Tag: Seema Malhotra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the ease by which UK SMEs can access the export market.

Anna Soubry

Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan and, through the GREAT campaign, it continues to promote the support available to those UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, since 2010 UK exports have increased from £444.4bn to £513.5bn per annum. At the same time, the number of UK exporting businesses has increased from 188,000 in 2010 to over 221,000 in 2014. The Government commitment is to increase this figure to over 288,000 UK exporting businesses per annum by 2020; an increase of 100,000 on the 2010 figure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) primary and (b) secondary policy purposes are of income tax and corporation tax relief on payments to relevant scientific research associations.

Mr David Gauke

This is a longstanding tax relief which ensures that business payments made to scientific research associations which carry out research relevant to the business can be taken into account in calculating taxable profits.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-05-04.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.4 of the minutes of the Social Security Advisory Committee meeting held on 9 March 2016, if he will publish the impact assessment of increasing maximum recovery rates from ongoing tax credit awards.

Damian Hinds

There are no plans to publish an impact assessment in relation to the Tax Credits and Child Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2016.

The government carefully considers all relevant legal obligations when formulating welfare policy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average cost to a (a) school and (b) local authority of employing a (i) teacher and (ii) classroom assistant; and what forecast she has made of that cost in each year from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

Nick Gibb

The government published a statistical release in July 2015, ‘School Workforce in England: November 2014’, which contains the latest statistics on average salaries for teachers employed by schools and local authorities in England. This release can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014

The latest available statistics on the average salaries of teaching assistants employed by schools and local authorities in England were published in response to PQ856 in June 2015. This can be found online at: www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-06-02/856/

The Department for Education’s pay reforms have given schools greater flexibility to decide how much to pay their teachers and how quickly their pay progresses over time.

Future average salaries of teachers will be informed by the annual recommendations of the School Teachers Pay Review Body. The pay of teaching assistants and school support staff are set by schools themselves. The department does not produce forecasts of future average pay for these staff.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish a Digital Transformation Plan.

Mr Edward Vaizey

As part of the Government’s Productivity Plan, we are developing a cross-Government Digital Transformation Plan that will be published in due course. This will set out how we will support theadoption of digital technologies andtackle the barriers to new businesses entering and creating new markets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-08.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, if he will publish the analysis and methodology used to estimate that the proposed apprenticeship levy will raise £3 billion by 2020-21.

Greg Hands

The government has published the policy costing note for the apprenticeship levy on gov.uk. It can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480565/SRAS2015_policy_costings_amended_page_25.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect of recent increases in household debt on economic growth.

Harriett Baldwin

Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144 per cent in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168 per cent in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed. Alongside this, the UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19817, for what reasons his Department does not produce estimates of the proportion of people who will be unable to afford to rent or buy a home in London in 2016.

Brandon Lewis

The proportion of people who are able to afford to rent or buy a home at a point in time is a function of macroeconomic and a number of other factors around which there is a high degree of uncertainty. As such, we do not believe such an assessment would prove to be reliable.

The Department publishes data on housing costs and income as part of the English Housing Survey. The latest survey, for 2013-14, shows that in England the proportion of income spent on housing costs was 18% for mortgagers, 29% for social renters, and 34% for private renters. The full report is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461439/EHS_Households_2013-14.pdf

In respect of housing need in London, it is for the Mayor of London, working with London Boroughs, to identify and plan for the market and affordable housing needs in London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) primary and (b) secondary policy purposes are of stamp duty exemption for transfers under schemes of company reconstruction and similar arrangements.

Mr David Gauke

Relief from stamp duty is available for company reconstructions where the same people hold the same proportion of shares before and after the reconstruction. The relief ensures that stamp duty does not apply where there is no real change in ownership of a company. The relief also recognises that reconstructions of companies often occur for genuine commercial reasons unrelated to tax, so in strictly defined circumstances should be able to take place in a tax neutral way. All claims are adjudicated by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure the strict conditions for relief are met.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-05-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of time between an application being made for a Venture Capital Trust Scheme and the scheme taking effect was in each of the last six years.

Mr David Gauke

The average time between a company applying to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for approval as a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and receiving approval in the last six tax years was as follows:

Tax year	Number of VCTs approved	Average time taken to approve applications (days)
2010-11	16	7
2011-12	6	9
2012-13 to 2015-16	6	16

Notes

1. The information for the years 2012-13 to 2015-16 has been grouped owing to the low numbers of VCTs seeking approval in each of those years. Disclosure of average times in each of those years could identify specific companies.

2. The number of VCTs approved each year is provided in order to give context for the averages reported.

3. The average time includes non-working days such as weekends and public holidays. Fractions of days are rounded up to the nearest day.

4. The amount of time taken to approve a company as a VCT depends upon the specific facts of each case. Two cases in the period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 had significantly longer approval times, raising the average for this period. If those cases were excluded, the average time would have been 10 days.

5. A company cannot raise funds from VCT investors until it has been listed on a regulated stock market. HMRC does not hold information about the date of listing although that information is publicly available.