Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the length of time of a call to HMRC before it was answered.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC publishes its call waiting times on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding Staffordshire County Council has received from His Majesty’s Government since 1 May 2025.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Funding for individual local authorities is primarily distributed through the Local Government Finance Settlement. Details of the funding allocated to Staffordshire County Council through the Settlement for 2025–26, as well as its Core Spending Power, are published online and can be accessed here Core Spending Power table: final local government finance settlement 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK.Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the amount of Landfill Tax (a) avoided and (b) evaded by the operators of landfill sites.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC estimates the size of the tax gap, which is the difference between the amount of tax that should, in theory, be paid to HMRC, and what is actually paid. These statistics are published annually and are available at: Measuring tax gaps 2025 edition: tax gap estimates for 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest estimate for England and Northern Ireland of the Landfill Tax gap is 22.6% of the theoretical Landfill Tax liabilities, or £150 million in absolute terms, for the 2023 to 2024 tax year.
In the last 5 years, HMRC Landfill Tax compliance activities have generated a compliance yield of £1.3 billion.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking through the tax system to support small businesses in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Small businesses are vital to high streets, local communities, and economic growth. At Autumn Budget 2024, the Government recognised this by:
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not had recent discussions with the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC). However, the Government works closely with the CWEIC by, for example, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office providing funding to the CWEIC in recent years for the biennial Commonwealth Business Forum, which is held on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase access to capital for businesses based in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that businesses across the UK, including in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire, can access the capital they need to grow. Working with the British Business Bank (BBB), we are delivering a range of targeted interventions, including through loan guarantee programmes and equity investments, designed to address regional funding gaps and unlock investment opportunities.
Businesses in Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme are already benefitting from the £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II (MEIF). It is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses across the Midlands and providing funds to businesses that might otherwise not receive investment and helping to break down barriers in access to finance.
In addition, as announced this week, the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme has now provided over £60 million in lending in the North East. The Bank will also host a ‘Meet the Investor’ event in partnership with Tech UK in Newcastle on 11 November to help connect SMEs with potential investors.
Businesses in these areas also benefit from national programmes such as the Regional Angels Programme, Future Fund: Breakthrough and British Patient Capital. The recent Spending Review increased the Bank’s total capacity to £25.6 billion, which supports a broad range of regional and growth programmes and will enable annual investments of around £2.5bn to support more high-growth and innovative UK SMEs up and down the UK.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is she will take steps to support the hospitality sector in Staffordshire.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and local businesses across the UK.
To deliver on our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27. We recognise that, ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, RHL businesses need support in 2025-26. So, we have prevented RHL relief from ending by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor also announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and cut 1p off the duty on an average strength pint.
The hospitality sector is predominately made up of smaller businesses. The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year. More than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package and eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
In line with the Government’s Regulation Action Plan, we also want to ease the regulatory burden on hospitality businesses. The Government set up a Licensing Policy Taskforce earlier this year, to ensure licensing conditions for businesses within the sector – such as pubs, restaurants, and music venues – are proportional. The Taskforce’s recommendations were published in July, and the Government accepted the majority of its recommendations. We are now working with the sector to implement these measures, helping to drive economic growth, regenerate our high streets, and support vibrant and healthy communities.
More specifically, Staffordshire has benefitted from £20m of funding for the Stafford Station Gateway and a £17m award to regenerate Leek town centre.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to support consumer businesses in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting the hospitality sector and local businesses across the UK.
To deliver on our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000 from 2026-27. We recognise that, ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, RHL businesses need support in 2025-26. So, we have prevented RHL relief from ending by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor also announced a duty cut on qualifying draught products – approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This represents an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year and cut 1p off the duty on an average strength pint.
The hospitality sector is predominately made up of smaller businesses. The Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to employer National Insurance by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500, which means that 865,000 employers will pay no employer NICs at all next year. More than half of employers will see no change or will gain overall from this package and eligible employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.
In line with the Government’s Regulation Action Plan, we also want to ease the regulatory burden on hospitality businesses. The Government set up a Licensing Policy Taskforce earlier this year, to ensure licensing conditions for businesses within the sector – such as pubs, restaurants, and music venues – are proportional. The Taskforce’s recommendations were published in July, and the Government accepted the majority of its recommendations. We are now working with the sector to implement these measures, helping to drive economic growth, regenerate our high streets, and support vibrant and healthy communities.
More specifically, Staffordshire has benefitted from £20m of funding for the Stafford Station Gateway and a £17m award to regenerate Leek town centre.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to tackle landfill tax fraud in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In recent years, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has deployed additional resources to tackle landfill tax fraud and support the Joint Unit of Waste Crime (JUWC) and other agencies to identify and tackle wider waste crime. HMRC created a team to monitor high risk waste producers to deter misdescription at source and reduce non-compliance across the sector. It has increased compliance activity with landfill site operators to ensure they are complying with legislative requirements.
The government set out in the Consultation on the reform of Landfill Tax that as part of its Landfill Tax Review it would consider options for structural changes to the tax and the potential impacts on Landfill Tax fraud. This is alongside wider environmental regulatory reforms designed to improve compliance and tackle waste crime.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with the Prudential Regulation Authority on the potential impact of reforming Solvency UK on the availability of annuity capital for investment in (a) housing, (b) transport and (c) infrastructure in (i) the UK and (ii) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
I have regular discussions with the Prudential Regulation Authority on a range of subjects, including the potential of recent reforms to the prudential requirements for insurers to have a positive impact on investment into productive UK assets, such as housing, transport, and infrastructure.