Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking with HMRC to help ensure taxpayers receive prompt responses to queries.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that their service levels have been below published standards, and they are committed to improving customer service performance.
To improve their services and meet published standards, HMRC are deploying additional customer service advisers this year. They expect to meet their post and telephone service standards in the second half of 2024-25.
HMRC are investing in digital services and the HMRC. These can often provide customers with faster resolutions for straightforward matters.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of agricultural property relief on the financial sustainability of farms.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not speculate on tax changes outside of fiscal events. Where changes are made, information about impacts is published in the usual way.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of VAT rules applying to (a) cakes, (b) confectionary and (c) food; and if she will take steps to increase levels of business understanding of VAT ratings for new products falling within those categories.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government’s policy on the VAT rules relating to a) cakes b) confectionary and c) food is well established and guidance is readily available on GOV.uk for businesses to consult when deciding on the VAT liability of a product.
The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made a recent assessment with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero of the potential merits of taking fiscal steps to help support the adoption of (a) heat batteries and (b) other energy saving technologies.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recently announced a new Warm Homes: Local Grant and confirmed the continuation of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund to support those with low incomes with energy performance upgrades and cleaner heating. Both support a range of energy saving technologies. Further details will be set out following the Spending Review.
The installation of qualifying energy saving materials in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose also benefit from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027, worth over £1 billion. The Government currently has no plans to add further technologies to this VAT relief but keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero of the potential merits of (a) providing VAT relief for heat batteries and (b) taking other fiscal steps to help support the decarbonisation of homes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to improving the quality and sustainability of our housing stock, through improvements such as low carbon heating, insulation, solar panels, and batteries. This will be vital to making the UK more energy resilient and meeting our 2050 Net Zero commitment. Our Warm Homes Plan will increase ambition in this area, working with the private sector to make progress and ensuring the energy efficiency of privately rented homes improves.
The Government recently announced a new Warm Homes: Local Grant to help low-income homeowners and private tenants with energy performance upgrades and cleaner heating, and confirmed the continuation of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund to support social housing providers and tenants. Further details of the Warm Homes Plan will be set out through the Spending Review.
The installation of qualifying energy-saving materials in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose also benefits from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027.
Last year, a Call for Evidence (CfE) seeking views on additional technologies to potentially include within this relief was run. Heat batteries were one of the technologies put forwards by respondents. As set out in the Government response to the CfE, at that time, the Government was unable to identify sufficient independent data regarding the efficiency of heat batteries, making it difficult to assess the technology’s energy-saving properties objectively.
The Government currently has no plans to add further technologies to this VAT relief. Nevertheless, the Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. Changes to the tax system are announced at fiscal events in the usual way.