Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of Enterprise Investment Scheme funding was provided to companies in Lincolnshire in each of the last ten years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
% of EIS Investment |
2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
It is not possible to provide this information for the last 10 years as administrative data is not available.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the potential savings to the public purse for abolishing the Payment Systems Regulator.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has carried out important work to support the UK’s world leading payments sector. However, moving forward, the Government wishes to see a more streamlined regulatory environment with minimal overlap between regulators’ responsibilities. That is why the Government has announced its intentions to consolidate the PSR and its functions primarily within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Government will consult on the detail of this proposal in the summer and legislate as soon as possible.
The Payment Systems Regulator is funded by fees levied on industry.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of food procured by her Department is sourced in the UK.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To date the Government has not held information on where publicly procured food is sourced from.
For the first time ever, this government will review the food currently bought in the public sector to determine the standards that it is meeting, where it is bought from, and look to introduce monitoring for transparency and accountability within those supply chains to ultimately get the best food for the consumer.
This work will be a significant first step to inform any future changes to public sector food procurement policies as we want to help make it an equal playing field for British producers to bid into the £5 billion spent each year on public sector catering contracts.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 32918 on Agriculture and Business: Inheritance Tax, how much revenue the Treasury has modelled a clawback mechanism for agricultural property relief and business property relief would raise if it was implemented (a) seven, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years after death.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility has not certified costings for the revenue that would be raised by a clawback mechanism since it is not Government policy. However, a clawback mechanism would raise significantly less than the reforms announced by the Government at Autumn Budget 2024 for the reasons outlined in the previous answer.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to support small businesses impacted by a reduction in in-person banking services in Lincolnshire.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to constituents and businesses in Lincolnshire and across the UK and is committed to championing sufficient access for all. 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 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.
FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly.
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. The Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria. These include ensuring that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office and 90% of the population within one mile.
To stimulate local economic growth the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure properties with rateable values below half a million pounds from 2026 – 2027 and later this year, the Government will publish a Small Business Strategy, setting out our vision for small businesses.
Taken together, these actions will support businesses in Lincolnshire and across the country to drive local economic growth.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a clawback mechanism into proposed changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief.
Answered by James Murray - 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.
A “clawback” would mean inheritance tax would only be due if the relevant assets are sold within a specified time period after a death. Introducing this mechanism, as some have suggested, could mean some of the wealthiest estates pay less inheritance tax compared to the proposed reforms. The Government disagrees with suggestions that a clawback would raise the same revenue as the reforms being introduced from 6 April 2026; it would raise much less, which would mean raising taxes elsewhere or lowering public spending. It would also add complexity to the tax system and continue to attract the very wealthiest to tax plan since beneficiaries could hold onto the assets over the specified clawback period just to escape the tax.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials from her Department attended the World Economic Forum 2025.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is commonplace for key officials to travel with the Chancellor in order to support her at events and visits.
Five officials from HM Treasury accompanied the Chancellor to the 2025 World Economic Forum annual meeting.
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 increase access to banking hubs in rural and remote communities.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities, high streets, and rural areas across the UK, and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to delivering these hubs by the end of this Parliament. Over 200 hubs have been announced so far, and over 100 are already open.
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.
Some banks also provide their own community banking services via pop-ups in community centres and libraries or operate mobile banking vans to serve more remote areas, and the Government supports these initiatives.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what purposes the Government Actuary’s Department has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Actuary’s Department has made use of artificial intelligence in the last twelve months primarily by focusing on internal efficiencies and department wide communications and team meetings. Where appropriate the Government Actuary’s Department has also used AI to help provide more value to clients, for example by summarising responses to technical consultations. This is compliant with Central Digital and Data Office guidance.
The department continues to seek opportunities where the innovative use of artificial intelligence can drive efficiency and add value to clients within Government, whilst safeguarding public data and information.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what purposes National Savings and Investments has used artificial intelligence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
NS&I is currently making use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its business.
NS&I has used AI in the last 12 months for its customer service chatbot, a tool used by NS&I customers to obtain answers to product and service queries that they may have. NS&I has also used AI for a digital voice assistant tool for its telephone service
In addition, NS&I has been piloting the use of the Government Communications Service generative AI tool called ‘Assist’, developed to support people working across government in communications roles. NS&I has also used AI to support its coding activities, researching publicly available economic data, and there is an AI component in the wider ongoing work by its operational partners to modernise NS&I's service delivery to customers
Further details about NS&I’s chatbot service will be published in due course online, as part of the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard.