Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will introduce updated guidance for the inclusion of community and independent gym and leisure facilities within RHL relief categories.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.
To respond to those who are seeing large increases, Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Government published information on the effects of the changes to business rates made at Budget 2025 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#multipliers
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2026 to Question 111693 on Business Rates: Valuation, on how many occasions estimates were provided by the Valuation Office Agency to Ministers between 1 April 2024 and the publication of the draft Rating List.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The VOA provided five data drops from 1 April 2024 to the publication of the draft rating list.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the impact of business rate costs on the ability of the gym and leisure centre sector to provide services for the health and wellbeing of communities.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.
To respond to those who are seeing large increases, Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Government published information on the effects of the changes to business rates made at Budget 2025 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#multipliers
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions she has had with the leisure centre and gym sector on the impact of business rates on the financial sustainability of that sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.
To respond to those who are seeing large increases, Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Government published information on the effects of the changes to business rates made at Budget 2025 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#multipliers
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of business rates on the sustainability of the leisure centre and gym sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.
To respond to those who are seeing large increases, Government has already acted to limit increases in bills, announcing a support package worth £4.3 billion package at the Budget.
The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
The Government published information on the effects of the changes to business rates made at Budget 2025 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#multipliers
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the average length of neonatal care leave has been since 6 April 2025; and whether they will publish a breakdown of the number of parents taking neonatal care leave for each individual week of entitlement.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not receive data on exact claim duration. However, it is possible to estimate the duration of a claim based on total amounts of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay claimed. The average length of a claim is currently estimated at 2.3 weeks. The distribution of this is shown in the table below:
SNCP Claims in Tax Year 2025-26 | |
Estimated Claim Duration | Cases |
1 week | 800 |
2 weeks | 500 |
3 weeks | 200 |
4 weeks | 200 |
5 weeks | 100 |
6 weeks | 100 |
Notes:
1) Data collected using HMRC Real Time Information (RTI) and extracted in December 2025. RTI is subject to revision or updates.
2) Cases have been rounded to nearest 100.
Asked by: Baroness Penn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many parents have (1) taken neonatal care leave, (2) received neonatal care pay, and (3) received both neonatal care leave and pay, since the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023 came into force on 6 April 2025.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold information on (1) the number of parents that have taken Neonatal Care Leave and (3) the number of parents that have received both Neonatal Care Leave and Pay.
HMRC does hold data on Statutory Neonatal Care Pay provided by Real Time Information, HMRC’s database that holds Pay as You Earn information relating to employees. Using data from April-December 2025, an estimated 1,900 individuals were in receipt of Statutory Neonatal Care Pay. This data was extracted from HMRC’s Real-Time Information in January 2026 and is subject to revision or updates.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential combined impact of the 2025 Budget announcement introducing pay per mile charges on electric vehicles, particularly its effect on consumer demand for EVs, and the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate on manufacturers; and what steps her Department is taking to balancing these measures to support businesses in the automotive supply chain.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, to create a fair tax system whilst also taking steps to ensure that driving an electric vehicle (EV) remains an attractive choice for consumers.
The rate of eVED for EVs will be half of the equivalent fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that EVs are cheaper to own and run for the majority of EV drivers.
Alongside eVED, the Government also announced at Budget 2025 generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG), £200 million for chargepoint rollout, and increasing the VED Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs. To support manufacturers and the automotive sector supply chain, the Government announced an extension of funding for the Drive 35 (Driving Research & Investment in Vehicle Electrification) programme and a delay to proposed changes to Employee Car Ownership Schemes (ECOS) alongside transitional arrangements.
As set out by the OBR, the estimated net impact of eVED and other Budget measures, including the ECG and ECS, is 120,000 fewer new EV sales across the forecast period. This is against a baseline which assumes EV sales more than triple from 2025-26 levels by 2030-31, which means the net impact of eVED represents only 2% of total new EV sales in the period.
The Government has set out expected impacts from eVED and other Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
Asked by: Charlie Dewhirst (Conservative - Bridlington and The Wolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the inclusion in the UK Government Green Financing Framework, November 2025, paragraph 2.12, of the new exclusion of "Facilities intended for the production of weapons grade nuclear material or for other primarily military uses" on levels of divestment in the Defence nuclear industry, including Trident renewal contracts and sub-contracts.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Green Financing Framework, updated in 2025, explains how proceeds from green gilts and NS&I’s retail Green Savings Bonds will finance public expenditures that deliver a direct and positive environmental impact.
The Defence Nuclear Enterprise is critically important but does not primarily exist to support those objectives and so is not eligible to be financed under the Framework. This exclusion is in line with international norms for green bond frameworks.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of providing grants or financial support to vending operators to meet compliance costs arising from age verification requirements.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chancellor has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a range of issues.
DHSC ran a 12-week consultation on proposals for the ban of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years from 3 September to 26 November 2025. This included seeking views on how the ban should apply in vending machines.
DHSC is now carefully considering the responses and will publish the government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and any next steps.