Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the measures related to banking hubs in the Financial Services and Markets Bill will also cover post offices which provide the same services.
Answered by Rachel Blake
The Government is committed to ensuring that people who need in-person banking can continue to access essential services.
The Financial Services and Markets Bill includes a power to enable the Government to take action in future to protect access to banking services should this be necessary. The power relates to access to banking services more broadly and is not limited to banking hubs.
Banking hubs provide everyday counter services delivered by Post Office staff and also offer access to community bankers from participating banks, who can provide services more commonly offered in branches, such as registering a bereavement.
Separately, the Post Office provides everyday banking services through over 10,000 branches across the UK under the Banking Framework, a commercial agreement between the Post Office and banking firms. This includes cash withdrawal and deposit, paying bills and paying in cheques, and checking your balance.
The independent Review into Access to Banking Services will assess whether changes in access to in-person banking services in the UK are causing detriment to consumers. The Review will consider the role of both banking hubs and Post Office banking services, and its findings will inform future decisions on whether further action is needed.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many outstanding cases of people facing the retrospective loan charge she expects will be settled as a result of the McCann Review; and the likely timescale is for bringing the topic to a conclusion.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answers I gave on 23 June 2026 to UIN 9553.Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure sustainable funding for specialist women’s organisations supporting victims of domestic abuse, violence and health inequalities, and whether she has considered using Dormant Assets for this purpose.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government is committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade. Ensuring victims receive effective and timely support is vital to delivering this.
The Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy, published in December 2025, is backed by over £1 billion investment into victims’ services over the next 3 years.
Under the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2008, dormant assets are a distinct form of capital restricted to four statutory areas in England: youth, financial inclusion, social investment wholesalers and community wealth funds.
The June 2025 Dormant Assets Strategy outlines the allocation of the next £440 million tranche across these four existing statutory areas.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of business rates policy on access to affordable fitness facilities and consequent effects on public health.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
At the Budget, the Valuation Office announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties.
In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government has introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills. As a result, over half of ratepayers see no bill increases this year, including 23 per cent seeing their bills go down. This also means most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less in 2026/27, or £800 for the smallest.
The Government has introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. Only properties that are wholly or mainly used for providing RHL activity (as defined in legislation) to visiting members of the public are eligible for these new permanently lower RHL multipliers.
This includes community gyms and fitness facilities with rateable values below £500,000 that are open to members of the public. Further details on what is meant by “visiting members of the public” can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made on the cost of removing VAT on the renovation of unoccupied properties.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of reusing existing housing stock to deliver new homes. To support this, residential renovations are subject to a reduced rate of VAT of five per cent if they meet certain conditions. These include the renovation of properties that have been empty for two or more years.
HMRC publishes estimates of the costs of tax reliefs where possible in its annual tax reliefs publication. The latest tax relief statistics publication and further information about how HMRC estimate the cost of tax reliefs can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-reliefs/tax-relief-statistics-january-2026.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will support the emerging wine and wine tourism industry in Chichester by reducing taxes on produce sold to visitors on site.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government has no current plans to make changes to the alcohol duty system that was introduced in 2023 following extensive public consultation. The Government will progress its existing commitment to evaluate the impacts of the 2023 reforms and, as with all taxes, alcohol duty will be kept under review as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she is taking to ensure that card payment processing fees do not disproportionately burden small and independent traders.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that the cost of accepting payments, including cards, is fair to all parties, and that our payment systems work for all.
There are a number of fees that can be placed on merchants, including interchange fees which are governed by the Interchange Fee Regulations 2015 (IFR). The IFR caps the fees that are paid by a merchant (or trader) to the card user’s bank. The caps are currently set at 0.2% for every transaction using a debit card, and 0.3% for credit card transactions.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), the UK’s economic regulator for payments, has recently concluded two market reviews into card fees to assess if increases in prices are fair and reflect a market that is operating well. The PSR is now considering its next steps, including remedies designed to increase the transparency of scheme and processing fees.
https://www.psr.org.uk/our-work/market-reviews/
The Government is also committed to ensuring that payment options remain affordable and accessible for small businesses, including through measures that promote competition and reduce unnecessary costs. The National Payments Vision, published in November 2024, sets out the Government’s ambitions for a trusted, world-leading payments ecosystem delivered on next generation technology, where consumers and businesses have a choice of payment methods to meet their needs.
This included the ambition for seamless account-to-account payments to be developed as a ubiquitous payment method – enabling consumers to pay digitally for goods and services in shops and online, without using a card. This would provide greater choice to consumers and merchants in how they make and receive payments, which in turn is likely to spur innovation and downward competitive pressure on the cost of payments.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance HM Revenue and Customs provides to charities on the classification of educational activities for the purposes of VAT exemption.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
HMRC provides detailed guidance on how VAT applies to education on GOV.UK and in VAT Notice 701/30: Education and vocational training. This covers all aspects of the exemption, including services provided by charities.
Additional guidance is published when significant changes are made, such as the changes to the VAT treatment of private schools. The guidance can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-education-and-vocational-training-notice-70130
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of freezing fuel duty again in September 2026, in the context of volatility in global oil prices.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025, the Government extended the 5p-per-litre cut for a further five months, until the end of August this year. The Government has also cancelled the increase in line with inflation for 2026/27. The 5p cut was introduced following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when prices reached a peak of over £1.90 per litre.
Since Budget 2024, the Government's decisions to freeze fuel duty will save the average motorist over £90 – or 8-11 pence per litre – compared to the plans inherited from the previous government.
As the Chancellor has set out, a rapid de-escalation in the Middle East remains the best way to keep prices low at the pump, but the Government will also take the necessary decisions to help families with the cost of living and protect the public finances.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps fuel duty under review; and any changes will be announced in the usual way.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the VAT registration threshold on small charities that generate income through educational public engagement activities.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This means the majority of UK businesses are not in the VAT system at all.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption. Once an organisation’s taxable turnover exceeds £90,000, it is required to register for VAT, and VAT-registered organisations can generally reclaim the VAT they incur on their business costs.
The Government takes steps elsewhere in the tax system to ensure that charities receive treatment that takes account of their unique status and invaluable contribution. Our tax regime for charities, including Gift Aid and an exemption from paying business rates, is among the most generous of anywhere in the world, with tax reliefs for charities and their donors worth just over £6 billion for the tax year to April 2024.