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 risks to private credit and financial stability of the growth of private markets.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private markets are an increasingly important source of finance for the real economy and have supported growth. However, they also pose new risks, including from the use of leverage, opacity around valuations, and interconnectedness with the wider financial system.
These issues have been a growing area of focus for the Government, the Bank of England and the regulators in recent years. In the most recent remit letter to the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee, the Chancellor asked that the Committee continue to consider risks in private markets.
We continue to work closely with the regulators to deepen our understanding of these risks. This includes working closely with the Bank of England on its new System‑Wide Exploratory Scenario, which is centred on vulnerabilities in private markets., and through our membership of the international Financial Stability Board.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to devolve powers to the Mayor of London to adjust taxation rates in London.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
While the Government keeps the tax system under review, the Government has no plans to extend the Mayor’s powers to adjust tax rates in London.
However, the Government is empowering Mayors to introduce a visitor levy on short-term overnight accommodation in their region, to drive economic growth including through support for the local visitor economy. The Government has published a consultation, running until 18 February, so that the public, businesses, and local government can shape the design of the power to introduce a levy that will be devolved to local leaders. Local leaders will decide whether to introduce a levy and how the revenue raised will be used to drive growth in their region.
Asked by: Henry Tufnell (Labour - Mid and South Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of Stare for Energy Security and Net Zero, on the potential inclusion of refined petroleum products within the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism; and when the outcomes of those discussions will be made available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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. The government recognises that refineries play a role in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. Government Ministers are holding a roundtable with the refining sector on 4 February 2026 and will also publish a call for evidence on the fuel sector shortly.
Asked by: Henry Tufnell (Labour - Mid and South Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she plans to begin a formal assessment of the potential addition of refined petroleum products to the scope of the UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
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. The government recognises that refineries play a role in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. Government Ministers are holding a roundtable with the refining sector on 4 February 2026 and will also publish a call for evidence on the fuel sector shortly.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will (a) review and (b) update the Overseas Scale Rates during 2026.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Overseas Scale Rates are an administrative easement that employers can use to pay or reimburse accommodation and subsistence expenses incurred by employees who have to travel outside the UK without the need to check receipts. Where the rates do not cover the expense incurred employers can check employee receipts to reimburse these costs.
The government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process.
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many outstanding income tax rebate claims does HM Revenue and Customs have; and how many of these claims have been outstanding for more than (a) one month, (b) three months, (c) six months and (d) 12 months.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them and work hard to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.
HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.
They continue to invest in automation and to review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible.
HMRC also understands the importance of keeping the customer, and where appropriate the customer’s representative informed of progress, and are exploring ways of doing that more effectively.
In the meantime, HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response.
HMRC does not produce one overall average processing time across all Income Tax repayment routes, because timings differ depending on the repayment type and checks required.
HMRC does not hold a single consolidated measure of outstanding Income Tax repayment claims across all channels, and producing a comprehensive breakdown by the age bands requested would require manual collation from multiple systems. Gathering this data would exceed the cost threshold for answering parliamentary questions.
The majority of Income tax repayment claims are for PAYE and Self Assessment (SA) customers. There are several triggers for PAYE and SA repayments, but for those which involve the customer submitting a claim, these are treated as priority post. HMRC have an agreed and published service standard to clear 80% of priority post within 15 working days of receipt. HMRC’s correspondence performance has improved from 68.2% in April 2025 to 87.8% in November 2025. They publish regular updates on their performance at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Harriet Cross (Conservative - Gordon and Buchan)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is HM Revenue and Customs' average time for processing income tax rebate claims.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC recognise that repayments are important for customers. They prioritise them and work hard to ensure they are processed as quickly and securely as possible.
HMRC balance the provision of prompt payments to eligible customers with effective revenue protection from fraudsters.
They continue to invest in automation and to review their internal processes to ensure repayments are issued as quickly as possible.
HMRC also understands the importance of keeping the customer, and where appropriate the customer’s representative informed of progress, and are exploring ways of doing that more effectively.
In the meantime, HMRC’s online ‘Where’s My Reply’ tool can help customers understand when they can expect to receive a response.
HMRC does not produce one overall average processing time across all Income Tax repayment routes, because timings differ depending on the repayment type and checks required.
HMRC does not hold a single consolidated measure of outstanding Income Tax repayment claims across all channels, and producing a comprehensive breakdown by the age bands requested would require manual collation from multiple systems. Gathering this data would exceed the cost threshold for answering parliamentary questions.
The majority of Income tax repayment claims are for PAYE and Self Assessment (SA) customers. There are several triggers for PAYE and SA repayments, but for those which involve the customer submitting a claim, these are treated as priority post. HMRC have an agreed and published service standard to clear 80% of priority post within 15 working days of receipt. HMRC’s correspondence performance has improved from 68.2% in April 2025 to 87.8% in November 2025. They publish regular updates on their performance at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many additional people will pay the higher income child benefit charge in this financial year.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics on the number of people paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) are published each year as part of the Child Benefit Statistics annual release. The latest figures are available here:
Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK
The next release is due to be published this Spring. Figures are produced with a time lag due to Self-Assessment deadlines.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people paid the Higher Income Child Benefit Charge in (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics on the number of people paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) are published each year as part of the Child Benefit Statistics annual release. The latest figures are available here:
Child Benefit Statistics: annual release, August 2024 - GOV.UK
The next release is due to be published this Spring. Figures are produced with a time lag due to Self-Assessment deadlines.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will meet with the Valuation Office Agency to discuss the potentail impact of changes to business rates relief on pubs and breweries.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget and then bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.
Three-quarters of pubs will see bills flat or falling in April. The new relief is worth £1,650 for the average pub next year. As a sector pubs will pay 8% less in business rates in 2029 than they do right now.
The Government will also launch a review which will explore how pubs are valued for business rates.