Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an estimate of the proportion of VAT that was collected on gym memberships in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The information is not available. HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on gym memberships. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of changes to stamp duty in helping first-time buyers.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The stamp duty relief for first-time buyers announced at Autumn Budget 2017 has already helped thousands of people getting on to the property ladder, and is expected to benefit over one million first-time buyers over the next five years. The reform is part of a wider package to improve the housing market and significantly increase the supply of housing in the UK.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of changes to stamp duty in helping first-time buyers.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The stamp duty relief for first-time buyers announced at Autumn Budget 2017 has already helped thousands of people getting on to the property ladder, and is expected to benefit over one million first-time buyers over the next five years. The reform is part of a wider package to improve the housing market and significantly increase the supply of housing in the UK.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which charities successfully bid for money from the Tampon Tax Fund; and how much money each such charity received.
Answered by David Gauke
In total, 25 charities have been allocated funding so far. This includes funding allocated to Comic Relief and Rosa to disburse funding over the coming year to a range of grassroots women’s organisations across the UK, in recognition of the high number of applications received.
The list of charities and funding announced at the Autumn Statement 2015 can be found in the Autumn Statement publication available here (section 6.4): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-documents/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015
The list of charities and funding announced at Budget 2016 can be found in the Budget publication available here (section 7.6): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2016-documents/budget-2016
Finally, the list of charities and funding announced at Autumn Statement 2016 can be found in the Autumn Statement publication available here (section 6.3): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2016-documents/autumn-statement-2016
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to set target levels of reformulation for soft drinks manufacturers under the soft drinks industry levy.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Chancellor announced at Budget 2016 that the soft drinks industry levy will be charged on drinks with added sugar and a total sugar content above 5g/100ml, with a higher charge for drinks with more than 8g/100ml of sugar.
These sugar thresholds provide a strong incentive for companies to reformulate and are set to give industry certainty over the next two years. If companies reformulate their products, as many already have, then they will pay less. But it is up to companies how they respond to the levy.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include a time limit in the terms of the soft drinks industry levy such that that levy would cease to apply if reformulation targets are met by soft drinks manufacturers.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
There is no plan to include a time limit in the terms of the soft drinks industry levy, but the Chancellor keeps all taxes under review as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has analysed the potential economic effect of the soft drinks levy on the British soft drinks manufacturing industry.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government will shortly be consulting on the detail of the soft drinks industry levy, and we will publish an initial impact assessment alongside the consultation. This assessment will be updated and refined when the policy detail is finalised.
For Finance Bill measures, HMRC provide a Tax Impact Information Note alongside the draft Finance Bill legislation, which we expect to publish in the winter.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34465, if HM Revenue and Customs will take steps to enable web-users to include honours when completing government online forms.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does allow customers to enter their title but it does not allow customers to enter other honours. Major changes would be required to a wide range of internal HMRC IT services to capture and store this information. The cost of making such changes would be disproportionate.