Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2021 to Question 56446 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, what estimate he has made of the potential cost of extending the 5 per cent VAT rate applied to charging electric vehicles at home to all electric vehicle charging points in public places.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The requested information is not available. HMRC does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level on their VAT returns as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of amending legislation on pension commencement lump sums in order to allow for the option of a minimum regular monetary sum as tax free, as an alternative to the 25 per cent tax free portion of the total pension pot.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government keeps all aspects of the tax system under review, as part of the annual Budget process, and in the context of the wider public finances. In 2015, pension freedoms were introduced to give individuals the choice as to how to access their own pension savings including full pot withdrawal, purchasing an annuity, flexi-access drawdown or taking an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum. In the five years since pension freedoms were introduced, over £45bn has been accessed by over 1.8 million individuals. The Government believes it is right that individuals are trusted to choose how to access their pension income and provides a range of options for them to do so.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations he has received on the discrepancy between the 5 per cent VAT incurred for home charging for electric vehicles and 20 per cent VAT for on-street electric vehicle charging.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Electricity supplied at electric vehicle charging points in public places is subject to the standard rate of VAT (twenty per cent). In order to keep costs down for families, the supply of electricity for domestic use, including charging electric vehicles at home, attracts the reduced rate of VAT (five per cent).
Expanding the relief would come at a cost. VAT makes a significant contribution towards the public finances, raising around £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps fund the Government's priorities including the NHS, schools, and defence. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to take steps to tackle the discrepancy between the 5 per cent VAT incurred for home charging for electric vehicles and 20 per cent VAT for on-street electric vehicle charging.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Electricity supplied at electric vehicle charging points in public places is subject to the standard rate of VAT (twenty per cent). In order to keep costs down for families, the supply of electricity for domestic use, including charging electric vehicles at home, attracts the reduced rate of VAT (five per cent).
Expanding the relief would come at a cost. VAT makes a significant contribution towards the public finances, raising around £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps fund the Government's priorities including the NHS, schools, and defence. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on tackling the discrepancy between the 5 per cent VAT incurred for home charging for electric vehicles and 20 per cent VAT for on-street electric vehicle charging.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Electricity supplied at electric vehicle charging points in public places is subject to the standard rate of VAT (twenty per cent). In order to keep costs down for families, the supply of electricity for domestic use, including charging electric vehicles at home, attracts the reduced rate of VAT (five per cent).
Expanding the relief would come at a cost. VAT makes a significant contribution towards the public finances, raising around £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps fund the Government's priorities including the NHS, schools, and defence. Any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the (a) Scottish Government, (b) Welsh Government and (c) Northern Ireland Executive either individually or collectively have requested additional borrowing capacity for the purposes of responding to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic and following requests from the devolved administrations for more certainty over their funding, including greater borrowing powers, the UK Government announced the unprecedented Barnett guarantee in July 2020. The guarantee initially provided £12.7bn of additional funding and was uplifted three times to reflect the changing situation – eventually reaching £16.8bn.
The guarantee provided the devolved administrations with the necessary funding certainty to decide how and when to provide support without having to wait for the UK Government to announce new funding first. It also meant that the devolved administrations benefitted from the strength of HM Treasury and the Bank of England rather than needing to borrow themselves.
Further information on the Barnett guarantee can be found on the following gov uk page:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/barnett-consequentials-and-the-barnett-guarantee/barnett-consequentials-and-the-barnett-guarantee
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 4 February 2021 to Question 148019 on London Capital and Finance: Insolvency, what progress the Government has made on setting up a compensation scheme which will assess whether there is justification for further compensation payments in certain circumstances for some LCF bondholders.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
I know that this has been a very difficult time for LCF bondholders. The Government has announced that it will establish a compensation scheme that will provide 80% of LCF bondholders’ principle investment up to a maximum of £68,000. The scheme will be available to all LCF bondholders who have not already received compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
The Treasury is working to finalise the details of the scheme and guidance for bondholders on their next steps. The Government will provide further details on how the scheme will operate in due course. Bondholders do not need to do anything at this stage.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) will administer the Scheme. They are committed to ensuring that payments are made to all eligible LCF bondholders within 6 months of the Compensation (London Capital & Finance plc and Fraud Compensation Fund) Bill securing Royal Assent. This Bill was brought forward by the Government at the earliest possible opportunity and was introduced on 12 May 2021.
I hope that the compensation offered by the Government scheme will offer some relief to the distress and hardship suffered and provide closure on this difficult matter.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value is of the Barnett consequentials made available to the Scottish Government arising from UK Government expenditure for the provision of support to the (a) tourism and (b) travel agencies sector in (i) grants, (ii) loans and (iii) tax breaks to assist in the recovery of those sectors from the covid-19 outbreak since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As outlined in the Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula determines changes to each devolved administration’s funding with reference to changes in DEL funding for UK Government departments. The Barnett formula is not typically applied on a sector level and does not apply to UK-wide schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
In total, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the Scottish Government has benefitted from £14.5 billion of additional funding through the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to decide how to use this funding.
A full breakdown of the devolved administrations’ block grant funding will be published shortly in this year’s iteration of Block Grant Transparency.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value is of the Barnett consequentials made available to the Scottish Government arising from UK Government expenditure for the (a) tourism sector and (b) travel agencies sector through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme since the start of the covid-19 outbreak..
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
As outlined in the Statement of Funding Policy, the Barnett formula determines changes to each devolved administration’s funding with reference to changes in DEL funding for UK Government departments. The Barnett formula is not typically applied on a sector level and does not apply to UK-wide schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
In total, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the Scottish Government has benefitted from £14.5 billion of additional funding through the Barnett formula. It is for the Scottish Government to decide how to use this funding.
A full breakdown of the devolved administrations’ block grant funding will be published shortly in this year’s iteration of Block Grant Transparency.
Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value is of Government support made available to businesses in the (a) tourism sector and (b) travel agencies sector through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jesse Norman
HM Revenue and Customs publish statistics on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) regularly.
The statistics published in August 2020 can be found on gov.uk:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-august-2020.
These statistics report that employers classified under Travel agency and tour operator activities (Standard Industrial Classification 2007, group 79.1) claimed £214 million for staff on furlough between the start of the scheme and 31 July 2020.
Further statistics published on 3 June 2021 report that employers in the Travel agency and tour operator activities sector claimed £232 million from 1 November 2020 to 30 April 2021. These figures can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme-statistics-3-june-2021.
There are no figures available for the value of CJRS claims for Travel agency and tour operator activities from 1 August 2020 to 31 October 2020, nor for employers in sectors connected with tourism.