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) Liverpool City Region during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has provided unprecedented levels of support for workers and businesses to protect, as much as possible, against the current economic emergency. Food and drink wholesalers have been eligible for a number of these support schemes, with the most relevant likely to include:
Food and drink wholesalers have also benefited from the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme which provided over 100 million half price meals during August and helped to protect the livelihoods of the 1.8 million people working in the hospitality sector.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the economic effect of the tier-3 local covid restrictions on (a) the Liverpool City Region and (b) the six individual boroughs in that combined authority, in the event that those restrictions last (i) 28, (ii) 56, (iii) 112 and (iv) 224 days.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK, along with many other countries around the world, has experienced a severe recession caused by coronavirus, and no major economy has avoided a dramatic fall in GDP. In response to those restrictions, the government took action to protect jobs and livelihoods and support businesses through the deepest global recession in decades.
Since they were classed as Very High Alert, the government has also recently provided local authorities in Liverpool City Region with £44m to support businesses and public health. The government had already provided businesses in the Liverpool City Region with £1.3bn in direct support through grants and loans, and local authorities with £136m of additional support to address Covid-related pressures.