Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the policy paper entitled UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy, published on 19 June 2025, how much funding her Department plans to provide for infrastructure projects in Lincolnshire in each of the next ten years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy is core to delivering the government’s growth mission to boost living standards in every nation and region of the UK.
The Strategy will fund at least £725 billion for infrastructure nationally over the next decade and transform how projects are planned and delivered. For example, the Strategy outlined how the Lincolnshire Reservoir has now been awarded ‘nationally significant’ status to accelerate the planning process.
The Infrastructure Pipeline provides a forward look of infrastructure projects that are being progressed over the next decade, broken down by region. It will be updated regularly, initially every six months.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps she is taking to help improve small business confidence in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recommitted to the devolution agreement with Greater Lincolnshire in September 2024, meaning that Greater Lincolnshire is now receiving £24 million as Mayoral Investment Funding each year as per their devolution agreement.
Through the Levelling Up Fund, the government is providing £10 million for ‘Thriving Gainsborough’, improving the marketplace and increasing footfall, investment and employment.
More generally, the government recently published ‘Backing your business: our plan for small and medium-sized businesses’ which set out a long-term direction for the Government’s support for smaller firms across the country. This included going further than any previous government with the most significant package of legislative reforms in 25 years to tackle late payments, unlocking billions of pounds in finance to support businesses to invest, removing unnecessary red tape, revitalising the high street as a place to do business, and delivering growth boosting support with a new Business Growth Service to unlock business potential.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on how many days the Union Flag was flown on her Department's main buildings in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025 to date.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government Property Agency (GPA) manages the flying of flags above 1 Horse Guards Road (1HGR), Feethams House and other HM Treasury buildings. Under instructions from Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the Union Flag is always flown unless instructed otherwise by DCMS.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has spent money on promotion through social media influencers since July 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury has not made any payments to social media influencers for promotional activity since July 2024.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much National Savings and Investments has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is an office-based organisation with a UK presence across London, Lytham, Glasgow and Durham.
The table below shows NS&I’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. NS&I provides this equipment in line with its regulatory duty to minimise the risk of preventable health issues during home working.
Year | Spend |
2022–23 | £6,312.79 |
2023–24 | £6,995.28 |
2024–25 | £4,291.95 |
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if her Department will take (a) fiscal and (b) legislative steps to help prevent repeat offenders in the illicit tobacco market operating through high street retailers.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC has a robust strategy to tackle the illicit tobacco trade.
In July 2023, HMRC introduced a strengthened sanctions regime for breaches of the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System to combat illicit tobacco sales, particularly targeting repeat offenders operating through high street retailers.
Powers introduced under the Finance Act 2022 enable HMRC to apply an escalating sanctions model based on both the frequency and severity of offences. Penalties include fines of up to £10,000, seizure of illicit products, and exclusion from the UK Tobacco Track and Trace system.
New powers were also given to Trading Standards to make referrals to HMRC where they find evidence of high street retailers selling tobacco products that do not comply with the UK Tobacco Track and Trace System. HMRC is then able to apply the sanctions model as appropriate to tackle the non-compliance.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of tobacco excise duty policy on the size of the illicit tobacco market.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Tobacco duty aims to both raise revenue and reduce harm to public health by discouraging smoking. In 2024/25 tobacco duty raised almost £8 billion. High duty rates, making tobacco less affordable, have helped reduce smoking prevalence with the percentage of adult smokers in the UK decreasing from 26% in 2000 to 11.9% in 2024.
Strong enforcement is essential in tackling the illicit tobacco market. HM Revenue and Customs and Border Force have had illicit tobacco strategies in place since 2000.
Whilst tobacco duty has been progressively increased over time, successive illicit tobacco strategies have proven effective in tackling the size of the illicit tobacco market, reducing the tobacco duty tax gap from 21.7% in 2005/6 to 13.8% in 2023/24.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Government Internal Audit Agency has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) staff are provided with IT equipment to enable them to work across multiple locations. This is a managed service provided by HM Treasury, who manage this contract on behalf of GIAA. GIAA staff can request “Work from home IT kits” (e.g., screens, headsets, keyboards, and mice) through HM Treasury. GIAA does not hold information on the expenditure for these requests, and HM Treasury does not disaggregate their information on total IT spend to identify spend on GIAA staff requests. The total spend for HM Treasury Group on these work from home IT kits is noted in HM Treasury’s response to PQ 63519
GIAA provides additional IT equipment outside the managed service to support hybrid or home working, such as to support reasonable adjustments. Details of GIAA’s recorded IT expenditure for this purpose are listed below
2022-23: £10,105
2023-24: £2,474
2024-25: £1,779
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Government Actuary’s Department has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is an office (or workplace) based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, GAD expects a 60% minimum office attendance for all staff.
To enable hybrid working and to meet requirements for workplace adjustments (DSE), GAD has spent:
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Hybrid working Equipment | £6,748.90 | £5,093.56 | £7,148.37 |
DSE Equipment | £0.00 | £30.05 | £677.81 |
Total spend | £6,748.90 | £5,123.61 | £7,826.18 |
GAD has no home working contracts in place.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the UK Debt Management Office has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Debt Management Office (DMO) is an office-based organisation with a solely UK presence. In line with Cabinet Office policy, the DMO expects a 60% minimum office attendance for most staff which continues to be the best balance of working for the Civil Service.
The table below shows the DMO’s spending on home working equipment for each of the three previous financial years. The higher spend in 2022-23 and 2024-25 was for updated equipment to enable essential software upgrades (87% and 97% respectively of the total spend).
Year | Spend |
2022-23 | £25,000 |
2023-24 | £4,000 |
2024-25 | £49,000 |