Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to review the level of the Video Games Expenditure Credit for projects with a budget of £10m or less.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the UK’s video games sector and the key role it plays in driving economic growth. As part of our modern Industrial Strategy, we are developing a creative industries sector plan with business, local leaders, and sector experts.
The Government supports the video games sector through the tax system and through funding. Video games companies already benefit from the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC), which provides a generous tax credit of 34 per cent on UK video games development costs.
In addition, companies may benefit from the £5.5 million UK Games Fund for 2025/26, which helps high-potential start-ups scale-up.
When considering new tax reliefs, the Government has to balance a wide range of factors, including the fiscal position and complexity of the tax system.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a similar scheme to the Small Business Investment Company in the USA.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to supporting small businesses, recognising their vital role in driving economic growth and innovation. The government continually reviews its support for small businesses to ensure it remains effective and responsive to their needs.
The government will publish its Small Business Strategy in 2025 after the Phase 2 Spending Review. This will set out the government’s vision for supporting small businesses, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy and across key policy areas.
The government already has schemes in place that deliver outcomes similar to the US’s SBIC scheme: providing finance to small businesses.
Currently, the UK offers a range of support mechanisms for small businesses, including the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), and the Venture Capital Trust (VCT) scheme which provide tax reliefs to investors who make new equity investments in high risk, early stage Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), in order to help them grow and develop.
Additionally, the British Business Bank plays a crucial role in improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through various programmes, helping them to grow and succeed. These include programmes which provide funding to professional equity and debt fund managers, as well as guarantees to enable high street lenders provide additional finance to SMEs.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for the proposed consultation on e-invoicing.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a public consultation on e-invoicing to promote its wider use across UK businesses and government departments.
HMRC and Department for Business and Trade will be publishing a joint consultation with an expected publication date of early 2025. The consultation will run for 12 weeks and will be open to all business sizes and sectors, individuals, and software providers.
Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HMRC's policy paper on making tax digital, updated on 19 December 2022, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a digital tax system for managing duty on vaping.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to modernising tax administration to enhance efficiency and compliance.
HMRC operates on a ‘digital by default’ basis and will look to mandate digital channels by which all businesses within the scope of the Vaping Products Duty (VPD) must register, report and pay online, with exceptions only for those who are digitally excluded by virtue of protected characteristics. This was set out in VPD consultation response document: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672263b43ce5634f5f6ef582/Vaping_Products_Duty_consultation_response.pdf