Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-03-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.63 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 and paragraph 2.16 of the Budget 2016, for what reasons the funding to support women’s charities equivalent to the annual VAT raised on sanitary products has changed from £15 million to £12 million.

Mr David Gauke

As announced at Autumn Statement 2015, the Tampon Tax Fund is a £15 million annual fund to support women’s charities, equivalent to the amount of VAT raised on sanitary products. The Chancellor announced initial donations at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million have been announced at this Budget.

The Government has introduced legislation in the Finance Bill to enable the zero rate of VAT for women’s sanitary products.