Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Explanatory Memorandum on the Double Contributions Convention with the Republic of India, Command Paper No 1513, how much public funding will be required to meet the obligations for managing the treaty.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The project to implement the Double Contributions Convention, including work required by Article 20 to scope and implement a system of electronic information exchange between the UK and India, is still on-going. A full estimate is therefore not available. The system under development will be a step towards the modernisation of international social security processes in HMRC.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 11 February on the Double Contributions Convention with the Republic of India, HCWS1327, if he will commission an an economic impact assessment on the Double Contributions Convention.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the impact of the Double Contributions Convention in the usual way at a fiscal event, once it has been ratified.
Asked by: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on whether the Crown Estate sought legal advice on the potential liability of their properties being used for the procurement of prostitution.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Epstein scandal exposed a culture that didn't value the lives of women. It is utterly contrary to what the Prime Minister stands for and the values at the heart of a government tackling misogyny in schools, halving violence against women and girls and overhauling how our criminal justice system serves victims.
The Crown Estate is an independent commercial organisation, and the Government is not involved in its operations and day-to-day decision making.
The Crown Estate has confirmed that its leases contain a nuisance clause that prohibits illegal or immoral use, and that it enforces those leases in accordance with applicable law.
The Crown Estate has confirmed that its residential lease arrangements do not require monitoring or recording the identities of a leaseholder’s private visitors. Such monitoring would be incompatible with privacy and data protection requirements and with the long-established covenant owed to leaseholders under landlord-tenant law.
Asked by: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information her Department holds on the number of times that Jeffrey Epstein (a) visited and (b) stayed at a Crown Estate owned property.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Epstein scandal exposed a culture that didn't value the lives of women. It is utterly contrary to what the Prime Minister stands for and the values at the heart of a government tackling misogyny in schools, halving violence against women and girls and overhauling how our criminal justice system serves victims.
The Crown Estate is an independent commercial organisation, and the Government is not involved in its operations and day-to-day decision making.
The Crown Estate has confirmed that its leases contain a nuisance clause that prohibits illegal or immoral use, and that it enforces those leases in accordance with applicable law.
The Crown Estate has confirmed that its residential lease arrangements do not require monitoring or recording the identities of a leaseholder’s private visitors. Such monitoring would be incompatible with privacy and data protection requirements and with the long-established covenant owed to leaseholders under landlord-tenant law.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is planning to take to assess the potential impact of the removal of the wear and tear allowance within Making Tax Digital on the (a) sustainability of the childminding sector and (b) availability of childcare for local families.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Childminders make a significant contribution to children’s development, learning, and wellbeing. The Government has eased rules on working from schools and community centres and increased early years funding rates above 2023 average fees. These increases reflect increased costs, and from April 2026, local authorities must pass at least 97 per cent of funding to providers.
Only a small proportion of childminders with qualifying income over £50,000 will be mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax from April 2026. Childminders moving to MTD for income tax can continue to claim tax relief for household costs, wear and tear of household items and furniture, and food and drink, by deducting actual business costs. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business.
The Government will monitor the impact of MTD for income tax on childminders and other home-based childcare providers in the same way as it will for all sole traders moving to MTD for income tax.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential cost exempting repairs enjoyed by museums and galleries from VAT to include listed places of worship to the Exchequer.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Outside of a limited number of VAT reliefs aimed at stimulating the supply of new homes, the standard VAT rate of 20 per cent applies to most construction work.
Some museums and galleries receive VAT refunds on the costs associated with providing free access to their permanent collections, under the museums and galleries VAT Refund Scheme. This includes the refunds of the VAT paid on repairs to the buildings that contain museums/galleries’ permanent collections. Further information about the refund scheme can be found here:
VAT Refund Scheme for museums and galleries (VAT Notice 998) - GOV.UK
The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, provides grants for VAT paid by listed places of worship on their repair and maintenance costs, with the objective of helping to preserve UK heritage. From April 2026, the scheme will be replaced by a Places of Worship Renewal Fund, which will invest £92 million capital funding into listed places of worship. It is designed to ensure that taxpayer funding is targeted more effectively toward the preservation of our heritage assets.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 February 2026 to Question 118047, which section of the most recent Block Grant Transparency publication details the Barnett consequentials allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive following increases in police funding to PCCs in England and Wales in each year since 2020.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Barnett formula applies to all changes in UK Government Departmental Expenditure Limits, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy. The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes to the Northern Ireland Executive’s block grant funding since Spending Review 2015. The most recent report was published in October 2025.
At spending reviews, the Barnett formula is applied to overall changes to department funding, rather than to individual programmes or specific funding streams. Therefore, it is not possible to identify or specify Barnett consequentials allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive for particular programmes where funding was provided at spending reviews, including increases in police funding to Police and Crime Commisioners in England and Wales.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Erasmus deal with the EU has (a) asymmetric or (b) symmetric early termination payments, payable (i) by the United Kingdom if it terminates early and (ii) by the European Union if they terminate early, and what provisions apply if the cost increases in Year 2 of the agreement once the first-year discount expires.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
UK association to Erasmus+ is provided for through technical amendments to Protocol I of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which was agreed in 2020 and provides for UK association to EU Programmes under Part 5.
Section 3 of Part 5 of the TCA outlines the legal mechanism under which the UK’s participation in all EU Programmes, including Erasmus+, would be subject to suspension and/or termination.
Asked by: Andrew Griffith (Conservative - Arundel and South Downs)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Chief Secretary to the Treasury plans to respond to the correspondence of 15 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The correspondence from the hon. Member is receiving attention, and a response will be issued in due course.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many UK businesses at the most recent date for which information is available have had their Government Gateway access restricted on the grounds that their accounts may have been compromised by fraudulent attempts to reclaim VAT.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The security of HMRC’s online services is a top priority. We are aware of attempts by organised criminals to access VAT accounts using genuine customers’ registration details, and our immediate focus is to protect customer data and correct any affected tax or payment records. Customer accounts may be restricted, i.e. suspended or deleted, for a range of reasons, including proactive fraud monitoring, reports of suspicious activity, and the closure of inactive accounts. Specialist security and VAT teams are actively investigating and delivering improvements to strengthen VAT account security, which could include restricting accounts where fraudulent activity has not been identified.
When and if fraudulent activity has occurred, HMRC contacts affected customers to explain the remedial actions taken and outline any steps they need to take.