Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a system to tackle trends in the level of tax evasion from small businesses.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to tackling all forms of non-compliance, including evasion. Each year HMRC estimates the size of the tax gap, and the latest published tax gap (2022-23) was 4.8% of theoretical liabilities, or £39.8bn. The element attributable to small businesses is 60% (£24.1bn) of that overall tax gap.
HMRC publishes these estimates in its annual ‘Measuring the Tax Gap’ report. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/measuring-tax-gaps
Small businesses play a vital role in the UK economy and most businesses pay what they owe. A small minority fail to pay their fair share of tax, thereby depriving public services of vital funding and leading to unfair competition between businesses.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a windfall tax for energy companies to help support consumers with the cost of energy bills.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Energy Profits Levy (EPL) was introduced in May 2022 to tax the extraordinary profits of oil and gas companies operating in the UK and on the UK Continental Shelf. The levy is currently set at a rate of 35%, bringing the overall headline tax rate on upstream oil and gas activities to 75%.
In July, the government announced it would deliver on the commitment it made, whilst in opposition, to ensure the oil and gas industry contribute more towards our clean energy transition. This will be achieved by extending the EPL to March 2030, increasing its rate by three percentage points to 38%, and by removing unjustifiably generous investment allowances. Money raised from these changes will support accelerating the transition to clean energy, increasing security and independence while providing sustainable jobs for the future and helping to protect electricity bills against future price shocks.
The EPL changes will be implemented from 1 November, with further details to be announced at Budget.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of wealth inequality.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the Gini coefficient for aggregate household wealth, which is a measure of wealth inequality, and this is released every few years using the Wealth and Assets survey. The ONS has published the Gini coefficient of wealth since July 2006.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with the (a) Department for Work and Pensions and (b) Local Government Association on the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMT holds discussions with the Department for Work & Pensions and the Local Government Association on a wide range of issues.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has recently announced that the Government is providing half a billion pounds (including estimated Barnett impact) to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England.
The HSF will run until the end of March 2025, and will enable Local Authorities to help vulnerable people and families receive emergency crisis support as we help people through the winter.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to cash in areas with (a) few and (b) no cash machines.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The Government is committed to protecting access to cash forindividuals and businesses. The Financial Conduct Authority is the regulator responsible for access to cash further to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, with powers to seek to ensure the reasonable provision of cash withdrawal and deposit facilities for individuals and businesses, including free withdrawal services for
The FCA published its final rules on access to cash on 24 July. Under its rules, designated firms will be required to undertake assessments of a community’s cash access needs following the closure of a service or a community request, and to put in a new service if necessary. These rules come into force on 18 September.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of charging tax on (a) scooters and (b) other smaller petrol motor vehicles.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a tax on mechanically propelled vehicles kept or used on public roads. This includes petrol cars and motorcycles.
Rates for cars can vary based on date of first registration, engine size and emissions. Rates for motorcycles can vary based on engine size. For the purposes of VED, a motorcycle is defined as a motorbicycle or motortricycle that does not exceed 450kg unladen and therefore includes some vehicles that are commonly referred to as ‘scooters’.
Currently petrol cars, first registered between March 2001 and March 2017 and with emissions of less than 100g/km CO2 as well as all electrically propelled vehicles are exempt from VED.
At Autumn Statement 2022 the Chancellor announced that from 1 April 2025 all electric cars, vans and motorcycles would pay VED in the same way as petrol and diesel equivalents. This will mean that all cars, vans and motorcycles will pay VED unless otherwise exempt.
As with all taxes, VED is kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the changes to the rates of Alcohol Duty on the wine industry.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note setting out the assessment of impacts from changes to the duty rates made at the Spring Budget 2023.
The Government had to make some tough decisions at Spring Budget in line with its commitment to managing the UK economy responsibly. However, prior to this, the wine industry has benefitted from freezes at 4 out of the last 5 fiscal events. Further, through the Government’s historic alcohol duty reforms, we are standardising the treatment of still and sparkling wine, providing a substantial duty cut for sparkling wine. In addition, lighter wines below 10.4% will pay less duty from 1 August.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether all callers to HMRC are charged the same rate.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Phone providers set telephone call charges, including for calls to HMRC.
For more information on telephone call charges, please refer to the GOV.UK website here: https://www.gov.uk/call-charges.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much income was accrued by HMRC through telephone call charges applied to incoming calls in financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 to date.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC does not charge customers for calls to 0845 or 03000 numbers. There is further information about 0300 numbers on the Ofcom website:
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/numbering/what-are-03-numbers/
For more information on call charges, please refer to GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/call-charges
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's rational is for applying call charges to incoming public telephone calls to His Majesty's Revenue & Customs.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
HMRC does not charge customers for calls to 0845 or 03000 numbers. There is further information about 0300 numbers on the Ofcom website:
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/numbering/what-are-03-numbers/
For more information on call charges, please refer to GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/call-charges