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: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of name of the high value council tax surcharge on public awareness of the local authorities' role in the process of collecting revenue from this tax.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As set out at Budget 2025, the High Value Council Tax Surcharge will be administered alongside existing Council Tax by local authorities, who will collect revenue. The Government will undertake a new burdens assessment to ensure costs to local authorities are fully funded.
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 111691 on Valuation Office Agency: Conference, if she will publish the presentations from the Valuation Office Agency at the (a) December 2024, (b) March 2025 and (c) September 2025 international conferences.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
We do not routinely publish this information.
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.
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: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Bank of England still has a sitting Banknote Character Advisory Committee.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Banknote Character Advisory Committee, whose members had a five-year term starting in 2015, advised the Governor of the Bank of England on the choice of field and character for the current £20 and £50 banknotes.
In July 2025 the Bank of England asked the public for their views on what the theme should be for the next series of banknotes. The Bank of England decided the theme for the next series of banknotes based on the feedback from this public consultation and focus groups.
The Bank of England will launch another consultation in summer 2026 to seek the views of the public again on images for the next banknote. Further detail can be found on the Bank of England’s website.
The final decision about what imagery will appear on the next series of banknotes will be made by the Governor.
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: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Treasury is taking to ensure regulatory co-operation with Spain supports UK-based exporters.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to a deep and enduring partnership with Spain – a partnership which we were pleased to strengthen through agreeing a strategic bilateral framework in September. This Government is also committed to supporting British businesses exporting to Spain and other European markets. During the Chancellor’s recent visit to Madrid, we agreed practical steps with Spain to make it easier for UK services professionals to travel to Spain, which could be worth around £250 million in additional UK services exports over five years.
This Government recognises the strategic imperative for deeper integration between the UK and EU – which shapes much of Spain’s regulatory regime – to strengthen resilience in the economy and stabilise trading conditions for businesses. As the Chancellor set out in her Mais lecture on 17 March, we will pursue an enhanced partnership with the EU to strengthen supply chains and reduce unnecessary frictions for businesses operating in European markets. This will include closer alignment with EU regulation where it is in the UK’s national interest.
The Government is also strengthening engagement with business on EU regulatory issues, and we are exploring how the UK and EU can work together more effectively on shared ambitions to reduce administrative burdens on business, consistent with the UK commitment to cut the administrative burden of regulation by 25% by the end of this Parliament.