Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department’s press release entitled Valuation Office Agency scrapped in government drive to slash inefficiencies, published on 28 April 2025, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the expected 5 to 10 per cent of additional savings in VOA administrative costs by 2028-29 on full time equivalent.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The potential impact of the expected additional savings in the Valuation Office Agency’s administrative costs and Full Time Equivalents (by 28/29) will be determined as detailed plans are developed and implemented.Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will publish each of the zero-based Departmental reviews undertaken by her Department.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Every department has undertaken a line-by-line review of its spending, committing to deliver at least 5% efficiencies and savings by the end of this Spending Review period. These efficiencies and savings are integral to department’s settlements. As part of the Spending Review, the OVFM have worked with departments to agree efficiency plans showing how almost £14bn of efficiencies will be delivered by 2028-29. These efficiencies contribute to the 5% and are set out in the Spending Review 2025 document.
These efficiencies and savings will now be delivered by departments as they plan and deliver their budgets for the years covered by the spending review.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of matured Child Trust Funds that have not been claimed were opened by HMRC on the child’s behalf.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC assists young people in accessing their matured CTFs through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders, exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
HMRC encourages anyone unsure about their situation to get in touch with their account provider. If people don’t know their account provider, they can easily locate their Child Trust Fund accounts online by using the “Find my CTF” page on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
Information on Child Trust Funds is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the market value is of matured Child Trust Funds that are unclaimed.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC assists young people in accessing their matured CTFs through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders, exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
HMRC encourages anyone unsure about their situation to get in touch with their account provider. If people don’t know their account provider, they can easily locate their Child Trust Fund accounts online by using the “Find my CTF” page on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
Information on Child Trust Funds is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HMRC is taking to improve communication with Child Trust Fund beneficiaries.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC assists young people in accessing their matured CTFs through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders, exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
HMRC encourages anyone unsure about their situation to get in touch with their account provider. If people don’t know their account provider, they can easily locate their Child Trust Fund accounts online by using the “Find my CTF” page on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
Information on Child Trust Funds is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of matured Child Trust Funds have not been claimed.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC assists young people in accessing their matured CTFs through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders, exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
HMRC encourages anyone unsure about their situation to get in touch with their account provider. If people don’t know their account provider, they can easily locate their Child Trust Fund accounts online by using the “Find my CTF” page on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
Information on Child Trust Funds is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many matured Child Trust Funds are unclaimed.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC assists young people in accessing their matured CTFs through its online tracing service and through targeted communications appropriate to the age group. It will continue its work with providers, industry representatives and other stakeholders, exploring ways of increasing the profile of CTFs and enabling account owners to be aware of and trace their accounts.
HMRC encourages anyone unsure about their situation to get in touch with their account provider. If people don’t know their account provider, they can easily locate their Child Trust Fund accounts online by using the “Find my CTF” page on GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds/find-a-child-trust-fund
Information on Child Trust Funds is available in HMRC’s Annual Savings Statistics.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her Department's budget is for (a) advertising, (a) marketing and (c) communications in each year of this Parliament.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMT sets its budgets annually. Budgets have not been finalised for future financial years.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many full time equivalent staff are employed in (a) each Ministerial office and (b) the Permanent Secretary's office.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury has seven ministers, two of which work jointly with other departments.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Private Office has thirteen permanent full-time members of staff.
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury Private Office has six permanent full-time members of staff.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury’s Private Office has six permanent full-time members of staff.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury’s Private Office has six permanent full-time members of staff.
The Exchequer Secretary’s Private Office has six permanent full-time members of staff.
The Minister for Pensions works jointly with the Department of Work and Pensions. He has one permanent full-time member of staff who is a HM Treasury employee.
The Minister for Investment works jointly with the Department of Trade. She has one permanent full-time member of staff who is a HM Treasury employee.
The Permanent Secretary’s Office has four permanent full-time members of staff.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's consultation Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, published on 28 April 2025, what estimate she has made of the annual revenue which would be generated from the proposed changes set out in the consultation.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Budget 2024 the Chancellor announced her intention to review the Soft Drinks Industry levy (SDIL) – which has incentivised producers to remove almost half (46%) the sugar in relevant drinks – to further drive product reformulation.
The ‘Strengthening the Soft Drinks Industry Levy’ consultation follows this commitment. Specifically, it sets out proposals to reduce the minimum sugar threshold at which the levy applies from 5g to 4g sugar per 100ml, and to remove the current exemptions for milk-based and milk substitute drinks with added sugar.
The government welcomes feedback on the proposed changes as part of the consultation, which is open until 21 July 2025 and will inform decisions at a future Budget.
The exchequer impact of any changes to SDIL will be confirmed following the consultation and certified by the Office of Budget Responsibility as part of a Budget.