Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation method for small independent hotels.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
We recognise that hotels have expressed concerns about how they are valued for business rates. Hotels valuations are undertaken in a different way to some other sectors. The methodology used is well established, but, as with pubs, the government has announced it will review the way hotels are valued to ensure it accurately reflects the rental value for these sectors.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's correspondence entitled 1/2026: Pubs and live music venues relief 2026 to 2027, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) pub and (b) live music hereditaments that will benefit.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The number of pubs and live music venues that will benefit from this relief will be determined, ultimately, by the relief decisions made by councils in line with the guidance published.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of increase in business rate receipts in England from 2025-26 to 2026-27 as a consequence of the CPI inflation uprating.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Details on business rates receipts for 2025-26 and 2026-27 are set out in the OBR’s economic and fiscal outlook.
The further support for pubs and live music venues will be scored at a fiscal event in the usual way.
In the coming financial year, because of the government’s interventions, the business rate system is raising broadly the same amount of revenue as it was forecast to before the Budget in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of a) making HMRC taxpayer data available to Electoral Registration Officers for the purposes of Automatic Voter Registration, and b) allowing people who update their address with HMRC to update their voter registration automatically at the same time.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The taxpayer information HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) holds is subject to a strict statutory duty of confidentiality. HMRC will share taxpayer information however, where there is a lawful basis to do so and to support wider government objectives. In July 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (“MHCLG”) published its strategy for modern and secure elections with a focus on the effective and safe sharing of data to improve voter registration. HMRC has been working in collaboration with officials from MHCLG to identify data-enabled opportunities to support their objective of improving voter registration.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the impact of potential changes to the childminder tax agreement (BIM 52751) on the financial sustainability of childminders in Surrey.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Childminders play a vital role in childcare. 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.
At Budget 2025 the Government confirmed that the standard rules for calculating income tax would apply to childminders who are mandated into Making Tax Digital (MTD). HMRC engaged with stakeholders including Coram PACEY ahead of Budget 2025. We will phase in this change between 2026 and 2028, in line with the MTD income thresholds. The threshold from April 2026 is £50,000 of qualifying income, reducing to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028. Childminders not within MTD can continue to use existing arrangements if they wish.
Childminders within MTD can continue to claim tax relief for wear and tear by deducting the actual cost of buying, repairing or replacing items. They can also deduct the cost of business expenses such as utilities, cleaning and equipment. This ensures childminders receive tax relief for all of the costs that they incur in relation to their childminding business. Childminders may be better off deducting actual costs, if deductions under the existing arrangements are lower than their actual expenses.
HMRC will publish updated guidance for childminders in early 2026. Guidance on business expenses and on MTD for Income Tax is already available on GOV.UK. The Government will closely monitor the impacts of the policy over the course of the first year.
The Chancellor discusses a range of policy matters with Ministerial colleagues.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the methodology used by the Valuation Office Agency to calculate recent rateable value increases for self-catering accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Self-catered accommodation is valued in the same way as any other class of non-domestic property; through applying the statutory and common law principles that apply across non-domestic rating.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what factors the Valuation Office Agency takes into consideration in (a) coastal and (b) tourism-dependent areas when setting rateable values for self-catering accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Self-catered accommodation is valued in the same way as any other class of non-domestic property; through applying the statutory and common law principles that apply across non-domestic rating.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will commission a cross-government impact assessment for (a) higher National Insurance on employers, (b) higher business rates and (c) the overnight visitors levy on (i) the economic viability of the hotel sector, (ii) costs to consumers, (iii) domestic tourism and (iv) foreign visitor tourism.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the important contribution that the hotel and wider hospitality sectors make to the economy, to local communities and to the UK’s appeal as a destination for domestic and international tourists.
The Government carefully considers the impact of tax measures on businesses, including in hospitality and tourism, within the context of the need to repair the public finances and to fund high‑quality public services. Relevant impact notes and assessments are published at fiscal events and otherwise as necessary in line with the Government’s usual practice.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has assessed the risks associated with holdings of United States Treasury securities; and what steps she is taking to manage prudential financial risk in relation to those holdings.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury works closely with the UK’s independent financial regulators, including the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority, to monitor risks to the UK financial system.
The results from the latest Bank of England Bank Capital Stress Tests from December 2025, indicate that major UK banks have the capacity to continue to support the economy through a stress scenario that incorporated a severe global aggregate supply shock, high advanced-economy inflation, higher global interest rates, deep and simultaneous recessions in the UK and global economies, with materially higher unemployment, and sharp falls in asset prices.
These results support the FPC’s judgement that banks’ current levels of capital are sufficient to support the real economy, even if economic, financial and business conditions became substantially worse than expected.
The Bank of England’s 2024 System Wide Exploratory Scenario also showed the system has an improved ability to absorb large price swings in assets, including sovereign bonds.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the cost of (a) the potential business rates relief for pubs and (b) the cost of extending this relief to (i) the hospitality sector and (ii) the retail sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
From April, every pub and live music venue will get 15% off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget and then bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.
Final costings will be confirmed at a fiscal event in the usual way.
The retail and hospitality sectors will continue to benefit from the £4.3 billion support package announced at Budget. This support package means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.