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1416771

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Hospitality Industry: VAT
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to extend the reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector beyond April 2022.
tabling member constituency	Belfast South
tabling member printed	Claire Hanna
uin	112707
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>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 2021. 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 new rate will end on 31 March 2022.</p><p> </p><p>This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 31/01/2022 14:16:24 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4827 label Biography information for Claire Hanna

1416807

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Business: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle fraud in the covid-19 business support schemes.
tabling member constituency	Haltemprice and Howden
tabling member printed	Mr David Davis
uin	112488
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government has consistently stated that fraud is unacceptable, and we are taking action on multiple fronts to recover money lost to error and fraud and, where necessary, take legal action on those who have sought to exploit the Covid support schemes. It was right to establish the schemes quickly and in a way that they could be accessed easily by the millions who needed support.</p><p> </p><p>Given the unprecedented efforts that the Government have made to protect jobs and livelihoods during this pandemic, it would have been impossible to prevent all related fraud. However, we have taken reasonable steps, and will continue to do so, to deflect and combat that fraud, and we will continue to be vigilant.</p><p> </p><p>Robust measures were put in place to control error and fraud in the key COVID-19 support schemes from their inception. For instance, to minimise the risk of fraud and error and unverified claims, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme were designed in a way to prevent ineligible claims being made up front, and made payments for employees and businesses using existing data held on HMRC’s systems. That included cut-off dates around scheme eligibility and the need for customers to be registered for pay-as-you-earn online or self-assessment.</p><p> </p><p>To further bolster anti-fraud measures on HMRC-delivered covid support schemes, at the Spring Budget last year, the Government invested more than £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of more than 1,200 HMRC staff to combat Covid-related fraud. This Taskforce is expected to recover between £800 million and £1 billion from fraudulent or incorrect payments during 2021-22 and 2022-23. In addition, HMRC has so far stopped or recovered £743 million of overclaimed grants in 2020/21.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, the Government continues to work closely with the British Business Bank, lenders and enforcement agencies to tackle fraud and to recover as many fraudulent loans as possible. This is on top of the £2.2 billion worth of fraudulent applications that were prevented by upfront checks.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, as part of the Spring Budget last year, we announced plans to significantly strengthen enforcement activity against fraudulent Bounce Back Loans, including new powers for the Insolvency Service to tackle rogue directors and investing in the National Investigation Service to investigate serious fraud.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 31/01/2022 14:18:29 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	373 label Biography information for Sir David Davis

1416838

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Social Services: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ring-fenced fund to support the provision of local authority social care.
tabling member constituency	Nottingham East
tabling member printed	Nadia Whittome
uin	112719
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Spending Review provides local authorities with an additional £1.6 billion of grant funding in each of the next three years. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 confirmed that local authorities will have access to over £1 billion of additional resources next year specifically for social care. Ultimately, it is for local authorities to manage their budgets within the funding available and prioritise spending based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities.</p> answering member constituency Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland answering member printed Mr Simon Clarke question first answered 31/01/2022 12:53:30 answering member 4655 label Biography information for Sir Simon Clarke
tabling member	4869 label Biography information for Nadia Whittome

1416889

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Cancer: Nurses
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a ringfenced fund for specialist cancer nurses.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	112677
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>Investing in our NHS workforce is critical to delivering NHS services, and this includes specialist cancer nurses. The government is committed to delivering 50,000 additional nurses this Parliament and funding for this is already ringfenced. Alongside this commitment, the government will provide hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the SR21 period to ensure a bigger and better trained NHS workforce. The Treasury is working closely with DHSC to develop detailed workforce spending plans and the cancer workforce requirements will be an important part of those considerations.</p> answering member constituency Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland answering member printed Mr Simon Clarke question first answered 31/01/2022 12:49:06 answering member 4655 label Biography information for Sir Simon Clarke
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1416896

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Economic Growth: National Insurance Contributions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the National Insurance rise on economic growth; and if he will publish that assessment.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh West
tabling member printed	Christine Jardine
uin	112667
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government has made a number of assessments of the impact of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy, which were published alongside the announcement. These include the distributional analysis of the impact of the combined tax and spending announcements, a technical annex in our plan for health and social care, and a Tax Information and Impact Note.</p><p> </p><p>In their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budget Responsibility set out their assessment of the economic effects of the Levy, including the impact on labour supply and wages. This can be found here: <a href="https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/" target="_blank">https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/</a></p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 112668 question first answered 31/01/2022 14:11:40 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4634 label Biography information for Christine Jardine

1416898

registered interest
date	26/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Health and Social Care Levy
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the full economic impact assessment underpinning section 4.6 of the Health and Social Care Levy policy paper.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh West
tabling member printed	Christine Jardine
uin	112668
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government has made a number of assessments of the impact of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy, which were published alongside the announcement. These include the distributional analysis of the impact of the combined tax and spending announcements, a technical annex in our plan for health and social care, and a Tax Information and Impact Note.</p><p> </p><p>In their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budget Responsibility set out their assessment of the economic effects of the Levy, including the impact on labour supply and wages. This can be found here: <a href="https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/" target="_blank">https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/</a></p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer grouped question UIN 112667 question first answered 31/01/2022 14:11:40 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	4634 label Biography information for Christine Jardine

1416325

registered interest
date	25/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Foreign Companies: Money Laundering
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of foreign-owned financial services companies involved in money laundering operating in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	111684
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2022 answer text <p>HM Treasury does not hold an assessment of the number of foreign-owned financial services companies involved in money laundering in the UK and is not responsible for collecting such data.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does collect information on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) investigations opened into firms and individuals where entities may have breached their obligations under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) or the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs).</p><p> </p><p>The FCA currently has 41 AML investigations opened into firms and individuals, the number of foreign owned firms under investigation is eight. These investigations are regulatory, civil and criminal in nature covering a wide range of potential breaches of systems and controls covered under the MLRs and the requirements under FSMA. It is important to keep in mind, that when the FCA opens an investigation, it is fact finding in nature and does not in itself mean any misconduct has occurred.</p><p> </p><p>Where the FCA has evidence of ongoing breaches of AML regulations, it will take intervention action to prevent and/or contain ongoing harm. As a result of the FCA’s investigations, since 2018 the total of financial penalties issued is £970,067,419 (before settlement discounts). The FCA also secured its first criminal conviction against a body corporate for breaches of the MLRs in October 2021.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 28/01/2022 10:54:46 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1416326

registered interest
date	25/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Banks: Closures
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help ensure that local bank branches remain open to enable vulnerable people to have access to cash.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	111685
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, particularly those in vulnerable groups, which is why it has committed to legislate to protect access to cash.</p><p> </p><p>Last year, the Government held an Access to Cash Consultation on proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash. The Government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities. The Government will set out next steps in due course.</p><p> </p><p>Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>Regarding bank branches, guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This ensures the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly.</p><p /><p>Alternative options for access to banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 28/01/2022 11:09:56 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1416345

registered interest
date	25/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Sustainable Development: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of (a) the implications for his policies of the Bank of International Settlement’s report, Sustainable finance: trends, valuations and exposures, published September 2021 and (b) the risks to UK investors and public finances of a green finance bubble.
tabling member constituency	Ceredigion
tabling member printed	Ben Lake
uin	111683
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2022 answer text <p>Greening the financial system is fundamental to meeting the UK’s net zero commitment and so it is positive that we are seeing increasing inflows of investments into green assets.</p><p> </p><p>The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) report into sustainable finance encourages authorities to monitor green financial assets and improve transparency for the sector.</p><p> </p><p>UK financial authorities have strong risk-management processes in place to monitor financial markets. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) continually assesses the resilience of the financial system, and UK financial authorities work closely to manage risks at both the domestic and international level.</p><p> </p><p>The Chancellor’s ambition is for the UK to be the best place in the world for green and sustainable finance. The UK is already taking bold action to achieve this, introducing economy-wide sustainability disclosure requirements to give companies the data they need to embed sustainability into everything they do. The Government has gone further by taking a leading role in pressing for global action in international fora such as the G7 and G20, and at COP26.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 31/01/2022 14:29:50 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	4630 label Biography information for Ben Lake

1416554

registered interest
date	25/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Banks: Closures
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of bank branch closures in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Coventry North East
tabling member printed	Colleen Fletcher
uin	111605
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government recognises the continued importance of access to banking. However, decisions on opening and closing branches are a commercial issue for banks and building societies. The Government does not intervene in these decisions or make direct assessments of these branch networks.</p><p /><p>In May 2017, the largest banks and building societies signed up to the Access to Banking Standard which commits them to ensure customers are well informed about branch closures, the bank’s reasons for closure and options for continued access to banking services.</p><p /><p>Guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority also sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. Firms are expected to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and consider possible alternative access arrangements. This ensures the implementation of closure decisions is undertaken in a way that treats customers fairly.</p><p /><p>Alternative options for access can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows 95% of business and 99% of personal banking customers to deposit cheques, check their balance and withdraw and deposit cash at 11,500 Post Office branches in the UK.</p> answering member constituency Salisbury answering member printed John Glen question first answered 28/01/2022 10:53:50 answering member 4051 label Biography information for John Glen
tabling member	4378 label Biography information for Colleen Fletcher