Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The path to lower interest rates is through low inflation, and the Government is fully committed to supporting the Bank of England get inflation back down to the 2% target, including by keeping borrowing under control. While the pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene, our plan is working, and the...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The question of approving exchange traded products (ETPs) that reference specific cryptoassets is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the independent regulator, working within its statutory objectives. The FCA currently considers these products to be ill-suited for retail consumers due to risk of harm arising from the nature of the underlying assets and markets. The...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The number and proportion of people who haven’t filed on time this year is similar to last year. This year, 11.5m customers filed their returns by close on 31st January compared to 11.4 million last year. 1.1 million customers did not file their return by the filing date and we are currently evaluating why this might be the case, although the number is similar to last year. We will be...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The VAT treatment of private hire vehicle services has not changed. The Government recognises, however, that the Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC High Court ruling may have VAT implications for the private hire vehicle sector. As announced at Autumn Statement 2023, the Government will consult on the potential impacts of this ruling, and will publish a consultation in due course.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The arrangements in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework guarantee Northern Ireland’s position within the UK’s VAT and excise area, while still maintaining frictionless arrangements for those businesses trading with the EU - granting Northern Ireland businesses the ability to benefit from new UK changes and ensuring that Northern Ireland households can benefit from the UK’s...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: 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. The Government announced a package of business rates support at Autumn Statement 2022 which means businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, will receive a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24....
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Border Target Operating Model sets out the new approach to Safety and Security controls, applying to all imports. We are introducing the Model in a phased approach with plenty of time for industry to prepare. The dataset has been reduced to its most critical elements, ensuring the burden on trade is reduced whilst maintaining security outcomes. The Government is engaging with industry to...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: In January 2024, consumer confidence, as measured by GfK, reached its highest level since January 2022. January 2024 was the third consecutive month of improving consumer confidence across all five contributory sub-indices. Consumer confidence is intrinsically linked to household finances and the broader economic outlook. To sustain consumer confidence, consumers need to feel assured that...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The government is committed to ensuring the UK is one of the best places in the world to start and scale a fintech. In 2023, UK fintech attracted $5.1 billion in capital funding, second only to the US and more than the next 28 European countries combined. The UK’s vibrant and dynamic capital markets remain some of the strongest and deepest globally, delivering capital to support high growth...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: My Lords, HMRC is rolling out significant improvements to the application process by allocating extra resources to help answer phone calls and deal with correspondence across all national insurance services. That includes the training and deployment of more people to process A1 applications. HMRC has also introduced new digital A1 certificate application forms and will roll out automation...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: I am grateful to the noble Earl for raising this issue. I reassure him that my inquiries in the Treasury have caused one or two minor waves in ensuring that this gets the priority that it needs. There has been an improvement, although I accept that it is not good enough—as HMRC also acknowledges—and that more needs to be done. I will take away his request for a meeting. Although I am of...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The orchestra tax higher rate has been extended to the end of the 2024-25 tax year and then a taper will be put in place. It is worth noting that the orchestra tax relief has been worth £62 million since 2016. Obviously, the Treasury keeps taxes under review. I note the noble Lord’s comments.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: I know that obviously the DCMS and colleagues across government are working very closely with the EU and indeed with individual member states to support musicians, and 23 out of 27 member states have clarified their arrangements or introduced easements to allow visa or work-permit-free routes for short-term touring. France, Germany and the Netherlands have all stepped up early on in the...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: It is not entirely right that costs incurred in the EEA should be offset against UK tax; that would seem slightly odd. However, I reassure the noble Lord that of course some of the costs will be tax deductible: for example, if a group were to hire a conductor from the US and use that conductor for performances in the UK. Obviously, we have to make choices in this area. We are content with...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: As I explained in my opening remarks, the forms are now digital.
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The certificates are a slightly different issue because of course that will depend on the overseas countries accepting a digital form, which I suspect may be slightly more challenging. Where that is possible we will look at it, but we are now focused on ensuring that the processes are sped up. It is important that we get the automation in but it cannot be done end to end, as in some cases one...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The A1 certificates are issued all the time. As the noble Lord, Lord Livermore, pointed out, in many cases a worker needs a certificate for every time they go to a certain country, because of course the circumstances may change. However, in other cases, forms can be valid for up to two years. Therefore there is not an April deadline per se. The April 2024 date is when HMRC expects to be...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: I absolutely agree with the noble Lord that the UK has one of the finest music industries in the world, which of course includes rock music but also classical music and opera. It is the second-largest recorded music market in the world and contributes £6.7 billion to the UK economy. Brexit has meant that there have been changes to certain arrangements. However, the A1 form process has...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Beatles split up the year I was born so I do not have as long a memory as the noble Lord. However, the Government are very focused on developing our emerging artists and ensuring that they can get to new international markets, whether that be in the EU or beyond. The music export growth scheme has been tripled and will now spend £3.2 million over the next two years to support these...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: My Lords, I had not expected this to get into a Brexit ding-dong per se. The UK was more ambitious than the EU when it came to negotiating the trade and co-operation agreement but some of our proposals were rejected. I note that the TCA is reviewed every five years and, while I would not want to comment on the scope of that review, there may be opportunities in the future.