Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of tobacco excise duty policy on the size of the illicit tobacco market.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Tobacco duty aims to both raise revenue and reduce harm to public health by discouraging smoking. In 2024/25 tobacco duty raised almost £8 billion. High duty rates, making tobacco less affordable, have helped reduce smoking prevalence with the percentage of adult smokers in the UK decreasing from 26% in 2000 to 11.9% in 2024.
Strong enforcement is essential in tackling the illicit tobacco market. HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force have had illicit tobacco strategies in place since 2000.
Whilst tobacco duty has been progressively increased over time, successive illicit tobacco strategies have proven effective in tackling the size of the illicit tobacco market, reducing the tobacco duty tax gap from 21.7% in 2005/6 to 13.8% in 2023/24.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Government Internal Audit Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) staff are provided with IT equipment to enable them to work across multiple locations. This is a managed service provided by HM Treasury, who manage this contract on behalf of GIAA. GIAA staff can request “Work from home IT kits” (e.g., screens, headsets, keyboards, and mice) through HM Treasury. GIAA does not hold information on the expenditure for these requests, and HM Treasury does not disaggregate their information on total IT spend to identify spend on GIAA staff requests. The total spend for HM Treasury Group on these work from home IT kits is noted in HM Treasury’s response to PQ 63519
GIAA provides additional IT equipment outside the managed service to support hybrid or home working, such as to support reasonable adjustments. Details of GIAA’s recorded IT expenditure for this purpose are listed below
2022-23: £10,105
2023-24: £2,474
2024-25: £1,779
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Government Actuary’s Department has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is an office (or workplace) based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, GAD expects a 60% minimum office attendance for all staff.
To enable hybrid working and to meet requirements for workplace adjustments (DSE), GAD has spent:
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Hybrid working Equipment | £6,748.90 | £5,093.56 | £7,148.37 |
DSE Equipment | £0.00 | £30.05 | £677.81 |
Total spend | £6,748.90 | £5,123.61 | £7,826.18 |
GAD has no home working contracts in place.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the UK Debt Management Office has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Debt Management Office (DMO) is an office-based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, the DMO expects a 60% minimum office attendance for most staff which continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
The table below shows the DMO’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. The higher spend in 2022-23 and 2024-25 was for updated equipment to enable essential software upgrades (87% and 97% respectively of the total spend).
Year | Spend |
2022-23 | £25,000 |
2023-24 | £4,000 |
2024-25 | £49,000 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the National Infrastructure Commission has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As equipment costs to enable working from home were processed as expenses, and are approved on an individual basis, the information is not readily available and providing it would incur a disproportionate cost to the organization.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much her Department spent on equipment for civil servants to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT only has the ability to track and report the following totals for each of the last 3 financial years on WFH IT kits (screens, headsets, keyboard and mouse);
(i) 2024/25 - £ 218,486
(ii) 2023/24 - £ 87,024
(iii) 2022/23 - £ 36,222
The 24/25 WFH kits shown above were a value for money expenditure where kits were bought in bulk to reduce expenditure in future years. No further purchases have been made in the current financial year.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment has she made of the potential merits of increasing the level of taxation on social media firms.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is already levying the Digital Services Tax (DST), a 2 per cent tax to ensure that providers of search engines, social media platforms, and online marketplaces pay UK tax on digital services that reflects the value they derive from UK users.
The DST is an interim solution to widely held concerns with international corporate tax, and the UK remains committed to remove it once a global solution on the taxation of the digital economy through Pillar 1 of the G20-OECD Inclusive Framework project is in place.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps her Department is taking to support pensioners with the cost of living in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government remains committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.
On 9 June the Government announced that, from this winter 2025-26, Winter Fuel Payment eligibility will be expanded in England and Wales. Pensioners with incomes below or equal to £35,000 will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. This will mean that the vast majority of pensioners over three quarters, or 9 million—will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. This change ensures that the means-testing of winter fuel payments has no effect on pensioner poverty.
Through our commitment to protect the Triple Lock around 26,000 pensioners in South Holland and the Deepings constituency benefitted from a 4.1% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2025. Over the course of this Parliament, the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is expected to increase by around £1,900 based on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast.
Support available beyond the State Pension includes: free eye tests; NHS prescriptions; and free bus passes. Some pensioners may also qualify for means tested benefits including Pension Credit and Housing Benefit.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that partially sighted people in rural areas have access to face to face banking services.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefitting from the ease and convenience of digital banking. The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 160 are already open.
Where a branch closure is announced or a community has submitted a cash access assessment request, LINK, the independent industry coordinating body responsible for making access to cash assessments, assesses a community’s access to cash needs, and will recommend appropriate solutions where it considers that a community requires additional cash services, such as a banking hub or deposit service.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require designated firms to consider a range of factors in their assessments which will account for challenges in cash access faced in rural areas. For example, firms are required to consider the actual travel times and costs to reach cash access facilities and identify gaps in provision where these are unreasonable, which may be particularly the case in rural areas.
Whilst the Government meets with LINK to discuss a variety of matters, any decisions on changes to LINK’s independent assessment criteria are a matter for LINK and the financial services sector.
The Government works closely with the FCA, the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services.
The FCA requires firms to provide a prompt, efficient, and fair service to all of their customers. This includes special considerations for vulnerable customers, including the elderly and disabled customers.
Furthermore, under the Equality Act 2010, banks must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all.
Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will meet with private sector cash machine operator Link to discuss additional face to face banking services for rural areas.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking has changed significantly in recent years with many customers benefitting from the ease and convenience of digital banking. The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 220 hubs have been announced so far, and over 160 are already open.
Where a branch closure is announced or a community has submitted a cash access assessment request, LINK, the independent industry coordinating body responsible for making access to cash assessments, assesses a community’s access to cash needs, and will recommend appropriate solutions where it considers that a community requires additional cash services, such as a banking hub or deposit service.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules require designated firms to consider a range of factors in their assessments which will account for challenges in cash access faced in rural areas. For example, firms are required to consider the actual travel times and costs to reach cash access facilities and identify gaps in provision where these are unreasonable, which may be particularly the case in rural areas.
Whilst the Government meets with LINK to discuss a variety of matters, any decisions on changes to LINK’s independent assessment criteria are a matter for LINK and the financial services sector.
The Government works closely with the FCA, the independent regulator of the UK’s financial services sector, to ensure that all customers get the right support with their financial products and services.
The FCA requires firms to provide a prompt, efficient, and fair service to all of their customers. This includes special considerations for vulnerable customers, including the elderly and disabled customers.
Furthermore, under the Equality Act 2010, banks must make reasonable adjustments to ensure their services are accessible to all.
Alternative options to access everyday banking services can be via telephone banking, through digital means such as mobile or online banking, and via the Post Office. The Post Office Banking Framework allows personal and business customers to withdraw and deposit cash, check their balance, pay bills and cash cheques at 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK.