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Written Question
Public Sector Net Cash Requirement: Interest Rates
Friday 1st December 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

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 - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

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)


Written Question
Public Sector Debt
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

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 - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

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.


Written Question
Energy: Prices
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

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 - Exchequer Secretary (HM 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.


Written Question
Life Sciences: Government Assistance
Thursday 7th September 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

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 - Exchequer Secretary (HM 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.


Written Question
Duty Free Allowances
Tuesday 21st February 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusions of the report by Oxford Economics entitled Assessing the impact of tax-free shopping in the UK, published in November 2022.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Following the initial withdrawal of VAT-free shopping in November 2020, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published their assessment of the withdrawal of the schemes. Their assessment showed that withdrawing the scheme would raise a significant amount of revenue and have a limited behavioural effect on decisions to visit, or spend, in the UK


The Treasury has reviewed the Oxford Economics report and remains confident in the OBR’s analysis


In particular, the findings of the Oxford Economics report are underpinned by an assumption that introducing VAT-free shopping will generate an additional 1.6 million visitors to the UK.

We do not recognise these figures. The OBR, using a higher than usual price elasticity of demand to account for VAT-free shopping being targeted at luxury goods, put this figure at 20,000-30,000 for non-EU visitors, which would imply a figure of 60,000-80,000 of total visitors (EU and non-EU). That is about 5% of the report’s 1.6 million estimate. Reflecting this difference in estimates of additional visitors could lead to their report overstating the potential extra revenue by around £1 billion.


Written Question
Business Rates: Small Businesses
Wednesday 1st February 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government’s business rates policy in supporting small and medium-sized businesses.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) is available to businesses with a single property with a rateable value below £15,000. Properties under £12,000 receive 100 per cent relief, and there is tapered support available to properties valued up to £15,000.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities publishes statistics annually (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils) which show that over a third of properties in England (700,000) already pay no business rates at all as a result of 100 per cent SBRR, with an additional 51,000 in the taper.

The eligibility criteria for SBRR ensures that it effectively targets the smallest businesses where help is needed most and provides good balance between support and cost to the Exchequer.

At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth £13.6 billion over the next five years. This includes new measures to reduce the burden of business rates on firms, including a freeze in the multiplier for 2023-24, extended relief for high street businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector, an exchequer funded transitional relief scheme, and targeted support for small businesses.


Written Question
Financial Services: Regulation
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to improve the UK’s financial services sector regulatory framework.

Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Chancellor provided a detailed written statement to the House in December 2022 on the government’s Edinburgh Reforms to improve the regulatory framework for financial services (HCWS425).

This builds on the Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review, which was established by the government to determine how the financial services regulatory framework should adapt to the UK’s new position outside of the European Union (EU), and to ensure the framework is fit for the future.

The outcomes of the FRF Review are now being delivered through the Financial Services and Markets Bill, a key piece of legislation that allows us to seize the opportunities of EU Exit and secure the UK’s position as a global financial hub.

The Government has also published an ambitious plan to enact the repeal of retained EU law in financial services and build a smarter financial services regulatory framework as part of the Edinburgh Reforms.

Amongst other areas, the document set out that the Government will split areas of regulation into tranches, prioritising those areas including those with the biggest potential to deliver improvements to UK economic growth. The government aims to make significant progress on tranches one and two of the programme by the end of 2023 and will ensure that there are opportunities for the full range of stakeholders to engage and to feed in views as the programme is delivered. More detail can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-a-smarter-financial-services-framework-for-the-uk


Written Question
Service Industries: Coronavirus
Tuesday 8th February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to help the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors recover from the covid-19 outbreak.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In December, Government announced a £1bn package of support for businesses impacted by the Omicron variant. This included grants worth up to £6,000 for businesses in the hospitality and leisure sectors.

These measures are just the latest action we have taken to safeguard businesses and jobs and are in addition to:

  • business rates relief meaning that the majority of businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will see a 75% reduction in their business rates bill across the entire financial year and a new 50% capped business rates relief next financial year;
  • a 12.5% reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism;
  • access to finance for SMEs through the Recovery Loan Scheme to June; and
  • Bounce Back Loan repayment flexibility, with borrowers having the option to take a 6 month repayment holiday, three 6 month interest only periods or extend their loan to 10 years, which almost halves the monthly payment.

Thanks to the Government’s decisive action to implement balanced and proportionate measures in response to the Omicron variant, Cabinet has decided to return to Plan A in England. This means the economy will get back to operating freely and businesses can recover more quickly.


Written Question
Business: Investment
Tuesday 8th February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage businesses to invest.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Under the super-deduction, from April 2021 until the end of March 2023, companies can claim a 130% capital allowance on qualifying plant and machinery investments. It is the biggest two-year business tax cut in modern British history.

At Budget, the Government announced that the temporary £1 million Annual Investment Allowance level would be extended until the end of March 2023.

These measures provide more upfront support to help businesses across the UK invest and grow.


Written Question
Regional Planning and Development
Tuesday 8th February 2022

Asked by: Kieran Mullan (Conservative - Crewe and Nantwich)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to encourage regional growth across the UK.

Answered by Simon Clarke

The Government published its Levelling Up White Paper earlier this month. It sets out our missions as part of a decade long plan to see the potential of every corner of the United Kingdom fulfilled.

It builds on the funding allocated at the Spending Review, for example boosting investment in skills training with a total of £3.8 billion in skills by 2024-25, transforming local transport networks with £5.7 billion investment in five-year consolidated transport settlements for eight city regions in England, including Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region, and supporting local infrastructure through the first round of the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which saw 12 places in the North West receive £232 million in funding.

It also provides further detail on the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, helping people to access new opportunities in places in need.