Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on access to banking services of Lloyds Banking Group’s decision to discontinue cheque deposit services at Post Offices from 31 December 2025.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the important role the Post Office plays in providing essential banking services, particularly in rural areas. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance and pay bills at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK. Furthermore, the Post Office is required by the Department for Business & Trade to ensure that 95% of the total rural population across the UK is within 3 miles of their nearest Post Office.
Decisions about what services are available at the Post Office, such as cheque deposits, are made by the banks as part of their commercial arrangements.
Customers continue to have other options for paying in cheques, whether at local bank branches, by post, or digitally via mobile apps using cheque imaging technology. I have discussed this with Lloyds, who assure me customers are able to use freepost to deposit cheques without needing to travel, where branch or digital options are not suitable.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has held with Lloyds Banking Group regarding its decision to remove cheque deposit services from Post Offices under Banking Framework 4.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the important role the Post Office plays in providing essential banking services, particularly in rural areas. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance and pay bills at thousands of Post Office branches across the UK. Furthermore, the Post Office is required by the Department for Business & Trade to ensure that 95% of the total rural population across the UK is within 3 miles of their nearest Post Office.
Decisions about what services are available at the Post Office, such as cheque deposits, are made by the banks as part of their commercial arrangements.
Customers continue to have other options for paying in cheques, whether at local bank branches, by post, or digitally via mobile apps using cheque imaging technology. I have discussed this with Lloyds, who assure me customers are able to use freepost to deposit cheques without needing to travel, where branch or digital options are not suitable.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will work with the Financial Conduct Authority to issue guidance to insurers on the resolution of Covid-19 Business Interruption claims not resolved when the limitation deadline is reached.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator for financial services, sets the conduct standards required of insurance firms. This includes rules requiring insurers to handle claims fairly and promptly.
With respect to business interruption claims linked to Covid-19, the Supreme Court published its final judgment in the FCA test case in January 2021. At the time of the judgment, the FCA set out its expectation that insurers should communicate to all impacted policyholders what the judgment meant for their claim and that insurers should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment, making interim payments wherever possible. It is important to note that the FCA court case did not cover all potential issues with business interruption policies but aimed to provide certainty to as many policyholders as possible.
The FCA, as the independent regulator, has robust powers to take action where firms do not appear to be meeting their expectations and treating their customers fairly.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the March 2026 limitation deadline on unresolved Covid-19 Business Interruption claims.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator for financial services, sets the conduct standards required of insurance firms. This includes rules requiring insurers to handle claims fairly and promptly.
With respect to business interruption claims linked to Covid-19, the Supreme Court published its final judgment in the FCA test case in January 2021. At the time of the judgment, the FCA set out its expectation that insurers should communicate to all impacted policyholders what the judgment meant for their claim and that insurers should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment, making interim payments wherever possible. It is important to note that the FCA court case did not cover all potential issues with business interruption policies but aimed to provide certainty to as many policyholders as possible.
The FCA, as the independent regulator, has robust powers to take action where firms do not appear to be meeting their expectations and treating their customers fairly.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure insurers do not use litigation to prevent small business policyholders from making claims.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as the independent regulator for financial services, sets the conduct standards required of insurance firms. This includes rules requiring insurers to handle claims fairly and promptly.
With respect to business interruption claims linked to Covid-19, the Supreme Court published its final judgment in the FCA test case in January 2021. At the time of the judgment, the FCA set out its expectation that insurers should communicate to all impacted policyholders what the judgment meant for their claim and that insurers should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment, making interim payments wherever possible. It is important to note that the FCA court case did not cover all potential issues with business interruption policies but aimed to provide certainty to as many policyholders as possible.
The FCA, as the independent regulator, has robust powers to take action where firms do not appear to be meeting their expectations and treating their customers fairly.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money from speeding fines has been paid into the Consolidated Fund in each of the past 10 years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Individual public bodies are responsible for detailed record-keeping of any funds surrendered to the Consolidated Fund and are not required to share this data with HM Treasury.Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much money from the Consolidated Fund was spent on (a) road maintenance and (b) road policing in each of the past 10 years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Consolidated Fund is a central funding account and does not track spending by individual service area. Spending by departments is managed and recorded through departmental budgets (using set budgeting rules) and published in Annual Reports and Accounts.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legislation regarding VAT and the NHS following the First-tier Tribunal's ruling in the case of Isle of Wight NHS Trust v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1114 (TC).
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is carefully considering the impact of the Isle of Wight decision on the VAT treatment of the supply of temporary medical staff.
HMRC will publish updated guidance in due course.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to Inheritance Tax on the financial viability of family farms in North Shropshire constituency.
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.
Information from claims is not recorded to enable regional or national breakdowns of the number of estates expected to be affected. However, the Government has set out that the reforms are expected to result in up to 520 estates across the UK claiming agricultural property relief, including those also claiming business property relief, paying more inheritance tax in 2026-27. Almost three-quarters of estates claiming agricultural property relief, including those that also claim for business property relief, will not pay any more tax as a result of the changes in 2026-27, based on the latest available data.
The Government published a tax information and impact note on 21 July 2025 and this is available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/reforms-to-agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms.
The Government will also invest more than £2.7 billion a year in sustainable farming and nature recovery from 2026-27 until 2028-29. This includes the largest financial investment into nature-friendly farming ever.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to reflect the costs of (a) digital connectivity and (b) public transport in (i) rural and (ii) urban areas in funding formulas.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government recognises that areas with different characteristics incur different local costs and considers this when making policy decisions.
The government has recently consulted on proposals to allocate local government funding more fairly through the Local Government Finance Settlement. This included consideration of how to effectively account for variations in relative cost and demand between local authorities, including differences between rural and urban areas.