Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what amount of interest has been paid to commercial banks on central bank reserves in each of the last ten years; and whether they have considered ending such payments.
Answered by Lord Livermore
Data on the interest paid on central bank reserves backed by bonds held in the Asset Purchase Facility is made publicly available by the Office for National Statistics in its monthly Public Sector Finances publication.
Time period | Interest payable |
Dataset identifier code | MDD7 |
2015 | 1,872 |
2016 | 1,515 |
2017 | 1,501 |
2018 | 3,434 |
2019 | 3,374 |
2020 | 1,078 |
2021 | 941 |
2022 | 13,394 |
2023 | 38,233 |
2024 | 36,335 |
2025 | 25,910 |
These data refer to reserves backed only by bonds held in the Asset Purchase Facility. While data on total interest paid is not available, the Bank of England does publish the aggregate level of outstanding reserves and the Bank Rate.
Paying interest on reserves is an important part of the transmission of monetary policy to the real economy and there are no plans to change the way reserves are remunerated at the Bank of England.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what amounts associated with the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility are included in the cumulative government debt; and whether they plan to exclude them from the total.
Answered by Lord Livermore
Information on the contribution to debt from the Bank of England and Asset Purchase Facility are routinely published in the monthly Public Sector Finances statistical release. The latest release, published by the Office for National Statistics on 20th March, showed that the impact on government debt from Asset Purchase Facility gilt holdings was £85.1 billion at the end of February 2026.
The Government's fiscal rules target net financial debt (Public sector net financial liabilities), to prioritise investment to drive long-term growth while getting debt falling as a share of the economy. Net financial debt includes the Bank of England’s balance sheet activities, including the Asset Purchase Facility.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to revise regulation of shadow banks following the collapse of Market Financial Solutions.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Treasury continues to work closely with the Bank of England and the regulators to monitor and respond to developments in the non-bank financial sector. The Treasury keeps the regulatory framework under review and is closely engaged in international work to understand and mitigate financial stability risks in respect of non-banks, including at the Financial Stability Board and G7.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many adults in the UK they expect not to pay any income tax in the financial year 2025–26.
Answered by Lord Livermore
Data on the number of UK adults who are not liable to pay income tax are not currently held or published.
HMRC publishes projections for the total number of Income Taxpayers per year in Table 2.1 of the Income Tax liabilities statistics. [1] Current projections show that there are estimated to be 39.1 million Income Taxpayers in the UK in the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
The Office for National Statistics publishes projections for the total number of people in the UK by age in their population projections. [2] They currently estimate there to be 55.9 million individuals aged 18 or over in the UK in 2025.
[1] Table 2.1 of our Accredited official statistics (gov.uk).
[2] Zipped population projections data files, UK - Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to require all large companies to publish a country-by-country report.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The government does not currently plan to require large companies to publish their country-by-country reports. The government keeps tax policy under review but believes that public country-by-country reporting should apply consistently across all multinationals, and therefore an approach should be developed internationally.
More widely, the government’s ambition is to design out non-compliance in the tax system and make the tax system easier and quicker to deal with for taxpayers, delivering the modern and digital service taxpayers expect.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of bank branch closures on small businesses.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and businesses, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority.
That is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 150 are already open.
Cash Access UK, who oversee the rollout of banking hubs, reported from their research in Brixham (Devon) and Rochford (Essex), in October 2024 that spend on the high street is 71% higher amongst those who have visited the banking hub. Almost half (47%) of businesses surveyed said they have experienced an increase in footfall thanks to the banking hub.
In addition, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers, including business customers, fairly. Where firms fall short of expectations, the FCA may ask for closures to be paused or other options to be put in place.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional tax revenues that would be raised if the tax-free allowance for dividends was abolished.
Answered by Lord Livermore
HMRC publishes estimates of the direct effects of illustrative tax changes, including changes to the dividend allowance, which are available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes
The additional revenue gained from abolishing the dividend allowance may not be completely scalable to the published ready reckoner because the distribution of dividend income may not be uniform and therefore scalable. Furthermore, the assumed behavioural responses may not be scalable either.
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional tax revenues would be raised by abolishing the allowance for Capital Gains Tax.
Answered by Lord Livermore
To produce an estimate for the tax revenues raised from the abolition of the Annual Exempt Amount (AEA) on Capital Gains Tax (CGT) would require a disproportionate cost.
Estimates for the tax relief afforded by the AEA can be found in HMRC’s structural tax relief publication [1] . Please note that these estimates do not represent the gain to the Exchequer should the relief be abolished as they do not explicitly model additional behavioural responses or wider economic impacts that could result from changes to the relief. The latest published estimates also reflect the AEA being £12,300 for individuals in 2022/23, compared to the current AEA of £3,000.
You may also be interested in HMRC’s direct effects of illustrative tax changes publication [2] which includes estimates for an illustrative change to the AEA. Please note that these estimates are non-linear and asymmetrical. For example, doubling or halving the AEA estimates will not accurately predict the change in revenue for a proportionate change in the AEA.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/minor-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs/structural-tax-relief-statistics-december-2024
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes/direct-effects-of-illustrative-tax-changes-bulletin-january-2025
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government which piece of legislation originally granted exemptions to the Duchy of Cornwall from paying corporation tax and capital gains tax; and what is the monetary value of these exemptions for the last 10 years.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Duchy of Cornwall is not liable to pay corporation tax as it is a Crown body subject to Crown exemption. This is a matter of common law.
The Prince of Wales receives the annual income generated by the Duchy of Cornwall, but is not entitled to the capital of the Duchy. While the Crown exemption applies to income received from the Duchy, the Prince of Wales pays tax voluntarily on his income received from the Duchy of Cornwall to the extent that is not used to meet official expenditure. The Prince of Wales is otherwise subject to taxation in the normal way. These arrangements are set out in The Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation, which is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/memorandum-of-understanding-on-royal-taxation-2023
Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much uncollected tax they have written off in each of the past 10 years.
Answered by Lord Livermore
Financial Year | Write-offs | Remissions | Total Losses |
2023-24 | £5,049m | £567m | £5,616m |
2022-23 | £3,154m | £596m | £3,750m |
2021-22 | £1,892m | £515m | £2,407m |
2020-21 | £1,517m | £445m | £1,962m |
2019-20 | £3,538m | £546m | £4,084m |
2018-19 | £3,669m | £794m | £4,463m |
2017-18 | £3,370m | £367m | £3,737m |
2016-17 | £3,564m | £303m | £3,867m |
2015-16 | £3,171m | £604m | £3,775m |
2014-15 | £3,865m | £372m | £4,237m |
HMRC revenue losses are made up of remissions and write-offs. Remissions are debts capable of recovery, but HMRC has decided not to pursue the liability on the grounds of value for money. Write-offs are debts that are considered to be irrecoverable because there is no practical means for pursuing the liability.