Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer on 8 December 2025 to Question 96643, whether she has any plans to require pensioners who received the state pension as their only income and consequently inherit part of (a) the basic state pension, (b) the additional state pension and (c) the new state pension following the death of their spouse or civil partner to pay income tax.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in my reply to Question 96643, the Chancellor has said that those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax over this Parliament. At the Budget, the Government announced that it will achieve this by easing the administrative burden for pensioners so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027/28. The Government will set out more detail in due course.Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer on 8 December 2025 to Question 96643, whether she has any plans to require pensioners who receive both the basic state pension and the additional state pension as their only income to pay income tax.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in my reply to Question 96643, the Chancellor has said that those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax over this Parliament. At the Budget, the Government announced that it will achieve this by easing the administrative burden for pensioners so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027/28. The Government will set out more detail in due course.Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2025 measures on VAT on private hire vehicles on (a) people with disabilities and (b) older people.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Private hire vehicle (PHV) services provided by VAT-registered businesses are, and always have been, subject to the standard rate of VAT (20%).
The Government’s announcement at Autumn Budget 2025 puts an end to the exploitation of a VAT administration scheme, designed for the tour operator sector, by a small number of large private hire vehicle operators seeking to pay a lower rate of VAT than others.
This won’t affect smaller operators outside London whose drivers contract directly with passengers, or black cabs, neither of which have attempted to exploit this scheme.
By making sure all operators pay their fair share, the Government expects to raise around £700m of tax revenue each year that it believes should already be being paid. Protecting this revenue is part of the Government’s tax reforms which have enabled us to protect payslips, cut energy bills and reduce borrowing.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual cost to the public purse was of active Private Finance Initiative contracts in the most recent financial year for which data is available.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s preferred financing model for any type of infrastructure project is the one that offers the best value for money. Proposals are appraised on a case-by-case basis using the Green Book.
Public sector contracting authorities directly manage Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and are responsible for monitoring and managing their respective contracts to ensure value for money.
Since 2020, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formerly Infrastructure and Projects Authority, has provided advice and training directly to contracting authorities to support them in navigating issues relating to PFI projects (operational and expiry-related).
PFI payments are made by “unitary charge”, which are not broken down by underlying cost drivers. Therefore, the proportion of payments that are (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges is not readily available, nor is data on costs which have arisen because of inflation and indexing.
Data on PFI and PF2 projects can be found at the following weblink: PFI and PF2 projects: 2024 Summary Data - GOV.UK
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the projected cost is of Private Finance Initiative and PF2 contracts over their remaining lifetimes.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s preferred financing model for any type of infrastructure project is the one that offers the best value for money. Proposals are appraised on a case-by-case basis using the Green Book.
Public sector contracting authorities directly manage Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and are responsible for monitoring and managing their respective contracts to ensure value for money.
Since 2020, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formerly Infrastructure and Projects Authority, has provided advice and training directly to contracting authorities to support them in navigating issues relating to PFI projects (operational and expiry-related).
PFI payments are made by “unitary charge”, which are not broken down by underlying cost drivers. Therefore, the proportion of payments that are (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges is not readily available, nor is data on costs which have arisen because of inflation and indexing.
Data on PFI and PF2 projects can be found at the following weblink: PFI and PF2 projects: 2024 Summary Data - GOV.UK
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with regulators and industry on modernising the financial infrastructure related to property transactions.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government regularly engages with lenders and regulators to discuss the housing market, including lenders’ mortgage lending practices which support property transactions.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is currently consulting on reforms to the home buying and selling process. The Government has made clear its objectives that reform should support faster, more reliable transactions and reduced fall throughs and risks.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential socio-economic merits of a VAT relief scheme for Further Education colleges.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that Further Education (FE) funding is vital to ensure people are being trained in the skills they need to thrive in the modern labour market. The 2025 Spending Review provided an additional £1.2 billion per year by 2028-29 for skills and £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estate. In addition, the Government is providing £375 million of capital investment to support the FE system to accommodate increasing student numbers.
For their non-business activity, FE colleges are unable to reclaim VAT incurred. We operate several VAT refund schemes for schools and academies. FE colleges do not meet the criteria for either scheme.
In relation to business activity, FE colleges enjoy an exemption from VAT which means that they do not have to charge VAT to students, but cannot recover it either. The Government is not currently planning to introduce a VAT refund scheme for FE institutions.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is her Department's estimate for annual CPI inflation in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29 financial years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury does not produce forecasts for the UK economy. Forecasting the economy is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which published its latest forecast on 26 November 2025.
In their most recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR forecast CPI inflation to be 3.5% in 2025-26, 2.2% in 2026-27, 2.0% in 2027-28 and 2.1% in 2028-29.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Private Finance Initiative contracts include index‑linked payment mechanisms; and what the estimated additional cost has been as a result of inflation over the last five years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s preferred financing model for any type of infrastructure project is the one that offers the best value for money. Proposals are appraised on a case-by-case basis using the Green Book.
Public sector contracting authorities directly manage Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and are responsible for monitoring and managing their respective contracts to ensure value for money.
Since 2020, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formerly Infrastructure and Projects Authority, has provided advice and training directly to contracting authorities to support them in navigating issues relating to PFI projects (operational and expiry-related).
PFI payments are made by “unitary charge”, which are not broken down by underlying cost drivers. Therefore, the proportion of payments that are (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges is not readily available, nor is data on costs which have arisen because of inflation and indexing.
Data on PFI and PF2 projects can be found at the following weblink: PFI and PF2 projects: 2024 Summary Data - GOV.UK
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the financial resilience and tax arrangements of companies holding Private Finance Initiative contracts.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government’s preferred financing model for any type of infrastructure project is the one that offers the best value for money. Proposals are appraised on a case-by-case basis using the Green Book.
Public sector contracting authorities directly manage Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts and are responsible for monitoring and managing their respective contracts to ensure value for money.
Since 2020, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), formerly Infrastructure and Projects Authority, has provided advice and training directly to contracting authorities to support them in navigating issues relating to PFI projects (operational and expiry-related).
PFI payments are made by “unitary charge”, which are not broken down by underlying cost drivers. Therefore, the proportion of payments that are (a) capital repayment, (b) interest and (c) service charges is not readily available, nor is data on costs which have arisen because of inflation and indexing.
Data on PFI and PF2 projects can be found at the following weblink: PFI and PF2 projects: 2024 Summary Data - GOV.UK