Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook published in March 2026, what fiscal headroom the Government is forecast to have against its fiscal rules in each year of the forecast period; what sensitivity analysis has been undertaken by the Office for Budget Responsibility regarding changes in growth, interest rates or inflation; and what assessment she has made of the level of risks to the Government’s ability to meet its fiscal targets.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
In line with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)'s mandate, the OBR did not provide a formal assessment of performance against the fiscal rules at the Spring forecast on 3 March. The fiscal rules will be formally assessed alongside the Budget.
As the Chancellor said in her speech to the House, the forecast shows headroom against the stability rule has increased since the Budget from £21.7bn at the Budget to £23.6bn in 2029-30, which is the target year, meaning greater resilience against shocks and stability in the economy. Headroom against the investment rule is also higher at £27.1bn in 2029-30.
As an independent body, the OBR has full discretion over its forecast methodology and the judgements underpinning its forecasts. As is standard, the March 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlooks included sensitivity analysis around key economic variables and highlighted upside and downside risks to its central forecast
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Northern Ireland Executive has the ability to create an energy support scheme for users of home heating oil with funding from the UK government, announced in the Autumn budget.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Spending classed as Annually Managed Expenditure will be provided to Northern Ireland to develop a comparable scheme to that developed in GB.
It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to decide how they would like to deliver a comparable offer. The UK Government is ready to review the business case once it has been submitted by the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at what domestic conferences the Valuation Office Agency has made presentations since July 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Staff members are supported to speak at, learn from and contribute to various conferences and meetings of valuation professionals here in the UK. We do not keep a central log of all these domestic activities.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average staffing complement is for a ministerial private office within their Department; what grades those staff are appointed at; what the typical remuneration and contracted working hours are for those posts; and what the staff turnover rate is.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT ministerial private offices hire an average 6.5 FTE per office. Staff are appointed at grades: AO, EO, HEO, SEO, G7, G6 and Deputy Director. Contracted working hours for these staff members are 37 hours per week.
Staff salaries for the appointed grades are typically between £26,200 - £117,800. Designated posts may also benefit from Private Office Allowance.
The average staff turnover over the last 3 years was between 20-30%, which can include staff on loans to HMT returning to their home departments, or individuals leaving to other government departments, including on promotion.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on additional funding for extending the UK Supercharger Scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on a range of topics.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support available to households using heating oil, in the context of rising global oil prices linked to the conflict in Iran.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government has acted quickly to provide £53m in timely, targeted support to vulnerable households, struggling with the rising price of heating oil, predominantly in rural communities.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Treasury has held discussions with international partners on the use of sanctions in response to reported serious human rights abuses in Hong Kong prisons.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is responsible for overall policy and the development of sanctions measures, and the UK’s response to international human rights abuses. This includes sanctions under the UK’s Global Human Rights sanctions regime.
HM Treasury has regular discussions with international partners on a range of multilateral issues.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with the Bank of England on the removal of historic figures from UK bank notes.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between HM Treasury and the Bank of England, the Bank of England is entirely responsible for the design, production, issue and distribution of banknotes. HM Treasury has not discussed images for banknote design with the Bank of England.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of rules on tax relief on touring costs in Europe.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, and supports the sector through a range of tax reliefs which are among the most generous in the world, providing over £2.4 billion of support in 2023–24.
The reliefs support the sector with the cost of touring. Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) provides a generous rate of 45 per cent tax relief on orchestral production costs – including the cost of domestic touring, such as transport and accommodation – and provided £50 million of support in 2023-24. There is currently no other country in the world which offers such a tax relief for orchestras. Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR), provide a 40% rate of relief to non-touring productions but offer higher rates of relief (at 45%) for touring productions.
The Government carefully considers the design of the creative sector tax reliefs to ensure they are well targeted, effective in achieving their policy objectives, and represent value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to change cultural tax reliefs to account for the cost of touring.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of the creative industries, and supports the sector through a range of tax reliefs which are among the most generous in the world, providing over £2.4 billion of support in 2023–24.
The reliefs support the sector with the cost of touring. Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) provides a generous rate of 45 per cent tax relief on orchestral production costs – including the cost of domestic touring, such as transport and accommodation – and provided £50 million of support in 2023-24. There is currently no other country in the world which offers such a tax relief for orchestras. Theatre Tax Relief (TTR) and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR), provide a 40% rate of relief to non-touring productions but offer higher rates of relief (at 45%) for touring productions.
The Government carefully considers the design of the creative sector tax reliefs to ensure they are well targeted, effective in achieving their policy objectives, and represent value for money for the taxpayer.