Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many meetings or requests for meetings she has had from the Northern Ireland Finance Minister on the the Northern Ireland draft budget since the start of the financial year.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
I lead HM Treasury’s engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive on matters relating to Northern Ireland’s public finances. I most recently met the Northern Ireland Finance Minister on 15 June 2026 and maintain regular engagement through the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee (F:ISC).
HM Treasury officials remain in regular contact with Northern Ireland Executive on matters relating to Northern Ireland's finances.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of her Department's ability to deliver an automatic release process for HMRC-allocated accounts for unclaimed monies from Child Trust funds.
Answered by Rachel Blake
The Government is aware of proposals for the automatic release of funds in unclaimed matured Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts, where the account was opened by HMRC. These savings belong to the account holders and are held by private sector providers. The Government does not have the authority to access or transfer these funds.
The Government is committed to reuniting young people with their CTFs. HMRC works with providers, industry representatives and others to raise awareness and help individuals trace their accounts, including through targeted communications and a free GOV.UK tracing service.
The Government has also established a dedicated Taskforce to address unclaimed matured CTF accounts and improve outcomes for account holders. This brings together Government and industry to strengthen tracing activity, increase engagement, and support access to funds.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what safeguard assessments have been put in place to prevent AI profiling of demographics while investigating fraud, as a result of the Quantexa deal.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
HMRC applies robust data protection, ethical, legal and security frameworks to any use of artificial intelligence across all its activities, including in areas such as fraud investigation and any technology it employs. These tools are used to support HMRC’s ability to understand and better serve customers effectively across tax and excise regimes, using the data it lawfully holds.
HMRC collects only the data necessary for the administration of the tax system and does not routinely collect demographic or protected characteristics data.
HMRC’s approach to assurance is ongoing rather than one-off. Our use of
Quantexa and any inbuilt AI is subject to close monitoring and evaluation throughout the lifecycle to ensure compliance with legal, data protection requirements and alignment with HMRC’s ethical standards and operational objectives.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Northern Ireland Executive has the ability to create an energy support scheme for users of home heating oil with funding from the UK government, announced in the Autumn budget.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Spending classed as Annually Managed Expenditure will be provided to Northern Ireland to develop a comparable scheme to that developed in GB.
It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to decide how they would like to deliver a comparable offer. The UK Government is ready to review the business case once it has been submitted by the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of eligible households in Belfast South and Mid Down, West Belfast, North Belfast and East Belfast constituencies are availing of the Tax Free Childcare scheme.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The number of families that use Tax Free Childcare in these constituencies each year is published in table 12 of Tax Free Childcare statistics (Tax-Free Childcare Statistics, December 2025 - GOV.UK).Eligible population data is not broken down at constituency level so it is not possible to calculate the proportion that are using the scheme.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many childminders i) across the UK ii) in Northern Ireland are expected to be impacted by the loss of the 10% wear and tear allowance.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
Childminders make a significant contribution to children’s development, learning, and wellbeing. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.
Only a small proportion of childminders with qualifying income over £50,000 will be mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax from April 2026. Childminders moving to MTD for income tax can continue to claim tax relief for household costs, wear and tear of household items and furniture, and food and drink, by deducting actual business costs. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business.
The Government will monitor the impact of MTD for income tax on childminders and other home-based childcare providers in the same way as it will for all sole traders moving to MTD for income tax.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how and when her Department plans to roll out the 'Making Tax Digital' scheme across turnover brackets.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
MTD for Income Tax will be introduced across the UK from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. It will be extended to those with qualifying income over £30,000 from April 2027 and for those with qualifying income over £20,000 in April 2028.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has had discussions on further fiscal devolution with Ministers in the Northern Ireland Department of Finance during this current Stormont mandate.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HM Treasury and Northern Ireland Executive Ministers have regular discussions.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s Interim Fiscal Framework published in May 2024 stated that a full Fiscal Framework would consider the principles of fiscal devolution.
The scope and scale of the full Fiscal Framework will be subject to agreement between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Northern Ireland Department of Finance Minister has submitted fiscal devolution plans to her Department in this current Stormont mandate.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HM Treasury and Northern Ireland Executive Ministers have regular discussions.
The Northern Ireland Executive’s Interim Fiscal Framework published in May 2024 stated that a full Fiscal Framework would consider the principles of fiscal devolution.
The scope and scale of the full Fiscal Framework will be subject to agreement between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many families exceeded the tax-free childcare cap in each year since 2017.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
Families cannot exceed the limits within their Tax Free Childcare accounts because the system automatically restricts government top-ups once the cap for the 3 month period is reached. Families can still make payments to childcare providers from their account without the top-up.
Official statistics on Tax-Free Childcare are published quarterly and further details can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-free-childcare-quarterly-statistics