Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of apprenticeship levy receipts were spent on apprenticeship training over the last 5 years.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The UK wide apprenticeship levy is not legally hypothecated and, as such, revenues from the levy are paid into the Consolidated Fund and not directly allocated to apprenticeships.
HM Treasury separately sets the apprenticeship budget at each Spending Review. When setting the budget, the Government considers its wider investment in skills, ensuring businesses can benefit from a highly skilled workforce. We are investing over £18 billion a year in skills and post-16 education, including record investment in apprenticeships.
I refer the Hon. Member to the receipts data for the Apprenticeship Levy, published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Tax Receipts and National Insurance Contribution publication, which sets this out here.
The final budget position of the Growth and Skills Levy budget for the last 5 financial years in England is:
Financial Year | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24 | 24-25 | 25-26 |
Growth and Skills Levy Budget | £2,466m | £2,554m | £2,585m | £2,769m | £3,114m |
While the levy is UK-wide, apprenticeship policy and spending are devolved. Devolved governments receive Barnett consequentials on English spending through the Barnett formula, and decide how to allocate them, including to skills programmes.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to improve awareness of the existence of a personal tax account among the elderly and digitally excluded.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC promotes its digital services, including the Personal Tax Account and HMRC app, to help customers manage their tax affairs. Customers can use these services to check and update information about their tax affairs.
In March 2026, HMRC launched the Tax Confident website which provides simple, easy-to-understand information to help customers understand the basics of tax, including how pensions are taxed. It also signposts customers to HMRC’s online services and the extra help available. This has been promoted to the pension age audience this year with paid activity including press, radio and relevant digital advertising. HMRC is working closely with its partners to share information on Tax Confident to their customers and internally they are signposting Tax Confident, when relevant, to pension age customers.
HMRC is committed to ensuring that all customers can access its services in a way that meets their needs. Those unable to use digital channels can continue to contact HMRC by telephone and post, with additional help available through the Extra Support Service, including face-to-face support.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing how the High Income Child Benefit Charge is calculated.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs holds sufficient data on participants in Share Incentive Plans to estimate the fiscal effect of reducing the scheme's holding period from five years to two years.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
I refer the Honourable Member to UIN 28908.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Department has undertaken modelling of the potential impact on Exchequer revenues of reducing the Share Incentive Plan holding period from five years to two years.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Share Incentive Plan five-year holding period on participation rates among employees aged under 35.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
I refer the Honourable Member to UIN 28908.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to help support residents with the cost of living in Devon.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We know that people across the country are struggling with the cost of living. Making life more affordable for families and households is a top priority for this government.
We have already taken action to reduce energy bills by removing VAT from household electricity from October 1, taking around £45 off the yearly Ofgem price cap and benefitting millions of households this winter. This is on top of the £150 removed from bills at the last Budget. From January 2027, single bus tickets in England outside London will be capped at £2, saving millions of people up to a third off a single journey. And to help motorists, the 5p cut to fuel duty has been extended until the end of the year.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2026 to question 8227 on Members: Correspondence, when her Department plans to respond to the hon. Member for Newton Abbot on the correspondence sent on 21 April 2026 with case ref MW13815.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
A response to the correspondence sent on 21 April 2026 with case reference MW13815 has been sent to the hon. Member for Newton Abbot on 2 July 2026.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions they have had with the Hydrogen Sector.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of automatically passporting Solicitors Regulation Authority-regulated firms onto the proposed register for tax advisers as part of the implementation of Making Tax Digital.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The government is cracking down on bad tax advisers and is creating a fairer tax advice system to help businesses and individuals access reliable tax advice.
As part of that, tax adviser registration establishes a baseline standard for all tax advisers who interact with HMRC, and ensures that HMRC knows that firms who interact with them on behalf of taxpayers meet this standard.
Under a passporting approach, firms would still need to provide HMRC with core information about their business and relevant individuals so that HMRC knows who is interacting with it and can manage access appropriately. HMRC would in any case need to undertake its own checks using HMRC systems, which are designed to make this process straightforward and minimise additional burden.
A new, streamlined tax adviser registration service was a top ask from HMRC’s stakeholders, and the government has invested £36m to make the registration process quick and easy to complete. HMRC will automatically perform checks in the background, and those with an existing agent services account (ASA) do not need to register again.