Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the contribution of the betting and gaming industry to the economy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Official statistics from a range of sources provide the Government with insights into the economic contribution of the betting and gaming industry, including estimates for gross value added (GVA), employment generated and tax revenue raised.
The latest headline statistics show that the gambling sector contributed £4.9bn to GVA in 2022, accounting for 0.2% of UK GVA. In the financial year 2023/24, the gambling sector employed around 94,000 people in Britain (provisional), accounting for 0.2% of UK jobs and paid approximately £3.4bn in betting and gaming duty.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of increasing gambling taxes on employment in (a) high street bookmakers, (b) high street adult gaming centres and (c) bingo halls.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government will consult next year on proposals to bring remote gambling (meaning gambling offered over the internet, telephone, TV and radio) into a single tax, rather than taxing it through a three-tax structure. This will aim to simplify, future-proof and close loopholes in the system.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what modelling her Department has done to assess the potential impact of an increase in machine gaming duty on bingo halls.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government will consult next year on proposals to bring remote gambling (meaning gambling offered over the internet, telephone, TV and radio) into a single tax, rather than taxing it through a three-tax structure. This will aim to simplify, future-proof and close loopholes in the system.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes in the level of machine gaming duty on high streets.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government will consult next year on proposals to bring remote gambling (meaning gambling offered over the internet, telephone, TV and radio) into a single tax, rather than taxing it through a three-tax structure. This will aim to simplify, future-proof and close loopholes in the system.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to introduce an extended producer responsibility scheme for the textile sector.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across Government, industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organisations. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis. The Taskforce will consider the evidence for action right across the economy, and as such the Taskforce will evaluate what interventions may need to be made in the textiles sector as it helps to develop the Circular Economy Strategy.
In the meantime, we continue to fund action in this area through the Textiles 2030 voluntary initiative which supports businesses and organisations within the fashion and textiles industry to transition to more sustainable and circular practices.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Screening Council plans to review its advice on Prostate Specific Antigen testing.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) evidence review for prostate cancer screening is already underway, and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.
The evidence review includes modelling the clinical cost effectiveness of several approaches to prostate cancer screening, and will encompass different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years of age onwards, and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher than average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Department is taking to ensure audit requirements are (a) accessible and (b) affordable for small and mid-sized quoted companies.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Audit standards for UK companies are adopted and set by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), with reference to internationally-agreed standards. The law sets other requirements, such as which companies require audit.
The Government will publish a draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill. The Bill will include provisions for transitioning the FRC into a new regulator, the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA), with powers to monitor and address the resilience of the audit market. The Government is also considering the case for deregulatory changes to the audit of public interest entities (PIEs), which include all listed companies.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an estimate of the proportion of economic growth that will be created by small and medium-sized enterprises in the next five years.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Small and Medium Enterprises make a significant contribution to economic growth, they currently represent 99.9% of the UK’s business population, account for 16.7 million jobs (61% of total UK employment), and generate £2.4 trillion in annual turnover (53% of the total) for the UK economy. We continue to expect Small and Medium Sized enterprises to significantly contribute to UK growth.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Small businesses are the beating heart of our communities. The Government will boost small business growth and productivity by delivering upon the commitments within Labour’s Plan for Small Business published prior to the election.
On 19th September 2024, we announced new measures to tackle the scourge of late payments and long payment terms. We are providing access to the support and finance needed to scale-up and to break into new markets. We are also transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, offering greater flexibility for learners and employers, including shorter duration apprenticeships in targeted sectors.
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 - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
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.