Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the (a) number of applications for valuations of any type by the District Valuer that took longer than (i) three, (ii) six and (iii) 12 months to be completed from the point of application, by type of valuation and (b) the average timeframe for processing applications, in the latest period for which data is available; and if she will make a comparative estimate of the average timeframe for processing requests from NHS organisations.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency's (VOA) District Valuer Services (DVS) provides independent, impartial, valuation and professional property advice across the entire public sector, and where public money or public functions are involved. In 2023-24 in total DVS received around 24,500 separate case requests, spread across 139 different case types. The length of time taken to complete a case varies depending on case type and complexity. The VOA does not hold data broken down into timeliness figures for the timeframes specified and as a comparison across all case types.
In 2023-24 the VOA handled around 3,400 cases relating to NHS premises, including over 2,900 cases relating to reimbursement of GP premises costs. Specifically, for cases related to reimbursement of GP premises costs, 55% were completed by DVS in under 3 months, 26% were completed between 3 and 6 months, 15% completed between 6 and 12 months, and 4% took over 12 months to complete. On average it took 121 days to complete a reimbursement of GP premises cost case, including negotiations with GPs and their advisers, so timeframes are not solely within the VOA’s control.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will increase domestic aviation duty.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) exists to ensure that aviation makes a fair contribution to the public finances and applies to UK-departing flights.
Reforms to APD took effect in April 2023. These included the introduction of the new domestic band for domestic flights, initially set at half the rate for short-haul international flights (except for larger private jets). The domestic band applies to all flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and for 2024/25 is set at £7 for economy passengers.
These reforms also introduced a new ultra long-haul band covering flights that are greater than 5,500 miles from London. This ensures that those who fly furthest, and have the greatest impact on emissions, incur the greatest duty.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy in the round at fiscal events in the context of public finances and any changes will be announced at Budget.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will adjust the method of assessment for vehicle excise duty rates in the next fiscal year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a tax on car ownership. The tax system encourages the uptake of cars with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to help meet the UK’s legally binding climate change targets. Cars first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 pay VED annually according to CO2 emissions. From 1 April 2017, a reformed VED system was introduced for new cars. Under the reformed VED system, zero emission models currently pay nothing on first registration, whilst the most polluting pay over £2,600. In subsequent years, most cars move to a standard rate, currently set at an annual rate of £190. However from April 2025, electric cars will begin to pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles, whilst an incentive is maintained for electric cars at the point of purchase.
Revenue from motoring taxes helps ensure we can continue to fund the vital public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect. The Government annually reviews the rates and thresholds of taxes and reliefs to ensure that they are appropriate and reflect the current state of the economy. As with all taxes, the Government welcomes representations from the public on how the tax system can be improved.
Following the spending audit, the Chancellor has been clear that difficult decisions lie ahead on spending, welfare and tax to fix the foundations of our economy and address the £22 billion hole the government has inherited. Decisions on how to do that will be taken at the Budget in the round.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has received representations on an increase to the standard rate of vehicle excise duty in the next fiscal year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a tax on car ownership. The tax system encourages the uptake of cars with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to help meet the UK’s legally binding climate change targets. Cars first registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 pay VED annually according to CO2 emissions. From 1 April 2017, a reformed VED system was introduced for new cars. Under the reformed VED system, zero emission models currently pay nothing on first registration, whilst the most polluting pay over £2,600. In subsequent years, most cars move to a standard rate, currently set at an annual rate of £190. However from April 2025, electric cars will begin to pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles, whilst an incentive is maintained for electric cars at the point of purchase.
Revenue from motoring taxes helps ensure we can continue to fund the vital public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect. The Government annually reviews the rates and thresholds of taxes and reliefs to ensure that they are appropriate and reflect the current state of the economy. As with all taxes, the Government welcomes representations from the public on how the tax system can be improved.
Following the spending audit, the Chancellor has been clear that difficult decisions lie ahead on spending, welfare and tax to fix the foundations of our economy and address the £22 billion hole the government has inherited. Decisions on how to do that will be taken at the Budget in the round.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will re-band aviation duty.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) exists to ensure that aviation makes a fair contribution to the public finances and applies to UK-departing flights.
Reforms to APD took effect in April 2023. These included the introduction of the new domestic band for domestic flights, initially set at half the rate for short-haul international flights (except for larger private jets). The domestic band applies to all flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and for 2024/25 is set at £7 for economy passengers.
These reforms also introduced a new ultra long-haul band covering flights that are greater than 5,500 miles from London. This ensures that those who fly furthest, and have the greatest impact on emissions, incur the greatest duty.
The Government keeps all tax policy under review. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy in the round at fiscal events in the context of public finances and any changes will be announced at Budget.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of public ownership of the railways on Government debt in the (a) short and (b) medium term.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Both publicly and privately owned DfT-contracted train operating companies are already included in the public sector, classified by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as public non-financial corporations currently. A transfer of these DfT-contracted train operating companies to government ownership will have no immediate impact on public debt statistics. The ONS are responsible for classification decisions affecting the public finances and measurement of public debt.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish an estimate of the potential impact of borrowing an additional 1% of gross domestic product on interest rates.
Answered by Bim Afolami
Responsible decisions on borrowing are a key pillar of government support to the MPC in its action to bring inflation down to the 2% target. The external evidence suggests that for every extra 1% of GDP of borrowing (£25 billion), we could potentially be pushing up interest rates by as much as half a per cent. And there are reasons to believe that in current conditions it could be higher than that. Treasury modelling suggests that in the current economic conditions the impact might be between 0.5 and 1.25 per cent, without taking into account any supply-side impacts on the economy.
More detail on the methodology can be found here : Further detail on HMT analysis of borrowing and interest rates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he has made on reducing the level of national debt.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
Reducing national debt is one the Prime Minister’s five priorities, which is reflected in the Government’s fiscal rules. In its March forecast, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that the Government is on track to deliver this, with underlying debt falling as a percentage of GDP in 2027-28. To ensure fiscal sustainability, the Government has taken difficult but necessary decisions to ensure that debt is falling.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support businesses with energy prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.
This follows the unprecedented package of support for non-domestic users last winter provided through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support the growth of the life sciences sector.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Life sciences is one of the government’s priority growth sectors. In May, the Chancellor announced a bold new policy package backed by over £650m funding, reaffirming the government’s commitment to supporting a thriving life sciences industry.
This follows a number of initiatives announced at Spring Budget that will support the sector, including £10m extra funding for our medicines regulator the MHRA, full expensing of capital expenditure and reforms to R&D tax credits.