Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the level of illegal doorstep lending in England for which the latest data is available.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Illegal money lenders — more commonly known as loan sharks — are dangerous criminals capable of inflicting terrible harm on their victims. To combat this, the Government funds specialist Illegal Money Lending Teams (IMLTs) operating across the UK. These teams investigate and prosecute illegal money lenders and offer support to their victims.
Because of the underground nature of illegal money lending, HM Treasury does not have data on the number of victims of illegal money lending each year. However, HM Treasury officials regularly engage with the IMLTs to receive updates on their work, including on prosecutions, support provided to victims, and any key trends. To learn more about the work of the IMLTs, visit the Stop Loan Sharks website: https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what was the tax income from (a) domestic (b) commercial energy customer bills for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is chargeable at the reduced rate of 5% on domestic fuel and power. HMRC publishes estimates of the Exchequer cost of tax reliefs, see https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/main-tax-expenditures-and-structural-reliefs. The estimated cost of non-structural tax reliefs (December 2024) VAT table shows that the cost estimate for the Reduced Rate of VAT on supplies of domestic fuel and power in 2024-25 was £6,500 million. This represents the cost of the 5% Reduced Rate compared to the Standard Rate of 20%, a relief of 15%. The revenue received at the Reduced Rate may be estimated at 5/15ths of the figure of £6,500 million, or £2,200m (rounded). Figures for previous years are shown in the table.
Business consumers of energy may reclaim VAT on their purchases of energy subject to normal VAT deduction rules.
Climate Change Levy (CCL) is chargeable on the supply of electricity, gas and solid fuels for lighting, heating and power by business operating in the industrial, commercial, agricultural and public services sectors, with certain exclusions. Statistics on CCL receipts from 2014 are published here: Environmental Taxes Bulletin - GOV.UK
This Budget reduces the cost of levies on energy bills to save families £150 on average next year. Combined with the measures on freezing rail fares and freezing fuel duty these policies are forecast to directly cut inflation by over 0.4 percentage points next year, pushing down on mortgage rates and up on growth.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of effectiveness of the tax incentives available to increase the formation of Employee Ownership Trusts.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
An evaluation of the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) tax regime commissioned by HMRC and published in May 2025 found that the tax reliefs encourage company owners to transition their companies to employee ownership under the EOT model. This evaluation can be found at GOV.UK here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/qualitative-evaluation-of-employee-ownership-trusts
However, the cost of the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) relief has increased significantly in recent years. The original costing from 2013 suggested the entire EOT tax regime would cost less than £100m in 2018-19. The cost of the CGT relief alone reached £600m in 2021-22 and forecasts suggest it could rise to more than 20 times the original costing to £2 billion by 2028-29 without any action.
The relief also allowed wealthy business owners to sell their shares without paying any CGT, with around half of the relief going to the largest 10% of disposals.
At Budget 2025, the government announced that it will reduce the relief available on these disposals from 100% of the gain to 50%. This will retain a strong incentive for employee ownership whilst ensuring that business owners pay their fair share of tax. The relief remains more generous than alternative reliefs that individuals might use when disposing of their companies, such as Business Asset Disposal Relief.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2025 to Question 87814, what proportion of mileage claims are made using a). HMRC Approved Mileage Allowance Payment rates and b). employers own assessment by 1). employees and 2). the self-employed.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The rate at which employees are reimbursed for undertaking business mileage in their personal vehicles is a matter between employers and their employees. As such these are exempt from reporting to HMRC, and the Government does not routinely collect the information requested.HMRC recently published research on benefits-in-kind and expenses. Of those employers surveyed, 41% of employers reimbursed mileage for employees using their own car for business travel, of which 37% reimbursed at the Approved Mileage Payment Rate and 4% at another rate.
The research report can be found here: Research with employers on Benefits in Kind and expenses - GOV.UK
Self-employed people are able to choose whether to use the simplified mileage rates or claim actual expenses and capital allowances for a vehicle. HMRC published research carried out in 2023 which showed that 29% of self-employed people who use vehicles in their business use the simplified mileage rates.
The research report was published on 28 May 2025 and can be found here: HMRC Mileage Rates Research - GOV.UK
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of import duties on goods entering the UK from the EU on inflation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Latest data from the Department for Business and Trade shows that 94.9% of goods entering Great Britain from the EU did so tariff-free in 2023, broadly unchanged from 94.7% in 2022. This data is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods-2023/preference-utilisation-of-uk-goods-in-2023.
The Government wants to find ways to make it easier for businesses to trade with our partners and so is seeking views on potential UK accession to the Pan-Euro Mediterranean Convention on Rules of Origin through a call for evidence led by the Department for Business and Trade. You can find this information here: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/pan-euro-mediterranean-convention-on-rules-of-origin-pem
Forecasting the economy, including the impact of Government policy decisions, is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which published its latest forecast on 26 March 2025. HM Treasury does not produce forecasts for the UK economy and has not made an assessment of the impact of import duties on inflation.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints of mis-selling of prepayment funeral plans have been made for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The regulation of pre-paid funeral plans is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Pre-paid funeral plans came under FCA regulation in July 2022, and so the FCA will not hold complaint data from before that date. The FCA will respond to the Honourable Member by letter with further detail, and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of bank closures on footfall in (a) town centres and (b) high streets.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Banking is changing, with many customers benefiting from the ease and convenience of remote banking. Whilst the Government does not make estimates regarding the impact of branch closures on town centre footfall, the Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for customers. That is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs on high streets across the UK by the end of this Parliament. More than 240 hubs have been announced so far, and over 190 are already open.
This Government is fully committed to rejuvenating our high streets and supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful. Alongside the £5bn funding for Pride in Place, we have announced a suite of tools to support communities to improve their high streets, including: High Street Rental Auctions giving councils the power to auction the lease of long-term vacant premises; a Community Right to Buy for communities to take ownership of local buildings they value; and streamlining the compulsory purchase process to help local authorities regenerate high streets.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of personal allowance threshold freezes on people in each income decile for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The previous government made the decision to freeze the income tax Personal Allowance at its current level of £12,570 until April 2028.
The previous government published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impacts.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the (a) cost and (b) number of HMRC staff undertaking inquiries into online marketplace sellers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The department is unable to provide an exact breakdown in the cost or number of staff involved in this work. This is because HMRC takes a risk-based approach to compliance, and so tax enquiries into online marketplace sellers can fall into a number of different compliance areas. Staff involved will work across a variety of business types and in most cases will not be solely working on this one trade sector.