Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she has make an assessment of the potential impact of reforming business rates on small pubs and breweries.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In April 2026, the Government will introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that eligible properties, including pubs, benefit from much-needed certainty and support. Breweries that are wholly or mainly open to visiting members of the public (for instance, mainly used as a bar or for providing tours to the public) will also benefit from the lower multipliers.
The final design, including the rates, for the new business rates multipliers will be announced at Budget 2025, so that the Government can factor the revaluation outcomes, as well as the broader economic and fiscal context, into decision-making. When the new multipliers are set, HM Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
Ahead of the new multipliers being introduced, the Government prevented RHL business rates relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business. Under the previous Government, RHL relief was due to end entirely in April 2025, and so by extending it, the Government has saved the average pub, with a ratable value of £16,800, over £3,300.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many new enquiries were opened into child benefit claims which were suspended from claimants as a result of data-sharing between HMRC and the Home Office in the period 1st to 30th November 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
There were no new Child Benefit compliance enquiries opened using Home Office international travel data in the period 1st to 30th November 2025. This is because our focus during that time was on reviewing the c. 23,500 already opened.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of households in Fylde who will be brought into paying income tax or higher tax bands as a result of extending the freeze on income tax personal allowance.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of people forecast to pay tax by marginal rate can be found in Table 3.19 in the OBR’s November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: receipts, linked below:
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new Electric Vehicle Excise Duty mileage charge from April 2028 on Electric Vehicle uptake.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government intends to create a fair motoring tax system while supporting the automotive industry and ensuring EVs remain an attractive choice for consumers.
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
While it is fair for EV drivers to contribute for their car usage, the government is also committed to ensuring that driving an electric vehicle is an attractive choice for consumers. Therefore, the rate of eVED paid by electric vehicle drivers will be half the fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that it will still be cheaper to own and run an EV for the majority of EV drivers.
The Government is also providing generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG), £200 million for chargepoint rollout, and increasing the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs. This support will be introduced before the tax takes effect to support continued momentum in EV take-up.
The Government has set out the expected impacts from eVED and other Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she had made of the potential impact of changes to pension salary sacrifice relief on the number of people saving for retirement in the Fylde constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Automatic enrolment into pension saving has driven up the number of employees saving for retirement. The existing income tax relief regime for pensions is unaffected by this change, whilst employer contributions can continue to be made free of National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
At £2,000 cap means the majority of people usoing salary sacrifice for pension saving will be entirely unaffected by this change. Individuals earning below £30,000 are overwhelmingly protected, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold. employee pension contributions up to £2,000.
In line with the OBR assessment of this change, the costing assumes some employer costs will be passed through into lower employer pension contributions. The government continues to support and incentivise pension saving, with tax relief worth over £70bn per year, even after this change. Employers must continue to meet their automatic enrolment obligations. The policy balances encouragement of pension saving with ensuring the system remains fiscally sustainable and fair.
A Tax Information and Impact Note will be published in due course alongside the legislation when it is introduced to Parliament.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has considered recognising listed church buildings as national heritage assets in the tax system.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Church buildings are not usually owned by individuals and so are not usually chargeable to inheritance tax. Where an individual inherits and wishes to retain heritage property they can claim Conditional Exemption, so that there is no inheritance tax for as long as the property is maintained and open to the public to enjoy.
Comprehensive guidance is available on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-taxation-and-tax-exempt-heritage-assets
Otherwise, gifts of property to charities or to a recognised National Body (listed at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm11224 ) would be exempt from inheritance tax.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 2025 Budget’s changes to personal taxation on average earners in the Fylde constituency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impact of maintaining income Tax and equivalent National Insurance contributions thresholds.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the expected distributional impact is of the 2025 Budget measures on households in the North West of England.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to growing living standards in all parts of the country in a fair and progressive manner, and has acted at Budget 2025 to cut the cost of living for households across the nation.
HM Treasury’s ‘Impact on households’ publication, produced alongside the 2025 Budget, shows that the impacts of government tax, welfare and public service spending decisions from Autumn Budget 2024 onwards. This analysis can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf
HM Treasury does not produce a distributional assessment of policy decisions at a subnational level.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she plans to provide an answer to Question 22764 on Government Securities: Public Sector Debt.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A response was provided for Question 22764 on 13 January 2025. The government does not comment on specific financial market movements.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2025 to Question 89705 on Child Benefit, whether HMRC plans to publish a report on a) the circumstances of the error and b) lessons learned from the review into suspended Child Benefit claims, including methodology, criteria for suspension, and the results of PAYE checks.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC’s Chief Executive wrote to the Treasury Select Committee on 14 November 2025 about this matter including the corrective action that HMRC is taking. This letter was subsequently published by the Committee on 18 November 2025. There are no plans to publish a report.
In the response to the Treasury Select Committee, HMRC provided figures for those customers subsequently confirmed as eligible through a PAYE check or customer contact up to and including 31 October 2025. This time period reflects that figures are only validated after the month end.
Where there was evidence that customers had continued UK employment, HMRC reinstated payments automatically without any need for customer contact and those payments have been backdated. By the end of November 2025, HMRC will have written to all customers who have not yet contacted them to provide a further 4 weeks in which to make contact.
HMRC holds information by postal address although HMRC would be unable to release to such a granular level due to the risk of breaching taxpayer confidentiality.
HMRC’s pilot last year using international travel data prevented around £17m in incorrect payments. This led to a wider rollout and investment in an additional 180 counter-fraud staff, announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, which is expected to save around £350 million over the next five years.