Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many hereditaments are there with a Rateable Value of £500,000 or over in the 2026 Rating List, by Special Category code; and what is the average Rateable Value of a hereditament in that Special Category amongst the subset of those with a Rateable Value of £500,000, according to information held by the Valuation Office Agency.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Statistics detailing the number of properties within a range of Rateable Values in the draft 2026 Rating List can be found here: Change in rateable value of rating lists, 2026 Revaluation
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is her Department's estimate for annual CPI inflation in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29 financial years.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury does not produce forecasts for the UK economy. Forecasting the economy is the responsibility of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which published its latest forecast on 26 November 2025.
In their most recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR forecast CPI inflation to be 3.5% in 2025-26, 2.2% in 2026-27, 2.0% in 2027-28 and 2.1% in 2028-29.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) changes to employer National Insurance contributions and (b) other recent fiscal measures on (i) employment, (ii) investment and (iii) business closures in hospitality; and what steps she is taking to support the hospitality sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs). The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts.
The Office for Budget Responsibility also published the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), which sets out a detailed forecast of the economy and public finances. With all policies considered, the OBR's March 2025 EFO forecasts the employment level to increase from 33.6 million in 2024 to 34.8 million in 2029.
The hospitality sector is predominately made up of smaller businesses. The Government decided to protect the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.
From 2026-27, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower business rates multipliers for RHL properties with an RV below £500,000. Ahead of then, the Government has prevented RHL business rates relief from ending, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and frozen the small business multiplier.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make it her policy to extend deemed reseller rules to cover UK-established sellers to help mitigate potential risks of unfair competition from overseas sellers.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Since 1 January 2021 overseas sellers, or online marketplaces where they facilitate the sale, are required to be registered and account for VAT for supplies of low value imports of £135 or less. Where an overseas seller sells goods located in the UK at the point of sale via an online marketplace, the online marketplace is liable for the VAT for goods of any value.
The changes were introduced to ensure a level playing field for UK high street and online retailers, ensure the continued flow of goods at the border and improve compliance.
Certified analysis by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates the changes will raise £1.8 billion per annum by 2026-27.
The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.7 of her Department's publication entitled Transforming Business Rates, published on 30 October 2024, what estimate she has made of the amount of tax relief in (a) monetary terms and (b) as a reduced multiplier.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In 2025-26, Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief will provide RHL properties 40% relief up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and the small business multiplier will be frozen at 49.9p.
This is a package worth over £1.6 billion, aimed at supporting the most vulnerable businesses. It will ensure that over 250,000 RHL properties receive the full 40% support, and in total, government support will protect over a million properties from inflationary increases.
The rates for new multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the government can factor into its decision-making the next revaluation outcomes and the broader economic and fiscal context.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an estimate of the additional revenue generated following the reduction of business rate relief from 75% to 40% for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in the 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Retail, Hospitality and Leisure (RHL) relief is a single year policy intervention. As such, the baseline scorecard assumption for 2025-26 was for RHL relief to not be extended.
At Autumn Budget, the Government announced that from 2026-27, it intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for RHL properties, including those on the high street. To support this transition, the Government has prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and frozen the small business multiplier. This package is worth more than £1.6 billion in 2025-26.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her plans for a retail, hospitality and leisure multiplier in 2026-27 and the associated increase in the multiplier for hereditaments over £500,000, whether it is her policy that (a) the two policies will be revenue neutral and net off and (b) there will be a (i) positive or (ii) negative change in net receipts.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As set out at Budget, the government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high-street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties from 2026-27. However, this plan to support the high street must be sustainable. That is why 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. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.
The Government will confirm the rates for the new multipliers at Budget 2025, taking account of the outcomes of the 2026 revaluation as well as the broader economic and fiscal context. As set out at Budget, the Government intends for the lower multipliers to be funded by the new higher multiplier.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the revenue raised by the Residential Property Developer Tax.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT) is a 4% tax on the most profitable businesses undertaking UK residential property development to help pay for building safety remediation. The tax applies to developers' profits exceeding an annual allowance of £25 million for an accounting period.
The tax forms part of the government’s broader programme of work on building safety, which also includes significant capital funding (around £5.1bn) to remediate unsafe cladding on high-risk buildings.
According to HMRC’s latest Corporation Tax statistics, the tax raised £157 million in 2022-23 and £103 million in 2023-24.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans she has for revising her policy on accepting hospitality from the (a) football and (b) music industry.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
I refer the hon. Member to the answers by my hon. Friend, the Minister without Portfolio, during the Urgent Question, Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality, on 14 October 2024, Official Report, Columns 594-602.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) her Department and (b) the Office for Budget Responsibility has made an assessment of a potential Laffer Curve effect relating to (i) tobacco and (ii) alcohol duties.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Under the assumptions used in tobacco and alcohol costings certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility at Spring Budget 2024, increasing tobacco and alcohol duties increases overall duty receipts.