Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of the alcohol duty freeze on pubs in South Shropshire.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pubs and breweries make an enormous contribution to our economy and society, and this is recognised in the tax system.
At the Budget, the Chancellor cut alcohol duty on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and is equivalent to a 1p duty reduction on a typical pint. This reduction increased the relief available on draught products to 13.9%.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to drive economic growth in the Black Country.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Government published its Levelling Up White Paper in February, which sets out our missions as part of a decade long masterplan to see the potential of every corner of the United Kingdom fulfilled.
Through the Levelling Up Fund, designed to invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, Wolverhampton will receive £20m to develop its City Learning Quarter, delivering 10,000 qualifications over ten years. Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall will receive a combined total of over £35m directly from the recently launched £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund, building pride in place, investing in businesses and improving life chances across the UK. Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley will also receive a combined total of £71m through the Towns Fund, which ensures that local areas can grow their economies, create and sustain local jobs whilst also carving out new opportunities to reshape the look and feel of their area.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that High Street retailers benefit from proceeds of the Digital Services Tax.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
The Government is currently consulting on the proposal for an Online Sales Tax as a means to rebalance the taxation of the retail sector between online and in-store retail.
The Digital Services Tax, on the other hand, is a 2 per cent tax on the revenues of search engines, social media services, and online marketplaces which derive value from UK users. It is a temporary solution to the challenges posed by digitalisation to the international system for taxing corporations’ profits.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he plans to take to (a) support the future of independent shops on high streets and (b) encourage more local businesses to set up high street stores.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
In July 2021, the Prime Minister launched a strategy for the high street to transform town centres into vibrant places to live, work, and visit, and confirmed 15 Town Deals worth £335 million to revitalise towns across England.
Alongside this funding, the Government is providing a new temporary relief worth almost £1.7 billion for eligible retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses, resulting in over 90 per cent of retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses receiving at least a 50 per cent reduction in their business rates bills in 2022-23, when taken together with Small Business Rates Relief.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support households with the cost of living.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We are taking targeted action to help families with the cost of living, including through freezing fuel and alcohol duties, the energy price cap, the Warm Home Discount and the £500m Household Support Fund to help the most vulnerable families this winter.
In the longer term the best approach to managing the cost of living is to get people into work and help them progress – which we are doing through our Plan for Jobs.
We are also making work pay. We are doing this by reducing the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55% and increasing work allowances by £500 per year, which means that 1.9m households will on average keep around an extra £1,000 on an annual basis, as well as increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour for workers aged 23 and over, which is expected to benefit over 2 million workers.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect businesses from charge-back fraud.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
Chargebacks form part of commercial card scheme rules which allow a cardholder to request a refund though their debit card issuer (e.g. their bank) in certain circumstances, for example in cases of non-delivery, or if a purchase is not successful.
The Government considers chargebacks to be an important consumer protection. However, it is important to note that the chargeback facility is not a statutory protection, but is instead a commercial offering provided by card schemes at their own discretion, and which participating banks, merchants, and relevant parties subscribe to. Commercial card schemes have established processes in place to investigate chargeback claims from customers, and to mitigate against chargeback fraud.
The Government works closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) requires banks to maintain effective systems and controls to prevent the risk that they might be used to further financial crime. This includes controls to prevent fraud.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of business rates on new shops setting up in high streets and city centres.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
Business rates is a tax that applies to all non-domestic properties in England.
Throughout the pandemic the Government has provided unprecedented business rates support to eligible businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England worth £16 billion in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
The business rates review confirmed a new temporary relief worth almost £1.7 billion for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in 2022-23 which, together with SBRR, will result in over 90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses receiving at least a 50% reduction in their business rates bills.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure access to cash withdrawals.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Government is 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, setting out proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel reasonable distances to pay in or take out cash.
These measures build on legislative changes by the government to support the widespread offering of cashback without a purchase by shops and other businesses made as part of the Financial Services Act 2021. The financial services industry is already seeking to take advantage of these changes to the benefit of cash users; working with retailers to get this service rolled out to local communities.
The Government also supports industry initiatives to provide access to cash, such as measures in place to protect the availability of free-to-use ATMs, and continues to be fully supportive of the Post Office Banking Framework Agreement, which allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to tackle tax evasion.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Since 2010, the Government has introduced over 150 new measures to tackle tax avoidance, evasion and other forms of non-compliance, and has secured and protected over £250 billion in tax revenues that would have otherwise gone unpaid. These efforts have helped to reduce the tax gap to a record low of 4.7% for the year 2018-19.
At Spring Budget 2021, the Government announced a further 14 measures to tackle tax non-compliance, forecast to raise £2.2 billion over the next five years. The Government remains committed to reducing the tax gap and will bring forward further measures in the autumn.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent fiscal steps he has taken to support businesses in the social enterprise sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Government recognises the important social and economic contribution that social enterprises are making across every industry in this country.
Last year, the Government made available an unprecedented £750 million package of support, specifically for charities, social enterprises and the voluntary sector, along with an additional £150 million from dormant bank and building society accounts. This funding has helped over 13,000 organisations continue to deliver vital services for those most affected by the pandemic.
In addition, at Budget 2021 the Chancellor extended the Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) for two years until April 2023. This ensures the scheme will continue to incentivise individuals to invest in social enterprises, while also allowing more time for the Government to assess the most effective way to support the social investment sector sustainably. Since SITR was launched in 2014-2015, social enterprises have raised funds of £15.8m through the scheme, with £3.3m raised in 2019-2020.