Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of exempting VAT charges for universities that undertake shared services as a cross-sharing group.

Universities can already benefit from exempting VAT charges for shared services within a cost sharing group providing certain conditions are met. This enables them to make efficiency savings by working together and sharing qualifying costs without incurring additional irrecoverable VAT.