Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to reduce the tax burden (a) companies and (b) people operating in the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary VAT reduction is designed to support businesses and jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chancellor has announced a range of measures to help individuals and businesses through the crisis, including grants, loans and relief from business rates worth more than £300 billion.
All eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will pay no business rates in England for 12 months from 1 April 2020 and the Government deferred Value Added Tax (VAT) payments so UK VAT-registered businesses did not need to pay any VAT due with VAT returns from 20 March through to the end of June 2020, until 31 March 2021.
A range of further measures has been made available. This includes the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms keep people in employment. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has also been launched to help small businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government will continue to consider how best to support the economic recovery.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support owners of hair and beauty businesses in the UK as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary VAT reduction is designed to support businesses and jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chancellor has announced a range of measures to help individuals and businesses through the crisis, including grants, loans and relief from business rates worth more than £300 billion.
All eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will pay no business rates in England for 12 months from 1 April 2020 and the Government deferred Value Added Tax (VAT) payments so UK VAT-registered businesses did not need to pay any VAT due with VAT returns from 20 March through to the end of June 2020, until 31 March 2021.
A range of further measures has been made available. This includes the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms keep people in employment. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has also been launched to help small businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government will continue to consider how best to support the economic recovery.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to extend eligibility for the temporary VAT cut for the hospitality sector to the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary VAT reduction is designed to support businesses and jobs in the tourism and hospitality industry. In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Chancellor has announced a range of measures to help individuals and businesses through the crisis, including grants, loans and relief from business rates worth more than £300 billion.
All eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will pay no business rates in England for 12 months from 1 April 2020 and the Government deferred Value Added Tax (VAT) payments so UK VAT-registered businesses did not need to pay any VAT due with VAT returns from 20 March through to the end of June 2020, until 31 March 2021.
A range of further measures has been made available. This includes the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms keep people in employment. The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has also been launched to help small businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government will continue to consider how best to support the economic recovery.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the economic benefits of extending business rates relief to wholesalers.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Business rates are devolved in Scotland, and so are a matter for the Scottish Government.
In England, the Government has provided enhanced support through business rates relief to businesses occupying properties used for retail, hospitality and leisure given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance for local authorities on eligible properties. As set out in the guidance, support is targeted at premises that are wholly or mainly being used as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues; for assembly and leisure; or as hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation. It is for local authorities to determine eligibility for reliefs, having regard to guidance issued by the Government.
A range of further measures to support all businesses, including those not eligible for the business rates holiday, such as wholesalers, has also been made available.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether Virgin Atlantic is eligible to apply to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for support with staff redundancy payments.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is committed to protecting as many jobs as possible and the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is one of the ways it is doing so.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) grants cannot be used to substitute redundancy payments.
Comprehensive guidance on eligibility for and the purpose of the scheme can be found on the GOV.UK Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme page: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding the Government has allocated to (a) public services and (b) capital projects in Falkirk constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Falkirk benefits from UK-wide spending by the UK Government in reserved policy areas, but this is not generally managed on a constituency basis.
Falkirk will also benefit from a Growth Deal which builds on the UK Government’s commitment for 100% coverage of City and Growth deals across Scotland.
In devolved policy areas the UK Government funds the Scottish Government via the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to allocate its funding on devolved public services and infrastructure across Scotland, including Falkirk.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of the equity of the application of the plastic packaging tax to businesses that use (a) recyclable and (b) single use packaging.
Answered by Jesse Norman
In the February 2019 consultation on the plastic packaging tax, the Government proposed that the tax would apply to plastic packaging in the same way as in the Packaging Producer Responsibility scheme, in order to ensure that the tax is clear and simple. This would mean that the tax would include both recyclable and single use packaging. The vast majority of respondents to the consultation agreed with this approach. The Government is considering the most appropriate definitions for plastic packaging and will set out next steps in due course.
The Government is also developing a reformed Packaging Producer Responsibility scheme to encourage businesses to design and use plastic packaging that is easier to recycle.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the VAT registration threshold on hair salon owners; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
No specific assessment has been made of the effect of the VAT registration threshold on hair salon owners.
At Autumn Statement 2016, the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) was asked to conduct a VAT General Simplification Review. The OTS’s interim report, which was published on 28 February 2017, highlights eight areas that it will be looking at in more detail, including the level of the VAT registration threshold. Its recommendations will be published in autumn 2017. To support the review, the OTS has issued a call for evidence, including asking for feedback from businesses and their representatives.
The UK’s VAT registration threshold (above which persons making taxable supplies are required to register and account for VAT) is currently set at £83,000, although businesses below this threshold can opt to register voluntarily if it suits them to do so.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is his policy to maintain the level of funding to the NHS from national insurance contributions (NICs) regardless of the overall amount raised by NICs; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared to 2014-15 to support the transformation of services across the country. This investment is £2bn more than the NHS asked for, and will help deliver the Government’s objective in moving to a seven day NHS by 2020.
The Government does not commit to achieving a specific level of funding to the NHS from National Insurance contributions (NICs). Instead, a fixed proportion of each class of NICs receipts (from employees, the self-employed and employers) is allocated directly to the NHS; this adds up to about 20% of NICs receipts. The rest of NHS funding comes from general taxation.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will visit the HM Revenue and Customs workforce in Cumbernauld to discuss their long-term employment at the tax centre there.
Answered by David Gauke
There are no current plans for ministers to visit the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) office in Cumbernauld. HMRC continues to engage its workforce on its transformation through a series of staff events. Further details of these plans were announced on 12 November.