Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the urgent question on the resignation of the chair of the OBR at column 991, 3 December 2025, whether special advisers have been required to provide access to the leak inquiry to communications on personal and government issued mobile devices and computers.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 9 February, the Government published its Review of Budget information security. This includes the outcomes and recommendations of the Cabinet Office’s leak inquiry. All individuals and organisations in government who had access to the relevant information were in scope, including special advisers.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 3 December 2025 on OBR: Resignation of Chair, Official Report, column 991, if she will provide an update on the progress of the leak inquiry.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
On 9 February, the Government published its Review of Budget information security. This includes the outcomes and recommendations of the Cabinet Office’s leak inquiry. The recommendations will be implemented in full.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2026 to Question 104669 on Business Rates, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the increases in Rateable Values for (a) hotels and (b) pubs from the 2026 revaluation on the liability of those businesses for business rates from the BID levies.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Business Improvement District (BID) levies are set locally through ballot approved proposals and are not automatically affected by revaluations or new multipliers. Therefore, any adjustment is a matter for the individual BID under its governing arrangements.
The Government recognises the important role that BIDs play in improving the local trading environment in high streets and town centres. Through the Pride in Place strategy, the Government has committed to strengthening BIDs by modernising existing arrangements, raising standards, and granting new powers for the establishment of property owner BIDs throughout England.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to electric Vehicle Excise Duty on the use of internal combustion engine vehicles.
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, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that electric vehicles (EVs) contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
The Government is also committed to ensuring that driving an electric vehicle is an attractive choice for consumers; the eVED rate paid by electric car drivers will therefore be half the equivalent fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, meaning that it will still be cheaper to own and run an EV for the majority of EV drivers, with a reduced rate for plug-in hybrid drivers.
The Government has set out the expected impacts of eVED and other Budget measures, including Exchequer and behavioural impacts, in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK.
There are uncertainties, but the number of internal combustion engine cars is still expected to fall over time as electric car sales increase; EV sales are forecast to more than triple from nearly 0.5 million sales in 2025/26 to around 1.6 million by 2030/31.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases in employer National Insurance contributions on the recruitment of young workers in Scotland.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A detailed assessment of the policy has been published by HMRC in their Tax Information and Impact Note. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. Accounting for policies that will materially affect the forecast, the OBR expect that employment levels will rise in every year of the forecast, and that they will be higher in every year compared to March, reaching 35.5m in 2030-31.
The UK Government is committed to providing young people with the best start to their working lives. That is why we have committed to a Youth Guarantee to support young people across Great Britain to earn or learn. This includes a Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a six-month paid work placement for every eligible 18- to 21-year-old who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the tender for the Banknote Supply and Service Agreement (notice identifier 2026/S 000-004172) includes a requirement to produce the banknotes in the UK.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 19th January 2026, the Bank of England published a tender notice for the award of the Banknote Supply and Service Agreement on the Government’s Find a Tender website. This contract stipulates banknotes must be produced and issued from the Bank of England’s secure printing facility in Debden, Essex. Only the Bank of England issues banknotes in England and Wales, but six banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland can also issue banknotes, as listed on the Bank of England’s website.
The Bank of England has retained sole responsibility for developing, producing, and issuing banknotes in England and Wales since 1921. Therefore, the specifics of the Banknote Supply and Service Agreement is also within the Bank of England’s remit to draft and negotiate.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of workplace financial wellbeing companies on financial inclusion.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that employers can play an important role in supporting the financial wellbeing of their employees. The Financial Inclusion Strategy seeks to support employers who want to build the financial resilience of their workforce.
Payroll savings schemes are identified in the Strategy as a specific, impactful step employers can take to achieve this goal. The Strategy outlines the Government’s work with the Financial Conduct Authority to provide greater regulatory clarity to employers, so they can offer these schemes with confidence. The Money and Pensions Service is also working with Nest Insight and The Investing and Savings Alliance on the launch of a National Coalition of Employers to encourage uptake among firms.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of due diligence checks on politically exposed persons undertaken by financial institutions in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is clear that the enhanced due diligence requirements contained in the Money Laundering Regulations in relation to politically exposed persons provide valuable, actionable intelligence on those who would seek to abuse their positions, including hostile states and organised criminals. This helps to protect the UK from money laundering and corruption.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she will respond to Question 107479 regarding the Valuation Office Agency’s valuation method for small independent hotels.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
An answer was submitted to 107479 on 6 February 2026.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland and Fakenham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2026 to Question 109216, what estimate she has made of the annual amount of UK Emissions Trading Scheme revenue generated from domestic maritime emissions allocated to maritime decarbonisation projects by programme.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Domestic maritime emissions will be subject to the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from July this year. The OBR’s November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook states that the UK ETS overall raised £3.4bn in 2024-25. Revenues from the scheme are not hypothecated but accrue to the consolidated fund, and support spending on government priorities, which includes maritime decarbonisation.