Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the list of energy-saving materials eligible for VAT relief beyond heat pumps, including heat batteries.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Installations of qualifying energy-saving materials (ESMs) in residential accommodation and buildings used solely for a charitable purpose benefit from a temporary VAT zero rate until March 2027, after which they will revert to the reduced rate of VAT at five per cent. The list of qualifying ESMs, which includes but is not limited to heat pumps, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-energy-saving-materials-and-heating-equipment-notice-7086.
The Government assesses whether to add ESMs to this relief by evaluating them against the following tests: the primary purpose of the technology must be to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions; relieving the technology of VAT must be a cost effective lever for encouraging installations; and it must be practical for business to operate and for HMRC to administer.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increased business rates on grassroots music venues; and what steps they intend to take in response to the open letter sent to the Prime Minister by the Music Venue Trust on 10 December.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. Music venues are 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.
Some properties, including in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, have seen their rateable values increased. This is in part because the last revaluation updated rateable values to align with market values at 1 April 2021 – during the COVID pandemic. This meant rateable values were lower due to the atypical economic situation the pandemic created. This latest revaluation reflects a post Covid world, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
Asked by: Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the new valuations by the Valuation Office Agency on grassroots music venues.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. Music venues are 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.
Some properties, including in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, have seen their rateable values increased. This is in part because the last revaluation updated rateable values to align with market values at 1 April 2021 – during the COVID pandemic. This meant rateable values were lower due to the atypical economic situation the pandemic created. This latest revaluation reflects a post Covid world, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
Asked by: Lord Clement-Jones (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Valuation Office Agency about valuations of grassroots music venues.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. Music venues are 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.
Some properties, including in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, have seen their rateable values increased. This is in part because the last revaluation updated rateable values to align with market values at 1 April 2021 – during the COVID pandemic. This meant rateable values were lower due to the atypical economic situation the pandemic created. This latest revaluation reflects a post Covid world, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. Government support also means that most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the net zero targets are for (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s-length bodies; and whether guidance has been issued on adopting net zero targets earlier than 2050.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The net zero target in the Climate Change Act 2008, is a target for the whole of the UK, not individual departments or arms-length bodies.
Greening Government Commitments are the central framework setting out the actions UK government departments and their agencies will take to reduce their impacts on the environment, including setting targets to reduce emissions, during the framework period.
The previous framework and emission reduction targets covered the period 2021 - 2025. Under this framework HM Treasury had a target to reduce its overall emissions by 69% and direct emissions by 25%, against a 2017-2018 baseline.
Defra are reviewing the Greening Government Commitments to ensure that they remain aligned with government priorities.
Information regarding the Treasury’s targets and performance on operational activity relating to climate adaptation, sustainability, and the environment (CASE-Ops) can be found in ANNEX B: Sustainability in the 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts on pages 223 to 229 at : www.gov.uk/government/publications/hm-treasury-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations she has had from (a) pubs and licensed premises, (b) leisure arenas, (c) community sports clubs and (d) music venues on business rates increases in the next financial year.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has engaged with a range of stakeholders on business rates in advance of the Budget and continues to do so.
Asked by: Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Budget 2025 on the number of businesses starting up in the UK.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is a great place to start a business, with the third largest venture capital market after the US and China, generous tax reliefs for investors in early-stage companies and the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7. Over the last financial year, 800,000 new businesses incorporated.
In the Budget, the Chancellor built on these strengths by expanding our enterprise tax reliefs to incentivise investment in scaling firms and support them to attract top talent, by targeting British Business Bank investment towards these companies, and by committing to public procurement reforms to make the UK government a better customer to innovative businesses.
HM Treasury will continue to monitor the implementation of Budget measures and analyse their impact on the wider economy to inform future policy development.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the July 2019 implementation date of the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code on victims of authorised push payment scams that occurred before that date; and whether she plans to review redress mechanisms to ensure consistent treatment of victims regardless of when losses occurred.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this appalling crime. To protect consumers, under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has introduced a mandatory reimbursement regime for Authorised Push Payment (APP) scams taking place over the Faster Payment system. This came into force on 7 October 2024. The details of the APP reimbursement regime are a matter for the independent PSR.
Transactions that occurred before 7 October 2024, may be governed by the Contingent Reimbursement Model (CRM), a voluntary code signed by the UK’s largest banks and building societies that came into force in May 2019. However, it is important to note that not all banks or building societies are party to the CRM code. The CRM code is overseen by the Lending Standards Board and more information can be found on their website.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full-time equivalent staff in her Department have been employed for the purpose of making social media content in each of the past three years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Due to the difficulty of disaggregating the number of staff who are employed to produce social media content from staff who are employed to work on broader digital communications, it is not possible to report exact figures in response to this question.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department has made an estimate of of the behavioural impact of the 3 percent Benefit-in-Kind rate for zero-emission company cars, including (a) the number of additional EVs purchased by fleets and (b) the fiscal implications of those behavioural effects.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government publishes annual statistics on HMRC’s taxable benefits in kind for company cars and company car fuel. These reports document the number of benefit in kind recipients, the CO2 emissions of company cars and their total taxable value. The latest statistics for the tax year 2023-24 were published in June 2025, and are accessible here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefits-in-kind-statistics-june-2025/benefit-in-kind-statistics-commentary-june-2025
Additionally, at Budget 2024 the Government announced new Company Car Tax rates for the years 2028-29 and 2029-30, which increase for both electric vehicles (EVs) and petrol/diesel vehicles, while still maintaining generous incentives to support EV take-up. The Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) published alongside Budget set out the expected economic, equalities and other impacts, and highlighted that overall the measure was expected to encourage the take-up of zero emission vehicles.