Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she plans to take to enable the Northern Ireland Executive to retain monies received from identifying benefit fraud; and whether there is any blockage to this happening.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Benefit payments in Northern Ireland are a devolved matter.
To make sure support goes to those who truly need it, the UK Government will work with the Northern Ireland Executive over the coming months on ways to tackle welfare fraud and error in Northern Ireland and on different funding options, including the potential to share a portion of resulting savings with the Executive.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she made of the potential merits of reducing Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This is a matter for the NI Executive. The 2014 Stormont House Agreement between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive agreed, in principle, for the power to set the rate of Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland on certain trading profits to be devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Agreement set out that the Executive would need to formally request the power to change the Corporation Tax rate in Northern Ireland. The Executive would also need to demonstrate that its finances were on a sustainable footing, and that the Executive’s block grant would need to be adjusted to reflect the Corporation Tax revenues foregone if the devolved power were exercised.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue the Exchequer has collected from the Apprenticeship Levy (a) in total and (b) from companies registered in Northern Ireland in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Receipts data for the Apprenticeship Levy is published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Tax and NIC Receipts publication which can be found online at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk
Receipts data based on company registered addresses do not reflect where liabilities are accrued or where employees are based. For example, the data on receipts from companies with registered addresses in Northern Ireland will not include businesses registered in Wales, Scotland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who directed the ICS2 system to go live in August 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Import Control System 2 (ICS2) is the new safety and security system for certain goods moving by air, maritime, road or rail into Northern Ireland. It is already in use for air and bulk maritime movements into Northern Ireland, replacing the existing Import Control System Northern Ireland (ICSNI).
The ICS2 system has been available for road movements since 1 April 2025, with operators initially having until 1 September 2025 to onboard to the new system. This has subsequently been extended to 31 December 2025 to give businesses more time to prepare to onboard to ICS2.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will set out the (a) number, (b) value and (c) average delay of tax refunds on hold due to security reasons for which the latest data is available.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HMRC received 2,871,186 Self-Assessment repayment requests between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025. Of these, 199,266 (7%) were held for review, with a value of £2.2bn. The average duration of delay for Self-Assessment customers whose repayments were withheld and subsequently released was approximately 25 days.
HMRC received 2,859,032 VAT repayment requests between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025. Of these, 188,696 (6.6%) were held for a review, with a value of £65.5bn. The average duration of delay for VAT customers whose repayments were withheld and subsequently released was approximately 25 days.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett consequential for Northern Ireland from the recent trade deal with India will be.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement will make it easier for British businesses to trade with the fastest growing economy in the G20. The government estimates that it will increase bilateral trade by £25.5 billion, add £4.8billion a year to our economy and boost wages by £2.2 billion every year in the long run.
The Barnett formula is applied when UK Government departmental budgets change. Any future changes to UK Government department funding as a result of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement will have the Barnett formula applied in the normal way.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Apprenticeship Levy has been (a) collected from and (b) provided to Northern Ireland employers in each of the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Reliable estimates of the revenue raised from businesses in Northern Ireland from the Apprenticeship Levy are not available as any estimate would need to be based on where employers are registered, and therefore would not necessarily reflect where the liabilities are accrued or where employees are based. Any estimate would not include businesses registered in Wales, Scotland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Northern Ireland.
While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. This means that the devolved governments receive funding through the Barnett formula in relation to English apprenticeship spending as part of their block grant. The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. It is for the devolved governments to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit, including investing in their skills programmes.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there will be Barnett consequentials from the £3.25bn Transformation Fund announced in the Spring Statement.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Transformation Fund will be allocated to UK Government departments through the Spending Review process. The Barnett formula will apply in the normal way, as per the Statement of Funding Policy.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to (a) support and (b) expand credit unions.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government has made clear its strong support for the credit union sector, recognising the value that credit unions bring to their members in local communities across the country in providing products and affordable credit. We continue to engage regularly with this sector to understand the current barriers they face and consider further opportunities for growth.
The Chancellor announced new measures to support the growth of the credit union and mutuals sector in her Mansion House speech on 14 November 2024. This included publishing a call for evidence on the potential to reform common bonds for credit unions in Great Britain, asking the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to produce a report on the mutuals landscape by the end of 2025, and welcoming the establishment of an industry-led Mutual and Co-operative Business Council.
Responsibility for credit unions in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Treasury officials engage with their counterparts in the Department for the Economy.
Asked by: Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Consumer Credit Directive, which came into force in Northern Ireland on 23 November 2023, on cancer patients and their families.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The European Union’s Consumer Credit Directive 2008 was implemented into UK law in 2010. In November 2023, the EU passed a new Consumer Credit Directive that will replace the previous Directive and which Member States must transpose into domestic law by November 2025. As the UK has left the European Union, this Directive will not apply in the UK, including Northern Ireland.