The Government has published its Spring Statement and you can read it in full here. Key points for the tourism industry in the Statement are as follows:
Funding
- The Comprehensive Spending Review will start before the summer recess with the outcome in Departmental budgets announced alongside the Autumn Budget
- The Borderlands region (Southern Scotland and the North of England) will receive £260m
Employment and Skills
- The Government has appointed Professor Arindajit Dube to undertake a review of the latest international evidence on minimum wages, to inform future National Living Wage policy after 2020
- From this Autumn, PhD-level occupations will be exempt from the cap on high-skilled visas
Transport
- The Government will launch a call for evidence on Offsetting Transport Emissions to explore consumer understanding of the emissions from their journeys and their options to offset them.
- From June 2019, citizens of the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea will be permitted to use e-gates at UK airports and at Eurostar terminals.
- Landing cards from all other countries will also begin to be abolished from June 2019
Business Support
- The Government is launching a call for evidence on a Business Energy Efficiency Scheme to explore how it can support investment in energy efficiency measures in order to help small businesses
- The Government will launch a global review into the Economics of Biodiversity to explore ways to enhance the natural environment and deliver prosperity
- The Government has published a consultation on Infrastructure Finance, seeking views on how it can best support private infrastructure investment in the context of the UK’s changing relationship with the European Investment Bank
Taxation
- The Government announced a review of global tech companies to ensure they pay a fair share of tax in the UK.
Marketing
- The Government has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to undertake a study of the digital advertising market
