Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a progressive duty system for small cider producers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As announced at Autumn Budget 2021, the Government will build on Small Brewers Relief to extend small producer reliefs, including to cidermakers. The technical details of our new small producer reliefs will be finalised through the alcohol duty review consultation process.Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to withdraw mortgage tax relief from people with holiday lets to encourage property owners to make homes available for local people.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Tax relief on mortgage interest is available for landlords renting properties both as longer-term tenancies and as furnished holiday lets. Tax relief on mortgage interest on properties rented as longer-term tenancies is available at the basic rate of income tax; we estimate that only 1 in 10 landlords are affected by this restriction introduced in 2017 and phased in over four years. The Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of (a) bank branch closures and (b) cashpoints in England.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue for banks and building societies. The Government does not intervene in these decisions or make direct assessments of banks’ branch networks.
However, the Government also firmly believes that the impact of branch closures should be understood, considered, and mitigated where possible so that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have appropriate access to banking services.
In September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority published guidance setting out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. Alternative options for access might include the Post Office, and the Post Office Banking Framework allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and LINK's members have made £5 million available to fund ATMs at the request of communities with poor access to cash.
More broadly, the Government recognises that access to cash remains important to millions across the UK and has committed to legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the longer term. On 1 July, the Government published a consultation on legislative proposals to protect access to cash. These proposals seek to ensure that people only need to travel reasonable distances to pay in or take out cash, and that the right regulatory oversight for cash access is in place for the future. The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/access-to-cash-consultation
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the number of (a) bank branch closures and (b) cashpoints in England.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue for banks and building societies. The Government does not intervene in these decisions or make direct assessments of banks’ branch networks.
However, the Government also firmly believes that the impact of branch closures should be understood, considered, and mitigated where possible so that all customers, wherever they live, continue to have appropriate access to banking services.
In September 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority published guidance setting out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of a planned closure on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. Alternative options for access might include the Post Office, and the Post Office Banking Framework allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to carry out their everyday banking at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.
LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and LINK's members have made £5 million available to fund ATMs at the request of communities with poor access to cash.
More broadly, the Government recognises that access to cash remains important to millions across the UK and has committed to legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the longer term. On 1 July, the Government published a consultation on legislative proposals to protect access to cash. These proposals seek to ensure that people only need to travel reasonable distances to pay in or take out cash, and that the right regulatory oversight for cash access is in place for the future. The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/access-to-cash-consultation
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure the long-term future of cash.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises the importance of cash to the daily lives of millions of people and businesses across the UK, including those who may be on low incomes or vulnerable. That is why at the March 2020 Budget, the Government committed to legislating to protect access to cash and ensuring that the UK’s cash infrastructure is sustainable in the longer term.
On 1 July, the Government published a consultation on access to cash, which sets out proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals would support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring reasonable access to deposit facilities. The consultation will be open until 23 September and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/access-to-cash-consultation
The Government also made legislative changes to support the widespread offering of cashback without a purchase by shops and other businesses as part of the Financial Services Act 2021.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include advance payments under universal credit in the Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space).
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The breathing space scheme launched on 4 May 2021, and includes most personal debts and debts owed to Government, including Universal Credit overpayments. The Government considers that, for breathing space to be successful, it needs to include a wide range of debts.
The Government recognises the importance of including all Universal Credit debts in breathing space, and is committed to including Universal Credit advances within the scheme as soon as possible.
This will happen at a later date to ensure that the significant IT changes the Department for Work and Pensions needs to make do not compromise the safe delivery of Universal Credit, which is now supporting 6 million people. It has always been possible to defer repayments of Universal Credit Advances for 3 months in cases of hardship. In addition, from April 2021, the timeframe for the repayment of advances has been extended from 12 months to 24 months.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing VAT from sustainable sanitary products.
Answered by Jesse Norman
A zero rate of VAT has applied to women’s sanitary products since 1 January 2021. This applies to those products which were previously subject to the reduced rate of 5 per cent, for example, tampons and pads, and to reusable menstrual products, such as keepers.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of making voluntary emissions reduction certificates tax deductible.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises that for the UK to reach net zero emissions in 2050, removing emissions, or greenhouse gas removals will be necessary to offset residual emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, as advised by the Climate Change Committee.
To deepen our evidence base on greenhouse gas removals and the existing market for voluntary emissions removals, and to support future policy development, BEIS and HM Treasury launched a Call for Evidence on Greenhouse Gas Removals in December last year. This Call for Evidence sought views from stakeholders on the role of Government in incentivising their development and deployment, including the role of tax incentives. A summary of responses to this Call for Evidence will be published in due course.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of granting English language schools business rates relief.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has provided enhanced support to the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors through business rates relief given the direct and acute impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on those sectors.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published guidance on eligibility for the relief, which is targeted at premises that are wholly or mainly being used as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues; for assembly and leisure; or as hotels, guest and boarding premises, and self-catering accommodation.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of removing VAT from the price of covid-19 PCR tests.
Answered by Jesse Norman
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the standard rate of 20 per cent normally applies to most goods and services, including PCR tests. Medical testing, where it is administered by registered health professionals, is exempt from VAT. The Government also continues to offer free COVID-19 testing for those with COVID-19 symptoms.
The Government recognises that the cost of PCR tests can be high, which is why it is working with the travel industry and private testing providers to see how costs can be further reduced for the British public while ensuring that travel is as safe as possible.