Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the Horizon compensation scheme is tax free.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is working with the Post Office to ensure all victims of the Horizon IT Scandal receive full and fair financial redress.
The Government has already granted tax exemptions for payments related to the Overturned Convictions (OC) and Group Litigation Order (GLO) compensation schemes.
Compensation payments for the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) are subject to tax. However, to ensure postmasters get the full financial redress they deserve, the Government announced on 19 June 2023 a tax-exempt top-up payment for HSS postmasters to ensure that the underlying amount they receive is not unduly reduced by tax. Elements specifically for the shortfalls that were repaid, or distress that was caused, are not taxable
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage investment in the defence sector.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The UK is committed to increasing investment in the defence sector to meet the challenges of an increasingly volatile and complex world. In the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh, the Government committed to an additional £5 billion to be provided to the Ministry of Defence over the next two years alongside the ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in the long term. The Government also works closely with the private equity and venture capital community to attract private investment in dual use technologies through the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) and nascent NATO Innovation Fund (NIF).
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to increase sanctions on companies that approve credit applications for people subject to Court of Protection Orders.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Protecting vulnerable consumers is a key priority for the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which regulates the consumer credit market.
Financial institutions are entitled to provide credit to individuals who have a Court of Protection Order. Approval of these applications are individualised in line with the principles of the Mental Capacity Act and FCA guidance which can found at: https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/CONC/2/10.html.
The guidance makes clear that firms should take reasonable steps to ensure that they have suitable business practices and procedures in place for the fair treatment of customers who they understand, or reasonably suspect, have or may have a mental capacity limitation. This includes customers who are subject to Court of Protection Orders.
The FCA proactively monitors the market to ensure firms follow its rules and it has various methods to punish breaches. There is no limit on the fines it can levy and it can require firms to compensate consumers. In addition, consumers have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service for independent arbitration if they believe their formal complaint to a firm has not been dealt with satisfactorily.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has guidance on whether debt collection companies can be sanctioned for not providing (a) suitable and (b) timely methods to contact them to dispute claims.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The independent Financial Conduct Authority regulates debt purchase, collection and administration arising from credit agreements.
The FCA has an extensive Handbook (particularly CONC 7) setting out their expectations of firms undertaking the collection of these debts, including firms’ approach to contacting customers in arrears (CONC 7.9) and handling disputed debts (CONC 7.14.1R). The FCA utilises a range of supervisory and enforcement tools to deal with those breaching these rules. In addition to this, the enhanced requirements under the incoming Consumer Duty, particularly around the FCA’s expectations on consumer support, will aim to ensure debt collection firms provide a higher standard of care to their customers.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to balance the potential financial impact of changes to Vehicle Excise Duty from 2025 on owners of (a) internal combustion engine vehicles and (b) electric vehicles with potential national economic impacts.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles.
The tax treatment for ICE vehicles will remain the same, with those registered after 2017 paying a first-year rate, based on emissions, before moving to a standard annual rate – currently set at £180.
Removing the VED exemption from April 2025 adds fairness to the tax system, and its impact should be minimal given the marginal cost of VED compared to the overall cost of a vehicle . The government has also announced the continuation of incentives for electric vehicles through company car tax, which will likely continue to be effective in incentivising EV take up, and investment in chargepoint infrastructure.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that UK banks are trading responsibly in global markets.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All UK regulated banks are subject to robust prudential and conduct regulation and supervision, overseen by the UK’s independent regulators, who operate under a legislative framework set by the Government and Parliament.
Authorised UK banks are subject to prudential requirements, overseen by the Prudential Regulatory Authority, which includes minimum requirements for capital and liquidity, in line with international standards.
In addition, any business carrying out a regulated activity on a UK regulated market must be authorised by the FCA, unless they are otherwise exempt. Once authorised, the FCA requires such firms to meet the standards for authorisation on a continuous basis, and supervises them including to ensure that their conduct on markets does not compromise market integrity.
The IMF has said that the UK ‘operates a sound and transparent regulatory and supervisory framework for banks’ and that the UK’s ‘effective prudential and supervisory structure is helping support the safety and soundness of the United Kingdom’s banking… system’.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing further regulations for (a) cryptocurrency exchanges and (b) other aspects of cryptocurrency markets.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The UK is committed to creating a regulatory environment in which firms can innovate, while crucially maintaining financial stability and regulatory standards so that people and businesses can use new technologies both reliably and safely.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill will bring stablecoins within the regulatory perimeter where they are used as a form of payment. This legislation will ensure that the UK’s regulatory framework is equipped to harness benefits of stablecoins, supporting the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, while mitigating the potential risks.
HM Treasury will consult on an approach to regulating a wider set of cryptoasset activities in the coming weeks.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill also ensures that cryptoassets may be regulated within the existing financial services regulatory framework.
In addition to this, in January 2022 the government published a response to a consultation on a proposal to bring certain cryptoassets into the scope of financial promotions regulation. The forthcoming legislation, and supporting FCA rules, will regulate in-scope cryptoasset financial promotions, requiring them to be fair, clear and not misleading.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to increase defence spending in the context of the increased risks to security on the European continent.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In March 2021 the government published the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. The IR recognised that Russia remained the most acute threat to our security; and that NATO will remain the foundation of collective security in the Euro-Atlantic.
These assessments have certainly been borne out by the current crisis in Ukraine. We funded these threats by awarding MOD the largest sustained spending increase since the end of the Cold War, with a £24bn uplift in cash terms over the Spending Review 2020 period.
However, our number one priority is to keep the nation safe. That is why, as the Prime Minister announced in her speech to the UN on Wednesday, the UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, maintaining our position as the leading security actor in Europe.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the approach taken by BlackRock to Zambian debt.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Zambia is one of three countries to have requested a debt treatment under the Common Framework. The Common Framework was agreed in November 2020 by the UK, along with the G20 and Paris Club, to help deliver a long-term, sustainable approach for supporting low-income countries to tackle their debt vulnerabilities.
Private sector participation in the Common Framework is critical. Under the terms of the Common Framework, a debtor country that signs an MoU with participating official creditors will be required to seek from all private creditors a treatment at least as favourable. Accordingly, once Zambia signs an MoU for its case it will need to engage its private creditors to ensure their participation on comparable terms.
The Government routinely engages private sector creditors on international debt issues in a number of fora and will work closely with its international partners to ensure private creditors fully play their part in Zambia’s restructuring.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Government’s response to the Science and Technology Committee’s report on e-cigarettes, published in December 2018, whether it continues to be the Government’s policy that taxation on smoking-related products should directly correspond to the health risks presented to encourage less harmful consumption.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government believes that e-cigarettes are an effective way of encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives.
Non-tobacco nicotine and vaping products, such as e-cigarettes, are currently taxed as a consumer product with the VAT rate being 20%. They are not subject to excise duty. Medicinally regulated products are subject to the reduced rate of VAT at 5%.