Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information the Valuation Office Agency holds on the number of (a) private sector and (b) municipal public conveniences there are in each local authority in (i) England and (ii) Wales.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The VOA assess public conveniences for business rates purposes but they do not consider whether they are owned by a local authority or the private sector.
The number of public conveniences is published in the VOA’s Non- Domestic Rating stock of properties. The most recent release is at 31 March 2024 and can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-stock-of-properties-2024
The number of public conveniences assessed by the VOA in each local authority can be found by clicking ‘Stock SCat Tables by region, county, local authority district and rateable value band, 2024 (CSV)’ and viewing column ‘KY’ in the file named ‘SOP_SCAT_LA_counts_all’.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Bank of England has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed Chinese Embassy on security in the City of London.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is not the Bank of England’s role to undertake this sort of impact assessment. National security is the first duty of Government and has been HM Government’s core priority throughout this process. A final decision on the application for the new Chinese embassy in Tower Hamlets will be made in due course by ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data HM Revenue and Customs holds on the house prices of second homes.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The VOA has a statutory duty to maintain the Council Tax lists in England and Wales by assessing the value of a domestic property and placing them in a Council Tax band. Whether a domestic property is a taxpayer’s second home is not considered during this process. The VOA obtains sales data to assist in their functions, but this data does not distinguish between whether a purchase is of a second home or not.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2025 to Question 48452 on Housing: Valuation, where the Valuation Office Agency obtains scaled (a) plans and (b) maps to determine plot size.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In addition to plans derived from the direct measurement of the property, the VOA uses plans and maps from online digital mapping platforms, ONS surveys, planning portals, property developers, estate agents and other data within the public domain.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2025 to Question 48449 on Financial Services: Environment Protection, which municipal green investment (a) bonds and (b) loans being offered by local authorities in England are regulated by the (i) Financial Conduct Authority, (ii) Prudential Regulation Authority, (iii) Financial Ombudsman Service and (iv) Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 establishes a framework whereby any person, whether an individual or firm, can only carry out a regulated activity by way of business if they are authorised by the appropriate regulator or are exempt from the authorisation requirement. Under this framework, the government determines which activities are regulated activities, by specifying them in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (RAO).
Where local authorities are the issuers of bonds, or borrowers under loans, they themselves would not require authorisation from a financial services regulator to act in that capacity, and would not be subject to regulation by the financial services regulators.
Financial services firms facilitating access to such funding by local authorities may, depending on the circumstances, be subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority, and investors may be eligible to refer disputes with the regulated firm to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Depending on the precise circumstances of any products offered, compensation in the case of default may be available under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but this may not always be the case.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered providing Income Tax relief for party political donations.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is not considering an income tax relief for party political donations.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how does the Valuation Office Agency determine the area size of a dwelling in (a) England and (b) Wales; and how does it determine the size of a non-standard plot.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the hon. member to the following answer UIN 48452, tabled on 28 April 2025.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the absence of a cash cap on the cost of retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) rate relief in 2026-27; and what estimate she has made of the gross revenue required from the multiplier surcharge on hereditaments with a Rateable Value above £500,000 to fund the new RHL multiplier in 2026-27.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief has been extended year-by-year by previous governments since the pandemic – creating uncertainty for businesses and an unsustainable fiscal pressure for the Government.
Without any government intervention, RHL relief would have ended entirely in April 2025, creating a cliff-edge for businesses. Instead, the Government has decided to offer a 40 per cent discount to RHL properties up to a cash cap of £110,0000 per business in 2025-26, ahead of introducing permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties from 2026-27. Like all business rates multipliers, these lower RHL multipliers will not be subject to a cash cap. This permanent tax cut will ensure that RHL businesses benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties – those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above.
The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what form of legislation her Department plans to bring forward to merge the Valuation Office Agency with HM Revenue and Customs.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
No legislation is required to bring forward the merger and the change will come into effect by the end of the financial year.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what customer service metrics are collated into (a) Valuation Office Agency and (b) HM Revenue and Customs.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC Customer Service Metrics include Net Easy and Customer Satisfaction with its phone, webchat and digital services. HMRC also measures its telephone and correspondence performance through Telephony Adviser Attempts Handled and Customer Correspondence responded to in 15 working days and 40 working days. HMRC monitor performance against these metrics and a set of supporting metrics, which can be found in the monthly and quarterly publications HMRC monthly performance reports - GOV.UK , and HMRC quarterly performance updates - GOV.UK , and in our Annual Report and Accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmrcs-annual-report-and-accounts
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has aligned all telephony metrics with HMRC. Other metrics the VOA report on can be found in its Annual Report & Accounts: www.gov.uk/government/collections/valuation-office-agency-annual-report-and-accounts