Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the funding allocation for HM Revenue and Customs in financial year 2024-25.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The government regularly reviews the levels of funding provided to HMRC. The 2021 Spending Review settlement gave HMRC a £0.9bn cash increase over Parliament, from £4.3bn in 2019/20 to £5.2bn in 2024/25.

Additional funding was also provided to HMRC at the recent Budget to ensure the department is able to collect the taxes that are due.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions her Department has had with Ofgem on (a) the best practice for the provision of details to clients of any electricity prices that will be charged on a caravan site, and (b) the level of enforcement action Ofgem have commenced against caravan sites that are overcharging for electricity.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government regularly engages with Ofgem on consumer issues. Under Ofgem’s Maximum Resale Price Provisions caravan site owners must not resell energy to residents at a higher price than what they paid to their licensed energy supplier. Residents are also entitled to see documentation, including a breakdown of the rates included in a bill or a contract.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on joining Czechia's artillery ammunition purchasing initiative to help support Ukraine.

Answered by James Heappey

The Secretary of State regularly holds discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the war in Ukraine and how we can continue to best support Ukraine going forward. As a NATO ally, we also engage directly with Czechia on matters of international security.

The UK remains fully engaged with the international capability coalitions and numerous other partners to understand where further opportunities may exist to increase our support to Ukraine. To date the UK has provided over 300,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, and has committed to delivering tens of thousands more this financial year (FY), and a further investment of £245 million on artillery ammunition in FY 2024-25.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions her Department has had with Ofgem on alternative energy meter arrangements for households reliant on Radio Teleswitch.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

In their recent open letter, the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) set a clear expectation that energy suppliers must replace Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters in a timely and efficient manner, before the RTS is switched off (now confirmed by EnergyUK as the end of June 2025). Households should contact their energy supplier to arrange their upgrades, so they can continue to benefit from multi rate tariffs.

The Department will continue to engage with Ofgem and industry on this matter.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce call waiting times to the child maintenance service; and whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of call handling times by that service.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As part of its Modernisation Programme, CMS continues to improve how it communicates with customers and how customers access its service. When a customer first applies for CMS they are enrolled on the online service which provides them the ability to update their information and request changes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The majority of our customers make use of these online services to effectively meet their needs every day, though we are actively engaged in improving the service further and increasing customer take up.

We recognise some customers need alternative methods to contact us or choose to call us, and on occasion call wait times on our inbound phone lines can be longer than we would like. Speed to answer is continually reviewed throughout the working day and operational resource is regularly reviewed and flexed to minimise excessive wait times.

Over the coming year we will increase customer education on what can be raised and progressed using our online services and encourage more customers to make use of this as the primary channel for their CMS enquiries. This will help protect our inbound phones lines for our customers that need to access our service in this way and reduce the wait time they experience.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund and Nestlé

Referral of matters of 21 February 2024 to the Committee of Privileges

Found: Q92 Drew Hendry: Good morning.