Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the luxury vehicles tax threshold for electric vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the Expensive Car Supplement under review, and any changes will be announced at a future fiscal event.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to support people who lost (a) money and (b) assets due to the collapse of the Philips Trust Corporation.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Philips Trust Corporation was not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and was not carrying out any regulated activities. As such, any losses are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Consumers who have concerns about the role played by their bank or building society in relation to Philips Trust Corporation may be eligible to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Whether a particular complaint is eligible or not is a matter for the FOS.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle core inflation.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
High inflation is the greatest immediate economic challenge that we must address. That is why the Government has made it a priority to halve inflation this year, on the path back to the target of 2% CPI inflation.
While recent data shows halving inflation will not be easy the government is doing three key things to deliver on this plan. First, remaining steadfast in our support for the independent MPC at the Bank of England, as they take action to return inflation to target of 2%. Second, making difficult but responsible decisions on tax and spending so we are not adding fuel to the fire. Third, tackling some of the causes of high inflation, including by introducing the labour market package at the Spring 2023 Budget, as the relative resilience of the economy and the tightness in the labour market are reflected in current domestic inflationary pressures.
In May, the IMF confirmed that we have taken “decisive and responsible” action to bear down on inflation, and achieved the right balance of fiscal and monetary response, while also focusing on growing the economy.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to help ensure that banks are not able to deny banking services to people because of their political beliefs.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been unequivocal in its view that payment accounts should not be terminated on grounds relating to users’ exercising of their right to lawful freedom of expression or political beliefs. The Government strongly supports this fundamental right afforded to all people in British society. Regulation 18 of the Payments Accounts Regulations 2015 bans this so-called ‘debanking’ of people for their political views in relation to discrimination against UK consumers when they access a payment account provided by a credit institution.
The Government published a policy statement on 21 July that set out its plans to strengthen requirements relating to payment contract terminations. These changes will require reasons for termination to be given and increase the minimum notice period in cases of contract termination to 90 days (subject to limited exceptions) – giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service or find a replacement bank.
In addition, the Chancellor has written to the FCA to request an urgent review into the matter of ‘de-banking’ more broadly. The FCA have agreed to undertake this review, and to share the evidence and findings with the Treasury. This will help inform whether further action is necessary to ensure nobody is being unfairly denied banking facilities.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of linking road tax thresholds to the level of car prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Rates of Vehicle Excise Duty (also known as ‘road tax’) depend on the vehicle’s date of first registration and characteristics such as emissions. In 2017, the Government made changes to the VED system to incentivise the uptake of cleaner vehicles. In his 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that from April 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles.
Owners of more expensive cars already pay an additional VED supplement for the first five years after registration. This applies to cars with a list price of £40,000 or over.
As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to improve the process for people making voluntary National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC has worked with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to agree upon a further extension to the 31 July 2023 deadline up to April 2025 (freezing the payment rates) giving customers more time to contact both DWP and HMRC.
In addition, since April 2023 HMRC has deployed an additional 254 colleagues into National Insurance (NI) voluntary contributions work due to the increased levels of customer contact.
HMRC is also working on a digital solution across both departments to allow customers to pay voluntary NI contributions online. Please see the GOV.UK Website here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deadline-for-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-extended-to-april-2025 for more detail on the extension as well as how people should check whether they can and should make any such contributions.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the backlog of voluntary National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HMRC has worked with Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to agree upon a further extension to the 31 July 2023 deadline up to April 2025 (freezing the payment rates) giving customers more time to contact both DWP and HMRC.
In addition, since April 2023 HMRC has deployed an additional 254 colleagues into National Insurance (NI) voluntary contributions work due to the increased levels of customer contact.
HMRC is also working on a digital solution across both departments to allow customers to pay voluntary NI contributions online. Please see the GOV.UK Website here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deadline-for-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-extended-to-april-2025 for more detail on the extension as well as how people should check whether they can and should make any such contributions.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to tackle financial scams.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. Tackling fraud requires a unified and co-ordinated response from government, law enforcement and the private sector to better protect the public and businesses from fraud, reduce the impact of fraud on victims, and increase the disruption and prosecution of fraudsters.
The Government is taking action through legislation through the Financial Services and Markets Bill which will enable and require the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to mandate reimbursement for victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams, where a victim is tricked into sending money to a fraudster. This measure will enable consumers across the country to receive more consistent and comprehensive protection against these increasingly sophisticated scams, ensuring victims are not left paying for fraud through no fault of their own.
The Government is also taking action to address fraudulent activity being hosted online through the Online Safety Bill. The Bill includes a new standalone duty requiring large internet firms to tackle fraudulent advertising, including of financial services.
In addition to this, the total Spending Review 2021 settlement and the Economic Crime Levy represent an overall package of circa £400 million to tackle economic crime over the next three years, including fraud.
The Government is working closely with industry to tackle fraud. In 2021, the Joint Fraud Taskforce (JFT) published three voluntary sector charters. The charters aim to combat fraud in the accountancy, retail banking and telecommunications sectors and include commitments to develop innovative measures to reduce fraud facilitated through these industries, e.g., money muling and SMS enabled fraud.
Finally, the Government intends to publish a new strategy to address the threat of fraud shortly. Through this strategy, the Government will work with industry to remove the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit, with intelligence agencies to shut down fraudulent infrastructure, with law enforcement to identify and bring the most harmful offenders to justice, and with all partners to ensure that the public have the advice and support they need.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to reduce beer duty in the context of the cost of living crisis.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
On 19 December 2022, the Government extended the alcohol duty freeze by six months to align with the implementation of the alcohol duty reforms and reduce the impact of the duty changes on businesses.
Alcohol duty reform will commence on 1 August and for the first time our system of alcohol taxation will include a new Draught Relief, enabling differential duty between the On and Off trade. We had previously stated that Draught Relief would be 5% from August 1st but at Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced that this relief would be raised to 9.2% meaning that the duty on the average pint of draught beer will continue to be frozen from 1 August 2023. Differential duty was not possible when we were members of the EU and in the Budget the Chancellor also announced his Brexit Pub Guarantee – confirming that from August 1st draught duty will always be lower compared to the non-draught equivalent, supporting pubs and the wider hospitality sector.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total receipts from (a) Business Rates and (b) Corporation Tax were in (i) 1990-91 and (ii) 2021-22.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes these tax revenue statistics, which are set available on the ONS website here: Home - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).