Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with HMRC on improving customer service in response to queries on self-assessment paperwork.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Treasury Ministers meet with HMRC officials on a regular basis to discuss HMRC’s performance.
HMRC publishes its performance on a monthly and quarterly basis:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-monthly-performance-reports
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to support future funding of county councils.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
At Spending Review 2021, the Government provided councils in England with £4.8 billion of new grant funding between 2022-23 and 2024-25.
Recognising that inflation is higher than it was when these budgets were set, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that local authorities will have access to up to an additional £2.8 billion in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 for social care and other services, which is of particular benefit to county councils.
The 2023-24 Local Government Finance Settlement confirmed an increase in total Core Spending Power for local authorities of 9.4%.
Decisions on spending beyond 2024-25 will be taken at the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of (a) the effectiveness of his Department's policies for supporting access to cash in rural areas and (b) the potential impact of rurality on access to cash.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
While the convenience, security, and speed of digital payments brings opportunities to the businesses and individuals that use them, the government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK.
The government is currently taking legislation through Parliament as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill to protect access to cash across the UK. The Bill will establish the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provide it with appropriate powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.
The Bill requires the Treasury to publish a policy statement that sets out the government’s policy on cash access services. This may include policy with respect to urban and rural areas. The FCA will be required to have regard to the Treasury’s policy statement when exercising its regulatory powers. In addition, the FCA will be able to exercise its powers in order to address local deficiencies specifically in the provision of access to cash facilities that it has identified and considers to be significant. The government’s view is that this will allow for consideration of local circumstances in all parts of the UK, such as those in rural areas.
Further details about the Financial Services and Markets Bill can be found on the Parliament website: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3326
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of whether (a) banks and (b) building societies would be willing to provide (i) training and (ii) equipment to help ensure that post offices are able to undertake over-the-counter banking services.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that millions of people across the UK continue to use cash as part of their daily lives, particularly those in vulnerable groups, and has introduced legislation to protect access to cash as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. The Bill intends to establish the Financial Conduct Authority as the lead regulator for cash access and provide it with appropriate powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.
The Government welcomes The Post Office Banking Framework between Post Office Limited and the major UK banks which allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
This is a commercial agreement and therefore the Government does not make assessments of the commercial discussions between POL and participating firms. However, the Government expects the UK banking sector to continue to ensure customers have appropriate access to banking services.
Any method for depositing cash must comply with relevant regulations, including Money Laundering Regulations. The value of cash that can be deposited at a Post Office branch is a commercial decision for the parties involved.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the amount of cash that can be deposited at a post office.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government recognises that millions of people across the UK continue to use cash as part of their daily lives, particularly those in vulnerable groups, and has introduced legislation to protect access to cash as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. The Bill intends to establish the Financial Conduct Authority as the lead regulator for cash access and provide it with appropriate powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities.
The Government welcomes The Post Office Banking Framework between Post Office Limited and the major UK banks which allows 99% of personal banking and 95% of business customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
This is a commercial agreement and therefore the Government does not make assessments of the commercial discussions between POL and participating firms. However, the Government expects the UK banking sector to continue to ensure customers have appropriate access to banking services.
Any method for depositing cash must comply with relevant regulations, including Money Laundering Regulations. The value of cash that can be deposited at a Post Office branch is a commercial decision for the parties involved.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the level of demand for use cheques as payment amongst (a) businesses and (b) charities.
Answered by Richard Fuller
Cheques remain an important part of the UK’s payments landscape. While there has been a decline in overall cheque volumes, they continue to be used by many individuals, businesses, charities, and other voluntary organisations. HM Treasury does not currently have plans to undertake a formal assessment of cheque volumes.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 business rates review.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
With the conclusion of the Business Rates Review, the Government has delivered meaningful reform and cuts worth £7 billion to business over the next five years.
The review has implemented significant new measures to reduce the burden of business rates on firms, including a freeze in the multiplier, new support for improvements and green technology, and further relief for high street businesses. The Government is committing to more frequent revaluations, which represents significant reform of the system and will ensure that liabilities are more responsive to changing market conditions. This addresses key asks of stakeholders for more frequent revaluations and for a reduction of the burden of business rates to make the system fairer.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority at improving its customer service standards.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is operationally independent from the Government. Therefore, questions about operational matters are for the independent FCA.
This question has therefore been passed to the FCA who will respond directly to the honourable member by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including infrared heat panels in zero rating VAT policy in respect of energy saving measures.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Chancellor announced at Spring Statement 2022 that the VAT relief for the installation of energy saving materials (ESMs) will be expanded in Great Britain.
From 1 April 2022, complex eligibility conditions to access the relief have been removed and wind and water turbines have been reinstated as qualifying materials. Qualifying installations will also now benefit from a VAT zero-rate until April 2027. Overall, this represents an additional £280 million of support for investment in ESMs over the next 5 years.
This will support the uptake of products that are used to increase the energy efficiency and decarbonisation of residential accommodation. These improvements are key to reducing gas dependency and household bills and are also a vital part of the UK’s transition to Net Zero.
While infrared heat panels were not added to the list of materials which qualify for the relief, the Government keeps all taxes under review and continues to welcome representations on how the tax system can be improved.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that policy remains in step with the rapid pace of technological development in the ESMs market and the changing policy context since this particular relief was first introduced.
That said, requests for further changes should be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of requests for relief from VAT received since the EU referendum. Such costs would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, increased borrowing, or reductions in Government spending.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the 5 pence cut to fuel duty is passed on to consumers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is clear that it expects those in the supply chain to pass the fuel duty cut through to consumers as soon as possible, and has written to key industry stakeholders to set out this expectation.
The Government will continue to monitor fuel prices closely.