Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has assessed the risks associated with holdings of United States Treasury securities; and what steps she is taking to manage prudential financial risk in relation to those holdings.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury works closely with the UK’s independent financial regulators, including the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, to monitor risks to the UK financial system.
The results from the latest Bank of England Bank Capital Stress Tests from December 2025, indicate that major UK banks have the capacity to continue to support the economy through a stress scenario that incorporated a severe global aggregate supply shock, high advanced-economy inflation, higher global interest rates, deep and simultaneous recessions in the UK and global economies, with materially higher unemployment, and sharp falls in asset prices.
These results support the FPC’s judgement that banks’ current levels of capital are sufficient to support the real economy, even if economic, financial and business conditions became substantially worse than expected.
The Bank of England’s 2024 System Wide Exploratory Scenario also showed the system has an improved ability to absorb large price swings in assets, including sovereign bonds.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the potential impact of changes to childminder tax arrangements on the delivery of funded childcare hours.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Childminders play a vital role in childcare. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.
At Budget 2025 the Government confirmed that the standard rules for calculating income tax would apply to childminders who are mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD). HMRC engaged with stakeholders including Coram PACEY ahead of Budget 2025. We will phase in this change between 2026 and 2028, in line with the MTD income thresholds. The threshold from April 2026 is £50,000 of qualifying income, reducing to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Childminders not within MTD can continue to use existing arrangements if they wish.
Childminders within MTD can continue to claim tax relief for wear and tear by deducting the actual cost of buying, repairing or replacing items. They can also deduct the cost of business expenses such as utilities, cleaning and equipment. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business. Childminders may be better off deducting actual costs, if deductions under the existing arrangements are lower than their actual expenses.
HMRC will publish updated guidance for childminders in early 2026. Guidance on business expenses and on MTD for Income Tax is already available on GOV.UK. The Government will closely monitor the impacts of the policy over the course of the first year.
The Chancellor discusses a range of policy matters with Ministerial colleagues.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the impact of potential changes to the childminder tax agreement (BIM 52751) on the financial sustainability of childminders in Surrey.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Childminders play a vital role in childcare. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.
At Budget 2025 the Government confirmed that the standard rules for calculating income tax would apply to childminders who are mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD). HMRC engaged with stakeholders including Coram PACEY ahead of Budget 2025. We will phase in this change between 2026 and 2028, in line with the MTD income thresholds. The threshold from April 2026 is £50,000 of qualifying income, reducing to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Childminders not within MTD can continue to use existing arrangements if they wish.
Childminders within MTD can continue to claim tax relief for wear and tear by deducting the actual cost of buying, repairing or replacing items. They can also deduct the cost of business expenses such as utilities, cleaning and equipment. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business. Childminders may be better off deducting actual costs, if deductions under the existing arrangements are lower than their actual expenses.
HMRC will publish updated guidance for childminders in early 2026. Guidance on business expenses and on MTD for Income Tax is already available on GOV.UK. The Government will closely monitor the impacts of the policy over the course of the first year.
The Chancellor discusses a range of policy matters with Ministerial colleagues.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what factors the Valuation Office Agency takes into consideration in (a) coastal and (b) tourism-dependent areas when setting rateable values for self-catering accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Self-catered accommodation is valued in the same way as any other class of non-domestic property; through applying the statutory and common law principles that apply across non-domestic rating.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on including retail businesses in the proposed business rates relief for pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor holds regular discussions with her Ministerial colleagues about a broad range of matters.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation method for small independent hotels.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise that hotels have expressed concerns about how they are valued for business rates. Hotels valuations are undertaken in a different way to some other sectors. The methodology used is well established, but, as with pubs, the government has announced it will review the way hotels are valued to ensure it accurately reflects the rental value for these sectors.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the methodology used by the Valuation Office Agency to calculate recent rateable value increases for self-catering accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Self-catered accommodation is valued in the same way as any other class of non-domestic property; through applying the statutory and common law principles that apply across non-domestic rating.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to business rates on the hospitality sector in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.
To respond to those who are seeing large increases, Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget and then bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 202 to Question 105434 on Retail Trade: Business Rates, what proportion of the 23% of ratepayers expected to see a reduction in business rates are from the retail sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Data on the change in the rateable value of non-domestic properties as a result of the 2026 revaluation, including for the retail sector, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-non-domestic-rates-collected-by-councils-in-england-forecast-2025-to-2026
Bills will be issued in due course by local councils.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of excluding soft play centres and other family focused venues from the 15 per cent business rates discount for pubs and music venues on those businesses; and whether she plans to extend equivalent relief to venues serving children, parents and carers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pubs rents in business rates valuations are analysed differently to some other sectors. While most hospitality and leisure properties are valued by comparing the size of the property, pubs are valued by comparing their turnover potential. Industry bodies have highlighted concerns with how costs are accounted for in this methodology, particularly during periods of high inflation. There is significant overlap between the pub sector and live music venues, with many pubs serving as grassroots live music venues, meaning they are often valued for business rates purposes in a similar way.
The new pubs and live music venues relief is on top of the £4.3 billion support package announced at the Budget to support ratepayers across all sectors seeing bill increases. As a result of the Budget package, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases. This also means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, including soft play centres. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.