Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the functionality of HMRC’s online personal tax accounts to include Making Tax Digital requirements from April 2026.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will be rolled out from 2026 to simplify the process by which self-employed individuals and landlords make their annual tax returns. It will also reduce error and help to ensure self-employed individuals and landlords pay the right amount of tax. This in turn will help tackle the tax gap and generate an expected £1.95 billion of additional tax revenue by 2029-30 to fund vital public services.

Businesses that currently use MTD for VAT have reported several benefits including time savings, increased tax confidence, greater accuracy, and improved business operations in comparison to manual processes. Extending MTD for Income Tax will extend these benefits to a further 2.75 million self-employed individuals and landlords

MTD for Income Tax will require users to keep electronic tax records, submit quarterly updates of income and expenditure and submit a Tax Return. Users will need to complete these steps using commercial software. The government is not building functionality to allow MTD users to complete these steps on their online Personal or Business Tax Accounts. However, MTD users will be able to see details of information submitted within software through their Personal or Business Tax Accounts. This includes information about their quarterly updates and estimated tax liability.

The government has worked with the software industry to ensure there are free and low-cost software options available, alongside a wider range of software choices to suit varying needs and budgets. The use of software offers more flexible and tailored ways for users to manage their tax affairs compared to HMRC’s online services.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government why they are extending the Making Tax Digital regime to individual taxpayers from April 2026.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will be rolled out from 2026 to simplify the process by which self-employed individuals and landlords make their annual tax returns. It will also reduce error and help to ensure self-employed individuals and landlords pay the right amount of tax. This in turn will help tackle the tax gap and generate an expected £1.95 billion of additional tax revenue by 2029-30 to fund vital public services.

Businesses that currently use MTD for VAT have reported several benefits including time savings, increased tax confidence, greater accuracy, and improved business operations in comparison to manual processes. Extending MTD for Income Tax will extend these benefits to a further 2.75 million self-employed individuals and landlords

MTD for Income Tax will require users to keep electronic tax records, submit quarterly updates of income and expenditure and submit a Tax Return. Users will need to complete these steps using commercial software. The government is not building functionality to allow MTD users to complete these steps on their online Personal or Business Tax Accounts. However, MTD users will be able to see details of information submitted within software through their Personal or Business Tax Accounts. This includes information about their quarterly updates and estimated tax liability.

The government has worked with the software industry to ensure there are free and low-cost software options available, alongside a wider range of software choices to suit varying needs and budgets. The use of software offers more flexible and tailored ways for users to manage their tax affairs compared to HMRC’s online services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential implications for policy of the recommended Areas of Improvement of the report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body, Sepsis: investigating under the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), published on 26 June.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition, taken very seriously by the Government. The Government therefore welcomes the three patient safety investigation reports on sepsis, published on 26 June by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

Together, the Department and NHS England are closely considering the HSSIB’s recently recommended Areas of Improvement. This will include working with stakeholders to assess implications for current policies and guidance, including reinforcing the updated Royal College of Physicians National Early Warning Score guidance, as well as implications for future policy and development.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the development and implementation of a sepsis pathway, a standardised treatment plan to ensure sepsis patients receive the right care from the point at which they present their symptoms to a clinician through to receiving their diagnosis.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Sepsis has no specific diagnostic test, and the signs and symptoms can vary hugely. As a result, sepsis can be challenging to diagnose. It is therefore critical that all acutely unwell patients are treated promptly and appropriately regardless of cause. The National Early Warning Score (NEWS2) is a clinical screening tool for the recognition of acutely unwell adults, including those with sepsis. NEWS2 supports clinicians to determine the need for immediate care and is used in 99% of acute trusts and 100% of ambulance trusts in England.

To further support clinical staff and ensure unwell patients are identified promptly and are immediately started on life-saving treatment, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence published updated national guidance in March 2024 on sepsis recognition, diagnosis, and early management, which staff can access alongside NHS England’s online sepsis training programmes. Furthermore, the Department continues to fund research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to improve our understanding of sepsis diagnosis and immediate management.

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 introducing Making Tax Digital for smaller taxpayers will help reduce the tax gap.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Making Tax Digital (MTD) helps reduce the estimated £22 billion tax gap across all taxes caused through error and failure to take reasonable care. It does this by requiring closer-to-real-time digital record keeping, underpinned by quarterly updates and submission of the end-of-year tax return using MTD compatible software. MTD for VAT is currently predicted to deliver cumulative additional revenue (ATR) of over £4 billion by 2029-30 by reducing taxpayer errors.

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), what calculations support the statement that Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will generate an expected £1.95 billion of additional tax revenue by 2029–30.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is expected to generate £1.95 billion in additional tax revenue by 2029–30 by reducing taxpayer errors through digital record-keeping and quarterly updates using MTD-compatible software.

The estimate is the expected reduction in the tax gap due to error and failure to take reasonable care among Self Assessment taxpayers based on the number of taxpayers expected to participate in MTD, and on evidence from evaluation of MTD for VAT.

Additional revenue is also expected from digital prompts to encourage more accurate reporting, with effects estimated using controlled trials.

These calculations have been certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Found: member 6/7 Marie Goldman MP (from November 2024) 5/5 Steve Hails, external member 6/7 Lord Mackinlay of Richborough

Found: member 6/7 Marie Goldman MP (from November 2024) 5/5 Steve Hails, external member 6/7 Lord Mackinlay of Richborough

Found: Stuart Ramsay (Client Team) Lord Collins of Highbury Charlotte Simmonds (Client Team) Lord Mackinlay of Richborough