Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much VAT revenue was raised from the sale of petrol and diesel in the last financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services, including VAT on petrol and diesel.
This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what percentage of total Air Passenger Duty receipts was attributable to (a) domestic and short-haul flights and (b) long-haul flights in the most recent financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines, rather than individual passengers, and is the principal tax on the aviation sector. APD is charged on passengers travelling on aircraft departing from airports in the UK, with the rate of duty determined by the distance to a passenger’s final destination and the class of travel. From April 2023, APD operates across four destination bands:
Airline operators declare the number of chargeable passengers by destination band and by rate. However, APD receipts are not attributable to distance travelled, and therefore this is not information that HMRC collects.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of total Air Passenger Duty receipts were attributable to passengers travelling with children under 16 in the most recent financial year for which data is available.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Air Passenger Duty (APD) applies to airlines, not individual passengers, and is the principal tax on the aviation sector.
HMRC does not collect information on passenger ages or whether passengers are travelling with children. Air Passenger Duty receipts are therefore not broken down in this way, and no estimate can be made of the proportion attributable to passengers travelling with children under 16.
Airline operators declare the number of chargeable passengers by destination band and by rate. They do not break down chargeable passengers by age or who passengers are travelling with, and therefore this is not information that HMRC collects.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, why the statistics publication entitled Minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs on GOV.UK has not been updated since December 2024.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Estimates of the exchequer cost of Minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs were updated in January 2026 and are now contained in a new Tax Relief Statistics publication which combines the previous Minor tax expenditures and structural reliefs publication with the related Non-structural tax relief statistics publication, and can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-reliefs
The change was made following feedback from stakeholders and aims to improve clarity and accessibility.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will list all changes to the UK tax system which will take effect from 6 April 2026, including changes to rates, thresholds, allowances and reliefs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A full list of all tax measures introduced at recent Budgets can be found in the Overview of Tax Legislation and Rates on the gov.uk website, including the tax rates and allowances in effect from 6 April 2026.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of student loans issued in each of last five years for which data is available were for students with settled status, expressed in (a) monetary terms and (b) number of students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of student loans issued in each of the last five years for which data is available were for students with a non-Common Travel Area immigration status.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the student loan outlay is by immigration status of the student cohort for the last five years for which data is available.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is not able to provide the requested data on settled status in the required timescale.
Settled status is a residency category, which is data held by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
However, changes in the application process over time, including the transition to electronic applications and introduction of new products, systems and processes in line with the legislation, mean that data held for earlier cohorts is held differently across multiple SLC systems.
As a result, it is not currently possible to produce robust settled status data within the required timescales. The department and the SLC are undertaking work to improve the quality and consistency of data provided.
Once this work is complete, the department expects to be able to provide information in response to such questions.
The department is not able to provide the requested data on immigration status. The SLC does not hold immigration status data. Immigration status data is held by the Home Office and is used by the SLC as part of the assessment for loan eligibility. However, as the SLC does not hold immigration status data in their own systems, this breakdown cannot be provided.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HC Deb 9 March 2026, vol. 782 column 47, to which specific parliamentary votes was the Chancellor referring when she said opposition parties had voted against freezes in fuel duty.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of the debate on the “Middle East: Economic Update”, the Chancellor referred to votes relating to two Budgets, which included the policy decisions to extend the 5 pence per litre cut to fuel duty.
The 5p cut extensions have been legislated via Statutory Instrument. The primary legislative vehicle for Budget policy decisions is the Finance Bill. At second readings of the Finance Bills, the House debates the whole principle of each bill. For divisions on the second readings of the Finance Bills in 2024 and 2025, a number of opposition parties voted against, including the Conservatives.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the difference is between the 250,000 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses benefitting from business rates relief, as cited in answer to question UIN 904249, and the 750,000 businesses benefitting from the lower multiplier, as cited in answer to question UIN 111573.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
More properties will benefit from the new retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multipliers because there is no cash cap, meaning all qualifying properties in an RHL chain will benefit.