Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the measures announced in his summer economic update on the (a) UK's net zero emissions target and (b) Paris climate agreement; and whether he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Our world-leading Green Book guidance provides a robust framework for assessing the impact of interventions on achieving our environmental goals.
As part of the Plan for Jobs, the Chancellor announced over £3 billion of new funding for green buildings, including a £2 billion Green Homes Grant scheme to upgrade people’s homes and £1 billion to improve the energy efficiency of public sector buildings.
This accelerates our progress towards net zero, saving the equivalent of up to 0.6 MtCO2e per year, which is roughly equivalent to taking up to 270,000 cars off the road.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to stop HMRC treating employer supplied covid-19 testing kits as employee benefits in kind; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is introducing an income tax exemption and National Insurance (NICs) disregard to ensure that coronavirus antigen testing provided by an employer to employees outside the Government’s national testing scheme will not attract tax and NICs liabilities. The new exemption will apply across the United Kingdom for the current tax year 2020-21.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines his Department's buildings (a) have in 2020 and (b) had in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
HM Treasury have not installed any solar panels or wind turbines in 1 Horse Guards Road.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses have accessed the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund since its inception, by region and local authority area; and what the total value is of grants provided under that fund to date.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
As of 14th June 2020, over 844,000 business premises have received grants worth over £10.36 billion from the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund and the Small Business Grant Fund.
Every week, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy publishes the combined figures for the number and value of grants paid out from the RHLGF and SBGF. These data are broken down by Local Authority and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.
These data are not published on a regional basis.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much energy his departmental buildings used in (a) 2020 and (b) each of the last five years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Details of HM Treasury’s energy use in 1 Horse Guard’s Road can be found in the Treasury’s Annual report and accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-annual-report. Details on our energy use can be found on page 203.
The Annual Report for 2019-20 will be published later in the year and this will include the energy usage for 2019-20.
Details on the energy usage in the Treasury’s Norwich office is not readily available as this information is held by the landlord the Government Property Agency.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) quantity and (b) value was of healthcare personal protective equipment (i) exported from and (ii) imported to the UK in 2020.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are responsible for the collection and publication of data on UK imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC release this information monthly, as a National Statistic: the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics.
There is aggregated trade data available for personal protective equipment (PPE) goods and for the periods requested on HMRC’s uktradeinfo.com website, under ‘Build your own data tables’. The site also contains a ‘Help’ function with information on how to extract trade data.
To search for trade data relating to any particular good, the commodity code of that good is required. HMRC maintain a list of COVID-19 products, including PPE goods, and their commodity codes on GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/890809/COVID-19_commodity_codes.csv/preview.
However, the trade data collected may not allow PPE goods classified under a particular commodity code to be distinguished from any non-PPE goods classified under that same commodity code.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff in his Department had caring responsibilities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
HM Treasury does not hold the information in relation to caring responsibilities for the last five years, this is because the Treasury does not collate information in this way.
Based on the most recent people survey questionnaire results from December 2019, 188 employees identified as a carer. This figure is based on the number of people responding to the question and may not fully represent the number of carers in the department.
Caring responsibilities may have changed as a result of the current crisis and staff are being encouraged to talk to their line manager about any change to circumstances including requests for special leave. These changes could be reflected in a revised or new Carer’s Passport.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many companies registered under each Standard Industrial Classification Code (a) applied for and (b) been awarded support through the (a) Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, (b) Small Business Grant Fund, (c) Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, (d) Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, (e) Future Fund, (f) Bounce Back Loan and (g) Large Business Interruption Loan scheme; and what the amount of each of those awards was.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The four government backed loan schemes have seen over £40bn lent to hundreds of thousands of businesses, whilst, as of midnight 7th June, 8.9 million jobs had been furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), with a total of £19.6bn claimed, and 2.6 million claims had been made through the Self Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), with a total value of £7.5 bn. The VAT deferral is worth over £30 billion or 1.5% of GDP with £22.4bn deferred by 251,000 businesses so far.
The Government has published aggregate application and approval figures on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) and Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) since 12 May but does not hold specific breakdown information relating to collective sectors or organisations which have accessed these schemes, including under the Standard Classification for Economic Activities (SIC). The Government is actively considering what further data can be made available in the future.
HMRC published Official Statistics for the CJRS and the SEISS, including a breakdown of sectoral recipients, on 11 June. These can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/891249/Coronavirus_Job_Retention_Scheme_Statistics_June_2020.pdf and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/891603/SEISS_Official_Statistics_June_2020.pdf.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on household debt; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is conducting on-going work to understand and monitor the current and future effects of COVID-19 on consumer debt. This data is still under development.
Regulatory responsibility for the consumer credit market lies with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA continues to monitor the credit card market and stands ready to act wherever consumer detriment is identified.
The Government has taken steps to support individuals and businesses through this difficult time, including providing an additional £37.8 million for debt advice providers helping people affected by COVID-19.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the level of credit card debt; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government is conducting on-going work to understand and monitor the current and future effects of COVID-19 on consumer debt. This data is still under development.
Regulatory responsibility for the consumer credit market lies with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA continues to monitor the credit card market and stands ready to act wherever consumer detriment is identified.
The Government has taken steps to support individuals and businesses through this difficult time, including providing an additional £37.8 million for debt advice providers helping people affected by COVID-19.