Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's planned timetable is for publishing its response to the consultation entitled VAT Treatment of Private Hire Vehicles, which closed on 8 August 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private hire vehicle services provided by VAT-registered businesses are, and always have been, subject to VAT. The Government continues to take the issue of VAT treatment of private hire vehicle services seriously and recognises the importance of clarity to the sector. It is right, however, that decisions on tax policy are taken at fiscal events in the context of overall public finances. The Government will therefore publish a response to the consultation soon.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of applying VAT to private hire journeys outside London on the private hire industry.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private hire vehicle services provided by VAT-registered businesses are, and always have been, subject to VAT. The Government continues to take the issue of VAT treatment of private hire vehicle services seriously and recognises the importance of clarity to the sector. It is right, however, that decisions on tax policy are taken at fiscal events in the context of overall public finances. The Government will therefore publish a response to the consultation soon.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to allow GP practices to claim Employment Allowance.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has not changed the eligibility rules on the Employment Allowance beyond removing the £100k eligibility threshold, so that business size does not dictate whether an employer can benefit from the Employment Allowance.
All the remaining eligibility criteria remain unchanged, including the exclusion of businesses whose work is wholly or mainly public in nature. The eligibility of a specific sector or organisation will depend on the make-up of an individual business's work, and organisations are encouraged to consult HMRC’s detailed guidance.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to exempt GPs who provide more than 90% of their services to the NHS from the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance Contributions, i.e. central government, public corporations and local government. General Practitioners are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes.
The Government has taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so that increased funding for the NHS in England could be announced at the Budget. Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years.
Every year, the Government consults with the general practice sector about what services they provide, and about what money they are entitled to in return under their contract. As in previous years, this will be dealt with as part of that process.
The Government has announced a proposed £889m uplift for general practice in 2025-26, the largest uplift to GP funding since 2019-20. The Department of Health and Social Care have started consulting with the General Practitioners Committee in England of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the 2025-26 GP contract, and will consider a range of proposed policy changes. These will be announced in the usual way following the close of the consultation later this year.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to incentivise companies to remain listed in London.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The Government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to ensure they deliver for investors and firms to support global and UK growth.
The UK is Europe’s leading hub for investment, and the Government is taking forward reforms to build on these strong foundations by boosting the competitiveness of UK markets and optimising the capital raising process for large and small companies.
This includes a once in a generation reform to our listings rulebook which will revolutionise our markets, directly align us with leading international counterparts and providing greater flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets.
The Chancellor has also announced a landmark review into pension fund investments which will explicitly consider the role of pension funds in capital and financial markets to boost returns and UK growth.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help increase (a) investment and (b) listings for small and medium-sized businesses.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The Government is committed to reinvigorating our capital markets to ensure they deliver for investors and firms to support global and UK growth.
The UK is Europe’s leading hub for investment, and the Government is taking forward reforms to build on these strong foundations by boosting the competitiveness of UK markets and optimising the capital raising process for large and small companies.
This includes a once in a generation reform to our listings rulebook which will revolutionise our markets, directly align us with leading international counterparts and providing greater flexibility to firms and founders raising capital on UK markets.
The Chancellor has also announced a landmark review into pension fund investments which will explicitly consider the role of pension funds in capital and financial markets to boost returns and UK growth.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What recent assessment she has made of the impact of levels of borrowing on public finances.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
Borrowing for the first four months of the financial year was £51.4bn, £4.7bn higher than the OBR forecast in March. This adds to the challenging fiscal position the government has inherited, with debt at its highest level since the 1960s. The Chancellor has commissioned a full economic and fiscal forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility for the Budget on 30th October.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Autumn Statement 2022, pg. 60, Line 33, what calculations his Department used to establish the figure of £2.11 billion of revenue in 2024-25 from implementation of the global minimum corporate tax reforms; and if he will place a copy of those calculations in the Library of the House.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The process for estimating the Exchequer yield from implementation of Pillar 2 policy in the UK can be found in the Autumn Budget 2022: Policy Costings, available at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118364/Autumn_Statement_2022_Policy_Costings_.pdf.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the policy paper entitled Multinational top-up tax: UK adoption of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pillar 2 published on 20 July 2022, by what calculations the estimate of an ongoing annual administrative burden on UK businesses of £8.2m was arrived at; and if he will place a copy of those calculations in the library of the House.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Pillar 2 rules: UK implementation of global minimum corporate tax reforms from 31 December 2023 was announced at Autumn Budget 2022 and is projected to raise over £8.9 billion over the next 5 years.
The £8.2 million average reoccurring annual impact cost was calculated based on HMRC’s Standard Cost Model methodology for determining the administrative impacts of compliant, efficient businesses complying with new measures.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 58 of the Autumn Statement 2022, published on 17 November 2022, what account has been taken of potential behaviour change in the estimates of revenue arising from implementation of the global minimum corporate tax reforms.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The UK implementation of the Pillar 2 Global Minimum Tax was scored at Autumn Statement 2022.
The process for estimating the Exchequer yield from implementation of Pillar 2 policy in the UK can be found on gov.uk at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1118364/Autumn_Statement_2022_Policy_Costings_.pdf