Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of temporarily reducing VAT to 5 per cent for businesses in the hairdressing and beauty industry.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of about 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors.
This relief comes at a significant cost to the Exchequer, and there are no plans to extend the scope of the reduced rate. This policy will cost over £7 billion.
The Government has made available a wider package of support worth billions which includes extensions to the furlough scheme; extensions to the COVID-19 loan schemes; grant support; a business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure business properties; mortgage holidays; enhanced Time to Pay for taxes; and VAT deferrals.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Save our Salons campaign group on support for businesses in the hairdressing and beauty industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
I regularly engage with businesses in the personal care sector to listen to their concerns and understand the impact of the pandemic, including members of the Save our Salons campaign. In line with the roadmap, hair and beauty businesses will be able to reopen in England no earlier than 12th April, alongside non-essential retail. They will benefit from the package of support announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget, including restart grants of up to £18,000.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council has made on its review of lung cancer and COPD in former employees in the health and beauty industry.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (“IIAC”) is independent of Government. IIAC have commissioned a review of respiratory conditions which will soon be underway and will be guided by its outcome when making any recommendations for changes to the appropriate prescriptions. As part of this, they will ensure that the review of occupational causes of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease will include hairdressing and hair products.
IIAC is in the process of tendering for an external contractor to carry out the commissioned review, it expects a successful bidder to be appointed late Spring 2021 and the review is expected to take two years to complete.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what fiscal support he is providing to hairdressing businesses in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
We have put in place one of the most generous packages of support in the world, worth over £280 billion. For hairdressing businesses, this includes a business rates holiday, various loans schemes and the extended furlough scheme. Closed businesses such as hairdressers can currently receive a grant of up to £3,000 a month and a one-off payment up to a maximum £9,000.
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer has also announced an additional one-off ‘Restart Grants’ for businesses, including for the personal care sector in England. This new Restart Grants Scheme will provide up to £18,000 for business premises in the sector.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what date and at what time hairdressing salons in tier 2 covid-19 areas are allowed to re-open after the November 2020 lockdown restrictions come to an end.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister addressed the nation on Monday 23 November setting out Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan. The COVID-19 Winter Plan sets out that the current national restrictions will be lifted on 2 December. Close Contact Services, including hairdressing salons, can open in all tiers from 2 December at 00:01.
Our Safer Working guidance has been updated ahead of the new tiering regime.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020, if he will publish the scientific advice on the effect of closing (a) nail and beauty salons, (b) hair salons and (c) barbers on the transmission of covid-19.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Throughout the pandemic, the Government has listened carefully to the views of the scientific community, in particular the information from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and its sub-groups when taking decisions on the best way to tackle the pandemic.
The evidence that is considered by SAGE and used to support the Government’s response to COVID-19 is shared on GOV.UK at the following link:
Close contact services including hairdressing and beauty services are associated with an increased risk of transmission of the virus. Scientists have made it clear that the more you break the chains of transmission the more you reduce spread of the virus. Therefore, the current restrictions are in place to limit the number of interactions that people have and therefore reduce the risk spread.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if businesses permitted to remain open can sell goods provided by businesses that are required to cease trading by the November 2020 covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Paul Scully
In England, COVID-secure businesses can continue to sell goods – such as a hairdressing salon selling shampoo or beauty products – online or via click-and-collect. If a business is able to trade goods in a COVID-secure manner while following the new national restrictions and all of the other trade requirements behind selling another good, they can.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 25 September 2020 to Question 93721 on Self-employment Income Support Scheme: Personal Care Services, which (a) industries and (b) businesses are included in the other service activities sector bracket when calculating the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme statistics.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The sector “Other service activities” includes the activities of membership organisations, the repair of computers and personal and household goods and a variety of personal service activities. A breakdown of the activities in the sector is provided below.
o Activities of business, employers and professional membership organisations
o Activities of trade unions
o Activities of other membership organisations
o Repair of computers and communication equipment
o Repair of personal and household goods
o Washing and (dry-)cleaning of textile and fur products
o Hairdressing and other beauty treatment
o Funeral and related activities
o Physical well-being activities
o Other personal service activities not elsewhere classified
Asked by: Scott Benton (Independent - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of additional regulation in the hairdressing industry to allow only those with formal qualifications in the industry to operate both from salons and in people's homes.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to the petition P002432, “The regulation of the Hair, Barber and Beauty industries”, 20 May 2019, Official Report, Volume 660.
Asked by: Luke Pollard (Labour (Co-op) - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of level of risk of covid-19 being transmitted in (a) tattooists, and (b) hairdressers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has considered the impact of close contact services such as tattooing and hairdressing on COVID-19 transmission. The advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is clear that the risk of COVID-19 transmission increases with close contact, prolonged contact and higher numbers of contact. Given the nature of both tattooing and hairdressing, close contact is inevitable. Both pose a high risk of transmission, though there is a greater likelihood of prolonged proximity and exposure in tattooing compared to hairdressing.