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
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in what locations the (a) Valuation Office Agency and (b) HM Revenue and Customs have offices; and whether any offices are shared.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Full details of the current office locations for VOA and HMRC are set out in the tables below:
HMRC offices
Location | Shared with VOA (Marked with a X) |
Belfast, Erskine House/Carne House |
|
Birmingham, Arena Central | X |
Bristol, Glass Wharf | X |
Cardiff, TY William Morgan | X |
Croydon, Ruskin Square | X |
Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth House | X |
Glasgow, Atlantic Square | X |
Leeds,7&8 Wellington Place | X |
Liverpool, India Buildings |
|
Manchester, Three New Bailey | X |
Newcastle, Benton Park View | X |
Nottingham, Unity Square | X |
Portsmouth, Lynx House |
|
Stratford, Westfield Avenue |
|
Dover, Priory Court |
|
Gartcosh, Scottish Crime Campus |
|
Ipswich, Brook Lawrence House |
|
Telford, Plaza 1 & 2 |
|
Swansea, Sandringham Park |
|
Worthing, Teville Gate House | X |
Bradford, Centenary Court |
|
Manchester, Trinity Bridge House |
|
Washington, Waterview Park |
|
East Kilbride, Queensway House |
|
London, Parliament Street |
|
Porthmadog, Ty Thedford |
|
Preston, St Mark’s and St Mary’s | X |
Reading, Premier House |
|
VOA offices
Aberdeen, Union Point |
Cambridge, Eastbrook |
Canary Wharf, 10 South Colonnade |
Carmarthen, St Davids Park |
Colchester, The Octagon |
Durham, Wycliffe House |
Eastbourne, St Annes House |
Exeter, The Senate |
Folkestone, Palting House |
Hull, Earle House |
Inverness, River House |
Lancaster, Mitre House |
Merseyside, Redgrave Court |
Norwich, Rosebery Court |
Oxford, Avalon House |
Plymouth, Crownhill Court |
Sheffield, Greenfield House |
Southampton, Mountbatten House |
St Austell, Penhaligon House |
Stoke on Trent, Bennet House |
Swansea, Swansea Civil Centre |
Wembley, Brent Civil Centre |
Wrexham, Yale Business Village |
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average office attendance is for (a) Valuation Office Agency and (b) HM Revenue and Customs staff, adjusting for VOA work that requires off-site visits.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
For the period of March 2025, 67% of VOA people attended the office as expected, once off-site adjustments are considered. For the same period, 80% of HMRC people (excluding VOA) did so.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many outstanding (a) council tax and (b) business rate challenges are still open and unresolved in relation to (i) 2022-23, (ii) 2023-24 and (iii) 2024-25 in (A) England and (B) Wales.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) publishes official statistics for England and Wales on Non-domestic Rating and Council Tax: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/valuation-office-agency/about/statistics
The VOA published an update for business rates on 8 May 2025. This includes the number of outstanding cases from the 2017 and 2023 Rating Lists in England and Wales. They can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-challenges-and-changes-2017-and-2023-rating-lists-march-2025
The latest published data for Council Tax is 2023-24.
Valuation Office Agency: Council Tax statistics - GOV.UK
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff the Valuation Office Agency employs; and whether she has set a target for a reduction to that number.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As of the 30 April 2025, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) employs 4,005 staff, which equates to 3,749.71 full-time employees. In addition, the VOA employs 88 contingent labour workers.
The VOA has no current plans to reduce the workforce.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has had discussions with the Bank of England on the proposed Chinese Embassy in London.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury officials hold regular discussions with the Bank of England across various financial and economic matters. A final decision on the application for the new Chinese embassy in Tower Hamlets will be made in due course by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities, and Local Government in her independent, quasi-judicial role. As such, it would not be appropriate to comment further on the case.
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 29 April 2025 to Question 45654 on Bank Services: Vetting, what her planned timetable is for issuing revised guidance on Political Exposed Persons.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has been working closely with the FCA to follow up on the findings of its review into the treatment of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) by financial institutions and to ensure firms improve their practices where necessary. The FCA expects that the revised guidance will be published and brought into effect this summer.
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 27 November 2024 to Question 15200 on Council Tax: Wales, when the Valuation Office Agency will publish this information.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) published the information on gov.uk on 31 March 2025:
How model assisted valuation delivers large-scale property valuations - GOV.UK – A high level overview of how the VOA uses model assisted valuation and mass appraisal to support large-scale valuation. This links through to further information:
External assurance of the VOA automated valuation model (AVM): VOA response - GOV.UK - This page sets out the VOA response to external review and assurance of the VOA AVM developed to support Wales Council Tax reform.
More_information_on_mass_appraisal_and_AVM.pdf - More information on how the VOA is using mass appraisal to support Council Tax reform in Wales and on the AVM.
Model_specification_document.pdf – A document setting out the data utilised in development of the AVM for a future revaluation of Council Tax in Wales, as well as the core spatial regression model specification and an overview of the comparables model.
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 2 April 2025 to Question 41059 on Energy: Shops, whether Energy Performance Certificate is a positive material consideration for the Valuation Office Agency in the (a) council tax banding and (b) valuation of a property.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The impact of Energy Performance Certificates alone is unlikely to be significant in increasing a property’s Council Tax band. To band a property for Council Tax the Listing Officer of the VOA assesses a property’s value as being within a broad range of values as at 1 April 1991 in England, and 1 April 2003 in Wales. Whether a property has an Energy Performance Certificate is one of the many factors that may be taken into consideration but unless the value is close to the boundary between two bands, the effect of any energy efficient improvements is unlikely to result in a higher band.
Valuation of a property for other purposes may have regard to any Energy Performance Certificate relating to the property. Whether it is a material consideration will depend on the purpose of the valuation and the circumstances of the case.