Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish the full cost assessment undertaken by the previous Government of the double contribution convention aspect of the UK-India free trade agreement.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR will certify the impact of the trade deal including the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event, once the deal is finalised and ratified. The agreement to negotiate a Double Contributions Convention was made in the context of the wider deal, which will bring billions into the economy.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) her Department's proposals on gambling harmonisation and (b) affordability checks on levels of black market gambling.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one – reducing complexity and improving compliance.
A new system for financial risk assessments is currently being piloted by the Gambling Commission. Stage 1 of the pilot showed that 95% of checks were frictionless and this increased to 97% of checks in stage 2.
DCMS works closely with the Gambling Commission to ensure that illegal gambling, in all its forms, is addressed. The Crime and Policing Bill, introduced in Parliament on 25 February 2025, will grant the Gambling Commission with powers to move quickly and effectively to take down illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her Department's proposals to harmonise gambling duties on (a) horseracing and (b) other sports.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is consulting on proposals to simplify the current gambling tax system by merging the three current taxes that cover remote (including online) gambling into one. The Government is committed to engaging with all stakeholders, including representatives of the horseracing industry, as part of the consultation process.
If any changes are made to gambling duties at a future Budget following the consultation, the legislation will be accompanied by a Tax Information and Impact Note which will set out the expected impacts.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question 41176 on Research: Tax Allowances, if she will publish a breakdown of the data provided for (a) error and (b) fraud.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with other parts of the tax system, the term ‘error and fraud’ includes this full range of behaviours, from mistakes and failure to take reasonable care, through to deliberate non-compliance.
The Government is committed to further enhancing the administration of R&D tax reliefs. To support this, HMRC published a consultation on 26 March to explore widening the use of advance clearances in the reliefs to help further reduce error and fraud, while also improving the customer experience and providing certainty to businesses.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will take steps to improve the accuracy of (a) identifying and (b) reporting data on fraud as distinct from administrative error.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with other parts of the tax system, the term ‘error and fraud’ includes this full range of behaviours, from mistakes and failure to take reasonable care, through to deliberate non-compliance.
The Government is committed to further enhancing the administration of R&D tax reliefs. To support this, HMRC published a consultation on 26 March to explore widening the use of advance clearances in the reliefs to help further reduce error and fraud, while also improving the customer experience and providing certainty to businesses.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average value of shipments worth less than £135 to the UK was in each year since 2015, by country of origin.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration.
As part of this simplified declaration, HMRC does not collect information on the origin of the goods – in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained.
On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total value of shipments worth less than £135 to the UK was in each year since 2015, by country of origin.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration.
HMRC can only provide the overall value of shipments containing goods under £135, as data on country of origin is not collected as part of the simplified customs declaration - in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained.
It was not mandatory to provide the total aggregate value as part of the simplified customs declaration until 2023. In 2024, £5.8bn worth of goods under £135 were declared through the Customs Declarations System (CDS).
On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on the proportion of imports from China that were worth less than £135 in each year since 2015.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Goods valued at £135 or less imported into the UK are not subject to customs duty and are predominantly imported through a simplified customs declaration.
As part of this simplified declaration multiple goods can be bulk declared without providing the total number of consignments or country of origin - in other words, the importer is not asked the specific country where the goods were manufactured or wholly obtained. HMRC therefore does not routinely collect customs data on the proportion of imports from China that are worth less than £135.
On April 23rd the Government announced a review of the customs treatment of Low Value Imports valued below £135. We intend to engage a broad range of stakeholders over the Spring to further understand their views and gather evidence, including on the volume and nature of low value imports, to support our analysis.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of processing R&D tax relief (a) applications, (b) rejections and (c) appeals in each year since 2015.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In October 2024, HMRC released operational data in the Approach to Research & Development Tax Reliefs 2023-2024 publication. This includes data from 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 on the number of R&D enquiries, the proportion of claims requiring adjustment and data on appeals. This publication represents the most comprehensive data on R&D compliance activity and is not available for previous years.
This publication also included customer service data on processing times and the average time to complete a compliance check. HMRC processed 92% of claims within 40 days in 2023-2024. Processing means paying the claim, making contact to request further information, or refusing the claim, and, for claims identified as high-risk, starting an appropriately targeted compliance check.
The table below provides final and illustrative estimates of the cost of error and fraud in the R&D tax reliefs since 2020-2021.
| Final estimates 2020-2021 (£m) | Final estimates 2021-2022 (£m) | Illustrative estimate 2022-2023 (£m) | Illustrative estimate 2023-2024 (£m) |
SME scheme | 1,038 | 1,203 | 1,003 | 475 |
RDEC scheme | 90 | 134 | 48 | 125 |
Overall | 1,127 | 1,337 | 1,050 | 601 |
The Mandatory Random Enquiry Programme approach introduced for small and medium sized enterprises represents good practice in the measurement of error and fraud, and involves a detailed inspection of a representative sample of claims filed. These estimates are published in HMRC Annual reports and Accounts and previous reports can be found at gov.uk at: HMRC’s Annual reports and Accounts.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many R&D tax relief claims have been rejected in each year since 2015; and how many of those have been successfully appealed.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In October 2024, HMRC released operational data in the Approach to Research & Development Tax Reliefs 2023-2024 publication. This includes data from 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 on the number of R&D enquiries, the proportion of claims requiring adjustment and data on appeals. This publication represents the most comprehensive data on R&D compliance activity and is not available for previous years.
This publication also included customer service data on processing times and the average time to complete a compliance check. HMRC processed 92% of claims within 40 days in 2023-2024. Processing means paying the claim, making contact to request further information, or refusing the claim, and, for claims identified as high-risk, starting an appropriately targeted compliance check.
The table below provides final and illustrative estimates of the cost of error and fraud in the R&D tax reliefs since 2020-2021.
| Final estimates 2020-2021 (£m) | Final estimates 2021-2022 (£m) | Illustrative estimate 2022-2023 (£m) | Illustrative estimate 2023-2024 (£m) |
SME scheme | 1,038 | 1,203 | 1,003 | 475 |
RDEC scheme | 90 | 134 | 48 | 125 |
Overall | 1,127 | 1,337 | 1,050 | 601 |
The Mandatory Random Enquiry Programme approach introduced for small and medium sized enterprises represents good practice in the measurement of error and fraud, and involves a detailed inspection of a representative sample of claims filed. These estimates are published in HMRC Annual reports and Accounts and previous reports can be found at gov.uk at: HMRC’s Annual reports and Accounts.