Asked by: Cherilyn Mackrory (Conservative - Truro and Falmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has any plans to extend the VAT reduction for hospitality businesses beyond April 2023.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors, which were severely affected by COVID-19. The relief, which ended on 31 March 2022, cost over £8 billion.
All taxes are kept under review, but the Government has been clear that this was a temporary measure in response to COVID-19. It was appropriate that as restrictions were lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increased, the temporary VAT relief was first reduced and then removed in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.
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, what steps he is taking to support an increase in the level of skilled workers in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is in regular dialogue with the sector and is aware of the recruitment challenges facing businesses. The Hospitality Sector Council is actively looking at this issue and the Government is working with businesses and the Hospitality and Tourism Skills Board to consider how best to strengthen recruitment, and training for the hospitality sector.
Immediate support includes £900 million annually for dedicated Work Coaches, adding hospitality and catering qualifications to the Free Courses for Jobs (part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
The Government is backing five Private Members’ Bills on employment rights, including the including in the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Bill, which will create a legal obligation on employers to pass on tips to workers in full, in a fair and transparent manner. This package of Bills will deliver on commitments in the 2019 manifesto, helping new parents, unpaid carers, hospitality workers, and giving employees better access to flexible working.
On 1 April 2022, the Government increased the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50. A full-time worker on the National Living Wage will have seen their annual earnings rise by over £1,000.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support older workers filling the hospitality labour gap.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are in regular dialogue with the sector and are aware of the recruitment challenges facing businesses. The Hospitality Sector Council is actively looking at this issue, including working directly with the Hospitality Rising Campaign through our Hospitality and Tourism Skills Board.
Support has been boosted by 37 50PLUS Champions covering every district across England, Wales and Scotland who will work with local employers to help them realise how their recruitment could benefit from the talent of older workers.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Dudley South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level of staff shortages in the hospitality sector, and if he will have discussions with representatives from the Hospitality Rising campaign in helping to addressing these shortages.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We are in regular dialogue with the sector and are aware of the recruitment challenges facing businesses. The Hospitality Sector Council is actively looking at this issue, including working directly with the Hospitality Rising Campaign through our Hospitality and Tourism Skills Board.
The ONS publishes data on staff vacancy rates in the sector. This was most recently estimated at 7.2%, and this rate has fallen for the past 4 months.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will expand qualification criteria for employing foreign summer workers to other sectors.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
It is unclear as to the immigration route or sectors to which the Honourable Member is specifically referring to. The Points Based System has a broad range of eligible occupations spanning many different economic sectors such as agri-food; travel and tourism; hospitality and creative sectors.
UK employers are able to bring in overseas workers through the immigration system, subject to the existing rules and requirements being met.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the contribution of the Scotch whisky industry to the UK tourism sector and hospitality sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whilst no specific assessment has been made by the UK Government, according to the Scotch Whisky Association, the Scotch Whisky industry continues to provide a significant contribution to the Scottish economy with sustained export values of around £4.5 billion and £5.5 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy.
The 140 Scotch Whisky distilleries which operate across Scotland attracted around 2.2 million visitors in 2019, making this industry the third most popular tourist attraction. These figures demonstrate the employment opportunities that this industry provides for the UK tourist and hospitality 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, whether his Department is taking steps to provide support to the (a) hospitality and (b) tourism sectors to help improve the energy efficiency of (i) heritage and (ii) other buildings.
Answered by Graham Stuart
A Government review of the practical planning barriers when installing energy efficiency measures in heritage buildings will be completed by the end of 2022.
The Government is bringing forward an exemption on business rates for green technology, and providing tax discounts through the Climate Change Agreements scheme in return for businesses meeting energy reduction targets. Small businesses are eligible for grants under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and can search for other local grant and advice schemes on gov.uk.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of reducing the 20 per cent VAT rate for for the hospitality sector in the context of increased energy and food costs.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. This relief ended on the 31 March 2022.
The Government has been clear that the reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism was a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It was appropriate that, as restrictions were lifted, and demand for goods and services in these sectors increased, the temporary tax reliefs were first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances. While we keep all taxes under review, there are no plans to reintroduce a reduced rate of VAT from tourism and hospitality.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Gordon of 3 March 2022 on the VAT rate for the hospitality and tourism sectors.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
A response was sent to the hon. Member for Gordon on 23 June 2022.Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of extending the 12.5 per cent VAT rates until the end of 2022 to help hospitality businesses.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This relief ended on the 31 March 2022.
The Government has been clear that the reduced rate of VAT for hospitality and tourism was a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It was appropriate that as restrictions were lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increased, the temporary tax reliefs were first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.