Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has taken steps to review the corpus of retained EU law, other UK regulations and potential new financial services regulations, for the purposes of improving UK competitiveness; and what steps he is taking to ensure that any such new regulations and legislative changes are introduced in a timely manner.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In his Mansion House statement last July, the Chancellor set out the Government’s vision for an open, competitive, green, and technologically advanced financial services sector. A sweeping set of reforms to sharpen the UK’s competitive advantage in financial services is already underway.
In November, the Government published the second consultation in its Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review. This provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that, having left the EU, the UK establishes a coherent, agile, and internationally respected approach to financial services regulation that is right for the UK. This includes proposals to repeal a significant volume of retained EU law relating to financial services, so that the financial services regulators can take responsibility for making the appropriate rules in these areas.
As set out in the recent publication, The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU, the Government is actively seeking out opportunities to tailor the regulation of our financial services sector, within the new framework the FRF Review will deliver, through measures including:
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent financial provisions he has made, following the implementation of covid-19 Plan B, for businesses within the live events sector.
Answered by Simon Clarke
For businesses within the live events sector, the Live Events Reinsurance Scheme supports events that the general public are able to purchase tickets to - such as music festivals, sporting and business events - that are at risk of being halted or delayed due to an inability to obtain COVID-19 cancellation insurance. Over £800 million in cover will be available to purchase alongside standard commercial events insurance for an additional premium. Cover is being bought by events across the UK. This intervention supports the UK’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis by giving events across the country the confidence they need to plan for the future.
This is a world-leading insurance scheme, backed by a number of prominent insurers in the Lloyd’s market, including Arch, Beazley, Dale, Hiscox and Munich Re, with few countries offering this kind of cover. It builds on our existing offering of support to the industry, including the £500 million Film and TV Production Restart scheme.
The government announced last month that it is making available an additional £30m through the nearly £2 billion Culture Recovery Fund (CRF) to increase the Emergency Resource Support currently available for cultural organisations to apply for. So far more than £1.5 billion has been allocated to around 5,000 individual organisations and sites through the CRF including theatres, orchestras, dance and music venues, supporting live events and performance.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his planned timetable is for the (a) completion and (b) publication of the independent research commissioned by the Government into the short-term impacts of the April 2021 reform of the off-payroll working rules.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
HMRC has commissioned external research into the short-term effects of the April 2021 off-payroll working rules reform in the private and voluntary sectors, and fieldwork for this research started in October.
The research is expected to be completed in spring 2022 and will be published in due course once complete.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the savings induced by his reforms to alcohol duty will be passed to consumers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
These are commercial matters between vendors and their suppliers.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy that any central bank digital currency will not be used to direct, control or hold under surveillance the spending of holders of such currency by ensuring that the currency is not programmable.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government and the Bank of England have not yet made a decision on whether to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the UK, and will engage widely with stakeholders on the benefits, risks and practicalities of doing so.
Maintaining user safety and privacy is an utmost priority as the Government and the Bank appraises the case for a CBDC in the UK.
The Government’s commitment to ensuring any CBDCs operate within appropriate privacy frameworks was set out in the G7’s public policy principles for CBDC, as part of the UK’s G7 Presidency. These principles set out rigorous standards of privacy, accountability for the protection of users’ data, and transparency on how information will be secured and used is essential for any CBDC to command trust and confidence.
Earlier this month, the Government committed to public consultation with the Bank of England in 2022 setting out an assessment of the case for a UK CBDC, including the merits of further work to develop an operational and technology model for a UK CBDC.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the implementation of IR35 on the number of drivers in the haulage industry.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Tax Information and Impact Note published in March 2021 sets out expected impacts of the April 2021 reform of the off-payroll working rules: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/off-payroll-working-rules-from-april-2021/off-payroll-working-rules-from-april-2021.
The Government committed to commission independent research into the short-term impacts of the reform by October 2021 during the debate on the Finance Bill 2020. That research has now been commissioned, and the findings will be published once complete.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether an independent estimate of the economic cost of the Net Zero policy is being prepared as part of the Net Zero Review; if he will publish the underlying assumptions and calculations of that estimate; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Net Zero Review is an analytical review that uses existing data to explore the key issues and trade-offs as the UK decarbonises. Against a backdrop of significant uncertainty on technology and costs, as well as changes to the economy over the next 30 years, it focuses on the potential exposure of households and sectors to the transition, and highlights factors to be taken into account in designing policy that will allocate costs over this time horizon. The final report will follow on from the interim report published in December 2020 and set out the key findings from the research and analysis carried out as part of the Net Zero Review.
The Net Zero Review final report will be published in due course, and in advance of COP26
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether all firms that have applied for crypto anti-money laundering authorisation with the Financial Conduct Authority will have their applications processed by the deadline of 9 July 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced on 3 June that the Temporary Registration Regime for cryptoasset firms would be extended from 9 July 2021 to 31 March 2022. Extending the regime will allow firms which are currently part of the regime to continue trading whilst their applications for anti-money laundering supervision are being assessed. The FCA has increased considerably the resources allocated to assessing applications, with a view to processing the remaining applications by the new deadline.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on tackling HMRC-related impersonation fraud.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Chancellor is in regular contact with Cabinet colleagues, including the Home Secretary. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
HMRC have many hundreds of millions of contacts with the public every year. Creating clear air between genuine HMRC communications and those attempting to abuse the HMRC brand to commit fraud is a high priority for HMRC. HMRC’s success in preventing the UK public being duped by fraudulent operators impersonating legitimate contact is reflected in the move from HMRC as the third most phished brand globally five years ago, to not featuring in the top 100 most phished brands today.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of legitimate HMRC contact with the public that the public has mistakenly perceived to be fraudulent; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that mistaken perception to the public purse.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Chancellor is in regular contact with Cabinet colleagues, including the Home Secretary. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
HMRC have many hundreds of millions of contacts with the public every year. Creating clear air between genuine HMRC communications and those attempting to abuse the HMRC brand to commit fraud is a high priority for HMRC. HMRC’s success in preventing the UK public being duped by fraudulent operators impersonating legitimate contact is reflected in the move from HMRC as the third most phished brand globally five years ago, to not featuring in the top 100 most phished brands today.