Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the volume and value of trade passing through the ports of (1) Holyhead, and (2) Fishguard; and how these figures compare to corresponding figures from 2015.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The volume and value of trade passing through the ports of Holyhead and Fishguard in 2015 and 2024 (latest complete year of data) is as follows:
|
| EU trade | non-EU Trade |
2015 | - | 0 |
2024 | 13,257,529,744 | 20,840,991 |
1b: Trade in Goods Volume (kg) through Holyhead for 2015 and 2024 |
| EU trade | non-EU Trade |
2015 | - | 0 |
2024 | 2,038,324,780 | 968,560 |
| ||||
2a. Trade in Goods Value (£) through Fishguard for 2015 and 2024 | ||||
| ||||||||||||
| EU trade | non-EU Trade |
| |||||||||
2015 | - | 23,343 |
| |||||||||
2024 | 231,002,478 | 65,770,180 |
| |||||||||
Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics, uktradeinfo, compiled on 10th September 2025
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not have port data prior to 2021 for EU trade as the UK was part of the European Union and customs declarations were not required for these movements. Trade data for intra-EU movements was collected via monthly Intrastat declarations which did not collect information on ports.
Figures for EU trade combine EU imports and EU exports. Similarly, figures for non-EU trade combine Non-EU imports and non-EU exports
The figures above exclude trade in low value consignments (namely imports and exports of an individual value of £873 or less) since HMRC does not have port data for trade in low value consignments.
Holyhead is primarily an EU facing port with no reported data for goods moving from/to non-EU countries in 2015.
The data provided covers goods that have been declared for import or export from either Holyhead or Fishguard but excludes data for goods entering Customs warehouses, freezones or freeports, and goods in transit (even when transhipment or temporary admissions are involved).
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an accredited official statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com).
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent tax changes on employment levels in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that the nature and rate of taxes on business is important to the hospitality sector, and the success and competitiveness of the UK. Given the difficult fiscal conditions we inherited, the Government asked all businesses to help contribute to fixing the foundations.
The UK hospitality sector is largely made up of small businesses. The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all this year.
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and local businesses across the UK, and we frequently engage with the sector to understand their concerns.
Asked by: Jessica Toale (Labour - Bournemouth West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department has taken to provide additional clarity to businesses when engaging with HMRC to ensure compliance with money laundering regulations.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs supports supervised businesses by engaging through a range of channels, providing effective information and guidance. HMRC publishes detailed guidance on how to comply with the money laundering regulations, documents explaining risks for each supervised sector, and additional ad-hoc alerts.
HMRC supplements the core guidance and risk documents through education delivered via various methods including mailings, webinars and YouTube videos. HMRC also regularly engages with supervised sectors through trade bodies, representative groups and directly with major operators, enabling two-way feedback on sector developments, risks and compliance issues.
Asked by: Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Livermore on 8 July (HL8787 and HL8788), how requiring users to submit quarterly updates of income and expenditure in addition to submitting a tax return will (1) reduce errors, and (2) save time.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Making Tax Digital (MTD) quarterly updates support taxpayers in getting their tax right by ensuring timely and accurate record keeping, enabling tailored digital prompts and allowing taxpayers to see estimates of their emerging tax liability throughout the tax year.
This will help to reduce errors, and the time taxpayers need to spend managing their tax affairs. Software will automatically draw data for the updates from the digital records. With income and expenditure already categorised, the end-of-year return will also become quicker and easier, as all the information will be readily available in the software to submit.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent shipments of illicit oil to the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC leads on the enforcement of trade sanctions at the border. The department implements controls to help prevent goods being exported or imported in breach of sanctions and respond to breaches when these do occur.
At UK ports and airports, HMRC in partnership with Border Force carries out targeted risk and intelligence-based checks to ensure traders are compliant with sanction measures and identify potential breaches. This includes checking certain goods being imported into the country or exported to non-sanctioned countries to ensure there’s no evidence that these goods will be diverted to a sanctioned country.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many small and medium-sized enterprises in (a) the UK and (b) Buckingham and Bletchley constituency have exported to China in the last three years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC releases information as Official Statistics called the Trade in Goods by Business Characteristics, which is available via gov.uk. (www.uktradeinfo.com).
Trade in Goods by Business Characteristics includes exports to certain pre-selected Partner Countries that includes China. This data includes exports by Business Size (Number of employees) broken down by the following categories: 0; 1 to 9; 10 to 49; 50 to 249; 250+; Unknown. The user will be able to work out SME by aggregating the first four categories in this list.
Links to the relevant releases for 2021, 2022, and 2023 are below (see tab “2. Business Size” on each release):
The release for 2024 data will be published on 27 November 2025.
The breakdown by Business Size (Number of Employees) is not available for areas smaller than UK as a whole.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of legislative changes to require HMRC to prioritise investigations of (a) promoters and (b) perpetrators of fraudulent schemes over investigations of (i) professional footballers, (ii) loan charge victims and (c) other individuals misled into such schemes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC already takes action against those behind tax avoidance schemes by using a variety of legislation and tools to challenge promoters and others in the tax avoidance supply chain.
HMRC also regularly publishes information on tax avoidance schemes, those who promote them and others connected to avoidance schemes, to help customers identify, avoid, and exit them. As of 4 September 2025, HMRC has published details of more than 170 tax avoidance schemes and named more than 170 promoters on GOV.UK
The Government is determined to do more to close in on promoters of marketed tax avoidance and recently consulted on a package of measures to strengthen existing powers. This includes proposals to:
Where individuals owe tax, HMRC seeks to take a supportive and proportionate approach to recovering the amount due, including providing extra support for individuals who need it and offering ‘Time to Pay’ instalment arrangements where appropriate.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of HMRC’s procedures for (a) identifying and (b) protecting people who are victims of crime.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government takes the issue of fraud extremely seriously, recognising its impact on businesses and taxpayers.
HMRC regularly reviews its approach to identifying and supporting customers who are victims of crime to ensure they are provided with support tailored to their individual circumstances.
HMRC is committed to fulfilling its responsibilities under the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime in England and Wales, and equivalent frameworks in Scotland and Northern Ireland, ensuring they are afforded the rights and entitlements set out in the Code.
HMRC does this by ensuring guidance and training is in place for all advisors on how to identify taxpayers who need extra support and provide reasonable adjustments to meet their needs. For example, in certain circumstances HMRC can give an extension to a deadline or spend more time on the telephone to support an individual who needs extra help. Further information on this and other reasonable adjustments can be found at: Get help from HMRC if you need extra support: Help you can get - GOV.UK.
In addition, HMRC’s Fraud Prevention Centre focuses on protecting, detecting and responding to identity-related security issues, developing this service with improvements aimed at aligning with industry best practice.
HMRC has published its commitment to supporting customers in the HMRC Charter and the principles of support for customers who need extra help.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main buildings in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Property Agency (GPA) manages the flying of flags above 1 Horse Guards Road (1HGR), Feethams House and other HM Treasury buildings. Under instructions from Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the Union Flag is always flown unless instructed otherwise by DCMS.
Asked by: Edward Argar (Conservative - Melton and Syston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of correspondence from hon. Members to her Department was responded to within the required period in each month between July 2024 and August 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since July 2024, Treasury ministers have received over 13,000 pieces of correspondence from Members.
Officials and Private Offices are working hard to clear outstanding cases as quickly as possible.
Correspondence performance data is published within HM Treasury’s Annual Report and Accounts.