Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has recused himself on matters relating to the regulation and taxation of landlords.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

This Government has strengthened the Ministerial Code. Decisions relating to recusals are made with advice from the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards. Any relevant ministerial interests are published in the quarterly ‘List of Ministers’ Interests’. All tax decisions are taken by the Chancellor.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the OBR Economic and fiscal outlook report of 26 November 2025, Table 3.9, what is her Department's estimate of the monetary annual value of the behavioural effects from the introduction of the council tax surcharge when implemented, and whether this includes lost revenue from (a) stamp duty transactions, (b) housebuilding and (c) taxation derived from home improvements.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Estimates of the direct behavioural effects are set out on page 78 of the Office for Budget Responsibilities Economic and Fiscal Outlook:https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_November_2025.pdf

A breakdown of the policy costing is available on page 51 of the Autumn Budget 2025 policy costing document: Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department’s latest forecasts are for the value of annual CPI inflation in (a) September 2026 and (b) September 2027.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury does not produce forecasts for the UK economy. Forecasting the economy is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which published its latest forecast on 26 November 2025.

In their most recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR forecast CPI inflation to be 2.3% in Q3 2026 and 2.0% in Q3 2027.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what weight is given to the level of (a) private rented sector rents and (b) council tax in the statistical determination of child poverty.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The UK's headline child poverty statistics are provided via the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics publication: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK. Children are defined as being in income-based poverty if the net income of their household is below 60% of median household income. Household incomes are adjusted by a process called equivalisation so that different household sizes and compositions can be compared.

Council tax liability is subtracted in full from household income in a similar way to other taxes when calculating income before housing costs (BHC). Private rented sector rents are then subtracted in full from BHC income to calculate income after housing costs (AHC). The headline income-based measure of poverty is relative low income after housing costs (AHC) i.e. a child is in relative poverty AHC if the AHC income of their household is below 60% of the median for the year in question.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 95402 on Council Tax: Tax Rates and Bands, if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) analysis and (b) evidence base used to calculate the 2.5% impact on affected properties and the greater effects.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

A breakdown of the costing methodology used on the policy costing for the High Value Council Tax Surcharge is available on page 51 of the Autumn Budget 2025 policy costings document: Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason her Department has paused the sharing of regional asylum dispersal pack data with local government led strategic migration partnerships; and if she will change the policy of her Department in sharing this data.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office regularly publishes official accredited statistics, setting out the numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support, broken down by local authorities These statistics are published on Gov.uk and are freely available to local authority officials.

There are frameworks and processes in place, to facilitate the sharing of additional or sensitive information with local authority officials to facilitate their planning and delivery. The Home Office regularly reviews the sharing of such information to ensure it remains necessary, proportionate and complies with legislation. Although rare, we may have to temporarily pause the sharing of such information whilst we undertake a review.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what powers the Valuation Office Agency has to fine householders, and at what level, for (a) not providing information to assist a council tax valuation request and (b) refusing a power of entry request which has been submitted in advance.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The VOA does not have the power to directly fine householders.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the OBR, Economic and fiscal outlook, of November 2025, CP1438m paragraph 4.38, what assessment has been made by (a) her Department and (b) the Valuation Office Agency, of the cause and drivers of the 10.2 per cent increase in business rate receipts in 2026-27.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government does not hold data on the breakdown of business rates revenue. The total change in business rates revenue is set out in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95892 on Business Rates, and with reference to paragraph 4.38 of the OBR's report entitled Economic and Fiscal Outlook, November 2025, CP1439, published on 26 November 2025, what is the equivalent percentage figure for England only.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government does not hold data on the breakdown of business rates revenue. The total change in business rates revenue is set out in the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether Energy Performance Certificate data will be used by the Valuation Office Agency to assist the council tax surcharge valuations.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Valuation Office Agency is developing its specific approach to the High Value Council Tax Surcharge work and will set out more details in due course, alongside the government's consultation.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 22 December 2025, to Question 99863, on Business Rates, for what reason do some hereditaments not have an Unique Address Reference Number listed in their entry in the Valuation Office Agency's published VOA rating list downloads dataset.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The current dataset for the 2023 Rating List includes a “proxy record” for each hereditament that has been deleted from the 2023 Rating List. They are included in the data to provide an effective date of deletion from the 2023 Rating List. As these are hereditaments which have been deleted from the 2023 Rating List they would not be present in the subsequent 2026 Draft Rating List.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether leasehold properties are valued for council tax based on their actual sale price or a notional assumed lease length.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The VOA values all properties for Council Tax in line with legislation.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the administrative cost of implementing the council tax surcharge, including the estimated cost of the valuations for the dwellings.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Local authorities will collect this revenue on behalf of central Government. The Government will work closely with local government over the next two years to ensure the administration of the tax is not an excessive burden for local government. The Government will fully fund the administration costs of this tax. The Valuation Office will be conducting a targeted revaluation to identify homes worth over £2 million. This will also be fully funded by the Government. The HVCTS will raise £430m by 2029-30.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effect of the council tax surcharge on house prices of higher valued homes, and the associated effect on the wider housing market.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

House prices are affected by lots of different factors – this is forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility in its recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook here:

https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/OBR_Economic_and_fiscal_outlook_November_2025.pdf

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the the publication entitled Areas of research interest, updated 27 November 2025, when will (a) her Department, (b) HMRC and (c) the Valuation Office Agency publish their 2025 areas of research interests.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Areas of Research Interest (ARI) documents you refer to, published in November 2024, set out a range of long-term and enduring research questions across the remit of HMT, HMRC and the Valuation Office Agency. The Government’s objectives, including relentlessly pursuing growth and cutting the cost of living, have not changed so it does not plan to update the documents regularly.

The ARIs sit alongside other important analytical publications and documents, including the departments’ evaluation strategy and their research and statistics. This is just one part of the Government’s broader work engaging with external research partners.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2025, to Question 95340, on Asylum: Hillingdon, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of publishing grant payments made to local authorities; and if she will make it her policy to publish the Hillingdon figures.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not publicly publish grant payment levels by local authority, and we have no plans to do so. We do however publish the grant funding instructions, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children-uasc-grant-instructions(opens in a new tab)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-dispersal-grant-funding-instruction/funding-instruction-for-local-authorities-asylum-grant-2025-2026

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2025 to Question 44226 on Pest Control: Birmingham, whether he has made a recent assessment of the risks to (a) public health from the continued bin strike and (b) to agency workers.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Director of Public Health for Birmingham maintains an overview of the potential public health impacts associated with uncollected waste as a result of any disruption to waste services and would lead on initiating and conducting a public health risk assessment. If requested, the UK Health Security Agency can provide health protection advice to any risk assessment, along with other key agencies.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95894 on Housing: council tax, whether the Valuation Office Agency holds council tax dwelling data by band based on those geographies.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publishes Council Tax statistics on GOV.UK. The Council Tax stock of properties publication provides the number of properties by Council Tax band, administrative area and Westminster Parliamentary Constituency in England and Wales.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question 95885, on Council tax, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the council tax surcharge on other tax receipts.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

As set out in response to Question 95885 on 9^th December 2025, the forecast impact on other tax receipts is set out in the published costings document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding her Department provided to strategic migration partnership in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The Home Office does not currently publish funding levels to Strategic Migration Partnerships, previous years funding can be found here Government Grants Data and Statistics

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is issued guidance on the political uniform ban in the Public Order Act 1936 and the definition of a uniform.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Public Order Act 1936 aimed to control and regulate the wearing of uniform in a public place or at a public meeting if that uniform signifies association with a political organisation or promotes a political object.

The Home Office has not considered issuing guidance specifically on the political uniform ban under the Public Order Act 1936. Enforcement of this provision remains an operational matter for the police.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of pubs with Valuation Office Agency Special Category (i) Code 226 and (ii) Code 227, will see their business rates bills (a) increase, (b) fall or (c) remain the same, in 2026-27 relative to 2025-26.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to UIN 101363.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Valuation Office Agency has made an estimate of the number of dwellings in each local authority that could be liable for the council tax surcharge.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on what intelligence was shared by West Midlands Police with (a) the UK Football Policing Unit, (b) the National Police Chiefs Council and (c) her Department.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Affairs Select Committee held evidence sessions on 1 December and 6 January to examine West Midlands Police’s intelligence assessments underpinning the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.

As I committed to the House of Commons, I have provided details of my correspondence with the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police to the Home Affairs Select Committee. Correspondence and evidence submitted to the Committee are routinely published on its official website, ensuring full transparency.

In addition, the Home Office has published HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s inspection report, which considers the information and intelligence in respect of the match assessment and categorisation produced by West Midlands Police. The report can be found at the following link: Inspection of police forces’ contributions to safety advisory groups: West Midlands Police - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question 96551, on Police: accountability, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of adding district-level licensing authorities in two-tier areas to the new Policing and Crime Boards.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government intends to legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows to create Policing and Crime Boards to replace Police and Crime Commissioners where it is not possible for policing functions to be held by a Strategic Authority Mayor. These changes will take effect in May 2028.

Councils in two-tier areas are currently undergoing local government reorganisation, and the Government is on track to deliver unitary local government in all areas by 2028. Therefore, no district-level authorities will exist from that point.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information the Valuation Office Agency. holds on the number of (a) religious retreats, (b) caravan parks for recreational use and (c) recreational campsites there are in each local authority.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Valuation Office Agency publishes an annual stock of properties in the Rating List on GOV.UK. The most recent release details the stock and value of properties on the 2023 rating lists as at 31 March 2025. Information relating to your request can be found here.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025, to Question 94192, on Holiday Accommodation: Taxation, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of applying the levy to asylum seekers in hotels on costs to the public purse.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide support to destitute asylum seekers and as such these are not discretionary overnight stays.

The Government’s position remains that the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is undesirable and unsustainable. Work is underway to expand the dispersal estate and develop alternative accommodation models to better deliver value for money and reduce impact on communities.

To support local authorities, the Home Office provides significant grant funding to manage the pressures associated with asylum accommodation. This includes the Asylum Grant 395 which is designed to offset costs for councils and support local services impacted by the use of hotels and other accommodation. Under this grant local authorities received an initial payment of £1,200 per bedspace occupied on 30 March 2025; with £100 per month for each additional occupied bedspace between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

Additional grant funding is available for the support of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and care leavers. These grants form part of a wider package of measures to ensure that local authorities are not disproportionately burdened by the statutory asylum support system.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department collects on the religion of migrants, other than through the Census.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

UVKI do not request this information as part of the visa application process.

Asylum claimants are asked for information about their religion as part of the asylum screening (registration) process, during the substantive asylum interview and when submitting evidence in support of their claim. This information is recorded on any interview record and within the claimant’s electronic file.

As part of the asylum process, the asylum decision-maker must determine whether the claimant has a characteristic (or be perceived to have a characteristic) which could cause them to fear persecution for a ‘Convention reason’, one of which is ‘religion’. We do not publish the number of asylum claims that were made on the basis of someone’s religion.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the higher Rateable Values in the 2026 business rate revaluation on revenue from the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement; and whether the multiplier or threshold for the supplement will be amended.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This is a matter for the Mayor of London.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the size of the Valuation Office Agency’s backlog in relation to (a) business rates and (b) council tax appeals.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The VOA works closely with government partners to ensure it is adequately resourced and to develop delivery plans which align with planned consultation and legislative timelines.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2025 to Question 95397 on Business Rates, if he will publish the change in rateable values by special category code by local authority.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Valuation Office Agency currently have no plans to publish this information.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the gross cost of the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief was in 2025-26.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The information requested is available at this link.