Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the increase in National Insurance contributions on costs to consumers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) which set out the impact of the changes to employer NICs, including impacts for individuals, alongside the introduction of the Bill.
The government is cutting inflation next year to bear down on the cost of living, and support price stability, with measures taken at Budget 2025 cutting CPI inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2026-27.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consideration has been given to extending customer service opening hours for HMRC.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Most HMRC helplines are available Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm. Helplines have previously been open during the evenings and at weekends, but the majority of customers continued to contact HMRC during office hours. HMRC therefore made an informed choice to provide helpline services at times which best match customer demand.
HMRC encourages customers to self-serve online where possible. HMRC online services accessed via GOV.UK and the HMRC app offer 24/7 convenience and consistently receive high customer satisfaction ratings. Earlier this year, HMRC published a transformation roadmap which includes details about new digital services that will mean a better experience for taxpayers, agents, and businesses. Further details are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-transformation-roadmap
While HMRC’s ambition is to provide a digital experience for most customers, they recognise that this is not appropriate for everyone, for example the digitally excluded, those who require extra help, or those with more complex enquiries. HMRC will always provide a service to meet the needs of these customers, including through non-digital channels. For those customers who need extra help and meet the criteria, HMRC provide tailored support via their Extra Support team. This team can also signpost customers to voluntary and community organisations, who can offer free advice and support.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to require large investors and pension funds to publish net zero transition plans.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Transition plans are central to the UK’s ambition to be a global leader in sustainable finance, supporting clean energy growth and transparency in financial markets, including for large investors and pension funds. Credible transition planning helps allocate capital effectively and builds market confidence.
Earlier this year, the Government consulted on implementation options for transition plans, seeking views on how to take forward transition planning in a way that supports the market’s need for credible and decision-useful information, encourages action in line with the UK climate commitments, and drives economic growth. This consultation closed on 17 September. The Government is currently processing feedback and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps her Department has taken to help prevent shipments of illicit oil to the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC leads on the enforcement of trade sanctions at the border. The department implements controls to help prevent goods being exported or imported in breach of sanctions and respond to breaches when these do occur.
At UK ports and airports, HMRC in partnership with Border Force carries out targeted risk and intelligence-based checks to ensure traders are compliant with sanction measures and identify potential breaches. This includes checking certain goods being imported into the country or exported to non-sanctioned countries to ensure there’s no evidence that these goods will be diverted to a sanctioned country.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her fiscal policies of trends in the cost of (a) groceries and (b) other household bills.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands that increased costs in essential areas such as groceries and household bills are causing hardship for many families. The best way to help with the cost of living is by reducing overall inflation. The Chancellor has asked departments to prioritise reducing inflation when developing policies
The Bank of England has the responsibility of controlling inflation, and the Government fully supports them as they take action to sustainably return inflation to 2%. The independent Monetary Policy Committee has cut Bank Rate five times since August 2024. Falling interest rates mean someone with a new representative fixed rate mortgage now pays £90 a month less than they would have before the election.
The Government is supporting households with targeted measures to ease pressure on budgets. This includes increasing the Universal Credit Standard Allowance, extending the Household Support Fund with £1 billion a year for crisis support through councils, and expanding Free School Meals to all children with a parent on Universal Credit from 2026. On energy, the Warm Home Discount will be expanded to cover around 6 million households, and from this winter pensioners with incomes up to £35,000 will also receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of scrapping the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While the government understands the concerns that have been raised about the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), it is currently the best way to manage Child Benefit expenditure. By withdrawing Child Benefit from high-income families, the HICBC helps to ensure the sustainability of the public finances and protect our vital public services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help improve HMRC investigation times.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As part of our transformation of HMRC, we are improving our compliance learning offer to build the capability of both new trainees and established colleagues. Our Compliance Professional Standards reinforce that all colleagues should be mindful to avoid unnecessary delay in dealing with cases and keep customers informed throughout the compliance activity.
HMRC’s new Interactive Compliance Guidance tool, launched in April 2025, is designed to help businesses and individuals understand HMRC compliance checks, improving our support for customers. This promotes a better experience for the customer.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps are being taken to support small businesses changing finance providers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK has a highly competitive and diverse banking sector, working in the interests of all consumers and businesses across the country. It is important that businesses shop around for their banking needs as this drives competition, improves choice and helps keep prices fair. There are a number of policies that help facilitate this:
Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover of less than £6.5m are already able to use the current account switch service – designed to make it easier to shop around for their business current account.
The Commercial Credit Data Sharing scheme requires the UK’s largest banks to share credit information on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) with other lenders through designated Credit Reference Agencies. This has helped lower the barriers to entry for new finance providers and improved credit scoring in the SME finance market, giving small businesses more choice when applying for finance. The Government will consult on enhancing the scheme later this year to ensure it continues to keep pace with market changes.
The Government has also committed to consult on improving the Bank Referral Scheme. The scheme requires designated banks to refer SME business customers that they reject for finance, to platforms that can match the SME with alternative finance providers.
The British Business Bank’s Finance Hub also provides independent and impartial information on different finance options for scale-up, high growth, and potential high growth businesses, as well as resources that support SMEs to innovate and become more sustainable
Finally, in December 2024 the Secretary of State for Business and Trade also announced a new Business Growth Service (BGS) which will make it easier and quicker for businesses across the UK to get the help, support and advice they need to grow and thrive.