Asked by: Lord Hunt of Wirral (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on small drink manufacturers, including administrative burdens, of the proposed changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, including its extension to milk-based and plant-based drinks and the lowering of the sugar threshold to 4.5 g per 100 ml.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) confirmed at the Budget in November 2025 were informed by the ‘Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ consultation, which was open from 28 April to 21 July 2025. Representations from small manufacturers, and the trade bodies representing them, were received and considered as part of this process.
On 25 November 2025, the government published its summary of responses to the consultation, including a full assessment of the impacts of the announced policy changes to the levy. This is available here:
The smallest producers, producing less than a million litres a year, will remain exempt from the SDIL.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff are employed by HMRC in national minimum wage enforcement in 2025-26; and how many of these staff are a) based in Scotland and b) cover Scotland in their role responsibilities.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As of September 2025, HMRC employed 442 people as part of its National Minimum Wage (NMW) Enforcement unit. Of these, 44 are based in Scotland.
The NMW teams which are based in Edinburgh and East Kilbride are part of HMRC’s National NMW compliance function. These team’s work not only incorporates NMW compliance activity within Scotland, but it also covers activity across the UK. Some NMW compliance activity in Scotland is also undertaken by other UK based NMW teams.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the annual reduction in taxation revenue due to the decision to leave the European Union.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury does not publish forecasts of the economy or the public finances. Forecasts of future tax receipts are produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) as part of its Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO).
The OBR has set out how the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) has affected its forecast. The OBR assessed the impact of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on UK trade in Box 2.4 of the March 2024 EFO and reconfirmed that assessment in the latest EFO, which is available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2025/
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Economic Outlook for the United Kingdom, published on 2 December.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an independent international organisation. The OECD’s forecast following the Budget has upgraded UK growth and reduced inflation for 2026. This follows stronger than expected growth this year, though there is much more to do.
The Budget is boosting economic growth and delivers on the country’s priorities of cutting the cost of living, reducing NHS waiting lists, and driving down our borrowing and debt.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of extending the income tax threshold freeze on the number of people paying income tax, in particular the number of higher rate and additional rate taxpayers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government assesses every measure in the Budget and has published a tax information and impact note (TIIN) outlining our assessment of the policy. This is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maintaining-income-tax-and-equivalent-national-insurance-contributions-thresholds-until-5-april-2031/income-tax-maintaining-the-personal-allowance-and-the-basic-rate-limit-for-income-tax-and-equivalent-national-insurance-contributions-thresholds-unt.
The number of people forecast to pay tax by marginal rate can also be found in Table 3.19 in the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which is available here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-november-2025/
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the £2,000 cap on national insurance-free salary sacrifice pension contributions on costs for (1) employees, and (2) employers.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The TIIN sets out the impact on employees and employers and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions-effective-from-6-april-2029/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will set out the difference between (a) recovered unpaid taxes and (b) outstanding unpaid taxes in the period since July 2024 to date.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to making sure that individuals and businesses who can pay, do so on time. Since Autumn Budget 2024, HMRC has received £782 million of investment in its debt collection activities, which will help it to collect over £12 billion more debt by the end of 2030-31.
HMRC published an update to its tax debt strategy at Budget 2025, outlining how the recent investment is helping to close the tax gap and reduce tax debt year-on-year as a percentage of receipts. The tax debt balance as a percentage of receipts fell from 5.2% in 2023-24 to 5% in 2024-25, and HMRC is aiming for this to decrease to between 3% and 4% by 2029-30.
HMRC has effective processes in place to collect debt including telephone and letter campaigns, strategic partnerships with private sector debt collection agencies, and where necessary, enforcement action. For customers who need financial support, it offers flexible Time to Pay payment plans which collect debt in affordable and sustainable instalments.
HMRC publishes quarterly performance updates on GOV.UK. You can find this here:
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is her policy to reform the business rates system to support physical businesses against online retailers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. These new lower tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The Government is paying for lower tax rates for RHL through higher rates on the top one per cent of most expensive properties. Large distribution warehouses, such as those used by online giants, will pay around £100m more in 2026/27, with this going directly to lower bills for in-person retail.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether it is her policy to use the business rates system to help support high street businesses in the context of their competition with online retailers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in our manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, while ensuring that warehouses used by online giants will pay more. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The Government is paying for lower tax rates for RHL through higher rates on the top one per cent of most expensive properties. Large distribution warehouses, such as those used by online giants, will pay around £100m more in 2026/27, with this going directly to lower bills for in-person retail.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effect of business rates increases at Gatwick, Manchester and other UK airports on passenger ticket prices and airline route planning.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to enabling investment so that airports can play their full role in the growth mission.
Properties seeing large bill increases as a result of the business rates revaluation - including airports - will benefit from a redesigned transitional relief scheme worth £3.2 billion over the next 3 years.
At Budget 2025, the government also published a Call for Evidence on Business Rates and Investment. It will explore the concerns that airports and a small number of other ratepayers have raised around the ‘Receipts & Expenditure’ valuation methodology and its impacts on long-term, high value investments. The government is seeking to address issues raised ahead of the 2029 revaluation, aiming to conclude this work in sufficient time before pre-list discussion commences.