Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has commissioned any independent assessments of the compliance costs of financial regulations since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government has committed to cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25% by the end of the Parliament. This will take a whole-of-government approach to establish a baseline for the administrative costs of regulation and deliver an ambitious regulation reform programme, targeting reforms that remove or streamline administrative processes. No independent assessment has been commissioned for this work.
The financial services regulators are required by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to undertake and publish a Cost-Benefit Analysis when consulting on any proposal to make or amend rules, to analyse the likely expected costs and benefits arising from the changes.
The Treasury is working with the financial services regulators to reduce regulatory burdens on financial services firms while maintaining high regulatory standards.
As part of the Regulation Action Plan, the government announced that it will consolidate the Payments Systems Regulator into the Financial Conduct Authority, to provide a more streamlined approach to regulation for businesses.
The Regulation Action Plan also confirmed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are taking steps to review and streamline reporting requirements for firms.
The government is committed to ensuring our regulation is fit for purpose, ensuring it meets our commitments to maintaining the UK’s high standards and protections whilst ensuring we do not hold back growth with unnecessary red tape.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of compliance costs for financial services.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government has committed to cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25% by the end of the Parliament. This will take a whole-of-government approach to establish a baseline for the administrative costs of regulation and deliver an ambitious regulation reform programme, targeting reforms that remove or streamline administrative processes. No independent assessment has been commissioned for this work.
The financial services regulators are required by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to undertake and publish a Cost-Benefit Analysis when consulting on any proposal to make or amend rules, to analyse the likely expected costs and benefits arising from the changes.
The Treasury is working with the financial services regulators to reduce regulatory burdens on financial services firms while maintaining high regulatory standards.
As part of the Regulation Action Plan, the government announced that it will consolidate the Payments Systems Regulator into the Financial Conduct Authority, to provide a more streamlined approach to regulation for businesses.
The Regulation Action Plan also confirmed that the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority are taking steps to review and streamline reporting requirements for firms.
The government is committed to ensuring our regulation is fit for purpose, ensuring it meets our commitments to maintaining the UK’s high standards and protections whilst ensuring we do not hold back growth with unnecessary red tape.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make a comparative estimate of the cost to pubs of (a) the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, (b) VAT and (c) beer duty compared to other major European countries.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Policies related to packaging alcohol taxation vary between European countries.
In October 2024, the Government published an updated assessment of the impact of introducing the pEPR scheme on packaging producers. It has worked closely with industry, including the brewing sector, throughout the development of the scheme.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps alcohol duty rates under review during its Budget process.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in the debate on the Finance Bill on 3 March 2025, Official Report, column 92, whether her Department has calculated the number of people in receipt of the full rate of the new state pension that will pay income tax in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28, (d) 2028-29 and (e) 2029-30.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. The Government is committed to the Triple Lock for the duration of this parliament, and in April 2025, the basic and new State Pension will increase by 4.1%. This means that pensioners on a full new State Pension will get a boost of £470 to their incomes from April this year. Over the course of this Parliament, as per the forecast at Autumn Budget 2024, the yearly amount of the full new State Pension is currently forecast to go up by around £1,900, based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast.
The previous Government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028. At our first Budget, we decided not to extend the freeze on personal tax thresholds and, as a result, they will rise with inflation from April 2028, meaning people will keep more of their income.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the tobacco duty escalator on tobacco excise revenues.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Alongside any changes to Tobacco Duty at Budget, the Government publishes a Tax Information and Impact Note, including an impact assessment, to detail the expected impacts. The summary of impacts from the latest changes to tobacco duty at Autumn Budget 2024 can be found here: Changes to tobacco duty rates from 30 October 2024 - GOV.UK
As with all taxes, the Government keeps tobacco duty rates under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Bloomberg subscriptions her Department has.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury has 3 subscriptions to Bloomberg News.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to her Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Treasury Approvals Process requires departments and their arm's length bodies to submit business cases to HM Treasury for scrutiny when spending meets specific criteria. These criteria are detailed in Treasury Approvals Process guidance. The Treasury typically receives hundreds of different business cases for approval each year.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to National Audit Office's report entitled, public service pensions, published on 19 March 2021, whether her Department plans to publish updated statistics on the balancing payments made to pensions schemes.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
Figures showing the net Exchequer balancing payments for unfunded Public Service Pension Schemes (PSPS), along with details on contribution income and scheme expenditure, are regularly published as part of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The latest publication is part of the October 2024 EFO, in the table labelled “October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: expenditure”: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether members of the National Wealth Fund Taskforce are remunerated.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The NWF Taskforce was established by the Chancellor before the 2024 general election to fulfil an independent advisory role on the design of the National Wealth Fund. Members have not been remunerated for their roles on the NWF Taskforce.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in (a) vehicle excise duty and (b) the HGV road user levy on the logistics industry.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, from 1 April 2025, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates for Heavy Goods Vehicles and the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) levy will be uprated by Retail Price Index for 2025-26. This means rates will remain unchanged in real terms for vehicle keepers.
The tax information and impact note published alongside the Budget when these changes were announced sets out the expected impact on businesses which own or sell HGVs, which is estimated to be “negligible”. The note also sets out expected economic, equalities and other impacts of the changes, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty-rates-for-heavy-goods-vehicles-and-heavy-goods-vehicles-road-user-levy-from-1-april-2025
Revenue from motoring taxes helps ensure we can continue to fund the vital public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect.