Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the VAT exemption on personal protective equipment available for (a) funeral homes and (b) other businesses.

The temporary zero rate was an extraordinary measure introduced to help affected sectors such as hospitals and care homes during the initial acute period of the COVID-19 crisis, when global supply of PPE did not meet demand and PPE was procured directly from the open market.

Companies in the funeral sector source their own PPE through their normal supply routes. In extreme circumstances, there is provision for them to approach their Local Resilience Forum (LRF) or local authority, where the LRF has stood down, to discuss access to an emergency supply. Given this, there are no plans to review the VAT treatment of PPE.