Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate the acceptance of cash across the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government recognises that, to support people’s ability to continue to transact using cash, businesses need reasonable access to cash deposit facilities to support them to keep accepting cash.
The government therefore legislated through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 to establish the Financial Conduct Authority as the lead regulator for access to cash and provide it with responsibility and powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities.
The government considers that this legislation will support organisations, including local businesses, to continue accepting cash by ensuring that they have reasonable access to cash deposit facilities.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.75 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what criteria small and medium enterprises will be required to meet to be considered R&D intensive.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is introducing additional tax relief for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs. A company is considered R&D intensive where its qualifying R&D expenditure is worth 40% or more of its total expenditure. This rate will apply to expenditure incurred from 1 April 2023.
The Government has published a technical note outlining the eligibility criteria of this new scheme in more detail, which is available at:
Technical note: Additional tax relief for Research and Development intensive small and medium enterprise - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the criteria are for plant and machinery to qualify for capital allowances full expensing.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Full expensing is available for qualifying expenditure on main rate plant or machinery incurred on or after 1 April 2023, but before 1 April 2026. To qualify for full expensing, expenditure must be incurred by a company within the charge to corporation tax, the plant and machinery must be new and must not be bought to lease to someone else. Further information on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-expensing/spring-budget-2023-full-expensing. Full HMRC guidance will be published in due course.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to bring forward a support package to help energy-intensive industries deal with the high costs of energy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that this is a difficult time for those businesses facing pressures due to increases in global gas prices and their impact on electricity and carbon prices.
Since 2013, the government has provided energy-intensive industries with extensive support, including more than £2 billion to help with the costs of electricity. We also have various funds in place to support businesses with high energy usage in cutting their bills, including the £315 million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
The government is also continuing to speak with a range of industry bodies and firms at both a ministerial and official level and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support the Government is providing for parents of self-isolating children with special needs who (a) may not be entitled to 14-days paid dependants leave and (b) are unable to form a childcare bubble due to the particular needs of their child.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has provided a substantial package of support for individuals through this difficult time. Parents of children who are self-isolating under Government guidance may be eligible for “new style” Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) if they are ineligible for SSP and unable to work from home. The Government has made it easier for people to claim by removing the seven-day waiting period which means people can get support from day one.
Parents on lower incomes can also benefit from the Government’s temporary £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element for 2020-21. This means that for a single Universal Credit claimant (25 or over), the standard allowance has increased from £317.82 to £409.89 per month. The Government has also suspended the Universal Credit Minimum Income Floor to support self-employed people on low incomes until the end of April. In addition, the Government has invested over £900 million this year, increasing the Local Housing Allowance rates for Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to the 30th percentile of market rents.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of Tier 3 covid-19 lockdown restrictions on hospitality businesses; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional support to hospitality businesses in Tier 3 areas.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government understands that this is a very challenging time for the UK’s hospitality sector, and it recognises that the hospitality sector has been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Throughout the crisis the Government’s priority has been to protect lives and livelihoods. The Government has acted to deliver support to this sector through:
These measures have kept people in work, supported their incomes and supported businesses, delivering one of the most generous and comprehensive packages of support globally. However, as measures to control the virus change, it is right that Government support should also evolve. The Government keeps all policies under review, and will continue to work with businesses and representative groups to inform our efforts to support the hospitality sector.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there is Government support available for businesses affected by covid-19 (a) tier 2 and (b) tier 3 restrictions in place in neighbouring areas.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Throughout the pandemic, the government’s priority has been clear: to protect lives and livelihoods. The government has had to take the difficult step of introducing restrictions on businesses and individuals to bring the virus under control. As measures to control the virus have changed, government support has evolved too.
In response to the England-wide restrictions announced by the Prime Minister on the 31 October, we have announced a new set of national support measures. This includes an extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, more generous support for the self-employed, extended application windows for government-backed loans and cash grants of up to £3,000 for businesses forced to close. We have also provided local authorities with £1.1bn to enable them to support businesses over the coming months, as they form a key part of local economies.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support is available for small businesses owners instructed to self-isolate on numerous and separate occasions to prevent the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that the necessary restrictions to protect public health have been disruptive for small business owners. Small business owners may be eligible for new style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) if they are incapable of work, required to self-isolate according to Government guidance and have made sufficient national insurance contributions. We have made it easier for people to claim this support by removing the seven-day waiting period, meaning people can get support from day one.
Small business owners are also able to claim back from the Government the costs of up to two weeks of Covid-19 Statutory Sick Pay per employee, if their business has fewer than 250 employees. This rebate will pay for any Covid-19 related SSP, including if the owner is themself employed by the company and has to self-isolate.
Small business owners who are self-employed have also benefitted from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Grant Extension. Through this scheme, self-employed individuals will be able to claim two grants, the first of which will cover the start of November until the end of January, and the second of which will cover the start of February until the end of April. On 22 October, the Chancellor announced that we would be doubling the value of the grant for November to January from 20% to 40% of three-month trading profits. This will mean the maximum grant will increase from £1,875 to £3,750.
These measures are in addition to the Government’s unprecedented package of support available for individuals and businesses, worth over £190bn. This includes measures to support businesses who are legally required to close, such as the expanded Jobs Support Scheme and a more generous Local Restrictions Support Grant.
As we head into the Winter, the Government is continuing to collect evidence on the impact of the pandemic. This will of course inform our efforts to support small business owners going forward.