Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate she has made of the of the average customer response times at HM Revenue & Customs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC regularly publishes its performance on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrc-quarterly-performance-updates
Improving day-to-day performance is a key priority for HMRC.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned thresholds are for income tax in 2029-30.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to keeping taxes for working people as low as possible while ensuring fiscal responsibility and so, at our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 June to Written Question 61630 on Investment, what steps she is taking to talking to support retail participation in UK capital markets following the cancellation of the retail sale of NatWest shares.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor’s Leeds Reforms will give more people the confidence to invest in our world-leading capital markets, benefitting both consumers and the UK economy.
In particular, the Treasury is working closely with the FCA to roll out a system of targeted support in time for ISA season next year. This represents the biggest reform of the financial advice and guidance landscape in more than a decade, and will be a step change in the support available to consumers.
The Government will also move Long-Term Asset Funds from the Innovative Finance ISA to the Stocks & Shares ISA from April 2026. This should give more consumers access to the higher returns available from less liquid assets, while directing investment into productive assets that will drive economic growth.
In addition, the Government welcomes the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2025 Issue 1, published on 3 June 2025, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the OECD's growth forecast for the UK in 2025.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an independent international organisation.
As part of ongoing engagement with many different stakeholders relevant to the conduct of economic and fiscal policy, the Government engages regularly and constructively with the OECD, and values their independent advice and forecasting in the Economic Outlook.
The OECD's Interim Economic Outlook will publish updated forecasts on 23 September 2025.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of recent trends in the level of business confidence.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government monitors a wide range of indicators to assess the UK’s economic performance, including measures of business confidence. Many of these are volatile and can move materially from month to month. Official economic forecasts and assessments of policy impacts are set out in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook documents, the most recent of which was published in March 2025.
Kickstarting economic growth is the Government’s primary mission and businesses are central to this. The Government is committed to going further and faster to drive growth and raise living standards, working in close partnership with business to design and delivery policy.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that savers have access to high return investment options.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to see more people benefit from the higher returns and long-term financial resilience that investing can provide. That is why the Chancellor’s Leeds Reforms included bold actions to boost retail investment.
In particular, the Treasury is working closely with the FCA to roll out a system of targeted support in time for ISA season next year. This represents the biggest reform of the financial advice and guidance landscape in more than a decade, and will be a step change in the support available to consumers.
The Government will also move Long-Term Asset Funds (LTAFs) from the Innovative Finance ISA to the Stocks & Shares ISA from April 2026. This should give more consumers access to the higher returns available from less liquid assets, while directing investment into productive assets that will drive economic growth.
In addition, the Government welcomes the industry-led initiatives to promote the benefits of investing to the public, and to reform how firms talk about the risks and benefits of investing.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Government completes exit from NatWest, published on 30 May 2025, what estimate her Department has made of the potential income from the retail model of sale.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 30 May 2025, the government sold its remaining shares in NatWest Group, bringing to an end the public ownership of banks resulting from the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
The government focused on ensuring sales of NatWest shares were delivered in a way that achieved value for money for taxpayers. This included undertaking sales via Directed Buybacks and the Trading Plan, whereby any sales were undertaken at market price.
UK Government Investments regularly conducted fair value assessments of the bank, with support from advisors, to determine a price per share above which it represented value for money for the government to sell at that point in time.
Further details of the sales, including amounts raised, were included in the Economic Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement of 3 June 2025.
As the Chancellor set out in the July 2024 Spending Audit, the government does not believe that a retail offer represented value for money for taxpayers, given the likely incentives needed, which precedent suggests could have cost the public hundreds of millions more than selling via established disposal methods.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Government completes exit from NatWest, published on 30 May 2025, if she will publish Departmental analysis of the (a) chosen and (b) retail model of sale.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 30 May 2025, the government sold its remaining shares in NatWest Group, bringing to an end the public ownership of banks resulting from the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
The government focused on ensuring sales of NatWest shares were delivered in a way that achieved value for money for taxpayers. This included undertaking sales via Directed Buybacks and the Trading Plan, whereby any sales were undertaken at market price.
UK Government Investments regularly conducted fair value assessments of the bank, with support from advisors, to determine a price per share above which it represented value for money for the government to sell at that point in time.
Further details of the sales, including amounts raised, were included in the Economic Secretary’s Written Ministerial Statement of 3 June 2025.
As the Chancellor set out in the July 2024 Spending Audit, the government does not believe that a retail offer represented value for money for taxpayers, given the likely incentives needed, which precedent suggests could have cost the public hundreds of millions more than selling via established disposal methods.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans reforms to encourage (a) investment and (b) growth in the (i) beer and (ii) pub sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the vital role that pubs play in supporting communities and local economies such as in Mid Bedfordshire.
That’s why we are streamlining licensing via a new National Licensing Policy Framework to be more modern, proportionate, and enabling. This includes looking to removing the requirement for printed notices in local newspapers, increasing the maximum entitlement for temporary event notices and supporting the removal of outdated licence conditions.
We have increased the generosity of the discount available for small brewers, by increasing the relative value of the Small Producers Relief discount, compared to the main duty rates, for both draught and non-draught products. We have cut alcohol duty on draught products saving the sector over £85m annually and we are also reviewing the beer market to enable small brewers better access to local pubs.
To support businesses, including breweries, invest and grow, the Government committed to keeping a permanent full expensing system, as well as the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA). Full expensing allows companies to claim 100 per cent capital allowances on qualifying main rate investments. The more flexible AIA allows businesses to deduct the entire cost of investments, up to £1 million per year, including qualifying second-hand assets and assets bought for leasing or hiring.
And finally, the Government has protected the smallest businesses from the impact of the increase to Employer National Insurance by more than doubling the Employment Allowance to £10,500, and will permanently lower tax for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure properties with rateable values below 500,000.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the findings of the report entitled Taxing Futures: The economic and fiscal implications of changes to BPR & APR for UK family businesses and farms, published by Family Business UK in June 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes its reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief from 6 April 2026 get the balance right between supporting farms and businesses, and fixing the public finances. The reforms reduce the inheritance tax advantages available to owners of agricultural and business assets, but still mean those assets will be taxed at a much lower effective rate than most other assets. Despite a tough fiscal context, the Government will maintain very significant levels of relief from inheritance tax beyond what is available to others and compared to the position before 1992. Where inheritance tax is due, those liable for a charge can pay any liability on the relevant assets over 10 annual instalments, interest-free.
The analysis commissioned by Family Business UK and undertaken by CBI Economics is based on a self-selecting online survey from members of representative groups campaigning against the reforms.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) certified the costing at Autumn Budget 2024. The reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief are forecast to raise a combined £520 million in 2029-30. The OBR does not expect the reforms to have a significant macroeconomic impact.