Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps (a) for tax relief generated through the investment allowance for oil and gas companies through the Energy Profits Levy to be returned to the Exchequer and (b) to allocate that money to the construction of a 5GW offshore wind farm.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK currently requires oil and gas to meet our energy needs, and there will be a continued role for oil and gas over the coming decades. The Energy Profits Levy includes investment allowances which give the oil and gas sector additional incentives to reinvest its profits to support the economy, jobs and the UK’s energy security.
The Government already provides significant support for low-carbon electricity generation development through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which has been hugely successful in driving the deployment of renewable energy whilst reducing costs. Since introduction, the CfD has contracted over 30GW of low-carbon generation including 20GW of offshore wind.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing financial support for drivers to upgrade to Clean Air Zone compliant vehicles for (a) residents of Clean Air Zones and (b) non-residents who may travel into Clean Air Zones.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Responsibility for road charging measures such as Clean Air Zones (CAZ) lie with Local Authorities. The local authority is responsible for the measures they introduce to address air quality in their local area as well as whether to provide exemptions that address issues such as the need to upgrade vehicles and support for those on Low incomes.
Government has allocated £883m under the NO2 Programme to help Local Authorities tackle NO2 exceedances as well as set up the Clean Air Fund to mitigate the impact of air quality measures, including Clean Air Zones, on those residents and businesses most affected. To date, more than £402m of support from the Clean Air Fund has been allocated to Local Authorities in areas with NO2 exceedances.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what central Government funding is available for local authorities looking to introduce (a) Clean Air Zones and (b) Scrappage Schemes for residents with non-compliant vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Responsibility for road charging measures such as Clean Air Zones (CAZ) lie with Local Authorities. The local authority is responsible for the measures they introduce to address air quality in their local area as well as whether to provide exemptions that address issues such as the need to upgrade vehicles and support for those on Low incomes.
Government has allocated £883m under the NO2 Programme to help Local Authorities tackle NO2 exceedances as well as set up the Clean Air Fund to mitigate the impact of air quality measures, including Clean Air Zones, on those residents and businesses most affected. To date, more than £402m of support from the Clean Air Fund has been allocated to Local Authorities in areas with NO2 exceedances.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of means-tested exemptions from Clean Air Zone fees for people on low incomes.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Responsibility for road charging measures such as Clean Air Zones (CAZ) lie with Local Authorities. The local authority is responsible for the measures they introduce to address air quality in their local area as well as whether to provide exemptions that address issues such as the need to upgrade vehicles and support for those on Low incomes.
Government has allocated £883m under the NO2 Programme to help Local Authorities tackle NO2 exceedances as well as set up the Clean Air Fund to mitigate the impact of air quality measures, including Clean Air Zones, on those residents and businesses most affected. To date, more than £402m of support from the Clean Air Fund has been allocated to Local Authorities in areas with NO2 exceedances.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the 75% reduction in business rates offered by the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure relief scheme to cover the 2024-25 tax year.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced it will extend the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme at 75 per cent, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2024-25. Around 230,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties will be eligible for this relief, a tax cut worth nearly £2.4 billion.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of including provision for a response to embedded carbon emissions from methane leakages in the design of a potential UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has recently consulted on potential future measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks, including the potential for a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
As set out in the Autumn Statement, the government is considering responses to the consultation and the evidence to inform policy decisions, and will respond shortly.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2023 to Question 194529 on Royal British Legion: VAT, if he will make it his policy to remove VAT on Remembrance Day wreaths.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to the vast majority of goods and services. While there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
Whilst there are no plans to make changes to the VAT treatment of Royal British Legion products, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Treasury will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT from Royal British Legion products.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The standard rate of VAT applies to most goods and services. Exceptions have always been strictly limited by legal and fiscal considerations.
Where the Royal British Legion, or any other charity, chooses to offer its goods or services for free and invite a voluntary donation, with no minimum payment required and with no expectation of anything in return, there is no VAT due.
However, where the Royal British Legion opts to sell its goods and services, for example by charging a set price, and is VAT-registered, it must charge VAT unless a VAT relief exists. There is no VAT relief that applies to the sale of pin badges, wooden crosses, or wristbands. However, no VAT is due on an amount paid voluntarily over and above the set price.
Whilst there are no plans to make changes to the VAT treatment of Royal British Legion products, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2023 to Question 193171 on Revenue and Customs: Telephone Services, how many calls were made to the self-assessment helpline in each of last 12 months.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC Performance on Self-Assessment Helpline is published on a quarterly basis on the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-quarterly-performance-report-january-to-march-2023
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on (a) customers and (b) helpline call levels of closing the self assessment help lines between 12 June and 4 September 2023.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This quarter is the quietest for Self-Assessment (SA) queries. HMRC is piloting the temporary and time-limited closure of the SA helpline so that c.350 advisers can be moved to other helplines which experience heavier demand at this time of year.
The SA helpline will reopen on 4 September, five months prior to the SA filing deadline of 31 January.
Around two-thirds of all Self-Assessment calls can be resolved online by customers; piloting a seasonal Self-Assessment helpline is about positively encouraging people to use these services when they can.
This will free up HMRC advisors to help those with more urgent queries or who cannot access digital services, and to work on correspondence.
It is very early in the trial, but already more people are using HMRCs digital services while HMRCs advisors are doing more work elsewhere. HMRC have increased the number of advisors on webchat, where the wait time is about a third of what it was on the Self-Assessment Helpline.