Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to encourage (a) investment and (b) growth in the beer and pub sector through reforming business rates.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including pubs and breweries, with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to introduce a higher rate on the most valuable properties on 2026-27 - those with Rateable Values of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but cover the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.
The Government also published the ‘Transforming Business Rates’ Discussion Paper at Autumn Budget setting out priority areas for reform. This paper invites industry to help co-design a fairer business rates system that supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. Further information regarding the Discussion Paper can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-business-rates.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason the Loan Charge review does not include the (a) role and (b) conduct of people who profited from recommending and operating disguised remuneration schemes in its scope.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and will consult on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance, including new powers focused on those who own or control promoter organisations and options to tackle legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
The Government announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
In relation to the prosecution of Loan Charge scheme promoters and operators, I refer the hon. Member for Bury North to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the role of umbrella companies in the use of disguised remuneration schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and will consult on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance, including new powers focused on those who own or control promoter organisations and options to tackle legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
The Government announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
In relation to the prosecution of Loan Charge scheme promoters and operators, I refer the hon. Member for Bury North to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the role of recruitment companies in the use of disguised remuneration schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and will consult on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance, including new powers focused on those who own or control promoter organisations and options to tackle legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
The Government announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
In relation to the prosecution of Loan Charge scheme promoters and operators, I refer the hon. Member for Bury North to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many promoters and operators of schemes now subject to the Loan Charge have been prosecuted for promoting and operating these schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and will consult on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance, including new powers focused on those who own or control promoter organisations and options to tackle legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
The Government announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
In relation to the prosecution of Loan Charge scheme promoters and operators, I refer the hon. Member for Bury North to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the contribution of (a) accountants and (b) tax advisers to disguised remuneration schemes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has commissioned an independent review of the Loan Charge to help bring the matter to a close for those affected whilst ensuring fairness for all taxpayers.
The Government is committed to tackling promoters of tax avoidance and will consult on measures to tackle promoters of marketed tax avoidance, including new powers focused on those who own or control promoter organisations and options to tackle legal professionals behind avoidance schemes.
The Government announced action at 2024 Autumn Budget to tackle tax avoidance by umbrella companies. Legislation, effective from April 2026, will be introduced to make recruitment agencies using umbrella companies legally responsible for accounting for PAYE on workers’ pay. Where there is no agency in the supply chain, this responsibility will fall to the end client. This along with the measures on promoters will help prevent disguised remuneration in the future.
In relation to the prosecution of Loan Charge scheme promoters and operators, I refer the hon. Member for Bury North to the answer I gave on 16 October 2024 to Question UIN 7747.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2018 to Question 135389 on Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties, how much Vehicle Excise Duty was collected, in each vehicle class, from vehicles registered in (a) Bury North constituency (b) Bury and (c) North West in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is collected nationwide. There is no official methodology to identify the VED collected in specific areas.
The government publishes data on vehicle registrations by postcode and region. The latest vehicle licensing statistics were published on 12 April 2018 and are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/vehicle-licensing-statistics-july-to-september-2017.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much road tax was collected from vehicles owned by people living in (a) Bury North constituency, (b) Bury and (c) the North West in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is collected nationwide and since it is tied to where individuals choose to register their vehicles, there is no official methodology to identify the VED collected in any particular region.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have withdrawn their retirement savings from a private pension in the last 12 months; and what assessment he has made of the long-term effect of the early withdrawal of those retirement savings on the retirement incomes of those people.
Answered by John Glen
Between Q2 2016 and Q1 2017, individuals accessed over £6.4 billion from defined contribution pension pots through 1.4 million payments.
Early evidence collected by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HMRC suggests that individuals are making decisions to cash in small pots while drawing down a steadier income stream from larger pension pots. However, as of March 2017, 5.8 million defined contribution pots eligible for withdrawal, or 80% of all eligible pots, remained untouched. Overall it is too early to draw definitive behavioural lessons from the data that is currently available on withdrawals from defined contribution pots, given that pension freedoms have only been in place for little over two years.
The FCA is also undertaking a review of the post-freedoms retirement market and published its Retirement Outcomes Review interim report in July 2017. The final report is due to be published in the first half of 2018. The Government welcomes the FCA’s work in this area, awaits the publication of the final report, and will carefully consider any recommendations contained within it.