Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed Electric Vehicle Excise Duty on consumer confidence in electric vehicles.
Answered by Lord Livermore
The Government remains firmly committed to the Electric Vehicle (EV) transition and has carefully considered the potential impact of electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) on consumer uptake of electric vehicles.
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 the Budget in 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.
The Government has set out the expected impacts of eVED and related Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK.
The Government published a consultation which provides further detail on how eVED will work and sought views on its implementation, available at GOV.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-introduction-of-electric-vehicle-excise-duty-eved. The consultation closed on 18 March 2026 and the Government will respond to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to build infrastructure at UK ports to accommodate new checks on (1) vehicles, and (2) goods, coming from the EU after 1 January 2021.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
HMRC will continue to engage with port authorities at key border locations to understand the constraints in different sites, and to discuss how to ensure ports are operationally ready for the end of the transition period.
HMRC will also continue to keep their plans for additional infrastructure under review, depending on what is needed as part of the future trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have produced any estimates of the additional revenue that would be raised by restricting capital gains relief on primary residences.
Answered by Lord Bates
HMRC publishes official statistics on Principal Tax Reliefs on gov.uk[1]. For 2017-18 the estimated cost of the exemption of gains arising on disposal of only or main residences is £27.8bn.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an estimate of the additional revenue that would be raised if both capital gains and dividend income were taxed through income tax at the same rates as regular income and without separate tax-free allowances; and if so, what is that estimate.
Answered by Lord Bates
HM Revenue and Customs have not made an estimate of the additional revenue that would be raised if both capital gains and dividend income were taxed through income tax at the same rates as regular income and without separate tax-free allowances.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many small and medium sized businesses are paying the Apprenticeship Levy because they are defined as a connected company.
Answered by Lord Bates
The 2016 Department for Education release ‘Information on Apprenticeship Levy’ showed that an estimated 19,150 employers are expected to pay the Apprenticeship Levy. The document also gives a breakdown of the number of employers paying the levy by size:
Employer size | Total number of employers | Number of employers paying the levy | Proportion paying the levy | Levy Paid |
0-49 | 1,444,300 | 410 | 0.0% | £5m |
50-249 | 48,050 | 8,120 | 16.9% | £90m |
250+ | 13,030 | 10,620 | 81.5% | £2,585m |
Total | 1,505,380 | 19,150 | 1.3% | £2,675m |
A breakdown by connected companies or single entitles is not available. Employers are not required to report this data to HMRC routinely when accounting for their levy liability as part of their PAYE returns.
Asked by: Lord Fox (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many eligible Apprenticeship Levy paying employers there are; and of those, how many are (1) single entity companies, and (2) connected companies.
Answered by Lord Bates
The 2016 Department for Education release ‘Information on Apprenticeship Levy’ showed that an estimated 19,150 employers are expected to pay the Apprenticeship Levy. The document also gives a breakdown of the number of employers paying the levy by size:
Employer size | Total number of employers | Number of employers paying the levy | Proportion paying the levy | Levy Paid |
0-49 | 1,444,300 | 410 | 0.0% | £5m |
50-249 | 48,050 | 8,120 | 16.9% | £90m |
250+ | 13,030 | 10,620 | 81.5% | £2,585m |
Total | 1,505,380 | 19,150 | 1.3% | £2,675m |
A breakdown by connected companies or single entitles is not available. Employers are not required to report this data to HMRC routinely when accounting for their levy liability as part of their PAYE returns.