Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Howell and David Gauke

Tuesday 5th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

9. What recent fiscal steps he has taken to support small businesses.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

The Government are very supportive of small businesses. We demonstrated this support again at Budget 2013 through the introduction of the new £2,000 employment allowance for small businesses and charities from April 2014.We have extended the small business rate relief from April 2013. We have increased the small business research and development tax credit to 225% and the lifetime limit on entrepreneurs relief to £10 million. In addition, we have launched a £1 billion British business bank to improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK.

[John Howell]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the fact that the new employment allowance will mean that 450,000 small businesses pay no national insurance contributions at all. Is this not a positive help to small businesses such as those in my constituency as they seek to take on more employees?

[Mr Gauke]

I entirely agree. That £2,000 for every business will feed through by helping businesses take on new staff, invest in their business or pay higher wages. It is a positive contribution, which contrasts with the proposals that we inherited for an increase in employer’s national insurance contributions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Howell and David Gauke

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

4. What assessment he has made of the effect on living costs of changes to the personal allowance.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

It was announced in Budget 2013 that the Government would increase the annual personal allowance by a further £560 to £10,000 in April 2014, thus meeting a key coalition commitment a year ahead of schedule. By that date, as a result of the combined effects of all personal allowance increases under this Government, a typical basic-rate taxpayer will have gained by more than £700 a year in cash terms.

[John Howell]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way of tackling this issue is to put cash into people’s pockets, and that taking 2.7 million people out of tax altogether is an excellent way in which to proceed?

[Mr Gauke]

I do agree. What we have done is quite a contrast with what was done by the last Government, who increased the amount of income tax that some low earners would have to pay by £232. Now the equivalents of those people have been taken out of income tax altogether.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Howell and David Gauke

Tuesday 24th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

I understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern—he has raised this matter on behalf of his constituents a number of times. The Treasury and HMRC are always seeking to improve the system. It is in a better place than it was four or five years ago, but none the less, there are still issues. I constantly tell HMRC that we need to find ways to address problems when information is provided but not taken up and used.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

4. What progress he has made on implementation of the national infrastructure plan 2011.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Howell and David Gauke

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gauke]

Clearly the news from Haverhill is very encouraging, and I am delighted to hear it. I agree with my hon. Friend’s comment; it is striking that youth unemployment started increasing in 2004, at a time when the economy appeared to be in good shape.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

14. What recent representations he has received from the IMF and the OECD on UK economic policy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between John Howell and David Gauke

Tuesday 8th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[John Howell]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his previous answer, but he will be aware that many of us have had to put in place our own means of keeping constituents who have got caught up in Equitable informed of what is happening, so poor has been the Government communication programme. So will he say a little more about his plans to keep that group of people informed as the payment scheme goes through?

[Mr Gauke]

I suspect that one of the reasons why the previous Government were so poor in communicating progress was that there was very little progress to communicate. As I mentioned earlier, we are keen to ensure that there will be progress, that we have the independent commission in July, and that we will have the conclusions of Sir John Chadwick’s report; we intend to make progress there. I hope that we will have more information to give my hon. Friend in mid-July. This is a matter that has caused enormous anxiety for many people, and it is right that we keep people up to date with exactly what progress we are making.