Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 30 of the Budget 2025 policy costings document, published in November 2025, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for the change in business rate RHL multipliers between 2026-27 and 2027-28.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers being introduced from April are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties in England.
The Exchequer impact of the new RHL multipliers can be found on page 30 of the ‘Policy costings’ document, published at the Budget and found online at this address: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 6 February 2026 to Question 109143 on Business Rate: Uprating, what the evidential basis is for the business rate system raising the same amount of revenue as was forecast before the Spring Budget 2025; and what the date and sources are for the previous estimate.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Business rates receipts are forecast independently by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The previous answer that the business rates system will raise the same amount of revenue in the coming year as was forecast before the Spring Budget 2025 is based on a comparison between the OBRs pre-measures forecast at Spring Budget 2025, and forecasts for the same year at Autumn Budget 2025, which incorporates policy costings.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 109139 on Business Rates: Valuation, if she will publish that analysis.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government does not routinely publish analysis and advice used during the policy making process.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral statement of 27 January 2026, Official Report, Col. 770, on business rates, what the evidential basis is that around three quarters of pubs will see their bills either fall or stay the same next year; what number of bills will remain the same; and what number of pubs were at the £110k cap for RHL relief in 2025-26.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The statistic is based on analysis conducted by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) using property-level data on rateable values from the Valuation Office Agency, and local authority returns on the value of reliefs and the number of properties receiving reliefs, published in MHCLG’s National Non-Domestic Rates statistics.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2026, to Question 108650, on Gardens: Council tax, whether there is internal guidance on how gardens are valued for council tax, other than prevailing legislation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Where a dwelling includes a garden, then this will be reflected in the valuation subject to the legislative framework. The Valuation Office Agency’s internal guidance on when gardens are included in the valuation can be found in the Council Tax Manual, published online here.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how her Department tracks the exposure of financial institutions to UK sovereign debt.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The ONS publishes estimates of holdings of government debt by sector. The latest available data, as at end 2025 Q3, can be found here - UK Economic Accounts - Office for National Statistics - via the July to September 2025 dataset.
HMT works closely with the Bank of England (“the Bank”), including through its membership of the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC), to monitor and manage risks to UK financial stability, including any risks that may occur from the exposure of financial institutions to UK sovereign debt.
As part of this the FPC conducts regular stress tests of the banking sector, which assess how banks’ capital and liquidity would withstand a severe macroeconomic shock, ensuring institutions are able to continue to provide core financial services through severe economic shocks which may impact the value of their UK sovereign debt holdings. You can read more about the Bank’s approach to stress testing and the results of the latest stress tests here.
We also work closely with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which supervises individual firms, to understand the risks arising from those individual firms exposure to UK sovereign debt and ensure that these are managed prudently within the regulatory framework. You can read more about the supervision of financial institutions here.
In 2024, the Bank conducted a world first System‑Wide Exploratory Scenario (SWES), to explore how a broad range of financial institutions (including banks, insurers, pension funds and other non‑bank financial intermediaries) would respond to a severe market shock. The 2024 SWES focused on the functioning and resilience of key markets such as the gilt and gilt repo markets. It sought to understand the behaviour of firms in stress, and how market dynamics can amplify a shock. The Bank’s final report found that actions following previous market shocks have improved gilt market resilience, with the broader financial system showing an improved ability to absorb large price swings in assets, including sovereign bonds, while also highlighting areas for further policy work. You can see the final report from the SWES here.
Taken together these actions – HMTs work with the FPC, regular bank stress tests, PRA supervision, insights from the SWES and ongoing monitoring – ensure that risks arising from financial institutions exposures to UK sovereign debt are well understood and effectively managed.
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any crown servant has been (a) dismissed and (b) disciplined for sharing information related to the Budget 2025 without authority.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury commissioned a Budget Information Security Review following the November 2025 Budget which was published on 9 February 2026. A copy of the review can be found here: Budget Information Security Review - GOV.UK
No Crown Servants employed by HM Treasury were dismissed or disciplined for the stated reason.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the Valuation Office Agency's responses to Member's correspondence, including on matters of confidentiality.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency is committed to protecting taxpayer confidentiality in line with its duty under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91847 on Leisure: Business Rates, when the analysis on the effects of the multiplier arrangements will be published.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published its assessment of the business rates retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers on the 26 November 2025, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/effects-of-the-business-rates-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-multipliers-and-high-value-multiplier/effects-of-the-business-rates-retail-hospitality-and-leisure-multipliers-and-high-value-multiplier
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 107997 on Council tax, valuation, if she will publish the list of Value Significant Codes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Value Significant Codes are used internally by the Valuation Office Agency to indicate specific features that are likely to affect the value of a property – there are therefore no plans to publish these.