Treasury
Question: What information her Department holds on the number and proportion of businesses that do not accept cash; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to require all businesses to accept cash.
Tulip Siddiq:
The Government recognises the vital role cash plays as means of payment for essential goods and services and to the wider economy, and welcomes the recent announcement of the Treasury Select Committee’s inquiry into cash acceptance.
There is no legal requirement for businesses to accept specific forms of payment. It is for each business to decide on the forms of payment it chooses to accept, based on a variety of factors, including cost and customer preferences. Research published by the Financial Conduct Authority in 2020 found that 98 per cent of small businesses surveyed would never turn customers away if they needed to pay in cash.
The Financial Conduct Authority also recently assumed regulatory responsibility for protecting access to cash. These rules will support business’ ability to continue to accept cash by ensuring they have reasonable access to cash deposit facilities.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of quantitative easing on inflation.
Tulip Siddiq:
The Bank of England has operational independence from the government to carry out its statutory responsibilities for monetary policy and financial stability. Monetary policy, including quantitative easing, is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England.
The government remains committed to monetary policy independence, and rightly does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.
The Bank of England regularly conducts and publishes analysis on the inflationary impact of its monetary policy, including quantitative easing and quantitative tightening.
Question: what the office budget will be for the Covid Counter-Fraud Commissioner.
Darren Jones:
The Commissioner will be supported by a team of experts from HM Treasury, the Public Sector Fraud Authority, the Government Commercial Function, the Government Debt Management Function and the Department of Health and Social Care.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.54 of Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, whether her Department has carried out an impact assessment on the proposed changes to agricultural property relief.
James Murray:
The Government has published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief#:~:text=From%206%20April%202026%2C%20the,rather%20than%20the%20standard%2040%25. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief in 2026-27 are expected to be unaffected by these reforms.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Question: How much was paid to the EU in each year since 2021.
Darren Jones:
The UK continues to make payments to the EU in relation to the liabilities arising from the period of the UK’s membership under the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement. Between the UK’s departure from the EU on 30th January 2020 and the end of 2023, such payments amounted to £23.8bn (net of assets returned to the UK and estimated receipts to UK beneficiaries from the EU Budget).
Further details of payments are set out are set out in the European Union Finances Statement (EUFS) 2023, available on Gov.uk and in the library of the House. These figures do not include payments to the EU for other purposes such as those in relation to continued UK association to certain EU programmes under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement; such payments are reported in the relevant departments’ annual accounts and as part of normal budgetary disclosures.
Question: How many staff in their Departmental work outside of the UK; where these staff work; and what the cost is of salaries for these staff.
James Murray:
- a) Total number of HM Treasury employees working overseas as at 30th October 2024.
51
- b) Where these staff work.
- Australian Treasury
- British Embassy, U.A.E.
- Canadian Finance Ministry
- FCDO
- German Finance Ministry
- International Monetary Fund, U.S.
- International Trade, India
- MONEYVAL, Council of Europe, France
- National Institute of Public Service, France
- New Zealand Treasury
- Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, France
- Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, France
- U.S. Treasury
- UK Mission to the EU, Belgium
- World Bank, U.S.
- c) Annual salary cost to HM Treasury for these staff
£506,989
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the planned rise in employer's national insurance contributions on businesses.
James Murray:
Raising the revenue required to fix the public finances and restore economic stability requires difficult decisions on tax, which is why we are asking employers to contribute more.
The government will protect the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold. This means that next year, 865,000 employers will pay no National Insurance contributions at all and more than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package.
Question: What the (a) average waiting time for people calling and (b) time people spent on hold for HMRC was in each of the last five years.
James Murray:
HMRC telephony performance data, including the average speed of answering a customer’s call, is published on a quarterly basis and can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
The definition of ‘average speed of answering a customer’s call’ is the average time spent waiting in the queue for an adviser. This is time that the customer finished listening to HMRC’s automated messages and completed their selection from HMRC’s automated menu to the time when they get to speak to an adviser.
The below table shows the amount of time people spent on hold with HMRC – this is when a call has been answered by an adviser and the individual has subsequently been put on hold. The data covers the last five years, broken down by quarter:
2019 Q1 | 2019 Q2 | 2019 Q3 | 2019 Q4 |
1min 21s | 1min 6s | 1min 14s | 1min 6s |
2020 Q1 | 2020 Q2 | 2020 Q3 | 2020 Q4 |
1min 2s | 1min 9s | 1min 19s | 1min 28s |
2021 Q1 | 2021 Q2 | 2021 Q3 | 2021 Q4 |
1min 22s | 1min 25s | 1min 43s | 1min 33s |
2022 Q1 | 2022 Q2 | 2022 Q3 | 2022 Q4 |
1min 17s | 1min 8s | 1min 11s | 1min 10s |
2023 Q1 | 2023 Q2 | 2023 Q3 | 2023 Q4 |
1min 6s | 1min 6s | 1min 20s | 1min 12s |
Question: How many positions in her Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.
There are currently 3 members of HM Treasury staff who have (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity or (d) equality in their job title. We do not hold this information for previous years.
As the total number of individuals is less than 5, HM Treasury is unable to release salary information as doing so would mean these individuals may be identifiable. This is in line with HM Treasury’s data reporting policy.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will review the implementation of the Enterprise Investment Scheme; and if she will meet the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth to discuss that scheme.
The Enterprise Investment Scheme was recently evaluated, with reports published in November 2023. These are available on gov.uk.
Question: How many businesses have a taxable turnover of (a) £85,000-£89,999 and (b) £90,000-£95,000; and if she will make a cost-benefit analysis of the VAT threshold for businesses.
Data on numbers of businesses with turnover either side of the VAT registration threshold have been published by the Office for Budget Responsibility here: Economic and fiscal outlook – March 2023 – Office for Budget Responsibility (obr.uk), see ‘Supporting Documents’, ‘March 2023 Economic and fiscal outlook – charts and tables: Chapter 3’, Chart 3.C. Data on turnover of businesses since the threshold was increased to £90,000 are not yet available.
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the joint highest in the OECD. The Government keeps all taxes under review and will take decisions across tax and spending at the Budget.
Question: What steps she plans to take to support military families who rely on fee-paying boarding schools for their children.
James Murray:
The Government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, ensuring every child has access to high-quality education. We have made the decision to end tax breaks for private schools, to raise revenue for essential public services, including investing in the education system.
Recognising the enormous sacrifices our military families make, the Ministry of Defence provide the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) to eligible Service Personnel. The government will monitor closely the impact of these policy changes on affected military families and the Spending Review is the right time to consider any changes to this scheme.
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of legal fees relating to the introduction of VAT on independent school fees.
James Murray:
Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of relevant expected impacts of this policy change in a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN).
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has carried out a cost-benefit analysis of removing non-domiciled tax status.
James Murray:
The Government is committed to addressing unfairness in the tax system, so that everyone who makes their home in the UK pays their taxes here.
The Government will therefore remove the outdated concept of domicile status from the tax system and implement a new residence-based regime, which is internationally competitive and focused on attracting the best talent and investment to the UK.
Further details of this policy will be announced at the Budget, including a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN), as is routine for tax policy.