Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend the exemption to pay income tax to pensioners with private pensions who receive the same income as those who solely receive the maximum state pension.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to making sure older people can live with the dignity and respect they deserve in retirement. The State Pension is the foundation of the support available to them. Over the course of this Parliament, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently projected to go up by around £2,100. This reflects the Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock for the duration of this Parliament. This will increase the basic and new State Pension by 4.8% next April, boosting pensioner incomes by up to £575 a year and strengthening retirement security.
When it comes to taxes, social security benefits are treated differently depending on why they are paid. Generally, benefits that replace income, like the State Pension, are taxable. However, I can confirm that those whose sole income is the basic and full new State Pension, without any increments, will not pay any income tax this tax year or next.
Furthermore, the Chancellor has said that those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax over this Parliament. At the Budget, the Government announced that it will achieve this by easing the administrative burden for pensioners so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027/28. The Government will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026 to UIN 111208, whether tobacco duty increases since October 2024 and the application of the RPI+2% tobacco duty escalator will preserve the retail price differential between tobacco products and vaping products without the £2.20 one-off increase due to take effect on 1 October 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To discourage non-smokers and young people from taking up vaping, and to raise revenue, the government is introducing Vaping Products Duty with effect from 1 October 2026. This will be accompanied by an equivalent one-off increase in Tobacco Duty, to preserve the price differential and maintain the financial incentive for existing smokers to switch from tobacco to vaping.
Further information can be found in the Tax Information and Impact Note published at Budget which can be found here:
Changes to tobacco duty rates from 26 November 2025 and 1 October 2026 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow and Gateshead East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 12 February 2026 to UIN 111207, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of applying the £2.20 one-off tobacco duty increase in addition to the RPI+2% escalator on CPI inflation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) are responsible for estimating the impact of Government policies on inflation. The OBR did not include an assessment of the contribution of tobacco excise duty including the one-off increase to inflation in the November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend VAT relief to community-based services like The Filo Project, that provide socialising activities and support for those with dementia.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Supplies of welfare services, including the provision of care for people with permanent disabilities and dementia, are exempt from VAT if they are supplied by eligible bodies, such as public bodies or charities.
Because community interest companies (CICs) are not charities in law, they must meet the criteria of being state-regulated in order to provide VAT-exempt care services. This is to ensure that the VAT relief is carefully targeted at private providers offering safe and high-quality welfare services.
The Government recognises that there are private organisations that bring value to the care sector without being regulated, but extending the VAT relief to include these would have to be carefully balanced against the risks that it poses
More generally, VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s second largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of disapplying VAT for the conversion of non-residential buildings into accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To support the delivery of new homes, conversions of buildings from a commercial to a residential use are subject to a reduced rate of VAT at 5%. The reduced 5% rate also applies to conversions of buildings from one residential use to another and to renovations of residential buildings that have been empty for at least two years.
Further information on VAT on building works can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the refining sector not being included in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism or a similar support measure on trends in the level of growth of that sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the role that refineries play in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. The Government published a call for evidence (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector-call-for-evidence) on the future of the fuel sector on 23rd February 2026 in order to help understand the current state of the refining sector.
As announced at Budget 2025, the government is considering the feasibility and impacts of including refined products in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in future.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2026 to Question 107755 on Hospitality Industry VAT, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of lessons learned from (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Italy and (d) the Republic of Ireland on introducing hospitality VAT rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is aware that some European countries apply reduced VAT rates to hospitality, reflecting different tax systems, policy choices and wider fiscal contexts.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Reduced rates of VAT come at a significant cost to the Exchequer, reduce the revenue available for vital public services, and must represent value for money for the taxpayer.
The Government keeps all taxes under review, with decisions on VAT rates taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what modelling (a) she and (b) the OBR has carried out on the distributional impact of measures on salary sacrifice for pensions in the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary 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.
Almost all – 95% - of those earning £30,000 or less who use salary sacrifice will be entirely unaffected by the changes. 74% of basic rate taxpayers using salary sacrifice will be protected by the cap.
Everyone using salary sacrifice will still benefit from the NICs advantages available up to the £2,000 cap.
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.
Asked by: Lizzi Collinge (Labour - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of abolishing VAT on defibrillators.
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.