Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the preparedness of (1) landlords, and (2) self-employed people, for making quarterly Making Tax Digital returns from April.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has taken a number of steps to help ensure those needing to use MTD for Income Tax from April 2026 are ready and can do so successfully. This includes media campaigns, awareness letters and extensive online help, such as webinars, recorded YouTube videos, e‑learning, and guidance on GOV.UK. A wide range of MTD‑compatible software products is available, including free options, and thousands of new taxpayers are signing up to the service every week.
MTD quarterly updates are not like making a tax return each quarter. Software will manage much of the process, creating simple summaries of income and expenses from the taxpayer’s digital records ready for submission. Information will be carried forward to the tax return, helping to reduce errors and make the end of year process faster and easier.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to expand the Bank of England's remit to include focusing on growth and the overall health of the economy, as well as bearing down on inflation.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has no plans to change the remit of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
Subject to maintaining price stability, the MPC’s secondary objective is to support the economic policy of the Government, which is to “restore broad based and resilient growth built on strong and secure foundations”. The MPC regularly states that it sets monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target “in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment”.
Low and stable inflation is essential for long-term economic growth, so the MPC has the Government’s full support as it acts to return inflation to target sustainably.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given, if any, to abolishing stamp duty.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has no plans to abolish Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). SDLT continues to be an important source of Government revenue, raising around £14 billion each year to help pay for the essential services the Government provides.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average wait time for each of HMRC's telephone helpline services; and whether these times have reduced over the last two years.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Across HMRC’s main helplines, the average speed of answering customer calls for 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 (year-to-date to November 2025) is shown in the table.
The definition of ‘average speed of answering a customer’s call’ (ASA) is the average time spent waiting in the queue for an adviser. This is from the time that the customer finished listening to HMRC’s automated messages and completed their selection from HMRC’s automated menu to the time when they get to speak to an adviser.
HMRC’s main helplines - Average Speed of Answering a customer’s call (minutes: seconds)
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 YTD to November |
Child Benefit | 21:05 | 16:05 | 10:35 |
National Insurance | 20:55 | 21:48 | 10:32 |
Tax Credits Helpline | 19:22 | 22:09 | 05:16 |
Tax Credits Payment Helpline | 22:13 | 16:50 | 05:34 |
Corporation Tax | 13:52 | 11:51 | 11:49 |
Stamp Duty and Capital Gains | 05:45 | 02:47 | 03:26 |
Agent Dedicated Line | 21:56 | 26:38 | 16:37 |
Construction Industry Scheme Helpline | 13:49 | 09:23 | 09:44 |
Employers Helpline | 22:20 | 26:32 | 27:20 |
Online Services Helpline | 08:36 | 11:49 | 05:58 |
PAYE | 34:18 | 22:58 | 17:34 |
Self Assessment Helpline | 37:15 | 23:40 | 16:46 |
VAT | 27:14 | 14:30 | 10:32 |
Overall, ASA has improved over the past two years. In 2023-24, across all HMRC helplines, it was 23 minutes and 14 seconds. In 2025-26 (year to date - end of November 2025), ASA was 13 minutes and 17 seconds.
HMRC are taking steps to make sure more of their services are digital, so customers can self-serve online. HMRC online services and the HMRC app are convenient to access and receive high customer satisfaction ratings. As more people use HMRC online services, advisers are freed up to support those with more complex queries and those who are digitally excluded.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Budget 2025 on the returns of private landlords.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does not expect that the reform to property income tax will have a significant impact on rental prices.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the tax rises for landlords in the Budget 2025 on (1) the supply of property in the private rented sector, and (2) rent levels.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does not expect that the reform to property income tax will have a significant impact on rental prices.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are considering ending the role of the Bank of England in setting interest rates.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Monetary policy is the responsibility of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England. Operationally independent monetary policy is a vital part of the government’s macroeconomic policy framework, supporting the UK’s resilience to risks and reflecting best practice across the world and all G7 countries. The government is fully committed to the operational independence of the MPC.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the continued acceptance of personal cheques by banks.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Cheques remain an important part of the UK’s payments landscape. While there has been a decline in overall cheque volumes, they continue to be used by many individuals, businesses, charities and other voluntary organisations. Cheques can be deposited through a range of different channels, including at local bank branches, shared Banking Hubs and the Post Office.
To secure the future of cheque usage in the UK, HM Treasury introduced legislative measures in 2015 to allow banks and building societies to introduce ‘cheque imaging’. Cheque imaging allows a digital image of a cheque to be sent for clearing, rather than the paper cheque itself, and has also enabled people to pay in cheques via their smartphone or tablet.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of buy-to-let properties that have been sold in the last 12 months, and how this compares with the previous 12 months.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
According to UK Finance’s latest quarterly Buy-to-Let statistical release (published 22 October), in Q2 2024 there were 51,459 new buy-to-let loans advanced in the UK, worth £8.9 billion. This was up 26% by number (27.7% by value) compared with the same quarter in the previous year.
There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England [1] , the Financial Conduct Authority [2] and UK Finance [3].
[1] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics
[2] https://www.fca.org.uk/data
[3] https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of buy-to-let mortgages that have been issued in the last 12 months, and how this compares with the previous 12 months.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
According to UK Finance’s latest quarterly Buy-to-Let statistical release (published 22 October), in Q2 2024 there were 51,459 new buy-to-let loans advanced in the UK, worth £8.9 billion. This was up 26% by number (27.7% by value) compared with the same quarter in the previous year.
There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England [1] , the Financial Conduct Authority [2] and UK Finance [3].
[1] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics
[2] https://www.fca.org.uk/data
[3] https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data