Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs has spent on translation and interpretation services in each of the last five years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC spend on a) Translation and b) Interpretation for the last 5 years is set out below:
2020/2021 – a) £0.32m b) £0.50m
2021/2022 – a) £0.29m b) £0.53m
2022/2023 – a) £0.45m b) £0.63m
2023/2024 – a) £0.59m b) £0.59m
2024/2025 – a) £0.83m b) £0.30m
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will list the titles of all the events organised by Civil Service networks in her Department since 2017.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury does not hold historical records for staff network events, including those organised by cross-Civil Service networks. 2025 records show that Civil Service network events are circulated to HMT staff but none have been organised by Civil Service networks and hosted in the department.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) single sex and (b) gender neutral bathroom facilities her Department provides in its main Whitehall building.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury's offices are within multi-department buildings managed by the Government Property Agency, who will hold information on bathroom facilities.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what measures HMRC has in place to continue to run critical services in the event of a major internet outage.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC services are designed with resilience and continuity in mind. While some services rely on internet connectivity—for example, digital access for citizens and connections to certain Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms—the majority of HMRC’s core systems will continue to operate during an internet outage.
Internal connectivity between HMRC sites and hosted services is maintained through private, dedicated links that do not depend on the public internet. This ensures that critical processing and internal operations can continue without interruption.
For citizen-facing services that require internet access, HMRC has established Business Continuity plans. These include alternative communication channels, prioritisation of essential services, and manual fallback processes where appropriate, to minimise disruption and maintain service availability.
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.