Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of total Air Passenger Duty receipts were attributable to passengers travelling with children under 16 in the most recent financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines, not individual passengers, and is the principal tax on the aviation sector.
HMRC does not collect information on passenger ages or whether passengers are travelling with children. Air Passenger Duty receipts are therefore not broken down in this way, and no estimate can be made of the proportion attributable to passengers travelling with children under 16.
Airline operators declare the number of chargeable passengers by destination band and by rate. They do not break down chargeable passengers by age or who passengers are travelling with, and therefore this is not information that HMRC collects.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2026 to Question 121856 on VAT Fraud, what steps she is taking to monitor the effectiveness of the (a) additional controls to strengthen systems and (b) the work of the Fraud Prevention Centre to tackle levels of cases of organised criminals accessing VAT accounts using customers' registration details and fraudulently claiming VAT refunds.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Work to tackle fraud in claiming VAT refunds is carried out by a range of compliance, counter fraud and operational teams across HMRC. Controls introduced to tackle fraudulent VAT refunds include new reporting routes for customers, strengthened incident management processes, and the deployment of technical enhancements. The improvements in identification and response to VAT repayment fraud are monitored through the reduction in attempts to fraudulently access customer accounts (based on specific criminal methods) and submit fraudulent repayment requests.
The developing Fraud Prevention Centre works collaboratively with specialist teams across the department, including the Risk & Intelligence Service, which leads on detection of VAT repayment fraud, and the Fraud Investigation Service, which leads on criminal and civil investigations. Together this supports HMRC in assessing criminal success rates are reducing, whether VAT fraud controls remain effective, and informs the continued development of the Centre’s capability, tooling and specialist fraud expertise during 2026/27.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of including refined products in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism on the the level of economic growth.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the role that refineries play in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. The Government published a call for evidence (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector-call-for-evidence) on the future of the fuel sector on 23rd February 2026 in order to help understand the current state of the refining sector.
Following a strategic and technical assessment by HMG, it has been decided not to expand the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to refined oil products in January 2028. We are continuing to work with the sector to assess the options and case for expanding CBAM to refined oil products at a later date.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of not including refined products within the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism from January 2028.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recognises the role that refineries play in energy security and the UK’s industrial base. The Government published a call for evidence (https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector/future-of-the-uk-downstream-oil-sector-call-for-evidence) on the future of the fuel sector on 23rd February 2026 in order to help understand the current state of the refining sector.
Following a strategic and technical assessment by HMG, it has been decided not to expand the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to refined oil products in January 2028. We are continuing to work with the sector to assess the options and case for expanding CBAM to refined oil products at a later date.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an Essential User Rebate for fuel to support sectors reliant on road transport.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is already taking action on fuel affordability at the pump.
At Budget 2025, the Government extended the 5p-per-litre cut for a further five months, until the end of August this year. The Government has also cancelled the increase in line with inflation for 2026/27; instead, rates will only gradually return to early 2022 levels by March 2027. The 5p cut was introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Government's action on fuel duty will save an average heavy goods vehicle more than £800 in 2026/27 compared to previous plans, and follows an extended period where freezes to fuel duty have resulted in substantial savings for the haulage industry.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps fuel duty under review.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of current VAT rates on closure rates among hospitality businesses.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by hospitality businesses to economic growth and social life in the UK.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. The UK’s VAT rate of 20 per cent is close to the OECD average of 19.3 per cent. The UK also has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD, at £90,000. This keeps the majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.
The Government has already started the work of reforming our business rates system by introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of requiring banks to implement stronger safeguards or alerts for recurring payments initiated after free trials.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) 2024 sets out new consumer protection rules for subscription contracts. Once the rules are in force, traders will have to provide clear information about subscription contracts before a consumer signs up, ensure that arrangements to exit the contract are straightforward, and provide a 14-day cooling-off period after a 12month+ contract or trial auto-renews.
Secondary legislation is required to implement the regime. We consulted on proposals and the Government Response can be found here: Consultation on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime - GOV.UK
The new protections will save the average consumer £14 per month for every unwanted subscription they cancel. The Department for Business and Trade published an Impact Assessment alongside the DMCCA: Subscription traps: annex 2 impact assessment
The DMCCA requirements will apply to traders offering subscriptions and the Government currently has no plans to introduce new requirements on banks to tackle subscription traps. The Government will keep the effectiveness of the new rules under review.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much further education colleges paid in VAT for non-business activities in each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not hold readily available data on the amount of VAT paid by further education colleges in relation to non-business activities for each of the last five financial years.
Further education colleges may undertake a mix of business and non-business activities. While VAT may be incurred on costs associated with these activities, the extent to which it is recoverable depends on the specific circumstances and the application of VAT apportionment methods by individual educational institutions.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the EU Capital Requirements Directive VI on the UK banking sector.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As with all significant financial regulation developments in other jurisdictions, HMT is considering the potential implications of the EU Capital Requirements Directive VI on the UK banking sector.
Strengthening our relationships with international partners, including the EU, is a key focus of the Government’s Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria she will use to determine whether the Managed Service Provider model is expanded, modified, or discontinued following the joint evaluation with the PCS Trade Union.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is using Managed Service Providers (MSP) as part of a balanced approach to help it manage peaks and troughs more effectively, drawing on practices already used across other Government Departments (OGDs). This will allow its permanent colleagues to focus their expertise where it’s most needed. HMRC know customers still need timely support while services continue to digitise, and the current 18‑month Proof of Value phase is providing HMRC with opportunities to learn from this approach, giving it more flexibility to improve the service it gives customers, and at good value for the taxpayer.
HMRC is working jointly with the PCS trade union on an evaluation of the MSP service. The evaluation considers service quality, customer outcomes, productivity and value for money, and will inform future decisions. No outcome is pre‑determined while the evaluation is ongoing.
HMRC’s evaluation will help them determine how they use MSPs to better serve customers. Any decision will be taken through normal business planning and Spending Review processes, taking account of evaluation findings, affordability and operational need.
This is not about replacing HMRC colleagues – no one will be made redundant as a result of this initiative and HMRC headcount is forecast to increase by the end of the Spending Review 2025 period. The current staff provided by MSPs represent additional capacity for 2025/26 and into 2026/27. HMRC faces highly variable demand throughout the year - this is about giving HMRC more flexibility to improve the service it gives customers. This complements its permanent workforce and enables it to scale capacity up and down as needed.
Due to the design of the contract, costs can only be confirmed retrospectively. Comparisons with permanent recruitment and surge staffing currently indicate MSP costs are comparable or better, based on expected outcomes. Overall the projected cost for 12 months was approximately £23m of resourcing spend.