Asked by: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative - The Cotswolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of removing the VAT retail export scheme on jobs in the (a) retail, (b) hospitality and (c) tourism sectors.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Chancellor has been clear that being responsible with the public finances is a priority. Government analysis done in 2022, which took increased tourist spending into account, found that introducing worldwide VAT-free shopping would come at a fiscal cost of around £2 billion each year.
The Government engaged with varied stakeholders and produced analysis on the cost of VAT-free shopping before withdrawing the previous scheme, and the OBR’s assessment of the previous VAT Retail Export Scheme showed that its withdrawal would have a limited behavioural effect on decisions to visit, or spend, in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to promote the Twelfth of July celebrations in Northern Ireland as a tourist attraction.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Northern Ireland is a fantastic place to visit throughout the year, with a wealth of activities, culture, and beautiful scenery. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland himself spoke of the rich cultural tapestry of Northern Ireland as he enjoyed this year’s Twelfth festivities in Lurgan, Co. Armagh.
The people of Northern Ireland, as well as the hospitality industry, ensure the warmest of welcomes to visitors from all over the world. Tourism Northern Ireland, alongside Tourism Ireland, work to promote Northern Ireland to a domestic and international audience.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) platinum jubilee, (b) funeral of Queen Elizabeth II and (c) the coronation on the economy.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Platinum Jubilee, the funeral of Her Late Majesty and the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla were hugely important state occasions for our nation. They brought millions of people around the country and Commonwealth together and showcased the best of the United Kingdom to the world. Communities celebrated the Platinum Jubilee in around 16,000 local street parties across the UK while the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II was watched by hundreds of millions around the world.
Major Royal events such as these provide a significant boost to the UK economy through tourism, our hospitality industry and to the many other businesses that will have seen an increase in trade. VisitEngland projected that overnight holiday breaks in the UK during the Coronation Bank Holiday weekend would generate an estimated £1.2 billion economic boost, while UKHospitality estimated a £350 million boost for the hospitality industry over the long weekend.
Asked by: Mark Pawsey (Conservative - Rugby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support (a) hospitality, (b) public house and (c) other businesses with energy prices.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government remains committed to supporting the whole business sector including hospitality, public houses and other businesses. The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024. It also provides businesses in sectors with particularly high levels of energy use and trade intensity with a higher level of support.
Wholesale gas prices have now fallen to levels before Putin’s invasion. The new EBDS therefore strikes a balance between supporting businesses for a further 12 months and limiting taxpayer’s exposure to volatile energy markets. This provides long term certainty for businesses and reflects how the scale of the challenge has changed since September last year.
The government has had to make some difficult decisions this Budget to maintain economic stability and secure the public finances. The government has provided a series of cuts and freezes on alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represents a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next 4 years. Whilst we are raising rates by RPI, we have increased the value of Draught Relief to support pubs, meaning a pint of draught beer sold in a pub will not pay more duty from August.
We have provided extensive support to the hospitality and tourism sector through an over £8 billion reduction in VAT during the pandemic, and are also increasing and extending business rates support with a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24 for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. This will support around 230,000 businesses, including pubs, with 75 per cent relief off their business rates bill, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Pubs will also benefit from the freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6% lower than without the freeze.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with other Government departments on the potential effect of additional public holidays on the tourism industry and the economy.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Bank and public holidays provide an opportunity for people right across the UK to get outside and explore new parts of the country. Domestic, overnight trips make an important contribution to our tourism and hospitality industries, and the wider economy. For example, British residents made 100 million overnight trips in England between April and December 2021, contributing a total of £22.2 billion in spend.
The Inter-Ministerial Group on the Visitor Economy has been established to facilitate greater cooperation across government, in order to assess how best to support the visitor economy, and how to drive growth in the tourism sector.
The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays, but we believe that the current pattern of bank holidays is well established and accepted.
Asked by: Naz Shah (Labour - Bradford West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was received in VAT receipts from the hospitality sector in each quarter since the temporary reduced VAT rate which applied to tourism and hospitality ended on 31 March 2022.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The ‘hospitality’ sector broadly equates to the Sector Industrial Classification of ‘Accommodation and Food Service Activities’ which is divided between two subsectors:
A sector and sub-sector breakdown of VAT declarations data is published in HMRC’s on the GOV.UK website here Value Added Tax (VAT) annual statistics, which reflects the net liabilities from VAT returns.
Currently, the available data covers the period up to and including the financial year 2021-2022. The VAT annual statistics are usually published in the Winter and covers the period up to the last complete financial year. A sector breakdown of VAT data for the 2022-2023 financial year will be included in the next publication. In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, releases of these statistics are pre-announced on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) businesses in the North East on the decision to stop funding for Level 3 tourism qualifications by 2025.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has embarked on an ambitious technical education reform programme. We consulted several times on the reforms to seek the views on our proposed changes. In March 2019, the government launched the first stage consultation to gather views and evidence about the principles that should apply to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England. The results of this consultation are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/928952/Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_and_below_-_First_stage_government_response.pdf.
In July 2021, the department published its response to the second stage consultation of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below, which ran between the 23 October 2020 to 31 January 2021.The department made clear its intentions to streamline the qualifications landscape, simplify choices for students, and only fund qualifications that are high quality and lead to good progression outcomes. The response is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-second-stage.
The changes to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below are designed to ensure that our qualifications system provides a ladder of opportunity for young people from all backgrounds. The department wants as many people as possible to undertake world class A levels and T Levels, which evidence shows provide the best foundation from which to progress, either into higher education, or skilled employment.
Data shows that, in the following year, of the approximately 3,100 16-18 students who completed a level 3 qualification in Travel and Tourism in 2018/19:
This shows mixed progression outcomes for these qualifications. Specifying that newly developed travel and tourism-related qualifications must be based on employer-designed, approved occupational standards at level 3 will ensure that students gain the knowledge, skills, and behaviours employers in the travel and tourism industries need, leading to better and more consistent progression outcomes for young people.
The department will continue to fund travel and tourism qualifications at level 3 beyond 2025. Existing travel and tourism qualifications will remain funded until 31 July 2026, after which qualifications approved for funding in travel and tourism will need to be mapped against one of the relevant occupational standards at level 3 for technical qualifications. Further information can be found here: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/.
For future qualifications, the department is encouraging awarding organisations to work with schools, colleges and employers to develop new travel and tourism-focused technical qualifications at level 3 that support young people to enter employment or further technical study where that is what they want to do.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT to 5 per cent for hospitably businesses for (a) tourism and (b) hospitality.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/2024, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
While there are no plans to reduce the rate of VAT paid by hospitality businesses, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT for the hospitality sector.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/2024, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
While there are no plans to reduce the rate of VAT paid by hospitality businesses, the Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason level 3 travel and tourism qualifications will not be funded after 2025; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of this decision on (a) the North East and (b) Newcastle.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has embarked on a technical education reform programme. The changes to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below are designed to ensure that our qualifications system provides opportunity for young people from all backgrounds. We want as many people as possible to undertake world class A levels and T Levels, as evidence shows these qualifications provide the best foundation from which to progress either into higher education (HE), or skilled employment.
Data shows that, in the following year, of the approximately 3,100 16-18 students who completed a level 3 qualification in Travel and Tourism in 2018/19:
This shows mixed progression outcomes for these qualifications. Specifying that newly developed travel and tourism-related qualifications must be based on employer-designed, approved occupational standards at level 3 will ensure that students gain the knowledge, skills, and behaviours employers in the travel and tourism industries need, leading to better and more consistent progression outcomes for young people.
The department will continue to fund travel and tourism qualifications at level 3 beyond 2025. Existing travel and tourism qualifications will remain funded until 31 July 2026, after which qualifications approved for funding in travel and tourism will need to be mapped against one of the relevant occupational standards at level 3 for technical qualifications. Further information can be accessed at: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/.
For future qualifications, the department is encouraging awarding organisations to work with schools, colleges and employers to develop new travel and tourism focused technical qualifications at level 3 which support young people to enter employment or further technical study.