Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has used artificial intelligence to assist with drafting (a) legislation and (b) policy in the past 12 months.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
AI is not used by the department to draft legislation.
Officials use AI tools in combination with a range of evidence, collaboration, challenge and technology to deliver policy drafts. They use their judgement and a variety of data sources to apply a critical lens to their advice and analysis to ensure high quality.
Officials use HMT-GPT, the department’s internal AI tool, and Copilot, which are both secure and quality assured for civil service use. Guidance and training for responsible AI usage is provided to staff, making it clear that tools are designed to assist with work, not to replace colleagues in decision making processes.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2026 to Question 126551, what steps she is taking to ensure that the merits of the HMRC approved software to the user are maintained for the remainder of this Parliament.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has ensured a wide range of MTD-compatible software is available to support businesses of all budgets and sizes, and will continue to work closely with the software industry to ensure that Making Tax Digital (MTD) software meets the needs of taxpayers.
Software providers must meet a clear set of criteria and Terms of Use for their products to be recognised as MTD-compatible. These include requirements on security, data protection and accessibility, as well as the ability to support core user journeys and portability of data.
A taxpayer is not locked into a single MTD-compatible software product and can change provider at any time. As their business needs evolve over time, taxpayers may find alternative software becomes the most appropriate option for their circumstances.
HMRC has published guidance to support taxpayers in finding the right software here:
www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-that-works-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for economic growth of the proportion of UK household wealth held directly in equities being lower than in other G7 countries.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide, which will also benefit UK capital markets and the wider economy. That is why the Chancellor has set out a series of bold measures to get Britain investing again, including the reforms to ISAs announced at Autumn Budget.
The Government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working closely with the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
In addition, HM Treasury has worked closely with the FCA on the introduction of targeted support, which went live on 6 April. This allows authorised firms, with the relevant permission, to provide customers with proactive help on investment decisions, including suggesting specific products – helping people to act on information and make choices that are right for their circumstances.
In the longer term, HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to strengthen financial education. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, published in November 2025, the Government announced that financial education will be made compulsory in primary schools in England, alongside a renewed focus on financial education in secondary schools.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of high levels of household cash savings on long-term financial resilience and returns for UK consumers.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide, which will also benefit UK capital markets and the wider economy. That is why the Chancellor has set out a series of bold measures to get Britain investing again, including the reforms to ISAs announced at Autumn Budget.
The Government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working closely with the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
In addition, HM Treasury has worked closely with the FCA on the introduction of targeted support, which went live on 6 April. This allows authorised firms, with the relevant permission, to provide customers with proactive help on investment decisions, including suggesting specific products – helping people to act on information and make choices that are right for their circumstances.
In the longer term, HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to strengthen financial education. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, published in November 2025, the Government announced that financial education will be made compulsory in primary schools in England, alongside a renewed focus on financial education in secondary schools.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to encourage greater participation in equity investment among UK households.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide, which will also benefit UK capital markets and the wider economy. That is why the Chancellor has set out a series of bold measures to get Britain investing again, including the reforms to ISAs announced at Autumn Budget.
The Government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working closely with the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
In addition, HM Treasury has worked closely with the FCA on the introduction of targeted support, which went live on 6 April. This allows authorised firms, with the relevant permission, to provide customers with proactive help on investment decisions, including suggesting specific products – helping people to act on information and make choices that are right for their circumstances.
In the longer term, HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to strengthen financial education. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, published in November 2025, the Government announced that financial education will be made compulsory in primary schools in England, alongside a renewed focus on financial education in secondary schools.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer to Question UIN 123141, of 31 March 2026, if she knows when the OBR expect to publish their first set of areas of research interest.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has full discretion over the timing of its publication programme.
The November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook stated that the OBR will be publishing its first set of areas of research interest in the coming months.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking with other Government departments to improve (i) financial education and (ii) investment literacy among the public.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide, which will also benefit UK capital markets and the wider economy. That is why the Chancellor has set out a series of bold measures to get Britain investing again, including the reforms to ISAs announced at Autumn Budget.
The Government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working closely with the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
In addition, HM Treasury has worked closely with the FCA on the introduction of targeted support, which went live on 6 April. This allows authorised firms, with the relevant permission, to provide customers with proactive help on investment decisions, including suggesting specific products – helping people to act on information and make choices that are right for their circumstances.
In the longer term, HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to strengthen financial education. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, published in November 2025, the Government announced that financial education will be made compulsory in primary schools in England, alongside a renewed focus on financial education in secondary schools.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that regulatory frameworks support greater access to low-cost retail investment products.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide, which will also benefit UK capital markets and the wider economy. That is why the Chancellor has set out a series of bold measures to get Britain investing again, including the reforms to ISAs announced at Autumn Budget.
The Government and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working closely with the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
In addition, HM Treasury has worked closely with the FCA on the introduction of targeted support, which went live on 6 April. This allows authorised firms, with the relevant permission, to provide customers with proactive help on investment decisions, including suggesting specific products – helping people to act on information and make choices that are right for their circumstances.
In the longer term, HM Treasury is working closely with the Department for Education to strengthen financial education. As part of the Financial Inclusion Strategy, published in November 2025, the Government announced that financial education will be made compulsory in primary schools in England, alongside a renewed focus on financial education in secondary schools.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to take account of the impact of SUVs on (a) road maintenance, (b) pedestrian safety, and (c) public space in vehicle taxation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Vehicles used or kept on public roads pay Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). Cars registered on or after 1 April 2017 pay a variable first year VED rate according to the emissions of the vehicle, before moving to a standard annual rate after the first year.
For certain vehicle classifications, such as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), VED liability is calculated in accordance with the vehicle's weight in order to reflect in part the road damage caused by heavier vehicles. However, this is not the case for cars, due in part to their relatively lower impact on road damage compared to heavier vehicles.
When making changes to the tax system, the Government considers a range of trade-offs, such as complexity in the tax system and administrative burdens.
The Government annually reviews the rates and thresholds of taxes and reliefs to ensure that they are appropriate and reflect the current state of the economy. The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events in the context of the public finances.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what were tax receipts from Carbon Price Support in each of the last five financial years for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Carbon Price Support (CPS) tax receipts can be found in the Environmental Taxes Bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/environmental-taxes-bulletin.