Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data her Department holds on the volumes of imported single-life budget tyres in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 1 January to 1 August 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. However, due to classification codes, we are not able to distinguish between single-life budget tyres, and other kinds of tyres.
Car tyres are classified under commodity code 4011 1000 00. It is not possible to identify single-life budget tyres separately within this commodity code.
HMRC releases imports and exports information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com).
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact uktradeinfo@hmrc.gov.uk
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when her Department plans to publish the consultation on the technical detail of the new small parcels regulatory arrangements.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced the removal of the low value imports relief and published a technical consultation covering the design and implementation of the new LVI customs arrangements.
You can read and respond to the government’s consultation here: Reforming the customs treatment of low value imports into the United Kingdom - GOV.UK
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the number and type of businesses that will be impacted by business rates relief changes announced in the Budget 2025 in (a) Bedfordshire, (b) the East of England and (c) the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.
More broadly, the Government is delivering a long overdue reform to rebalance the business rates system and support the high street, as promised in the manifesto.
The Government is doing this by introducing permanently lower tax rates for eligible RHL properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £900 million per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties. Around 82,100 RHL properties in the East of England are expected to benefit from these lower tax rates.
The new RHL tax rates replace the temporary RHL relief that has been winding down since Covid. Unlike RHL relief, the new rates are permanent, giving businesses certainty and stability, and there will be no cap, meaning all qualifying properties on high streets across England will benefit.
The Government is also supporting small businesses to grow by extending SBRR so that businesses opening second premises can retain their SBRR for three years, tripling the current allowance.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the (a) cost-recovery model for statutory fees and charges and (b) use of such fees and charges as a demand-management tool.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Proposals to introduce new fees or charges are considered on a case-by-case basis. Government departments develop proposals in line with their needs and policy intent, underpinned by the rules in Managing Public Money (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-public-money).
Full cost recovery is the standard approach to the setting of fees and charges for public services.
If a department were to incorporate demand management as a policy objective when devising a fee or charging scheme, this would be considered as part of assessing the proposals.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the potential economic impact of extreme weather events related to climate change on the level of economic growth since 1 January 2020; and what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce those costs through (a) adaptation and (b) resilience measures.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that preparing for the future means adapting to the effects of climate change. Without action, extreme weather, flooding, coastal erosion and other climate hazards will pose greater risks to lives, livelihoods and people’s wellbeing.
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report estimates the potential fiscal costs to the UK from climate damage across a range of warming scenarios. Their analysis includes both direct costs in response to physical damages and indirect costs arising from additional demands on public services. Estimates show that without action, physical damages from climate change could lower GDP by around 5% by the early 2070s under a below 3°C scenario. The UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment also provides an evaluation of the climate risks facing the UK, with impacts across infrastructure, health and the economy.
As set out at Phase 2 of the Spending Review, the Government is investing in climate adaptation to protect the economy from the impacts of climate change, confirming investment of £4.2 billion over three years (2026-27 to 2028-29) to improve flood resilience.
The Government is committed to strengthening the nation’s resilience. A 10 Year Strategy, published on 19 June 2025, set out its plan to review existing resilience standards across critical national infrastructure sectors by the end of 2026, and then to update these standards where existing standards do not provide the coverage necessary to ensure resilience and underpin growth. The Government is also exploring how stronger adaptation objectives can be set to improve preparedness for the impacts of climate change. This will inform the fourth National Adaptation Programme, due in 2028.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office for Budget Responsibility's report entitled Fiscal risks and sustainability – July 2025, published on 8 July 2025, whether she has asked the OBR to include in its next publication updated estimates of the potential impact of extreme weather related to climate change on trends in the level of economic growth over the next 10 years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the Government's official independent forecaster responsible for assessing the UK economic and fiscal outlook.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is required to prepare an analysis of the sustainability of the public finances annually, known as a Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report (FRS), as set out in the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act (BRNAA) 2011. The content of the FRS is determined independently by the OBR.
In its July 2025 FRS included an assessment of the fiscal risks linked to climate change.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Oversea Scale Rates on UK long-haul airline crew and other employees who rely on these allowances for subsistence costs.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Overseas Scale Rates are an administrative easement and do not limit the amount an employee can claim for. They reduce the need to provide evidence to support an employee’s claim for tax relief.
Employees travelling overseas for work have the same entitlement to tax relief whether they use the rates or not. An employee can claim tax relief on a higher value if that is appropriate, with the only distinction being they must provide receipts.
There will be occasions where OSR may not reflect the current prices in a particular location. In these cases, the employer can choose to reimburse the full expenses incurred by their staff, if receipts are kept. Should the employer choose not to reimburse all the actual expenses, the employee may claim tax relief on the difference from HMRC.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure people who could not pay their Self Assessment Tax because of the Barclays outage do not have to pay a fixed penalty.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
No Barclays customers who filed their tax return and paid their Self Assessment tax liability by 3rd February will face a penalty.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of all purchases of premium bonds made in the last financial year were under the value of (a) £100, (b) £1000 and (c) £10,000.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
According to National Savings and Investments (NS&I), in the 2023/24 there were:
This does not include the value of any prizes that were reinvested into Premium Bonds.
Further information on investments received in 2023/24, across NS&I’s products, can be found in its latest Annual Reports and Accounts published earlier this year.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of rainfall levels in September 2024 on (a) Government spending and (b) the local economy in each of the 10 English counties that have had the highest levels of rainfall.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
Economic stability is a priority for this government. The COBR Unit in the Cabinet Office operates a well-established arrangement for monitoring near-term civil contingency-type risks, including severe weather, for the purpose of ensuring the Government is prepared to respond as appropriate to the challenges they may bring.
This Government is committed to protecting communities across the country from the dangers of flooding. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has launched a Flood Resilience Taskforce to provide oversight of national and local flood resilience and preparedness ahead of and after the winter flood season, and the Secretary of State chaired its first meeting in September.