Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the volumes of imported single-life budget tyres for heavy good vehicles from 1 August 2025 through to 31 December 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK.
Heavy goods vehicle tyres for buses or lorries are classified under commodity code 401120. 401190 would be used for other tyres in this subheading for example motor cars, agricultural and forestry vehicles. However, we are not able to distinguish between single-life budget tyres, and other kinds of tyres within these commodity codes.
HMRC releases imports and exports 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).
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to improve access to everyday banking services for residents and small businesses in rural and coastal communities in the context of high street bank branch closures.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking is changing, with many customers benefitting from the convenience and flexibility of managing their finances remotely. However, Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and is committed to supporting sufficient access for customers in rural areas, coastal communities and across the country.
Through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, the Government gave the Financial Conduct Authority regulatory responsibility for access to cash. Its rules ensure cash continues to be a viable method of payment for the millions of people who depend on it by providing reasonable access to cash withdrawal and deposit facilities for individuals and businesses, including free services for personal accounts.
In addition to traditional bank branches, the financial services industry is committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs across the UK by the end of this Parliament. Over 270 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 210 are already open. Government is working closely with industry on this commitment, including through regular ministerial engagement. For example, on 8 January, I chaired a roundtable with banks, Cash Access UK and UK Finance to discuss banking hubs.
Banking hubs are allocated based on independent assessments by LINK, which consider factors such as branch closures, cash reliance and community vulnerability. The criteria also differentiate between rural and urban areas. For example, LINK applies a wider three-mile catchment area in rural locations to recognise that villages often rely on nearby market towns.
Customers can also access everyday banking services at a nearby Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers of participating banks to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at over 10,000 Post Office branches across the UK. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile.
Beyond bank branches, banking hubs and Post Office banking services, some banks also provide points of access through initiatives such as pop-up services in libraries and community centres, or mobile banking vans serving remote areas. The Government supports initiatives which give customers access to in-person banking, as well as digital access.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an estimate of the level of import of single-life budget tyres for 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. However, due to the commodity codes used to identify goods being imported or exported, we are not able to distinguish between single-life budget tyres, and other kinds of tyres.
Tyres are classified to several commodity codes within Heading 4011 of the UK Tariff. It is not possible to identify single-life budget tyres within any of the commodity codes found within Heading 4011.
HMRC releases imports and exports 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) .
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk
Asked by: Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increases in the Economic Crime Levy on not-for-profit housing associations.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published its summary of the impacts of the increases to the Economic Crime (Anti-Money Laundering) Levy in the policy paper titled "Economic Crime Levy – changes to bands and charges”. [1]
The Levy was designed with simplicity and proportionality at its core, to limit the administrative burden on regulated entities. Accordingly, it applies to any entity that carries out activity regulated by the Money Laundering Regulations and no entity pays more than 0.1% of its revenue in charges.
A full review of the Levy will be undertaken in 2027.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges/economic-crime-levy-changes-to-bands-and-charges
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the Financial Conduct Authority in its secondary international competitiveness and growth objective.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the introduction of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) secondary international competitiveness and growth objective in 2023, the FCA has made meaningful progress in working to further the objective. For example, last year, the FCA consulted on proposals that will reduce reporting requirements for more than 36,000 firms, with expected annual savings of over £28 million. The FCA also recently launched the Scale-Up Unit jointly with the Prudential Regulation Authority, which will make it simpler for scaling firms to get timely responses to regulatory queries and access expert support. This will support entrepreneurs to focus on developing new products, hiring staff, and bringing investment into local economies.
The Government welcomes the two reports the FCA published in 2024 and 2025, and the accompanying metrics, outlining the FCA’s performance against the objective, as well as the letters from the FCA Chief Executive to the Prime Minister in January 2025 and December 2025 to outline progress on almost 50 measures to support growth through financial services regulation.
The Treasury continues to work closely with the FCA to hold it to account and challenge it to go further to support the government’s growth mission while furthering its objectives. This includes through the regular performance reviews the Economic Secretary holds with the FCA Chief Executive, introduced in 2025 as part of the government’s wider Regulation Action Plan.
Asked by: Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to limit the period of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System Sandbox to less than five years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) Sandbox is due to last five years, until 5 June 2030, with the possibility of extension.
The Treasury is working with the Financial Conduct Authority to monitor outcomes during the lifetime of the sandbox and retains the ability to terminate or make the sandbox arrangements permanent at an earlier stage if appropriate, subject to Parliamentary approval.
In any case, the Treasury is committed to providing transparency, certainty and clear communications to PISCES operators and market participants.
Asked by: Lord Altrincham (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill on pension saving behaviour in the private sector; and whether they expect the measures to have a disproportionate effect compared to the public sector.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR set out in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook that they do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes.
This change applies to all employers who use salary sacrifice for pensions, regardless of whether they are public sector or private sector. Many public sector employers are already prohibited from using salary sacrifice for pensions under government rules of "managing Public Money".
Saving into a pension, including through salary sacrifice, remains highly tax advantageous. The Government continues to provide over £70bn of income tax and NICs relief on pension contributions each year.
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice and is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/salary-sacrifice-reform-for-pension-contributions-effective-from-6-april-2029
Asked by: Anna Sabine (Liberal Democrat - Frome and East Somerset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support banking hub customers who rely on cheque payments, in the context of Lloyds Banking group no longer allowing cheque deposits through Post Offices and banking hubs.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking is changing, with many customers benefiting from the convenience and flexibility of managing their finances remotely. However, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking services to communities and is committed to supporting sufficient access for customers across the country.
In addition to traditional bank branches, the financial services industry is committed to rolling out 350 banking hubs across the UK by the end of this Parliament. Over 270 hubs have been announced so far, and more than 210 are already open.
Banking hubs provide access to everyday counter services through Post Office staff, including cash withdrawals and deposits, balance enquiries and bill payments. They also contain dedicated rooms where customers can see community bankers from their own bank to carry out other banking services.
The range of services available through Post Office counters in banking hubs, including whether cheque deposits are accepted and processed, is determined by the commercial arrangements between individual banks and the Post Office. A significant number of retail banks continue to offer cheque depositing services through Post Office counters.
Where cheque depositing is not available at a hub counter for particular banks, such as Lloyds Banking Group, customers continue to have alternative options to pay in cheques. These include paying in cheques at Lloyds Banking Group branches where available, or digitally via mobile banking apps using cheque imaging technology. In addition, customers unable to travel to a bank branch, or for whom digital banking is not suitable, may submit cheques by sending them in a stamped addressed envelope via any post box or by handing them in at their local Post Office for posting.
Banks may also provide postal options for customers who are unable to travel to a branch or for whom digital banking is not suitable. Lloyds Banking Group provides a freepost address service for vulnerable customers who previously used a Post Office counter to deposit cheques, as well as for customers who have only deposited cheques through a Post Office or banking hub.
The Government continues to engage with the banking industry to improve the consistency and functionality of services provided through banking hubs, including through recent discussions with banks, Cash Access UK and UK Finance.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to help SMEs to increase employment opportunities.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are helping SMEs grow and employ more people through our largest ever injection of capital into the British Business Bank. Over the next five years, the British Business Bank will increase annual deployment by two-thirds, aiming to unlock around £26 billion of private capital alongside £13 billion in public funding, and enable up to an additional £10 billion in small business lending through guarantees.
The Government protected the smallest businesses from the changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this tax year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.
At Autumn Budget 2025, we announced that we are supporting SMEs by changing the rules to fully fund SME apprenticeships training costs for eligible people under the age of 25.
Asked by: Beccy Cooper (Labour - Worthing West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of extending VAT exemption on defibrillators to include purchases of units installed in private homes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government currently provides VAT reliefs to aid the purchase of defibrillators. For example, when an Automated External Defibrillator is purchased with funds provided by a charity and then donated to an eligible body, no VAT is charged. Furthermore, all state schools in England have been fitted with AEDs.
Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.
A key consideration for any potential new VAT relief is whether savings would be passed on to the consumer. Evidence suggests that businesses only partially pass on any savings from lower VAT rates.