Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much correspondence her Department has received from individuals making representations on proposed changes to (a) Agricultural Property Relief and (b) Business Property Relief for Inheritance Tax since October 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
The Government takes into account all representations, and HM Treasury officials and Ministers meet with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) letters, (b) emails and (c) other correspondence her Department has received supporting proposed changes to (i) Agricultural Property Relief and (ii) Business Property Relief for Inheritance Tax.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
The Government takes into account all representations, and HM Treasury officials and Ministers meet with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the National Farmers Union of Scotland on changes to Business Property Relief in the Autumn Budget 2024 since 30 October 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
The Government takes into account all representations, and HM Treasury officials and Ministers meet with stakeholders on a regular basis.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department of the potential impact of changes to employer national insurance contributions on Scotland’s retail sector.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note that covers the employer NICs changes was published by HMRC on 13 November.
The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all next year, more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package, and all eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 28 April 2021 to Question 187297 on National Savings and Investments, what estimate he has made of the date on which the NS&I Green Savings Bond will be available to customers.
Answered by John Glen
The Green Savings Bonds were made available to customers via National Savings and Investments on 22 October and will be on sale for a minimum of three months. The 3-year fixed-term savings product with an interest rate of 0.65% will give UK savers the opportunity to take part in the collective effort to tackle climate change. Customers can invest between £100 and £100,000.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likelihood that the consultation on the pensions charge cap will lead to higher returns for savers.
Answered by John Glen
This is a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many businesses are affected by the VAT reduction for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions in (a) the Scottish Borders and (b) in Scotland.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
It is estimated that about 13,000 businesses in Scotland benefit from the VAT reduced rate for hospitality, accommodation and attractions. Estimates are not available for lower level geographic areas.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress has been made on the National Savings and Investment's green savings product; and whether the Government has plans to offer that product to savers in summer 2021.
Answered by John Glen
Since the Chancellor’s announcement at Spring Budget 2021 that a Green Savings Bond will be offered through NS&I, work has continued at pace on the development of this product. The Green Savings Bond will be linked to the UK’s sovereign Green Bond framework, due to be published in June 2021, and will give UK savers the opportunity to take part in the collective effort to tackle climate change. Further details on the Green Savings Bond will be published in due course, prior to the product going on sale this summer.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Gift Aid has been paid to charities in the Scottish Borders in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Soft Drinks Industry Levy has raised since that Levy was introduced.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
Since its introduction in April 2018, the provisional total for revenue raised from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy up to and including December 2020 is £802 million. This consists of the following amounts raised per financial year:
2018-19: £240 million
2019-20: £337 million
2020-21: £224 million (provisional year to date total covering revenue received between April 2020 and December 2020).
The discrepancy of £1 million between the overall total (£802 million) and the sum of financial year subtotals (£801 million) is due to rounding used by HMRC when producing these statistics.